Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Michael Williams Returns: Toronto Mike'd #1331

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

In this 1331st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Michael Williams about the premiere of 299 Queen Street West at Roy Thomson Hall, the film itself, and all the great music he's been a part of in his lengthy career. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

No Cleveland, no Bowie. Welcome to episode 1331, that's 1331, of Toronto Mike. It's only two for me. 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. Pumpkins After Dark. Use the promo code TOMIKE15 and save 15% this month at PumpkinsAfterDark.com. Re month at pumpkins after dark.com. Recycle my electronics.ca committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The advantaged investor podcast from Raymond James,

Canada valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed and focused on longterm success and. And Redleaf Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mic'd, is Michael Williams. The scene of the crime, I have returned. Dude, I missed you. How are you doing? I'm great, man. I'm really great.

Everything's been good. Music has been good, always. And as you know, I saw you at the great, man. I'm really great. Everything's been good. Music has been good always. And as you know, I saw you at the film, man. I saw you Friday night, buddy. Yeah, dude. I was a little bit late for the red carpet. I'm old enough when a red carpet meant that you actually got in a car, drove up, got out of the car, walked down the red carpet, and then in front of the car walked down the red carpet and then in front of the sponsorship pictures and place and then took the pictures now the car is gone right i was looking for the car the car is gone and you just sort of walk up and stand there and you know make faces at fans and friends and they take pictures it was a good time so many questions here but the most important question

is how is your coffee the uh the French press coffee from the TMDS studio. Is it good? It's good, man. It's good. Okay. I made myself a cup too. Okay. So before we discuss the doc and then we got some jams and you're going to speak to them.

Yeah. It's all about the music today, but what you got? Well, I'm going to just start by telling people in case this is your first time hearing Michael Williams on Toronto. What? Go back to episode 1318 so michael williams avoided me for 11 years and then he came over i don't know a few weeks ago uh episode 1318 this is the description i wrote mike chats with uh michael williams about

his years in montreal and vancouver before arriving at much music where he hosted the pepsi power hour rap city soul in the city electric circus and pretty much music where he hosted the pepsi power hour rap city soul in the city electric circus and pretty much every other show on the network we talked for like an hour and 45 minutes how was that experience for you it was good man it was good i mean considering i uh but you know this is the precursor to the book so it's it's all i'm giving you notes from the book dude so when is this book going to be uh i guess it's got to be next year it's got to be next year um i'm looking forward to uh touring canada in many forms and thanking people there's an educational component to that with musicians there's uh sort of like a one-man

show there's a dj tour there's a speak and spin thing and uh then there's i go out and play thing and uh with some of your favorite musicians so uh it's gonna be fun were you at all surprised at the uh the love and adoration that was uh heaped upon you on friday night i mean i was witness to it you vjs that were there you were beloved in that event. Were you surprised? No, no, I wasn't because it was that one chance. You know, much music happened. It was sort of like a supernova. It kind of happened, and then there was nothing, right?

There was no industry praise. There was no industry, hey, we missed this. There was a lot from the audience. There was always a lot from the audience, and the love always was between us and the audience. So I wasn't surprised when they got a chance to come out. A lot of people who have kids now and they say, we watch this and, you know, you should see this and, you know, and go to YouTube and check this out that there were people there to uh you know give it to us one more time possibly and um show some love so and also there was uh there was just fans each of us had our own fandom each of us had our own fan base as you could see as we were all sitting there and they all came out and uh and everybody got a lot of love from everyone there.

The event sold out. I'm never surprised because people loved what we did. And so for the people that are still around that remember what we did, there's a lot of love. But for young folks, it's really reintroducing them to something that is an important piece of Canadian history. I was also a part of Revival 69 with Ron Chapman last week. Great film.

I watched it. It was great. Yeah, and Little Richard, oh my God. And Little Richard is finally getting his due. That CNN special, I Am, just absolutely brilliant. And if you are a music fan, particularly a rock and roll fan, a black music fan, just a music fan in general you know you have to understand that chuck berry was important robert johnson was important

for sure but little richard the quasar of rock and roll a man who was black who was gay who was troubled who was poor he was kind of like the like the Ronnie Hawkins of his day from the standpoint that everybody, not everybody, everybody that means anything to you, the Beatles were his backup band. And he taught them how to play the music and to inspire them to play it properly. From those inspirations and from playing that music properly with him, it inspired them and gave them a basis, a foundation to build what became the Beatles on. So he was one of the, if not the most important person in rock and roll. And if you are young and of the LGBT community, you know, the inspiration is there if you are black the inspiration is there if you are male female doesn't matter if you are a music fan and you want to do be and play in music little richard

is such a wonderful example of what can happen at its best and always what can happen at its worst too just a genius before we get into the documentary itself and to give you a chance to sip some of that fresh coffee there uh i do want to just off the top you know come to toronto mike's for the coffee then he gives you beer and lasagna man this guy is better than a grocery store love it so much you know i saw andy kim on friday night and we were the andy kim and he and i had a great chat in the kitchen once he asked me to make him a coffee and i do they make it french press so it's not instant it takes a little time and uh we had a great chat and he was telling me about how much

he loved that coffee so there you go maybe every guest should get a coffee before they get their beer but i want to give some love to the director of this movie 299 queen street west he sent me tickets so i'll give a little love you can give a lot more but i just want to say uh like if i'm an independent content creator perspective that this guy sean menard younger cat he's only in his 30s right so he probably never saw michael williams on much music if you do not when it was happening live no he was doing other stuff uh like like uh watching uh barney or something i mean this is yeah barney you know he man he man he was watching he man yeah yeah but i want to just say this guy took a big fucking swing i mean he rented roy thompson hall on a friday night i'd

love to know what that cost right and and he filled the place with adoring fans and i will say i'm good you know good friends with fotm hall of fam Famer Ed Conroy, Mr. Retro Ontario, whose logo I saw at the end of this movie we watched on Friday night. So he was involved. Very important guy. Very important guy. But he and Joel Goldberg, shout out to Cleveland. Yeah.

No Cleveland, no Bowie. That's right. But they tried to make a much music documentary for four or five years, but kept hitting this roadblock called Bell Media. But Sean Menard got it done. So I just want to say he took a big swing. Good time was had by all. I fucking respect the shit out of the Sean Menard, man. He got this done.

And now I'll let you sing his praises before we talk about the movie itself. Well, I think I told you, and originally I said no to the movie. And it was that conversation I had with him at Starbucks that him and his associate producer, which was like at least three hours plus. And at the end of the conversation, I was still at a no. And then he told me he had been working on this for six years.

That showed me a lot of dedication, you know. And when he said he mortgaged his house to do it to do it that's the dedication that i do everything with it's all or nothing i could appreciate that i could understand that and i could respect that that he would go into the forest and attempt to come back with the goods no matter what because it was pretty important to him it was really important to all of us we would have all made different movies everybody has it in their head as to what they what they see uh but he made something with a beginning and a middle and an end and considering the place that we're talking about that was a superhuman herculean task he got it done like he got it done i saw this movie it exists it's two hours long i saw it on

friday night he did it you know it's like when you got you're down by three in the bottom of the ninth and you load the bases right and you gotta get to play and he gets you know two let's say it's full count and he gets caught looking you know what i always say go down swinging man take your cut you know if you if you swing and miss it's like but you were up there taking a big swing sean menard took a big fucking swing so hey you know for me it's like the canadians and the triple overtime right this is what he that's this is exactly what it is and he had to go at it in an independent way to get the attention of bell media and say, look,

I'm going to do this anyway, you know, with or without you. The real documentary that I want to see is the, uh, negotiations between a young filmmaker, Sean Menard and, uh,

bell media. That'll be the, uh, future documentary. That's just lawyers, man. All right. So what did you,

Michael Williams think? Cause you didn't see it until Friday night. We both saw this movie together. Not that we were sitting beside each other you had better seats but what did you think of the movie 299 queen street west i thought it was great i mean i thought like yourself i think it was brilliant that he got it done i think it was brilliant that he stayed with it he could have left it at any given time and done something else that would have probably paid him a lot more money um so i think it's great that he got it done and i also think it opens the floodgates for a lot of other movies books and conversations about what went on there at much music that totally influenced the canadian music industry

when i went there i took a haircut. I took a cut and pay when I left Montreal to come down here to do this. But I knew the importance of the future and the importance of changing what people thought music was here in Canada and opening that up. So I did what he did, man. I invested my life in it. And he found some of that humanity. He found that wonderful space between us and musicians. We were the friends of musicians. We weren't radio, who were its adversaries.

