Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Michael Boguski: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1719

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

In this 1719th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with keyboardist Mike Boguski, an emergency replacement for AWOL guitarist Colin Cripps. We improvised like salty old vets and learned about Two Pianos, No Rodeo with Bob Wiseman. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Yes We Are Open, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1719 of Toronto Miked! Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta! Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Yes, we are open!

An award-winning podcast from Monaris, hosted by FOTM El Grego. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, get your butts to Christie Pitts this summer for the best baseball in the city outside the dome. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Building Toronto Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Ienies, sponsored by Fusion Corp Construction Management Inc. and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Ok here's what I wrote, today making his Toronto mic debut, it's Colin Cripps. But here's what happened. Colin was scheduled for 11 o'clock am and you know Colin seemed like a nice guy in our correspondence so at about 11.01 I started thinking, where the hell is Colin? But I don't have a phone number for Colin Cripps. I'm all set up. I've got spoons. I've got Crash Vegas.

I've got Junkhouse. I've got some band, Blue Rodeo. I had some questions about Kathleen Edwards, but I was going to read the room when I got there. Okay. But I realized I don't have a phone number for Colin. So I'm messaging him on Instagram. There's nothing. Now it's like 1110. This is a bad sign. Where is Colin

Cripps? But I have in my Rolodex, I have another member of Blue Rodeo, the great Mike Boguski. So I phoned, like not text, I phoned Mike Boguski. Mike, when you got that phone call from me, what were you thinking? Like, who is this guy? Why is he calling me? He never calls me. What were your thoughts when you saw that I was calling you? Well, with all due respect.

I'm not in your contact list. All due respect, I didn't have you saved in the call. But you still answered. I do, I'm one of those guys that has to answer the phone. I just, my wife is always like, don't answer if it's not in the contacts. But I just think, oh, maybe this is, you know, like, cause when I, when I got the call for blue rodeo,

it was very similar. It was just a call that came in. I thought it was somebody selling me internet service or cable star entertainment. So I figured, oh, I'll take a shot. And then it's, it's mine. So it's me. I go, hey, it's Toronto Mike. And then we had a little chat where basically

I wanted Colin Collins phone number Then I called Colin Cripps and Colin basically he he messed up man. He was so apologetic I think I'd have him outside Cleaning my car right now. Okay, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say this that Colin is is is One of the sweetest most gentlemanly Honorable dudes dudes I know. I have great love in my heart for Colin. So I can only assume that there's a legitimate reason why he couldn't be here.

Well, I said, where are you? Like, where are you? I'm basically like, oh, get over here. I'm so, you know what it's like when you know who's coming over and you start prepping. Of course. Like I've got, I've got Shine loaded up. I mean, I've got, I've got so many great songs loaded up. I want to talk to him.

I've got Inside Out by Crash Vegas loaded up. Shout out to FOT and Michelle McAdory. I got questions. I'm excited. Colin fucking Crips is coming over. What about Colin's solo album, Stormy Northern Days? I mean, that's fantastic.

I mean, what did Travis do that he's not here to talk about all the great music that he's produced and written? So. Look at that, Gal. Just a little bit while we set the table here, but listen to that. This is Aurora Skies. I have it loaded up. You know Kathleen Edwards wrote a song about her breakup with Colin Cripps. Can you play that for a guess? I was gonna read the room and then I was gonna see how he felt about it and see, can I talk about that? I don't want to go too deep into that but I was going through some emotional pain at the time that

Colin made this album and I just kept playing it on repeat and every time I would see Colin I'd just say we'd be at a Blue Rodeo gig I'm like come on man can you just play that tune and I know there's a lot of people across the country that really attach themselves to this album of Colin. This is hilarious that I've come down here to talk about my stuff. But I would rather talk about Colin because to be honest, like, first of all, I'm on this album.

I play accordion on a track. So you could play that track if you really wanted to represent me. But this is a fantastic album. He put it out on vinyl last year and I encourage everybody to buy it. And I'm not just saying this because Colin's my my guy he's an incredible songwriter I mean you

know Junkhouse Shine all that you know Crash Vegas but this album is of my favorite albums ever not just Canadian it's it's a beautiful beautiful album and I say go buy it. And I've had Greg Keeler on the program and I've had Michelle McAdory on the program, but there is quite a little story there about Crash Vegas because you got Blue Rodeo already a going concern. And then Crash Vegas and Keeler and McAdory are a couple and Colin Cripps is in there

and they essentially fire Keeler because Keeler is distracted by this blue rodeo thing. Yeah, I can't go too deeply into the what do you hear for? I'm really here to just, you know, Well, here I'm still saying the table. Listen, we're going to get to everything. The great, the legend, FOTM Bobby Wiseman, we're going to talk about him. Yes, you got something cooking there. But hold on, hold your thought there. So basically, Colin Cripps, we had a great chat and I'm like, where are you? Like, just come over here. And he's, I'm going to the bank.

I don't know, there's stuff going on in his life. So I want to let the listenership know that Colin Cripps is a hundred percent going to be in the basement for his Toronto Mike debut on July 16, because Colin's going away for a bit. So July 16, we're going to have that episode. You know, he plays with Brian Adams? Yeah he produced a really cool track that Brian did. It was a version of I think it was Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club that Brian recorded. Yeah for the BBC or something? Yeah and I think there was an album of

covers that Brian put out that Colin also produced. Colin being such a great producer. You know, Kathleen Edwards left Colin for Bon Iver. Yeah, I can't really get into that whole thing. You're gonna have to talk to Colin about that. I gotta read the room. I gotta read, I don't wanna like, you know. That's not my story to tell. I don't wanna stir up any trauma. I can only speak of Colin as a gentleman human being

and as a producer par excellence and as a guitar player par excellence that I've used on Here's to Tomorrow, Goodbye to Yesterday, I cut an early version. Colin plays on the track Highway 62 on the re-release of that. Colin usually is my go-to guy because he gets the whole school of Johnny Marr edge guitar playing which very few people get. He's of that generation where you understand how that delay functions, how those arpeggiated chords are played to play a melody and an arpeggiated chord at the same time. He's the guy. So anytime I need that I call Colin. So I had, I even talked to Tom Wilson yesterday. I got the Junkhouse album out here. That's not the album of Colin Cripps on it, but you know, we mentioned Shine. So Spoons, Crash Vegas, Junkhouse, Kathleen Edwards, Brian Adams. And then of course,

he joins Blue Rodeo. When did you join Blue Rodeo, Mike Bagooski? I joined in 2008, but don't forget that Colin also helped Geddy Lee write a very cool book about basses and so he's very knowledgeable. He collects guitars, right? He's one of the most renowned appraisers of guitars in the world, actually, if you want to know the truth. I got a question about that. So I believe that when Geddy was doing this book about basses, he had gotten in touch with Colin as an advisor and he's very connected with the Rush, the remaining members of Rush.