All you had to do was make it to much music with a tape. And in your dying breath, if you said, play, play, play play my tape we'd give you some water revive you and play the damn tape and that was pretty much so it so uh he reflected that and the silliness and the fun of it and the greatness of it hey it wasn't there for everybody it wasn't everybody's choice he had to make rough and tough choices a lot of choices had a lot of choices had to be made but all things in general he did a great job and you know what the thing is he did the job he got it done and he sparked a million conversations i mean even this past weekend with so many people who were there and people who saw the movie i've been having many many many discussions i'm just playing a little spoons yeah not just because of your personal involvement but remind us,

what is your professional relationship with Spoons? I'm the opening act for the Spoons, and you will see me doing background vocals and playing tambourine and shakers and stuff like that with them. He's not the current keyboardist, but when Rob Pruce heard I saw the doc, he was asking me, he said, when Chum City or whatever commissioned the crtc to get this license that in that like video and jd

roberts is a big voice over on this thing or whatever but the spoons are featured in this like video to get the movie like you know you can see spoons and hear spoons in this video and i watched it on youtube and he asked me he he goes, Mike, any Spoons content? He's naturally curious. Is he in this doc? And upon further reflection, I realized, oh yeah, there's not a glimpse of the Spoons or a reference to the Spoons. And as you, Mr. Spoons,

I'm wondering if that's just one of the choices that had to be made and that not everyone's going to love all the choices. Well, I think yeah, one of many choices and the fact that the spoons were a pretty important part of much music. They were also the first app to use their music for a hit song that was a hit at the time for an advertising ad for TDK Tape. And that was interesting. I'm not sure that was a great

choice at the time fine financially i'm sure it was but at that time uh this was before the days of neil young and you know people sort of bashing advertising so that was an interesting choice um great band uh great canadian band i was sort of I'm doing the Walk of Fame later this week and I'm personally inducting Michel Pagliero into the Canadian Walk of Fame. And one of my questions was, are the Spoons in this?

Is Maestro in this? There were a few, there were Harlequin maybe? There were a few people that I wanted to see. And so the choices for an award show are like the choices for a film

right yeah and so sometimes they don't make any sense to us but again if it's not your show you know what i mean we it's and that's part of it too i think is to spark those conversations and those conversations exactly michael make you watch or make you don't watch but it all of a sudden oh such and such isn't, you know, and that, hey man, I would have shot a different film. Absolutely, but all of us would. Yeah, and again,

that's why I wanted to shout out Sean Menard off the top, because it's easy to, you know, watch a film on a Friday night and say, hey, where's this? Where's that? How come so much, how come so much,

I don't know, Backstreet Boys and we don't we don't uh see the spoons like there's choices had to be made and i'm just gonna read a few notes from people so again i was at the show these are notes from people who weren't at the film well these were okay they were at the film so one person who was at this movie and sent me a note is katherine mcclenahan uh you know katherine right michael okay So Catherine, before I read her note and just say what is happening, which is very exciting, which is Catherine's going to make her Toronto Mike debut next week.

Ooh, there you go. Ex-wife of Gene Velitis from Jesse and Gene. Oh, really? Yeah, that's a fun fact for you. I don't know if that's a fun fact or not. They seem to get along because I got notes from Gene as well. But Catherine was at the screening on Friday night, and she wrote me,

I was at the screening on Friday night and she wrote me, I was at the screening and the movie absolutely made it seem like Erica M was the first female VJ. It was as if I didn't exist. Much had been looking for over a year for a female and I was honored and thrilled to get that pioneering job. So disrespectful, but Erica

was a producer. So... And we'll get more when Catherine's on Toronto Mike next week. But how did you know Catherine? Did you play a role in her getting the gig at Much Music? And did you notice that she was completely erased from the history of Much in this documentary? Well, I noticed there were, again, I noticed there were a lot of things that were there

and some things that weren't there. Those weren't my choices. I know Catherine because she was there. I was there were a lot of things that were there and some things that weren't there. Those weren't my choices. I know Catherine because she was there. I was there at the time. I was the first person brought in or the first person who tried out that wasn't from Toronto. And so navigating, I didn't even bother navigating the whole Toronto scene and stuff. I'm always concentrated and focused on what I'm doing at the time. And that was the job.

And it was a new job. And I was also flying back and forth between Toronto and Montreal. So I do four or five days on four or five days off, go back and work on show them or CKGM and in Montreal and have a life there. Um, I remember when Catherine came in, it was a lot of fun. She was great. And, uh, we've always sort of remained friends, you know, and chatted. I saw her while she was here and like that. So we'll let Catherine speak for Catherine. Let Catherine speak for Catherine. Michael won't speak for Catherine. Absolutely not. I mean, those things are best left up to those

who it affects and have something to say about it. That's probably very important. That is very important. But, you know, those things are best. You guys chop it up and you'll have fun. You'll have fun with this, I'm sure. But I think it's interesting and I think it's good that she's going to be on to discuss it. And Eric M., we had a great chat Friday after the show. I lingered on Simcoe Street until about midnight just chatting up people. Dude, that's just you up in the street.

I was out there sort of hanging out because if anybody wanted to see me on the red carpet, I thought if they were still, I went out in the lobby and I just said, I'm here and met a bunch of folks, took a bunch of pictures and stuff like that. Love it. I just said, I'm here and met a bunch of folks, took a bunch of pictures and stuff like that. Love it. You know, because the fans are really, it's about them. And it's about their loyalty to something that really they didn't have to be loyal to after it left. You know, there were substitutes and things like that that they could have gone to.

This, like Revival 69, is an important piece of Canadian music and cultural and social history from coast to coast. The way we treated it and the way that it should be treated. It should be studied now. It should be studied. And there should be 101 more films about this because the iceberg has only been touched. And I saw what Joel Goldberg was working on and it was completely different than what Sean worked on. And that's the beauty and the glory and the inspiration. Once one thing is done, everybody's going to say, I would do this, or I could have done

that. Well, do it. You know, I've been working on mine. Where's yours? You know, don't be a backseat driver here. Well, do it. You know, I've been working on mine. Where's yours? You know, don't be a backseat driver here. Well, it's a wheel. Yeah. Well, you know, take the wheel and let it let it go.

And also fight for your right to party. Fight for your place in in these things. You know, I've been included in some things and excluded from many things like, you know, the 50 years of hip hop and stuff like that. And then the articles come up but i have an exhibition going on in quebec city this fall in a museum uh from the stuff that i did in montreal there's a web series and there's a book called a scene to hip-hop by uh felix de rocher which chronicles a lot of this stuff in my my journey in hip-hop in montreal i go back to

gil scott heron as a friend of mine. Wow. You know, so, and that's just, and The Last Poets and all that. So it all goes back to poetry for me and the DJs on the radio. So I go back to the root of that. I just didn't jump in between whatever

and think, oh, this is hip-hop. No, man, I, you know, this is my life. Yeah, I'm there. Where has a lot of folks are, you know, weren't there. So as I'm there, whereas a lot of folks weren't there. So as I write the book and things come out, people will go, oh, and ah. And if it's not on TV, that's fine. But they've started to chronicle my life in music in Quebec very accurately and very respectfully. And Sean also did a slice of that as well.

So I thank him. And I thought the film was great and it's a great start for the conversations, not only that we're having, but other filmmakers and other people who will become filmmakers because they were or were not there. Right. And out of respect for Eric,

I just want to point out, we had a great chat Friday night and we talked about her visiting the basement and she has been on Toronto Mike, but during COVID we did it via Zoom because I couldn't have people in the basement. And she said, well, we've talked about everything. And I said, no, what we're going to do is you're going to come in the basement. We're going to talk again as if the Zoom never

happened. We're going to pretend it never fucking happened. So Erica seems to be game. So shout out to Erica M. Again, Catherine McClanahan will tell her story on Toronto Mike next week. Party for your right to fight. That was a great Public enemy jam that came out. You know, he talked about the Beastie Boys there. But, okay, a couple of quick notes real quick here.

Then I'm going to get to some jams you're involved with post-much or maybe even. Oh, post-well, some of them are during much, you know. So we can start with, we'll start with the stuff that we did maybe during much. Well, I'm kind of, I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to play something. Well, actually, no, I'm going to read a quick note from Fm doug mcclement do you know doug oh yeah doug is yeah he i was honored to work with him at any given point we uh i helped him out a little bit with the mix of living color and the mix of iced tea and uh also he sent me, which I am going to, nobody has seen this since forever. I played drums with Jeff Healy on Knockin' on Heaven's Door on the Much Music train,

and I was quite nervous. But I am a drummer. Yes. Okay. I am a bit of a drummer and a percussionist, and it was an easy song to play, but it was difficult because I was playing with the great Jeff Healy and replacing his drummer. Tom Stephen. Yes, rest in peace.

FOTM Tom Stephen. And I'm going to replace those drums soon. I'm going to sit down at an electronic kit and I'm just going to mix it in there. It wasn't too bad, but it was a wonderful thing. And Doug, he was our sound guy on everything. So the mixes that I love are his and Terry Brown's, man. Those are the two guys that I've worked with a lot. And he's a wonderful, wonderful, kind, generous human being who has great ears.

And I was so honored to come in and help him with the iced tea mix and the living color mix. And just the fact that he would ask me, I felt, wow. So recording engineer extraordinaire Doug McClement writes, I was also surprised there was no mention of Natalie Richard, speaking of Quebec, Mike and Mike, Snow Job, Sand Job, much music pepsi train which you just alluded to much rocks the vote spinal tap canada day tour of newfoundland barry and vancouver canada that the canada day thing with where we ended with rush that was that was just amazing so doug and again there's more here i won't beat it beat on it here but uh he does think that maybe take 10

minutes away from this uh very long electric circus segment and you could shoehorn some of that stuff in so this is dog talking but doug i think the much music pepsi train i mean some of these things like you and i are like you know you were there and i'm a student of this uh phenomenon so it's like it's easy for us to say like where was natalie like all these things that just didn't appear well natalie was really on music plus she was never really on Much. Well, eventually she was on Much. Eventually she was on Much, right?

I think possibly they shoehorned her in doing a French show or something. No, no. So you were probably tuned out when you left. No, I was. When I left Much Music, I didn't watch it after that. Right. So I can tell you because I never saw a minute of Music Plus, Natalie Richard became a VJ on Much Music. So she was prominent. But that brings me to just two more names here. after that right so i can tell you because i never saw a minute of music plus uh natalie richard

became a vj on much music so she was uh prominent but that brings me to just two more names here and then we're going to get you this is just because it's so fresh from friday but one gentleman i want to ask you about who was noticeably absent by we didn't see hear his name or have a reference to him you saw him for one brief clip but they didn't you know shout him out but fotm kim clark brief clip but they didn't you know shout them out but fotm kim clark champness to me this feels like a glaring omission because to me kim clark champness was a key cog in that much music wheel during that first uh first decade there but what say you about the absence of kim clark champness from he said he didn't even get an invitation to the uh to the actual viewing on friday even i got an invitation to the viewing and i was not there but. But speak to... No idea in terms of this.

Again, it's kind of like Family Feud. And Family Feud, you know what I mean? It does get like Family Feud. And for Family Feud, family's got to take care of that. Not my gig. Yeah, not your call. Because all the names that you're shouting out

are people that I love, people that I've worked with, people that I have an association with, has when I was there and somewhat after. Kim and I do a dueling DJs thing, which I've been begging him to do again, which is the coolest thing, one of the coolest and most fun things I've done with anyone from Much After Much, where we would go out and we would be dueling djs together and that was uh that was a superior fun thing for me but i love all these people and i don't know the reasons why all of these things have happened because you know it's uh those weren't my choices right and craig craig helkitt who's also an fotm says he wished he was on stage with you you were one of the uh selected vjs to be on stage for the q and a and craig felt he should

have been there one last note for me then we move on because i could do uh 90 minutes i have so many thoughts and this is what i loved about the dog it sparked all these thoughts like it's spark it's sparking a million and one conversations some are old business some are new business some are people that feel the way that they feel and uh which is the job of film is to get an emotional sort of response i think from an audience well it's been done it's been done were you michael williams surprised how little moses neimer we had in this documentary he seemed to be uh no like there were little little dribs and drabs but how do you not focus more on his contribution? Again, I don't, you know, I mean.

No Moses, no much. Well, no Moses, no John Martin, no Nancy Oliver. John Martin was unfortunately, he's no longer with us. And I miss him so incredibly very much. Nancy and I have a great relationship where we talk every once in a while or see each other every once in a while. And Nancy was really the, she was sort of the fulcrum in all of this. She made everybody's dreams come true. And, you know, people would do things forancy that they would do for no one else we

all would wouldn't no one ever said no to nancy you know including uh the unions and stuff like that so there was a wonderful love relationship there and amen it was just the way that he had to cut the film or he did i i don't know with that uh to me i saw moses it was and still is the figurehead uh in all of this but he did it not alone he did it with everything at much music or city tv was not alone you had this you had these dedicated crews of people and you know i always shout out the crew because without them it took look, look, the two differences in my career for me. Radio, I walked into a room, as I would tell you, myself with a whole bunch of records and spontaneously combust. Everything I am, everything I was, everything I will be would just and could come out through the music and I could just grab it and play it.

Television, I would stand there and it would take 30 people to get me on the air. And I shout out to those 30 people, no matter who they were all the time, because they were the best crew that I have ever worked with. And I had to go out West to find the rock and roll Sherpas before I could find a crew that I felt that equaled what they did. So-

Speak it out West, no Terry David Mulligan in this documentary. Yeah, I mean, Terry David Mulligan is a hero of mine, just like Brian Lanahan, that pitcher over there. did so speak it out west no terry david mulligan in this document yeah i mean terry david mulligan is a hero of mine just like uh brian lanahan that picture over there my um one of the best things about much music for me in the beginning was that our office was across from his office and i'd spend as much time in his office with him as i possibly could because he was people say what do you want to be when you grow up i want to be the Brian Lanahan of rock and roll wow you know that was that was it for me and Terry David Mulligan a huge influence a big friend I talked to him I was just out west in June and July

hosting festivals and things like that and doing what I do one in Langley one in Slocan, Katsulano Festival, 250,000 people on West 4th every year supported by Zulu Records, which was Quintessence, which was the place that I walked into. And when I walked out I had a job. So it was wonderful to be out there and I talked to Terry. And again, these are things that inspire, that should inspire other films and other filmmakers to make the film that they see and other individuals to make the films that they see I I enjoy being proactive and uh being black I have to be proactive because there are a lot of

things that I'm concerned about that maybe no one's going to be concerned about. So I have to figure out how to do always what I want to do. And you put a box on me and then I find the creative space for myself within the confines of that box. And I'm told what I can do and what I can't do. When I walked into Showm FM to work for the very first time and I learned the card system, how they played music and stuff like that. The first thing I asked was, how do I cheat the system? And the guy says, what do you mean? I said, how do I cheat the system? And he said, oh, and he thought about it. He said, why? I said, because then I know how it works. That's automatically cheating. It is reverse engineering it. So then I know how it works. The same thing that they do at Area 51 with spaceships.

And so once I knew how it worked, I could figure out how to be creative within the confines of those restrictions. And those restrictions always made me better. Love it. Sandra wrote in when she heard you were coming back michael people were very excited for your return visit uh please ask michael about his experience visiting paisley park oh well that's gone viral from what i understand several years ago especially just as prince passed away and before that was amazing i went to paisley park with ing Chavez, and Ingrid Chavez was a musical and possibly romantical interest of Prince at one point in time.

When I met her, David Sylvian of Japan was her husband. Big thrill for me, man. David Sylvian solo in Japan, love it. You know, Red Guitar by David Sylvian And I'm thinking of covering that song right now, but I love it so much. And so he was hanging out there and I was doing interviews with English. She had done an album with Prince and it was poetry set to his music. And she also wrote some songs for graffiti bridge.

And she wrote Lenny Kravitz, love letter that became Justify My Love. Right? For Madonna, yeah. Yeah, for Madonna. Right. And that was a whole court case and stuff like that. Well, that beats a Public Enemy song from It Takes a Nation to Million. Yes, that beat is Public Enemy, but the lyrics were all.

Lenny. No, they were all Ingrid. Ingrid, right. And that was a letter, that was a love letter that she had written Lenny Kravitz, and Lenny Kravitz, bad boy. He took it and, you know, sent the lyrics in, and there was a whole publishing thing and all of that, as well as a romantic thing that I'm sure kind of got difficult at that point.

So, got in touch with her and her people. And she says, yeah, you're coming. Let's go do this. I'll take you on a tour to Paisley park. And, um, I think maybe I had done one other tour at Paisley park as well. And, uh, it was real interesting. I walked in and, uh, with her and with Tony Wanamaker, who was on my crew, and we had full access. I talked to everybody I could. Alan Leeds, I talked to his brother. I talked to members of the band. I also got to go in the vault, which was kind of special. And it was around the time of the song

Money Don't Matter Tonight, and there was a war going on. And I had shot the outfit because he got all of his clothes made there he had his own sort of uh um uh you know boudoir where they would uh make his clothes on set on in paisley park okay so you look upstairs and there was a place with windows and there was the outfit sort of in the window like it was no it wasn't purple this was black and yellow he's wearing it in the video and we shot it before the video came out and i went in paisley park was so huge they were doing like mountain scenes for a film it was a great place where they would go in and use the sound stage and stuff i got a complete

tour of the place from the high places to the low places and um on the way out it was very interesting because he was uh oh this is my oh gosh this is i want you to finish your prince thought there but then i'll turn on the way out he played a joke on me. And I'll tell you about the joke later because I have to talk about this because John L. Usry Jr., this guy on this tune, he passed away. And he lived over on Mount Pleasant in the Eglinton area. He also, I used to see him in Montreal all the time walking around with a baton. And he is and was the last conductor of MFSB, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, in Philadelphia.