So, you know, Colin is a very well-liked, well-known, well-connected guy. So have we done the Colin Cripps part? I'm so close, man. Listen, you know, going up the lid here, but Colin Cripps confirmed for July 16, but then because we were talking. Yeah, because I live down the street from you,

I guess that's what your listeners need to know. So when you called me, I was literally like 15 minutes away. I'm like, yes, I can be there I just did an interview yesterday on CIUT on 334578 with Steve Frutman With myself and Bob Wiseman because we have a tour going on this not we're not calling it a tour. That's right We're just we're just doing shows, but we're sort of calling it two pianos. No rodeo, which is a great name It's a great name. Of course course, Bob came up with that name. And it really is, I've started, I've rejected everything. Now I'm really, I've reached a point,

I was gonna do this song which really explains my position, but I've sort of reached the end of the line of playing, other than Blue Rodeo and John Bora, of course. There's also Neff with Tia. Two bands, oh, this is why I can't do the thing tomorrow night other than Blue Rodeo and John Bora, of course, who are also two bands. Oh, this is why I can't do the thing tomorrow night because I'm actually playing in Mimico with the John Bora band at a private function. I knew there was something at the back of my mind.

Pugewski is referring to is the fact that I'm like, Pugewski, you live in the neighborhood, get your ass to Great Leagues Brewery tomorrow, which is June 26th, 2025, because from 6 to 9 p.m. it's TML X 19, Palma Pasta will feed you, your first beer is on the house, we can hang and you're telling me you're in a Mimico which is next door to Great Lakes. There's this guy named Bob and he hangs around the Cameron house and

he's a wonderful benefactor of the arts. I don't know Bob's last name but he basically brings in independent artists to play in his house. And he's just like four streets over. Yeah, and he invites people in the community and he feeds the artists and he pays everybody really well. So we've been doing these outdoor barbecues every summer.

So we're doing one tomorrow. I guess if you know Bob, get in touch with Bob. Well, Bob and I should have combined our events. I think you and Bob need to actually get to know each other. No, introduce me to Bob. I think the two of you. Who's coming over there need to actually get to know each other. Introduce me to Bob. I think the two of you. Who's coming over there? I wanna know who's in Mimico in these backyards.

Bob is the sort of music benefactor of Mimico. So he's somebody you definitely need to connect with. Well, introduce me to Bob. I'll give you his email when we're done. So you're not available for TMLX 19? No, because I'm playing with John, and unfortunately it's the last time I'm gonna be playing with John for quite some time

because Blue Rodeo is so busy this summer. But before, we were talking about about this how I have never, I've reached a point at the age of 47 where I finally started writing songs. I now sing, I'm a singer-songwriter. I never thought that would happen. Bob Wiseman he hosts along with some other people this really great open stage at the Trans Act on Mondays. And I've known Bob for a long time. I knew Bob before I knew anybody in Blue Rodeo.

I sort of got in touch with Bob recently and I said, you know, I really miss your shows. I miss, you know, I used to go to your shows where you would have your projector and he's a great songwriter. I said, are you doing any? And I know he's really engrossed in doing his PhD and he's sort of gone into the academic world now

and he doesn't really do that much live music as much as he used to. But he said to me, well, why don't we do something together? We'll call it Two Pianos and a Rodeo. I happen to be in this place now where, like I said, other than Blue Rodeo and John Bora, I'm not really into doing cover gigs. I'm not really into learning material.

I'm really into writing and improvising. I'm going through a bit of another personal crisis in my life right now with my mother's very, she's got some challenges. And so I find that back the last time in my life where I had really deep personal challenges going on in 2016, I also went down the improv hole. And so everything in the universe has sort of come together

at this point now where I'm very much wanting to do a set of my own music, of my own improvisations. Bobby's gonna do the same. So I think I'll probably do the first set, he'll do the second set. And I think if you're really into improvised piano, if you're into original singer songwriter material, if you're into Bobbyvised piano, if you're into original singer-songwriter material, if you're into Bobby's material, if you haven't heard my songs and you'd like to see, well, what's

that going on? I thought Mike Boguski was just a keyboard player. I didn't know he wrote songs and sang. Then come to this show because it's going to be really interesting. I have a lot of affection for Bobby and his work. He's been very much a mentor to me for many years through email and whatnot. So the opportunity to do this sort of dual show with him is something that is quite special.

And we've got shows booked in Toronto on July 10th at Selders & Newell Bookstore on College Street. July 12th, we're playing Gore's Landing Hall in Gore's Landing. I believe we are then doing Stratford the day after Blue Rodeo does their show at the Budweiser stage. I think that's August 25th. And I think we're also going to Wolf's Island

on August 30th. Chris Brown from- Chris Hugh Brown. Chris Hugh Brown. He rebranded when the other Chris Browns spoiled it. I feel badly for him. He has a wonderful venue on Wolf's Island. We're doing a show there. He's got like a Steinway piano and I think we're

trying to add one in Montreal and or Bancroft. So follow at Mike Boguski music, or I think he's at Rock Bob. I'm not sure of Bobby's handle on the Instagram or the Facebook, but we're advertising these shows and we'd love to see you. I'm so intrigued by this, this duo, Bobby Wiseman and Mike Boguski. Now, when you're hanging out with Bob, I'm always curious because Bob has been over. How, by the way, when you were talking to CIUT yesterday,

Steve Frutman, right? He's so knowledgeable. How long was the chat? Oh, I think we were chatting for a good 45 minutes. Okay, because I was searching for long form Bobby Wiseman chats and there's not much out there, but you guys did 45 minutes which I would consider long-form. Maybe a half an hour 45. I wasn't, it wasn't the longest interview, it wasn't the shortest interview, it was somewhere in the middle.