And he also worked with Teddy Pendergrass. He wrote Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose. He wrote Cry Together for the OJs, which Drake sampled. And he has Guido Basso, Bill Bridges on this, and some of the greatest musicians in Toronto. The group was called Stradivarius. This was one of the original smooth, sort of quiet storm type of jazz songs to come out of Canada. And it's called Nightfall, and it's such a beautiful piece of music.

And this guy, we had formed a production company, me, me, him and Junior and Junior Morrison from Parliament Funkadelic. The first project we attempted to do, but we didn't do because I was the executive producer on this stuff, was with Jack Soul. And he just didn't get it. He didn't understand why he should work with the guy who produced Teddy Pendergrass and the OJs and the guy who wrote One Nation Under a Groove for Parliament Funkadelic. He just sort of looked at me like, what? And what a shame because I selected him as the first artist for the production company. He sort of went, no, went into a smaller studio, did some things, and came out with a wonderful last record, but it wouldn't have been so different and so soulful.

And that's, I think, what his career was missing, was that honest group of people that could bring out the best in him that were better than him that would have also made him better, because that's kind of what the culture of music is about. Musicians doing something, the collective being better or more creative and more powerful than the individual. Shout out to Guido Basso on Flugelhorn, man. Whoa. You, my friend, you can shout out anyone you want, anytime, man. I love it. Love it.

And John was just, John was magic, man. He was just, he was, there was a world out there that just loved him while we here at home sort of went who what and in montreal he was well known stradivarius included um you know a lot of the great singers including tabby johnson is on that and uh he was uh i mean listen listen to the track listen to the the lush look that's John on piano. Oh. He took a bunch of local musicians and Stradivarius was basically like MFSB North.

He wanted that same magic because the musicians that he played with in Philadelphia, they did all the sessions from Tom Bell to the Tramps, Earl Young and the Tramps, everything on Philly International. The song from Precious, Was That All That Was? John wrote it, produced it, and did everything for that. And it was in the film Precious. And what an incredible song. And this music never goes out of style. It never not reaches the charts in one form or another. And this is in its original form, not in some sort of bullshit remix or whatever. But, I mean, the lush and the beauty of this, you know, this rivals Chuck Mangione

absolutely for sure. I just watched last night, I was watching King of the Hill, and Chuck is a recurring character on that. Oh, is he really? And he survives,

there was a propane explosion at this Walmart-type big box store, and anyway, it's funny you mentioned Chuck. Okay, but Guido, I got to just point out, I got to shout out Night Ride. Do you remember Night Ride? Yes.

Oh, yes. Are you kidding me? Who wouldn't come in late at night, you know, high as a kite, after being out with the clubs, there's nothing on, you're looking for food, you picked up some mystery meat meat on the way home you're just about ready to puke your brains out you turn on the tv and you're laying there on the floor and you look up at the screen and it's this incredible jazz with it with a steady cam guido yeah it was with a steady cam going through the city well it was guido and it was a bunch of other great musicians under a whole different name playing music as this camera went

all over the city. I thought it was one of the most brilliant things I had seen on Toronto television next to Chuck, the security guard. Shout out to Chuck. I do want to shout out Sammy Cohn from The Watchman because he's actually the guy who gave me this great picture of Brian Linehan that you see. But Sammy Cohn, he Watchman because he's actually the guy who gave me this great picture of Brian Linehan

that you see. But Sammy Cohn, he says he wrote in after listening to your debut, your first episode of Toronto Mic'd, Michael, and he goes, not to quibble,

but Roy Harper sang on Have a Cigar, Not Money. So you know people are listening. I can't tell you how many fact checks I got.

Hang on a second here. Multiple people wanted to correct the record here. Listen, you check that out and enjoy the coffee as well. But I will say, I went off a little bit, like mildly, like Toronto Mike going off. I wasn't that angry. But I did notice in the Much Music documentary that there's a statement that

Barenaked Ladies made their television debut on Speaker's Corner. And I'm just here to sound the alarm, the truth alarm, which is that is simply not true. Because that's 91 that they're on Speaker's Corner. And I'm just here to, you know, sound the alarm, the truth alarm, which is that is simply not true because that's 91 that they're on Speaker's Corner. In 1990, Barenaked Ladies, before Tyler Stewart even joined the band, they win a YTV Achievement Award. And Retro Ontario himself has found the footage

and I shared it on torontomic.com yesterday. But that is not, despite what you heard in the doc, that is not Barenaked Ladies' television debut. Well, I think it on TorontoMic.com yesterday. But that is not, despite what you heard in the doc, that is not Barenaked Lady's television debut. Well, I think it was... Roy Harper, Have a Cigar, I believe, is the Roy Harper Pink Floyd song there. Okay.

All right, Have a Cigar. That would have put Dave Gilmour at the lead vocal position. We're a stickler for the facts here. Yes, absolutely. You must be. In terms of B Naked Ladies, wasn't my fact, but I think the thing was that was their first

video. I think that's what it was, was that their first video was done there and it was also used as a bit of a promotional video. Without a doubt. So I think that would have been the fact. Amazing, and I'm enjoying this song. I've got a bunch more I want to kick out here.

So I'll let Stradivarius... Actually, there was one song I wanted to bring you which was on hold for Ray Charles that a friend of mine wrote, Chris Hall. And there were actually two songs he had, Are We the Last Ones in This Bar? and Rolling Dime. And two incredible songs that I worked on that were great.

But I'll have to send them to you later. Well, you're going to have a third appearance, Michael. I imagine so. I'll have to bring my laptop. And when your book is out, we're going to need four or five hours, okay, to talk about this book. Yeah, well, when the book is out, you can just sort of bring your studio to my studio and we'll just sit there. We'll meet in the middle. I love it. Paul, this is the Lisa Dalbello song by Kinsman Daz, my high school buddies. Michael Calhoun on guitar, the guy who used to cut classes with the go play. And they did this song.

This is a Lisa Dalbello song called Stand in Your Way that I, she had never heard actually, but they shared the same producer with Earth, Wind & Fire, Tommy Vacari. Catching my breath to try once again. Please let go of that feeling. You don't have to fear No you don't have to be honest to God I'm not stealing I'm feeling so low I need to break the fall.

It's tearing me apart to find you're leaving. One more fourth of the road. And how long can I go? Before I start to believe in. Because I know I don't ever want to stand in your way I don't want to get between you and your head No, I don't ever want to stand in your way If my love is too strong

Then you must go Wait, so Michael, this is a Del Bello song? Yes. You'll find it, I believe, on her first record. Don't want to stand in your way. Okay, by the way, fun fact is that Lisa Del Bello is a sister-in-law of FOTM Danny Elwell, who you might know from CFNY and other radio stations, and now at Jazz FM.

Yeah, actually, I was interested in Del Bello's story. Let's hear it. Because she was on Tears Are Not Enough. Yeah, well, she's just the greatest singer. She's one of the greatest singers, songwriters, performers that's ever graced a mic in this city, in this country. You still in contact with Lisa? Trying to be.

Lisa, call me! Because Lisa, call me after you call Michael. I want Lisa Del Velo on Toronto Mike. Here's the thing. So Living Color opens for Robert Palmer. They're playing Roy Thompson Hall. I go to the thing. So Living Color opens for Robert Palmer. They're playing Roy Thompson Hall. I go to the show. Everybody's dressed like the Addicted to Love video.

They weren't really interested in Living Color at all. And Living Color came out and crunched it and crushed it. Of course. And they all. Well, they blew the Rolling Stones off the stage. They were. But the people were opera. Excuse me.

They rattled their jewelry. Yeah. And they rattled their jewelry. Yeah, and they rattled their jewelry and they had cocktails. I went into the dressing room afterwards and Living Color looked like somebody had stole their puppy and killed it in front of them.

And I just stuck my head in the door and I said, they weren't here for you. That's okay. You were great. Here's my card. Call me and come to much music tomorrow i'm on between this time and this time let's have some fun cory came in and on the way out they was you

know i said by the way there's great canadian music here that you should check out and i had a bunch of uh who man for she says uh cassettes or cds on my desk and i said here and i gave him that to this day they call me and they say we want to write songs with dalbello and so i'm trying to just find her to do that and the last time i saw her and the only time i ever sat down with her was at cmw and we were over at uh the hotel across from um across from union station there and having you know coffee and cocktails wonderful conversation incredible woman just the most fun i had had in years and she's a busy person also uh with boss gag she did miss son what a great vocal on that and you know i it don't get more soulful than that

just a wonderful wonderful uh songwriter and i'm still trying to get her together with living color to do anything you know we're trying to work you know vernon reed is an fotm yes yes just just i know yes yes so i i have heard so heard. Now, did you talk about AI? I can't remember if we talked about AI. You've got to have another conversation just to talk about AI, man, because he's so advanced on that thing. Okay. He is the AI guy, as far as I know, and a wonderful human being, eh? Well, he gave this loser in his basement lots of times.