Somewhere in the middle, okay. I find him fascinating Bobby Wiseman. Like just the, even the whole persona, like he's such an artist. He's very committed to what he does, right? I mean, when he plays piano, you know, there's a truthfulness to the way he plays when his songs are very direct and truthful and there's not a lot of, I don't know what the word is, you know, what you hear is what you get. And I think with improvisation, I was explaining this on the interview yesterday, that I had, I guess the difference between Bobby and myself is Bobby is more, the more outside of any framework he is, the more comfortable he is.

He is a pure improviser. I'm sure there's structure to his improvisations, but he's really a master improviser. I am someone who is an improviser as well. I'm not as far along in that journey as he is, but just to sort of watch him every time I hear him or watch him play, I take it in and it somewhat goes through my consciousness and comes out in my playing. So again, it's just artistic osmosis. Now let me tell the listenership that when we were chatting about you coming over as

like a substitute of sorts, like you're filling in for Colin Cripps here. So this is an improvisation of itself right here. You gave me a call, you have no notes, you called me, I'm here, we're talking. So this is sort of the improvisation of life. You originally, for a moment you said, you know, you asked, can I bring Bob Wiseman? Yeah, I texted Bob, I said hey if you're in the neighborhood come to Toronto Mic because I'm gonna be there but you go, we had about a half an hour lead-up time so I didn't really. Well, here's the thing though, if Bob had been

here, that would have given me an opportunity, I'm doing a micumentary on a change of heart gong, like a little gong that appears on the album Smile. And this gong was performed by Gilmore from Triumph. Okay, so Gil did it, I guess, at a studio and then they had to get this audio to whatever going on with Change of Heart, Ian Blurton's band. But I am told by Ian Blurton himself that it is Bob Wiseman who produced the gong. So Bob played a role in producing the gong that Gilmore does not remember doing, by the way, because I had Gil down here and we talked about it. So Gilmore hits a gong, I guess that is, what's the name of it?

Metalworks? Metalworks, yeah. So he hits a gong, it's produced by Bob Wiseman, and then the audio obviously gets to whatever change of heart for for smile but finally I would have had an opportunity to find out from Bob like did this happen because Gilmore does not like did Gilmore hit this gong aren't you interested did Gilmore hit this gong I feel this is should be a bigger story I think you should have Bob back on here and you can ask him and then he'll well I of course I would love to have Bob

Wiseman back on and it sounds like there was a moment where it could have happened right now. This is like when Saturday Night Live learned that Paul McCartney and John Lennon were in town and then they tried to get them to come by on a Saturday night for Saturday Night Live. Like I almost had Bob Wiseman answer my gong question, but I'm going to tell you and the listenership that episode 1300 of Toronto Miked features Bob Wiseman and we talked about question but I'm gonna tell you and the Bruce McCullough, Lowest of the Low, Robert Priest and others so you can find that

episode. It's an hour and 10 minutes. I talked to Bob Wiseman. The thing I love about Bob's CV the most is that he actually got Ron signed. I mean, I don't know if a lot of people know that, that Ron and many others of Bob's songwriting circle would appear at these open stages. And I think Bob went to great lengths

to make that first album for Ron Sexsmith and ultimately got Rob that Sorry ultimately got Ron the record deal which then led to quite a career so Kudos to Bob for helping another artist there. That's that's the kind of thing Bob does a lot. He's got a good ear That's why he's playing with Boguski got a good heart to change of heart, okay, so There's a message on the live stream for you now. We've already learned you won't be at TMLX 19 tomorrow. Although I feel I should talk to this other Bob

about like maybe start later and just come to Great Lakes for like an hour and then do this Mimico thing, but I don't know Bob, so I can't make that happen. But there's a woman named Andy who will be at TMLX 19 tomorrow. And Andy says, tell Mike B, we're both Mike B's by the way, but tell Mike B that there will be an old friend at tmlx who wants to say hi if he shows up. Andy Pandy.

So is Andy the old friend or is Andy the? Andy's the old friend. Andy, I know so many. Andy Mackenzie. Andy Mackenzie. Loves Degrassi. Does that help at all? Degrassi head? Absolutely, yeah. Can you visualize her? Very attractive woman. She came over when Arlene Lott was over here recently who's like, now she's like the queen of pies or something. Oh my gosh, Andy Mackenzie.

It just sort of like, literally like my brain was like. Look at how happy you look. No, I don't. And then I'm like, is it the same? Well, say hi to Andy for me and I was listening to you right now but I wish I could do it how you doing I wish I could be there but I'm doing a private show with John Boar band and maybe we'll see you down the road sometime I just saw John Boar at the

garrison for like a tragically hip cover night where it was in for Daily Bread Food Bank and in sort of like in honor of Dave Bookman. Cool. It was pretty cool actually and I think I saw him I know I saw him now because he was in Change of Heart. Borough was in change of heart. Glenn Milton was in Change of Heart. I saw them both at this Change of Heart show at Geary. I think Glenn went to that show and he spoke yeah he spoke very favorably of it. He said it was amazing. It's a cool venue too.