There you go, man. There you go. You know what's coming, Michael? Christmas is coming. Oh, yes. The there you go, man. There you go. You know, what's coming, Michael Christmas is coming. Oh yes. The R and R soul orchestra. I would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. Yes.

This is my band out of New York city with Julio Herrera, who helped me mix the nylons. Don't look any further. He is, mix the nylons. Don't look any further. He came in and really just hit the mute button a couple of times on the mix, and it was perfect. And Julio did MCJ and Cool G, and he was up in Montreal for a number of years. And this group started there. Now he's in New York City. Unfortunately, his wife Stormy passed away a while ago, so we're sending Julio love, and you send Julio love. This is our Christmas track. We've got a second album coming

out. The first album has got a track on it called The Luckiest Man in the World, which is part of the theme of my tour across Canada. Is that the name of your new book? That is not the name of the book. I've been toying with names of the books, so all the names that the book is not will

be names of chapters. But I believe the book is not just much, Race Radio and Records, all the things that have been important in my life, you know, or steered my life one way or another. And so this is the Christmas Jam, and it's out there. It'll be out there. And, uh... Excuse me. His insights.

Available on iTunes, Spotify, and all possible levels. I'm also on another track with Brent Carter, who is the lead vocalist for Tower of Power. Now he's switched over to Average White Band,

and it's called 90 to Nothing. I am the voice of the band, and I'm also part of the creative team, and I just called Julio about a couple songs I wanted to do. I want to do a remake of GQ, Rock Freak, Disco Nights, which is just a wonderful tune. So you mean there is a Michael Williams post-Much Music? Oh, hell yeah.

I mean, there was a Michael Williams post-much music? Oh, hell yeah. I mean, there was a Michael Williams post-much music during much music. I was in the studio on a bunch of things. You were always post-much. I was always working in music, man. Everything is to music to me. So I'm always working in music in every area that I can that is necessary to get across what I want to say or do musically. Amazing.

Now, you can't get to Christmas unless you go through Halloween. The award-winning Halloween event is in Milton, Ontario. It's called Pumpkins After Dark, and it runs September 23rd. Oh, my God. We're already past that. It's running now. Oh, my goodness. I've got to update my copy, we're already past that. It's running now. Oh my goodness. Gotta update my copy. But it runs through Halloween.

Get your tickets now. Beautiful weather out there, man. I love this late September where it's like 14 in the morning. You get up to 21 degrees. These are the best days. You can buy your tickets right now at PumpkinsAfterDark.com with the promo code TOMike15. That's very important.

Help the show. TOMIKE15. It also helps you. You save 15%. And you get those pumpkins, I guess. You take them home. You open them up. You clean it out.

You boil the insides. And you make fresh pumpkin pie. That's what I love is the fresh pumpkin pie. And the seeds, you take them. You dry them. A little bit of salt on them. Put them in the oven. You got fresh pumpkin seeds. Better than seeds, you take them, you dry them, a little bit of salt on them, put them in the oven. You got fresh pumpkin seeds, better than anything, healthy too.

I love it. You're like, it's like a rest of development. You got yourself a stew there. Okay. Do you like pumpkin ale? I haven't had pumpkin ale, man. You got pumpkin ale? Well, they have pumpkin ale at Great Lakes Brewery.

Oh, well, I got to try it out. And I want to shout them out. I do have fresh craft beer for you, Michael, from Great Lakes Brewery. Oh, well, I want to shout them out. I do have fresh craft beer for you, Michael, from Great Lakes Brewery. And if you're in Ontario listening to my voice right now, that's the beer you drink. Great Lakes Brewery. Well, don't tease me, man.

Don't tease me with the pumpkin ale and you got no pumpkin ale here. You know what, though? I would make a phone call and I said, Michael Williams is dropping by. His money is no good to us. Give this man a pumpkin ale.

Yeah, it's delicious. Ask David Schultz. That was our and our solo orchestra. We got a couple more Christmas tunes or I think we're doing a pumpkin ale. Yeah, it's delicious. That was David Schultz. That was R&R Solo Orchestra. We got a couple more Christmas tunes. I think we're doing a Christmas album. We got a second album to come out. And it's just a lot of fun. These are all the great session musicians out of New York City

that play with Mary J. Blige, Keith Sweat, did all these sessions and stuff, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, things like that. And this is the Nylons. This took about 15 years to do because what I wanted to do was an acapella hip-hop record, and they couldn't get it around their head what I wanted to do. I gave each one of them about 10 to 20 cassettes of hip-hop, early hip-hop, when we were talking about doing this.

They had a track called Combat Zone, and I took that and cut it up, and that was the basis for what I wanted to do with them. This is what turned out. Whose voice is that? That's the late Arnold, who was their bass voice. Great voice. This is when Billy Newton Davis and Mika Barnes also joined the band,

because we did tracks with Billy Newton Davis, and the band really loved those tracks. I love Billy Newton Davis. I love that guy. Wonderful human being, man. He's from where I'm from, Cleveland, Ohio. I never knew him before I came to Toronto. That's funny. And he used to sing back up for Gloria Gaynor.

He did a lot, man. Broadway, I mean, yeah. Oh, he's a great singer. And here he comes up. Tonight, tonight We're gonna taste a little paradise Rock you all night long Rockin' all night long That's Billy.

Mika. I'll keep looking in your heavenly eyes And we'll go on and on and on and on My co-producer, the late Bradley Damon, or Brad Ralph as I knew him, miss him so very much, man. We killed this shit. And we gave them beats up under them, and we gave them a rhythm section, which they didn't have before.

Amazing. Hang on. I'm singing back up on some of the tracks. I like sort of ghost in there to sort of. Well, let me know when I hear some Michael Williams. I don't know this one. Hang on. Here we go.

Mr. Monroe. Nobody got this. This is like, you know, but it was there. Everybody's going, what? Champion. This is like, you know, but it was there. Everybody's going, what? I saw Mishimi on Friday night. Yeah, she's great. I love her, too. The wonderful Mishimi.

She looked great. She is great. She's morphed so many ways and kept her career going. One of the hardest working women in show business, absolutely for sure, man. Comes to female MCs, she's the queen. I also work with some in Montreal, Blondie B, who is equally

as wonderful and great. Always good to see Mishi and show love and respect for Mishi and the whole Dream Factory family, which would have been Dream Warriors, LA Love, and all those guys. Wonderful people. Shout out to DJ Ron Nelson.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Very, very cool. So that's from that Nylons album, which was a lot of fun to do. We did about seven tracks on it, which was great. A couple of original tracks as well. And that's what got us the gig.

But yeah, it was a 20-year, 15, 20-year sort of epic to work with the Nylons. And I was wanting to incorporate hip-hop vocals with acapella way, way back then because I heard it before a lot of other things. It's a great mix, man. Yeah, the mix was pretty solid. We did it at McClure Place, which I really loved. This, again, is Michael Calhoun from

Kinsman Daz. Turn this up. Oh. Yeah. Got a little Prince flavor there Well more like Roger Troutman and Zap It's the Ohio thing

He's from Ohio man More funk bands per square foot Than any place on the planet Love Walked Out Love walked out when the blues walked in. And this is my buddy from high school, man. And we just had a bit of a reunion. Kinsman Daz All Stars is his group now. He was in Kinsman Daz, which was the Daz band Let It Whip.

And he is just a wonderful guy. He's got, check it, he's got five records that hit the charts on Billboard in five different forms of music. And that was our dream. Yeah, under different names. But that's your kind of guy because you're so eclectic, man. You can talk ACDC, then you can talk hip-hop, you can talk soul. And you can call it eclectic,

but for us, this is just music, the way we hear it, the way we see it, the way we feel it, man. So to go from Van Morrison to Zap is no big deal. You know, to go from Pentangle or Burt Yance and John Renborn to John Martin to Led Zeppelin to James...

There are common threads in there that we feel. As long as I can feel it, I can play it, you know? And so Soul in the City was not a show. Soul in the City was your view into me or my soul. And it was always music with soul, not just soul music. All I know is Bill Wilichka's lucky that you weren't around or you would have been the host of Outlaws and Heroes. Dude, I was

I had done so many country artists and so many folk artists that I live in that space as well. So I mean, you know, I'm the Emmylou Harris guy. I'm the mother Tracy Nelson, Mother Earth and Elvis Presley's

bass player had a group called Area Code 615, which is the area code of Nashville. That group changed the way that I heard music, saw music, and imagined music. These were the players that Bob Dylan used on Nashville Skyline, and these are the guys

that did all of his great records there. And they were the absolute killers you know and the best you're you're a killer i'm just on the live stream so i live stream these recordings so this is a podcast which means it doesn't exist until it's recorded but i do let people watch us bake the cake at live.torontomic.com and i just popped in mike hannifin for says, this is just awesome. Such a great follow-up to Mr. Williams' first appearance.

People love his first appearance. Great follow-up. But Basement Dweller just chimed in to say, Daz Band were amazing, especially Let It All Blow. Oh, do you like Let It All Blow? Yeah, I thought with that was

what you want to listen to is go to the Kinsman Daz All Stars. There's a track called Soul Jam. Listen to that. And that track actually brought me and Michael back together because I was reading about it in the UK press. I said, oh, that's my buddy. And so I immediately went to Facebook to try and find him and stuff. Found him.

We hadn't talked, man, since high school, since I was like 15 or 16. Wow. since high school, since I was like 15 or 16. Wow. And about five years ago when I discovered that track, I just, you know, hit him up, called me in 15 minutes. We haven't been, we're talking every week. He's doing incredible stuff.

And he does this in his basement too, man. And he's a great player. He's just, he was our own. We had a number of Jimi Hendrix, not clones, but disciples. And Eddie Hazel disciples. And he was one of them. And he is a great player, as you can hear. A great writer. Great vocalist.

And he had a hit blues album. A hit smooth jazz album. A hit reggae record. A hip-hop soul record. And he has a hit gospel project out there too that's in six forms of music one guy and that's where the spread is that's where it starts because for me i'm not happy till i conduct the orchestra baby and that's coming oh man i'll be there uh stone fox chase by area code 6 uh 615 is a killer tune.

615, how do you say it? Area Code 615. Now, Stone Fox Chase, everybody will know, has one of the leading hip-hop samples out there. And then The Devil Weed and Me is the record that changed the way I heard shit. Oh, my God. This is Romany Roma, Romany, Romany Rota, and they are from, they're from Hungary, Romanian area. This is also them with a gentleman named Evor and his group Voda. I put them both

together in the studio to do some magic and this is the magic that they did. I play with Romani Rota sometimes and this is so special to me and it's also very different that's why I sent it to you. The greatest gypsy band ever. And we just stumbled upon each other at an event. Their drummer didn't show up on time, so I did the drum sound check playing a milk carton, a metal milk container.

And then their drummer came back, and then in the last song they asked me to join them. I had completely forgotten I had done the sound check and played with them, and they said... Oprepirde Intrego Che tai l'uomo Hai shavale Oprepirde Tai chiracle Yes. Yes.

There is no better. My Roma family. I am so proud of this. Pabón, pabón, viva el romñaco, viva la chucaracheaco, de telote, taivite del oray, chayotes, tu lolo llantebar. ¡Gracias! Oh, my God. Two great bands, Voda, along with Devor, Jordanoski, who's the producer. I'm the executive producer on this, and I sort of put this whole thing together. And what I love is for people to hear the music and to present the music the way that I see it and the way that I hear it. I want them to have the same experience that I did when I first heard it. That experience of love, that experience of, I want more of this. What is this? And the feel good, the feel good payoff.

And this, if you're dancing to this, it's a great feel good payoff. And they're a great, amazing band. They have a tune called Dear, Dear, Dear, which was like the beginning of the whole gypsy music revolution before the Gypsy Kings, and they're great friends with the Gypsy Kings as well and honored to be with them and to do anything with them. They're absolutely wonderful, wonderful musicians

and takes me into a world that I knew very little about but learned a lot about just because they do music as a family, business and tradition and it's part of their life. I love that. Sounds great, man.

And it's not a song I would ever, I don't think I'd encounter it in this on-demand universe we live in. It's like I need it curated by somebody with the passion of a Michael Williams. Well, you need it.

You know, I produced it, so, you know, it's coming. Oh, by the way, with the book comes a lot of this music. So if you're interested in the book, I think you may be interested in the music, and the music will be the soundtrack to the book. Amazing. Did you get a lasagna from Palma and the music will be the soundtrack to the book. Amazing. Did you get a lasagna from Palma Pasta last time you were here? I did. I did.

How was it? Good. Good. What you got for me this time? I have another one for you. Oh, okay. All right. Good, good, good.

I'm waiting for that pumpkin beer, though, man. I got to check that out. I got to make a call to Peter Bullitt at Great Lakes. The Pumpkin Ale, limited time only at GLB. I got the lasagna for you from Palma Pasta. Did you say pasta or pasta? It depends. You're American.

I would think you might say pasta. No, no, I say pasta. Okay, maybe I'm all turned around on it. All I know is it's delicious. And I will thank Palma Pasta for hosting us on december 9 i know you couldn't make uh tmlx 13 oh man i've been i've been everywhere i mean i've probably a song since i since i've been everywhere man uh god since i was here i think i was out west man and you know like a lot has happened since then what's going on but if you are in town you got another party is that what

you're saying yeah it's gonna happen on december 9th at noon and it's in mississauga so you know you know me you got to remind me the week of the party man okay so i might have to send a car to pick you up but well if you got a car i'll take it any fotm who wants to pick up michael williams on december 9 and get him to tmlx 14. It's at noon at Palma's Kitchen. Everybody gets to eat for free and GLB will get you a beer and we're going to have a great freaking time. I just want to shout out Ridley Funeral Home. They are pillars

of this community. Good people. Again, we talk about some people who have passed on and if you remember people, that's the way to keep them alive and keep them in your thoughts. Absolutely, man. Keep them in your heart. Keep talking about them keep your keep them you know what my sister passed and i i'm sorry it was a real difficult time and it still really is but so i keep her real close you know i just uh remember her because the the one thing about the movie was that my family couldn't make it up from Cleveland. And my,

my, my two dads had passed. My sister had passed who was so close to me. And she was just such a big supporter of everything that I did has my family is as well. Even when they didn't know what I was doing, they supported it. And,

uh, cause they knew it involved music and my family's a real musical family, but, uh, you know, you just let their memories be your fuel, your energy and guide you in a more loving way. Because, you know, be the person that they wanted you to be, you know, like that. Well, well said. Now, here's an awkward segue, but I i'm watching 299 queen street west on friday with you and it is uh and i was told by sean menard when he came on toronto mic he told me it was a love letter like there wasn't going to be you know controversy and you know it pretty

much was it pretty much was a fan love letter and every fan sees it in a different way every person that does it or did it season in a different way so person that does it or did it sees it in a different way so there would be many and there have been many different love letters i mean as i travel across the country hosting festivals or doing whatever i'm doing uh how people saw what i'm always very fascinated and very grateful and honored and privileged that people got the message that i was sending out the way that i was sending it out and i love that because i'm a scientist i i experiment i do research then i use scientific method for my my life i i learned it when i was a kid like in third grade or something to where you do the research you you do the experimentation. You have a hypothesis. You have a hypothesis. And afterwards,

you draw a conclusion as to which way to go or how to take it. So I'm always experimenting in every part of my life so that when I get there, I've done the work and I know what the tax is on both sides. And I also know what the takeaway is on both sides and i also know what the takeaway is and for the audience the takeaway was pretty good for me oh my god and uh and round of applause and they told me that i had a high thing called a tvq which is a high believability thing and i always wanted to honor that and come with the best information and just be authentically me. And from Newfoundland to Victoria in places unknown in 13 countries, I'm honored, man, that I go out and people treat me in such a respectful way. And they also respected the work that we did.

So as a love letter, when you write a love letter, it's going to be different when you write it to this person or that person. You know, but the basics are love and I think that was the basic in the film. The takeaway was that it was a love letter

and for those who didn't see that, okay, but... Like it's not awards and all. This is not a documentary awards and all. Yeah,

and that would have taken a five-hour documentary you know like and bell media might not have played ball with that well who knows who knows what sort of went on behind the scenes but it's sort of like the film dune you know there are at least there are at least five copies of the film dune like there is a longer version that is very hard to get that i have on laser the original The original Dune or the new one? The original Dune was the one that was it for me. And so I have five different cuts, including a Disney cut that's completely different.

Sanitized. Right? Well, it's not two sanitizers, but it's different. They sound those edges. For my thing, I think there was a 90. There was like maybe a two-hour film in the theaters. And then there was like a three-hour cut and this and that and the other. So my thing was to collect all the cuts and see the differences.