I'm sure it is. I remember seeing Change of Heart when like, the first university I attended was York University way back after Power and they were playing like the campus pub in Winners College. I can't remember the name of it, the Absinthe, that's it. The name of the pub was the Absinthe. And Change of Heart was playing in this tiny little pub and I was blown away. I'm not sure what the lineup was but... Amazing. As long as you got Ian there you got it. I played a couple times with Ian. Bernard Mazo too, I think he's a key guy in Change of Heart. Yeah he's a synth

guy. He makes all the bloops and bleeps. Okay you can add him and Rob Pruse. So Rob Pruse of course will be at TMLX 19. I want to get a story from you if I can. But first I have a question about power. So I and your brother, Mark, we are the last graduating class from the original location. And I am, I am, I was in halfway through grade 10 when it moved. So I would have been the last full year grade nine class to be at the old location. So this is my question for you. You're in a unique position to answer this. What was it like? Like, I mean, I never got a moment in the new facility,

which is close to Centennial Park there, but what was it like to just be in the same high school but have a new building? Oh, it was totally weird. I mean, it definitely took a while to get used to it. It never had the sort of campus feel of the old location, which really was sort of like a little mini college, right? Cause you had St. Joe's, you had Michael Power,

you had Center Portable, North Portable. So you really got the feel that you were- It was a portable gym? Yeah, it was wild. There was all sorts of wildness. It was like a campus. The new power was obviously like a traditional high school. And so I didn't have that.

But you know, we made it work and eventually became home. It's funny you mentioned that campus thing we had going on power because you know, I would watch shows like Degrassi or 902 and oh and they just had a big building. Right. But I didn't know any better. Right. So I thought it was like all high schools were kind of in that that that university vein that we had at Michael Power.

But when I went to U of T after, and it really did prepare you like, oh, I'm in this building at this time, in this building, because sometimes you'd have that, like I don't know what it was, 10 minutes between classes or whatever. Oh, you're in power proper, and now you gotta go to the second floor of St. Joe's or whatever for math or whatever.

It was quite, and I remember one year, I broke my leg one year in grade nine, I did. So I was on crutches for six weeks, and I remember that 10 minutes to get across campus on the crutches, man. Were you the class that the grad prank was you built a concrete wall in between the north and the south entrance of Center Portable?

I don't remember this. I think somebody did that. They built a wall at night. And then when the school showed up in the morning, they're like, nobody could get in. Sounds like the good old days. Okay, I i gotta ask you but somebody who will be at again you hear i'm talking about tmlx 19 a lot because it's tomorrow for goodness sakes and i want like i'm getting food for like 100 people and i want people to show up and enjoy free palma pasta and

also you get your first beer on the house and i want to get as many free beers as i can because i'm that's the way i roll bugus, but I mentioned to you that snow is confirmed to attend TMLX 19. And you said you almost did something with snow. Can you tell me about that? Yeah, I've got two connections to snow. One is my wife was very good friends with his, his first wife who passed away.

And then I have a tennis friend, Karl Hale, who runs the Rogers Cup. He's a dual Jamaican Canadian citizen. He was on the Jamaican Cup Davis team, Davis Cup team, and he knew Snow back in the day. And so through those two connections, I've met Snow a few times. I had a track I wanted him to sing over. We never got a chance to have it actually happen. I guess he was busy, I'm busy, but I have a great love and respect for the artistry of Snow. I remember being down at Rebel Fest in Jamaica and that's, you know, he's very much respected down there. He has a lot of respect and credibility in that scene. And so I think he's one of Canada's, I won't, should we call him an unsung? I don't think he's unsung.

I'm singing his praises. I think his, his two walks pretty, pretty big and popular back in the day. So shout out to snow and all his great music. Let's put it this way. Billboard hot 100, which is sort of the standard for a lot of chart watchers and us billboard hot 100. I'm talking about, uh, he went to number one for seven weeks with Informer. Yeah, no that was huge. I think his dad played tennis at Central Park Tennis too with

my dad. So that's another, that's four snow connections. I don't know, I don't know if he even like, he never talks about his dad. I feel like maybe I'm not sure. I don't know about that fourth one. I just remember back in the day in the 80s, there was a guy at Central Park tennis who was- Like an O'Brien? Maybe, I don't know. Maybe there was- He's a Darren O'Brien. Maybe it was another Jamaican artist, I'm not sure. Okay, well we're gonna check in on that story. So one of the interesting stories that came out

from my last episode of Toronto Mike, which was about like this period of time, we're, you know, you're in your late 40s, I'm turning 51 on Friday. So we kind of were aging out of this style. Maybe I'm gonna ask you about this scene that had like some 41 and Avril Lavigne and then you had like Billy Talent and Alexis on fire. Yeah. What did you think of that explosion? Early 2000s? That's like I was out of like I already had attached myself to to the scene that I'm still a part of now right. I was you know Blue Rodeo and Ron Sexsmith and

you know Change of Heart. It just I think whatever's happening in high school early university you know that's where you're attached. And I have great respect for those bands and they've certainly paid their dues, especially some 41. I think they really, you know, it's just, I don't attach to that aesthetic. It's just not my bag. Yeah, I know. I mean, I felt when I was having this chat with these guys, I realized, oh yeah, they're like 15 years younger than me. Like, this is really for a younger demo, but those in the sweet spot, that would really hit, hit I would think if you're in high school I'm sure some 41 hits like that's sort of like your your beastie boys or something

I'm sure I'm sure to the kids who attached to that scene there They're as passionate as you and I are about our scene. You know what I mean, right now. Here's a little mind-blow for you Okay, I actually talked to snow about this and then we talked about it again yesterday But the song the hit song in too deep by some 41 was going to be like a reggae song with snow. Oh, nice. That would have been amazing. And I need to find out there's a guy named Frank. Shout out to Frank. I hope Frank shows up tomorrow. I don't know, but he's kind of like snow's right hand man when it comes to the music. I got to find out if he has any like demos or something.

I need to get my mitts on In Too Deep with Snow. I gotta find this, Sum 41 Snow collaboration. I'm gonna see what I can do. Oh yeah, if you can find that, please flip it my way. I would love to hear that. Maybe this is my gateway into Sum 41. Well, they're done, right? They did that final concert at the Junos and called it.

We'll see if they have it come back to us. I can still listen to their old records. I guess you can do that, it. We'll see if they have it come back to listen to their, to the old records. I guess you can do that. Sure. We'll let you do that. Have you ever crossed paths with Ashley McKyzec? No, I haven't, but I know Basil Donovan has, and I think there's a Bobby connection. I might be wrong. I'm not sure about that one, but all great artists have a Bobby connection. Yeah. He's pretty influential guy.

You said the word Basil and I realized, okay, name name check Basil's like a missing link for me I'm gonna have to pick this up but name check the current lineup of Blue Rodeo. Okay so we'll start with the with the original members that's Jim Cuddy. Okay Jim Cuddy is an FOTM. Greg Keeler. Greg Keeler is an FOTM. Basil Donovan. Haven't had Basil over yet. Oh you'd have a great interview. Basil was probably the guy who you wouldn't even have to do any kind of backstory research. You just put a mic on, he'll talk to you about old Toronto. I mean, Basil saw The Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens. He can start from there.

Like he goes deep. He's deep into the Toronto music history. So I highly recommend you get Basil Donovan on this show. Totally going to do it. Keep going there. Okay. So we're the originals we've already done, right? Jim, Greg and Baz.

Then we have Glenn Melchum. Who has visited. He's an FOTM. After Glenn Melchum, the next longest serving member of the band would be more, Mike Boguski. And you're a multi-time visitor and love having you as an FOTM. I love being here, thanks Mike. And then after myself, the next member to have joined was Colin Cripps. Who will be here July 16th.

You know what it's like though when you're prepped for somebody, I think I told you this off recording, but you got the songs loaded up, you've been diving in and do the research, you start to get excited about it, right? Like I have so many questions for Colin Cripps. I have a question from Tom Wilson, I have some junk house questions, I have all these questions for calling Crips. I have a question from Tom Wilson. I have some junk house questions.

I have all these questions. I get all excited. Like to have that feeling, okay, it's 11 o'clock and you're kind of around 10 50, 10 50. You sort of, you're prepped. The live stream has started. You got all your files set up and everything. You're like, you just need your guests now.

And you're kinda getting closer to 11. You're like, oh, you know, rock stars, you know, he's not gonna be early. And then it hits 11 and you look outside and it's like, you're like looking for like, you're like a dog yeah, no rock stars, you know, he's not going to be early. And then it hits 11 and you look outside and it's like, you're like looking for you, like you're like a dog waiting for its owner to come home. And then it's 11, 02, 11, 03. And you're like, I think I'm being stood up.

Like you have this feeling like you're stood up by calling Crips and then you get, you know, and that's when I went hunting for that phone number and you came in, that's improvisation of life right there. But I just want to go to the final member to have joined our group, which is of the great Jimmy Bosco. Of course. And he is, uh great Jimmy Bosco of course and he is He's I mean, he's been a star since he was 13 years old. I mean, he's a he's a jazz. Sorry a blues phenom He he's you know, Colin Linden toured with him. I think he did a tour with BB King if I'm not mistaken

He went on to the sheepdogs. He has a great group called Brooks and Bosco with his wife Brittany So you want to get Jimmy Bosco? No, you know what? I'm going to, this is my pledge for the summer of 2025. I'm going to complete the Blue Rodeo collection. Right on. Thank you so much. And when, I know we're not here to talk a lot of Blue Rodeo, but when can we see Blue Rodeo next? In Toronto, it's the third weekend in August. What is is that the 24th? Okay August though okay well I'm not sure I don't have my calendar in front of me. And that's a Budweiser stage. That's our annual summer show at Budweiser stage

then we're beginning our 40th anniversary tour which takes us across Canada that goes through October November a bit of December and then January we end in Massey Hall here in Toronto so that's's a big one, you don't want to miss that one. Well, you know, I said this to you last time you visited, which by the way, last time you visited, you brought with you Cleve Anderson. Yeah, we had that group, West of James, fantastic. Nickle Robertson on guitar too.

Yeah, and he's a Mimico guy, right? He's a Mimico guy, yeah. Is he gonna be in Bob's backyard tomorrow? Cleve, well yeah, for sure. It'll be Derek Brady on bass, Cleve Anderson on, Derek Brady plays with the Skydiggers and plays with Huxley Workman and then cleave Anderson on the drums, myself on accordion and piano and the great Johnny Borah on vocals and doing his wonderful songs. What a small musical world we live in. I find all these names, you know you mentioned

Hawk there and it's like how it all connects and everything. Small, small little village that we live in, the Canadian music scene. Well, okay, so I'm gonna drop a couple of names on you. Well, you mentioned Cleve. So, Cleve was in The Battered Wives. Mm-hmm. And I feel like Cleve would have something to say about the passing of Stephen Leckie from The Vile Tones. When did that happen? I'm gonna say maybe one or two weeks ago that happen? I'm gonna say maybe one or two weeks ago. Really? Toronto Mike you're laying this on me for the first time. I had no idea. That's super sad. Well, Liz Worth who wrote the book on

that scene which is like that Toronto punk scene from the late 70s early 80s. I had her on Toronto Mike to talk about the passing of Stephen Leckie. You should check that out. And she's actually married to a guy named Kiri Paputs and Kiri's dad was a founding member of the Vile Tones and he went by the name Chris hate Do you know what name I almost don't like saying it but the name that Stephen Leckie chose as his like stage name persona In the vile to be what Nazi dog? Yeah, that's that wouldn wouldn't age well. I always thought that if I were a member of that any band in that scene that my name would be Michael Abuski. Oh you know what? Much better than Nazi dog. Are you kidding me? Like I always think oh Kiri's dad Chris went by

Chris Hate. I'm like there's a name you know as an old man you can be proud and say yeah I was Chris Hate. But the thing is about those punks in that time, like I think about who were the guys from California? A black flag, right? Right. And then there was another one. Oh gosh. The American hardcore scene. Yeah. And the American hardcore scene, like, you know, who was the one that had that song? California Uber Ali's. Oh gosh, they're American punk band, who was the one that had that song, California Uberallis? Oh gosh, they're an American punk band. But sort of they would make Nazi references, but not as to extol those hateful values,

but as a resistance to fascism. But in today's day and age, that doesn't, you just can't do that anymore. I forget today's, okay, so you and I. It's very, I just wanna finish this point, because it was interesting. I was actually playing a Bob Wiseman CD, which one was it, In the Car?