And I think that's the thing with this. I think that, you know, I would remix it. You know what I mean? It did appear a little bit like it was much music for Americans. No disrespect to Americans, but there was a focus on the the big names and stars that americans would know and recognize you know be it backstreet boys i don't well i'm not sure i'm not sure about that because i think it was so incredibly important to canada so i see it always as a canadian product because much music didn't work too well in the States. It worked well being a bootleg thing,

but in terms of being there as MTV, I don't think that worked very well. I don't know if I told you this story last time, but I will tell it again just in case I missed it because it's about my wonderful sister, Gwendolyn. She was coming. My family didn't see much music. It wasn't on television in cleveland and i would have to order tapes and send them a vhs tape that would have to get across the border

the scrutiny of the where's their drugs in here or whatever and then get to my family that may or may not have had a vhs machine right so um so they didn't see it very much. So my proudest moment, I would say, of Much Music, of the whole thing, was that it touched my family. And the way it did, my sister was coming back from work one night. She had a driver. Because she'd come back so late, they would give her taxi chits, right, or limo chits. And she would call a car and go on her hour-long ride

back home to Cleveland from wherever she was. During one of her rides, she's talking to the young man. My sister was a fairly religious person and would minister to anybody and everybody, but with the biggest heart and the biggest brain. And she was just, she was wonderful. And I do miss her so very much. But she's going home and the driver begins to talk to her. And he says, I work in cable TV at such and such station. And he says, I, you know, download stuff and things like this. And there's this show that I get from Canada every week,

and it's called Soul in the City with this guy, Michael Williams. Wow. And my sister begins to just laugh, just guffaw in the back of his car. Pardon? What are the odds? This show is amazing. Yeah, exactly.

And he said, this show is so incredible, and this guy is so great, and this and that and the other, and blah, blah, blah. And he's going on about me and the show and all this. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My sister's still laughing. He says, why are you laughing? She says, that's my brother. And that is the moment that captured.

That's the moment that holds it all for me, man. Out of all that stuff on the film and everything that's what held it for me and kept it in my heart because it touched the person that i love the most the r&r soul orchestra brent carter from tower of Power and Average White Band. This is the R&R Soul Orchestra, if you didn't hear it the first time. Featuring yours truly. This is a great tune.

Kick it. You came into my life. Added some dimension. Everything felt right and there was no question that you're loving me so real

captivated my mind opened up a different kind of feel made everything alright and when she said to me she would be my honey baby, I just smiled my smile and laughed in my joy. It was plain to me what was meant to be, I found me the best love in the world. has to be a bit beyond reproach.

And I mean, it doesn't matter what type of music we're doing. I was a contractor on Cirque du Soleil Alegria. And that vocalist on there is one of my vocalists, Dutch Robinson. He does all of the vocals on Alegria. I don't know if we have time to play that, but he does all of the vocals there. And that turned out to be, that started out as my session, and it finished as Alegria. And the track that was my session that they heard that meant that they wanted to use him and use my producer was a track called Lord, which isn't out.

It's 17 minutes long. So I didn't bring it and I didn't give it to you. You will be back. I will be back. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I will be back. But this is out of New York again, the R&R Solo Orchestra, my group out of New York,

with Julio Herrera as the conductor and a circle of just wonderful musicians like Nicholas Payton, who is just an incredible musician, and Brent Carter and other great guys that do all the sessions in New York. And I'm honored to do anything with these guys. And being part of the creative team, and also being the voice of, and I have other voice parts, as opposed to just introing them.

But it's going good, man. I love them. I absolutely love them. Did I send you the, I sent you TC-21. Did I send you the, I sent you TC21. Did I send you that? Voodoo Child and When Cries Mary. I think I sent you

When Cries Mary. So I'm going to drain the much swamp here so I didn't leave anything cut. Oh, there's a swamp to be drained? You can pick just a few more little things. Can we get off black cars already? And then I'm going to play whatever you want, but I know how I want to close. I'll just give few more little things. And then... Can we get off black cars already? And then I'm going to play whatever you want,

but I know how I want to close. I'll just give you a heads up. Okay, no, man, whatever. I'm closing with Brokest Billionaire is what I'm going to close with. Oh, Meyer? Oh, excellent. Meyer Clarity, man. Yeah, I want to play that.

This is here, this is now. Meyer Clarity is just a genius. I got him working with Ghost, who is the biggest selling hip-hop producer. He worked with Nelly and Kelly Rollins and did that huge song. Hold that, because I want to play that, and then we're going to finish with that.

But here it is. I mentioned that it's a love letter. Sean Menard said it's a love letter. So of course, there's no hint of controversy or anything. Everything was awesome, but I did notice one subject matter that was absent completely and i know why it was absent but i'm going to ask you about it uh and you mentioned in your story about your sister with that cab driver who said he loves michael williams so on the city uh you mentioned the border and you

mentioned drugs and i got a phone call yesterday from peter gross now peter phones me every sunday so that's not a special occasion or anything, but we were chatting about, I told him I saw the doc, and I said, I saw a glimpse of Lorne Honickman. He's just on the screen for a moment, but I said, I didn't see a glimpse of Peter Gross. I know you weren't on Much Music.

We were talking, he goes, and he reminded me about a story he shared on the show about how at 99 Queen Street East, when Much Music was launched, Peter Gross and a bunch of people are smoking joints, okay? They're smoking some weed. And Moses goes up to them and he looks at Peter and he goes, I'm very disappointed.

And Peter's ready to get in trouble or something. And he goes, that you didn't offer me any weed. So I bring that up. Okay, yeah. But basically, i have conversations with john gallagher and peter goes all the and steve anthony and and to me obviously if you're going to do a warts and all documentary about 299 queen street west you can't do it without talking about drug culture and the drugs in that building what are you willing to share about the uh

about drugs and its role in the, uh, building that where we, you know, two 99 queen street West, or are you going to plead the fifth here? And, well,

I mean, it had nothing to do with me. Therefore I have nothing to contribute on that. You know, I mean, my work is my work. I came there to work, man.

Uh, what I do after work or what anybody does after work is more or less their business. there to work man what i do after work or what anybody does after work is more or less their business my focus was always the work and to be coherent and to be available for that my work had to be beyond reproach i'm the black guy if i had been doing any of those things on air or off or whatever then i would uh you know i would would have gone, I would have been destroyed because they were coming for me every day. You know, Bubba O'Neill, who's doing sports at CHCH right now,

but he was mentored by John Saunders. Speaking of 299 Queen Street. I don't know John. So John, he's a sportscaster, no longer with us, sadly. But John told Bubba that as a black man, he said he had to work 10 times as hard as everybody else. Every black kid gets that.

I mean, from my generation, my mother told me I had to be twice as good when I went in to get the job if you were standing there before me, right? If you were in line as well. I took that literally and went the extra. I had to be four or five times as well. I took that literally and went the extra, I had to be four or five times as good. I had to, I realized I had to be beyond reproach or they were going to destroy me. I always understood that. I mean, being black, growing up in Cleveland, a lot of my friends aren't here for really shitty reasons. They didn't do anything. They just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, driving while black, living while black, breathing while black, you know? So I, uh, no,

dude, I was, you know, all I can say is the book is going to be really interesting for you because there will be a fair, you know, race radio and records. Those are the things that ruled my life, whether I want it to or not. In terms of music, I get that. In terms of race, that's a whole different conversation. If I'm reading between the lines, would you say, I don't want to put words in your mouth, Michael, but you're here, you can speak for yourself,

but you might not have got away with what maybe a Steve Anthony, a blonde, blue-eyed Steve Anthony would get away with what maybe a steve anthony a blonde blue-eyed steve anthony is that is that a is that even a question that's not even a question dude that's not even a question come on you know the answer to that before and everybody else there knows it too i mean if you've been looking at the political situation in america and or canada same difference but definitely it's glaring in america but in canada as well you know uh look um that word bipoc you know i mean we called it something different uh back then and uh of course i would not have. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Sometimes I ask dumb questions. You know, and I find here, I do find, I will say this.

I find that only in Toronto, not necessarily in Montreal and the rest of the country, but, you know, I've noticed in the industry that I choose to work in, uh, and other parts, uh, I see people, um, and some people lose their jobs and some people don't. And some people do really, you know, shitty work and they get a better job. Well, I don't know what that's about, you know? And then there's that thing of, uh, you people will not treat you well and then come around the corner and come back and smile at you and say, let's go do this. Like you really want to go do anything with them at that point in time. But such a small country, do you have a lot of choices as where to go and what to do? You do have the choice always to make your own magic.