And he has a song called My Cousin Dave, it's a very comical tune where he talks about David Geffen being a distant related cousin. And then he uses the tune to call out David Geffen for signing Guns N' Roses. And he mentions that Guns N' Roses and he mentions that Guns N' Roses uses the N word and they call LGBTQ people the F word. The Dead Kennedys by the way. Dead Kennedys, there we go yeah. But anyway so my son was

listening to it and all he could hear was that line and he was like oh you can't use that word and I'm trying to explain to my 16 year old I'm saying no no no he's calling it out. This is like social justice. He's written a song saying, you know, you shouldn't have bands like Guns N' Roses on your label because they use these abhorrent, hateful words. But it just didn't, my son couldn't get it.

Cause he's been, his generation has been raised to just, you don't use that word ever. Not in any kind of- I'm so glad you're raising this point cause I often, I used to believe strongly that context was king, right? It's all in context, but at some point that completely changed. That completely changed, and you know what? I think I'm okay with it.

Like, I think it's safer... But are we talking about the N-word? N-word, F-word... Like, is there a word other... So I don't, I won't say the N-word even if I'm quoting somebody. I won't say it at all, like I'm doctrinaire, and I won't say the F-word also. Yo, so the homophobic slur. Yes, it's Pride Month so I won't use the F word, I won't use the N word and I'm sort of down with my son's generational approach to it whereas I do recognize something's lost but maybe that's just the

evolution of things that we're out of state now where it's Doctrineer you just don't use it and that's cool. So Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall was here a couple months ago and in fact his agent will be at TMLX, not Scott but his agent Arlene will be at TMLX 19, can't wait to see her, and Larry, that'll be a good time. But I wouldn't say the name,

and I'm gonna say it actually, so to me there is a difference, I won't say the N-word even in a context, I won't quote an NWA song or a context, like I won't quote like an NWA song or something and use the N word. I think Chris Rock says we're supposed to just like enjoy it but then pause when that line comes up. You know, that's the thing.

Right, well yeah, right, right. I'm thinking of office space, right? Like I was wrapping along to ghetto boys. Okay, so where am I going with this? Except I didn't wanna say the F slur. And Scott Thompson, I won't say it but Scott kind of got on me like just say it and he said it but he of course he has license to say it but he's like just say it or whatever like he was basically just saying

like but when we were in high school we've all gone too far like just say it but when we were in high school we did say we didn't even know it was bad it was used every second sentence and then you know there were still know, there were still people in high school that were hip enough to know, you know what, don't use that word. And we laughed at them. And, you know, back in the 60s and 70s, there was people that were hip enough to know, don't use the N-word at all. Like they had a 20-25 view of that word. So like, I'm not trying to like, I don't think historical shaming is cool. I love Patti Smith and I love all of the artists that use the N-word as part of a resistance. John Lennon.

But you know what, there were still people at that time, a very small group of people that were like, nah, I'm not even going to go there. And you know what, maybe they made the right call. So back to the other N-word, Nazi. Okay. So, and again, you and I can't really speak to this because we weren't there in the late seventies, early eighties, but you know, we're not, we were there. We just weren't, we were just a little too young. We were on Queen Street. But I keep hearing people bend over backwards to try to justify like why punks were some punks, some punks were against it obviously, but why some punks were against it, obviously, but why some punks were using the swastika and Nazi dog and stuff like this.

And sorry, it still doesn't pass my sniff test because you're only 30 to 40 years removed from World War II. Exactly, exactly. Millions and millions of Jewish people were killed because of their religion and under the guise of this swastika and this Nazi regime.

And I'm sorry, I don't get it. Like I didn't get it when I watched old docs about like that Nathan Phillips Square in 1980 or was it 81? I don't know. They had like this, I think teenage head, I have Jean Champagne's drumsticks right here. But I think the Vile Tones played this and this whole event was happening and there was I can see footage of guys wearing jackets with swastikas in the back. I don't fucking get it. I think it was shock value and I think to some extent like it's like Kanye today. I

think it's just let's go for the most extreme shock value you possibly can. But you know you have to at a certain point Reconcile your ignorance right like you know I think if you're ignorant You're just going to grab whatever is shock value, and you may not be hateful You may not have hate in your heart But I don't know if ignorance isn't like I think if you're ignorant, and you're not hateful You'll you'll eventually become hateful like ignorance is the first part of it, and I think education You know is so important, and I think when you when people are gonna get swastika and be hardcore it's like okay you're ignorant because you don't know what that

represents you don't know how many people died like my great-grandfather died in Auschwitz you know my you know I have I'm Polish right like it's the history is is brutal and so I just think if everybody had a little bit more historical understanding of what that symbol truly represented, then they wouldn't want to grab it as a shock value piece. But because there's such a lack of funding for education, especially in the states, there's a lot of of disproportionate levels of education that people just don't get it. ignorance as far as and maybe it is miseducation but it would only take you know one quick conversation with somebody who knows to kind of tell you hey let's you know Chris Haidt is a better handle

than Nazi dog. I agree I agree. All right you know context is king but now I'm again I dropped this quick reference every time somebody points out the fact that they're using the N-word in context which is that Wendy Mesley was quoting the name of a book, I think, and it has the N-word in it written by a black woman. I believe if I got the story right, in Wendy Mesley, an

internal, it wasn't on CBC, an internal conversation where she used the N-word in that context, and that pretty much led to her being walked out of the CBC. So there is no context that's appropriate for some slurs. Well, it just seems that that's where we're're at and at the same time I do understand that there are people who are like, no, no, that's extreme. But I don't know, I think hate is a really bad thing and I think sometimes extreme positions are needed to keep it at bay and I just think, you know, you look what's going on right now down south and right you know

these are scary times and they may not be scary for certain people but for other communities are very scary right now and so I think everybody needs to to be a little bit aware of that. The only acceptable hate is hate of Nazis, fuck the Nazis. I remember I worked with I had a friend who I worked at a bookstore with and he used to say hate a lot like oh I hate this, I hate the weather, I hate traffic and he goes what did he say he goes what's the line he had a great line about just the word hate itself he said I can't remember right now but it was the point being that even to say hate. It's a strong word You know you got to reserve it. You know like just try to avoid

Avoid I don't like traffic. I don't like traffic either. Let me tell you I I'm not a fan of it down here at Lake Shore and no I come like I've I've written okay I'm gonna do I'm gonna do this right now Amber Morley if you're listening. I wrote you an email yesterday I can't get to work and neither can my wife We need a solution. Why are you shutting down eastbound? Lakeshore to one lane while eastbound Gardner shut down and why are you also now shutting down westbound to one lane at Parklawn to wrap up the TTC tracks? Like do you really want all of us in Memico to just suffer? I mean, come on we can do better than that

Little logistics, please. So Amber Morley visits once a year where basically we do like a recap of what's going on in that year. I could totally pull that clip. We'll see how it ages by the next time she visits but she does visit regularly and I would pull that clip and play it for her. Please do. Because you know as much as I like her as a person when she was on last time I told her that there's only one bike ring left outside Mimico Arena and my son and I would bike there. And I explained that there used to be three, one just got run over and then one has no ring. It's just a pole. So you can't actually use it. And then she had an assistant with her who took a note in real time and she says, oh, we'll get that fixed. Okay.

This was December, 2024. We're now talking. This is just the putting a fix in a fucking bike ring. And we're now talking at the end of June, 2025. And I can tell you there's still only one bike ring outside Mimico arena. I'm happy to come on when you have Amber here, by the way. You know what? I can make that happen. You can. And by the way, I will say it's, it's tough work. We got a, there's a tough work to be a city council. There's only 25. I would love to write an improvised song on the spot.

When Amber's here, I'm happy to do it. But she, a person, I will say on a personal level, I'm a big Amber Morley fan. Yeah, for sure. No, she's got her mind and her heart in the right direction, but the traffic logistics need to be, in this particular neighborhood, it's reached the point where it could become a mental health issue for the whole community.

It's really getting serious. I agree. Now my wife who works, well she works like York and Queens Quay, she typically gets herself the Mimico Go Station and then takes the Go. This is her move. Well that would make sense but we're all the way past Park Lawn. Like we're almost something where that tent. What happened to the go station

that they're supposed to put the old Christie? Yeah, that's fact. The Christie cookies factory, you know, that's that's been one of my going to be like retired by the time I see that. I'll get it. I'll get some answers to

these questions. You said by accident, you said Christie Pitts and I need to mention Christie. Well, yeah, I'm here to tell you, man. Yeah, you got to get your ass to these questions. You said by accident you said Christy Pitts and I need to tell you. You mentioned Christy Pitts. Well yeah I'm here to tell you man. You got to get your ass to Christy Pitts this summer. It's the best baseball in the city outside the dome and it's by far the best value in the city. No ticket required. Grab a hot dog, grab a beer, enjoy some awesome baseball. That's so great. That's so great. Toronto Mike is so great. CIUT and Steve Frutman is so great and Christy Pitts baseball is so great. CIUT and Steve Fruitman is so great. And Christie Pitts baseball is so great.

There's a lot of great things still in this great city of ours. So don't don't let the haters tell you that Toronto sucks because Toronto's awesome. Cleve Anderson is so great. Bobby Wiseman, he's great. They're all great. Apparently Colin Cripps is great, too. Colin Cripps is great. He just probably had some serious going on.

Well, I'll find out. That'll be my first question is what happened? And that'll be my first question here. I do have a book for you, Mike Bogusky on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. Oh yeah, I'll take that. Of course you're taking that. Also, since I'm giving you gifts, I have a measuring tape for you. This was going to be Collins. Now it's yours. Can I take Collins lasagna? You know what? You know what? You can have Collins. You know what? Just the lasagna. We'll take the lasagna. Okay, palma pasta lasagna. Absolutely. And then again, if you got your way to Great Lakes tomorrow,

there'll be more fresh pasta waiting for you there. I have some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. You have a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. They only sell Canadian caskets at Ridley Funeral Home. They're very proud to have Northern Casket to offer to their families. And again, that's a proudly Canadian. They're proud to support Canadian companies. And you should check if the funeral that you're going to use is Canadian owned and if they are providing great Canadian products, because that's what you'll find at Ridley Funeral

Home. Shout out to Brad Jones and his excellent podcast, Life's Undertaking. Speaking of excellent podcasts, this is only the second last time because this is a the three-month deal ends at the end of June. But season eight of Yes We Are Open has just dropped and I got to ask you Mike Boguski, did you ever make a trip out to I guess Blue Rodeo, do you ever play Regina? Saskatchewan Regina many times blue rodeo. Have you ever been out there unrelated to blue rodeo? No, never been to Regina on related to blue rodeo. Okay tough questions on this program here Well, I'm telling you Al Greggo made his way to Regina and he talked to some small business owners about their trials and tribulations And these inspiring stories are in season eight of Yes We Are Open.

Also I was talking to Cliff Hacking. He's from EPRA. They're the good people behind RecycleMyElectronics.ca and Cliff is going to do his very best to hang with us at Great Lakes Brewery tomorrow night at TMLX 19. Of course if you have old cables, old electronics, old devices, devices Mike you don't throw it in the garbage No, I don't I'm gonna just stop you right there See I'm I still use a flip phone from 2009 and I can't stop using it So I have about like 30 of them that I've bought over the years and they're slowly starting to die

And I got a message from Bell saying that I have to pay three dollars a month now because they won't support 3g So I want to get rid of my old ones I'm gonna go to recycle your electronics recycle myca. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Put in your postal code, find out where to drop it off. I haven't seen one of those in a long time. Keeps you Trump free. You have no newsfeed with these. Okay, there's a beautiful woman on your screen. Who is she? Oh, that's my beautiful wife Eva. How long you been married to Eva? Eva and I have been together for over a decade but we are officially married two years. Okay that's exciting. Hopefully I get to meet, maybe send Eva to TMLX19 tomorrow. I will. Alright last but not least I

want to shout out Nick Aynes and Building Toronto Skyline. He also has Building Success series where you remember he coached me that was quite the episode of Toronto Mike much Love for your support Nick. I Ene's and fusion corp and I look forward to recording new episodes of building success with Nick I Ene's you should subscribe and Listen, okay. Can you tell me about a recent guest to this program who I got to know she shreds kind of like Ashley McKay, but Anne Lindsay, do you know Anne Lindsay? I do know Anne.

And Anne, just to bring it back to this improv thing I'm pushing with Bobby, is also a student of, was a student of Casey Sokol. So Casey was a guy up at York University that ran this contemporary improvisation program since like 1971, he retired about four years ago. But you know, Bobby was a student, Anne Lindsay was a student and Lindsay was a student I was a student John why not and born two other people related to

Blue Rodeo so yeah and is a great improviser and a great musician and just a nice nice person who I've spent a lot of time with. She's with the Jim Cuddy band. That's correct yeah. But she has had periods where she played with Blue Rodeo. Yeah, she also played with Paige and Plant. Yeah, we talked about that, yes, yes. So hello to Ann Lindsay, who came up organically. I was in Blair Packham's backyard last weekend. Here, you know, Blair Packham from the Jibbers.

Yeah, I remember Blair, yeah, for sure. He used to have a radio program where he would support independent songwriters. I don't know if he still does that. No, but he did. He told me. I believe it was on 1010. Way back when, before it was like available on terrestrial radio, he was at U of T radio, but he was with Jim Reid. I think his name is Jim Reid and they had a show on 1010 for quite a long time, but no more. But he will also be at TMX 19. But I was there and

organically somebody started talking about Anne Lindsay and I was like, I know Anne Lindsay. Because my first question for Anne was, what the hell is the difference between a fiddle and a violin? What was her answer? I would have loved to hear it. She says there's no difference.

It's how you play it. It's how you play it, yeah. But I actually, can I tell you? I was this year's old, 50 years old, when I learned that there's nothing different between the actual instrument of a violin and a fiddle. I had no idea. Yeah, I know. It would be like a piano that you play barrel house, bar room piano on or Mozart, and it's still a piano.

How was this improvised, spontaneous episode of Toronto Mike, the Great Mike Bagusey? I think it's the best one we've done yet, Mike, honestly, like really improv. You can't say that because during the pandemic, when I was starving for live music, yes, all right. You set up your keyboard in the backyard and you played a diamond mine. And I'm telling you, you can't talk that well. I, I, I did it in the style of weather report, which was a great jazz fusion group from the seventies.

I split the keyboard into like a Wayne shorter horn part and a, and a Jack O'Pastoriaius bass part and a zilentall Piano in the middle. So it was it was not just diamond mine was diamond mine honoring Weather report so give another shout out to you're calling it what? Two pianos no rodeo. Yeah, so it's called Bob Weisman and Mike Bogus, two pianos, no rodeo. We'll see you this summer. And you're taking Colin Cripps' lasagna.

You're gonna tell him you did that? Yeah, yeah, I'm like, Colin, I'm taking your lasagna. It's so good. Well, it's in the freezer. Somebody should enjoy it. It's delicious. And thank you to Palma Pasta. I gotta say thank you to Palma Pasta

because they're feeding us all tomorrow for free. Like there's no ticket for this event. You don't buy a ticket. I've had feedback from many people like, you should charge people for TMLX. I refuse Boguski. How good is that pasta that I'm actually taking Collins? Like I'm not just messing here.

Like it's that good folks, get it. Wait till you find out you could just buy it in Mississauga. I've driven past it, It's on Queensway there. Yeah, there's a three, I think they had four. I think it might be three right now, but absolutely here in Ontario in Queensway, you can buy some Palma pasta. And Palma's Kitchen is where we have an event

every holiday season, like late November, early December. I gotta get Boguski to one of those. And then maybe you can reunite with Andy McKenzie. Oh,'s going so far back. I couldn't, I can't believe I remember that. But how do you know Andy? Um... Let's get the Andy real talk before I play the, before I say the intro. Just high school, I think she went to ECI and there was a group of us getting into trouble together.

Smoking dope? Probably. Smoking dope and listening to New Kids on the bar she had great music taste I remember she she had really good taste in music and I remember I liked being around people that dug good music at that time you know in high school you quickly figure out like who likes good music and who doesn't I remember Andy and he had good music taste and now she's all about the boy bands. But not the new boy bands, like new kids on the block. 98 degrees would excite Andy. Hey, whatever you dig, I'm never gonna, you know, whatever you dig

is good for you and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And thank you to Rob Pruse for this extra. I believe tomorrow I'll be getting a new one if he finished it on time where he puts new Easter eggs at the end. Rob Pruse in the basement tomorrow with Bob Willett. It's an episode of toast and then we're literally doing like two hours of toast and then we're gonna all three of us are gonna make our way to Great Lakes Brewery at 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard for TMLX19, Be There or Be Square. And that brings us to the end of our 1,719th show. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible.

Again, that is Great Lakes Brewery. Their podcast is called Between Two Fermenters and it's excellent. Hosted by Troy Burch. Palma Pasta, feeding us all tomorrow. Delicious Italian food available in Mississauga, Oakville, and I think at some Longos and at palmapasta.com. Menaris, love working with Menaris. Yes, We Are Open is the podcast. Toronto Maple Leafs

Baseball. Snow is the official ambassador. I'll be hanging with the snowman tomorrow. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto Skyline and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow for Toast with Bob and Rob. See you then. You