And I sort of depend on that for me. ways to make your own magic and i sort of depend on that for me and like sean did he had to do this thing independently put up his house to do it and that's serious commitment so i have a serious commitment to anything that i do and i'm not you know i'm not taking myself out of the game until it's time to quit you know simple as that but I'm not letting anybody else take me out either. Woo! I want to shout out the Raymond James podcast, The Advantaged Investor. You should subscribe to The Advantaged Investor

from Raymond James Canada. Learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter with this podcast. It's available wherever you get your podcasts, so wherever the heck you get this podcast, you'll find Raymond James' Advantaged Investor Podcast. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans,

the Advantage Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals. And one more shout out to recyclemyelectronics.ca. Michael, that's where you go online to find out where you can drop off your old tech, your old electronics to be properly and safely recycled so those chemicals do not end up in our landfill. Shout out to recyclemyelectronics.ca. And I think it's also important for me is that everybody knows I'm there for the music. I'm not there for the gossip.

I'm not there for this or that or the other. No, no, you're a music man. I do the music and then the humanity that goes along with that and the logical conclusions from that, not the silly stuff. And I just want people to let the music take them to a different level, if you will,

to their higher self, if they can. As we close the chapter on the doc, at the very end of this documentary, we watched on Friday, 299 Queen Street West, which is coming to Crave very soon. So everyone listening who wasn't there will be able to watch this and enjoy this nostalgic romp.

I had to go to the bathroom. I'll tell you this. I had to go to the bathroom. Something terrible. And as I got ready to go to the bathroom something terrible and as I got ready to go to the bathroom it was around the time that he was sort of putting the end of the doc together right like I heard and I heard myself talking and I stopped right at the door so I could sort of hear what I had said and uh and that was kind of interesting and it was interesting that there wasn't into it

i thought that was done tastefully and and extremely well this is what i want grant you're it's like you could read my note here because i want to ask you the very end it says basically in a nutshell youtube killed much music no i mean that's that is that is the, that is the, uh, my question is, that was the, that was the line that, that, you know, that, uh, everybody gave and stuff like that. But to me, that's like saying that you, to me, uh, look, man, nothing rules my world, but what I do and what I don't do. And at every moment, that was a creative incubator and a creative crockpot. At every moment, I would have an idea and somebody would pile on my idea to make it better TV. But it was always I had an idea, which start with me, I throw it out to them and we would make it better. That was the exciting thing about much music was the creative process so i never ever denigrate the creative process and the crew and all of the producers and all the associates

the librarians and stuff like that because in montreal if i had a great idea uh and i could get to a certain point everybody would sort of help out and help with the idea. In Toronto, I found it very different. I found if you had an idea, there were more, Toronto was like insurance. There are more people to stop you from getting what you want to, what you should get from it than what you are trying to get.

But in that building, it was a creative, safe space. And long as I was in that building, I felt creative and I felt loved and I felt a goodness, you know. And it's like family. It's good days. It's bad days. It's whatever. But in that building, it was the most creative spot in the Canadian music universe at that time and should be celebrated as that. And so I never poo poo on the creative process,

whether it was much Wes or Mike and Mike, if somebody had a good idea and they wanted to try and do it, they could. So saying that YouTube killed much music would say that the creative process was drained out of much music. And I say, not in me. I thought you were gonna say bullshit well pretty much pretty much yeah because that says that says that it was done and it wasn't done

because if you can't work with or around youtube it was just youtube was just another spice that was thrown in the pot youtube got you the video but, but the VJs were not like the V, you know what I mean? Dude, I was always that kid when I listened to radio and it was W I X Y W J M O W A B Q W M M S, which was developed by a black guy and a white guy, which is what America is no matter what. Uh, and it turned out to be the hit radio station voted in that magazine that we

don't read anymore rolling stone and other magazines as being the rock and roll station of 50 years taking over from a san francisco station that pioneered progressive rock and wmms was such a special place um i was that kid when the DJ said, there's more music coming your way, like the Eddie Money song, want to be a rock and roll star? I always waited, right? I always waited to see what he had to say. And I always wanted to be that guy. So I'm going to support that guy who is there on air every single time until it sounds like bullshit like you don't bring any bullshit to the audience you don't lie to the audience and you give them the best that you got or they're going to turn you off so as i look at going back to radio with michael at midnight the midnight

drive you know look forward to it because this is going to be radio done like nobody else man i'm going in to do what i used to do and what i can do where is this uh it's coming i can't say you can't tell me where that is i can't tell you but but it's coming it's one way or another michael at midnight the midnight drive is coming and there's a song to that too which i can direct you to by the kinsey report it's called midnight drive and that's going to be the theme of the show. And you can't give a clue where it's going to be. When it's coming. Where will you hear this, Michael at Midnight?

Because I have a similar show called Mike at Midnight that's also coming soon. No, just kidding. Well, mine's, you know, it's the drive show is the most important. There's morning drive and there's afternoon drive. This is Midnight Drive, you know? So it's going to be a six-hour workout and the music and the information.

Is it a digital stream? It's going to be everything. It's going to be everything. It's going to be on every platform. You're holding those cards close to your chest. It's going to be on every platform possible. And I will let midnight. I love it.

It will be supported by Speak and Sp be supported by speak and spins lecture tours touring with bands living color uh and uh we're gonna go out and we're gonna have a good time and we're gonna bring up the level of music we're also gonna there's an educational component as well to where i will be speaking at colleges and stuff radio programs programs. And I've offered it to if anybody, if any radio station wants me to come out and just sort of preview this or play it, if I can play the music that I need to play between midnight and six and I know it's okay because I know the rules. And by the way, I do come with a lot of CanCon because I've produced it and I've made it. So I don't hold anything to chance. But if you get in touch with me or my folks or Eric Alper or Glenda Fordham, who works with me in PR, or Eric Alper or on Facebook, we can make a deal.

So I'll go and do your radio station. we can make a deal so i'll go and do your radio station already on tour when i'm out in st john's i'm going to the college station there and i'm going to do uh after the movie and uh until it's time to catch on so you're touring with the movie i will be doing at least seven dates and i hope to be doing all the dates with the movie to go out and say because you're a star of this dog so you well i don't know if i'm the star man but I want to go out and say thank you for being there. And I want to say thank you to Canada. So this isn't the only tour. This is just the beginning.

I've got at least three. And I've been thinking about doing New Year's Eve in every city that loves me. A lot of cities, man. Well, I'm hoping so. And I'm going to be out there. I just came back from out west. And now I got to hit the east. I got to go to Newfoundland.

I'm just going out to say hello. And it's a good reason and a good time to do that in any form that I can, be it digital or in person. And I like the in-person thing, pressing the flesh and say thanking you for paying attention to anything that I did. I'm so very grateful. And I, you know, and I want to go out and say thank you again, man. So it's, you know, and let's burn it down. Crazy to me. I'm a change.

My clarity. I swear. Brand new. If I ever made a buck, I'ma act like I don't really care. Cause I'm the world's brookest We'll see you next time. I've been noodle, truffle, ravioli, but they can't afford not to gamble on me. Where from I can afford it and you can't afford me. Now we raise a glass, we got a fine china. Filling up a drink, ain't looking no one than you. My paranoia keep on asking, am I really here? They never see the starving artist acting like a billionaire. It's crazy to me how much life can change, I swear.

If I ever made a buck, I'ma act like I don't really care because I'm the world's brokenest billionaire. My clarity, man, he's great. I've been working. He's a friend, my friend Sharon Hyman from Montreal, who put me on television first. It's her nephew. And she called me one day and said, you know,

this is the business where everybody calls you and says, I got a relative that could use your help or whatever. And I've been mentoring him and talking to him. But, you know, he didn't need much mentoring because he's really quite diligent about his work. There was a track I called that I heard called In the Park that was just I thought was great, simple, great and to the point and spoke directly to his generation, just like this does on his new record. And really talented emcee, talented producer. He's on his new record. And really talented MC, talented producer. He's got his own studio. And I think Meyer eventually is going to break.

And it's different. He's got a nice alternative feel to him. But everything that he's done and sent me, I mean, he's got a number of records, and they're all really good. They're all very, very good. Very well written, very well written very well produced lyrically solid and um he's new he's upcoming and he's from montreal living in toronto

i heard a reference to front street yeah man he's myer has got he's the man i mean i love him i absolutely love what he does there's an a few other artists that I've been working with for years, like T.J. Whitlock, great guitar player, great songwriter. Met this kid when he was like 10, 12 years old. He's now writing for John Legend. Wow. You know, and that's sort of, I mentor people and I help them. I make sure they listen to the right stuff to get them there and they ask questions.

I also try to foster associations with them culturally with other musicians and make sure that they're listening to the stuff to make sure that their musical palette is the largest it can be so they can jump off and they can leap without a net and know they're going to get there. I feel like the world's brokeest billionaire. I'd probably do the exact same bullshit I do now, but I'd be rich as fuck. Cirque du Soleil. So this started out as a session for Dutch Robinson, for me, and Robbie Finkel.

And Dutch is the greatest vocalist. Now, all of the vocals on this, except for this lead vocal, is one man. The great, the incredible from Kid Creole and the Coconuts and the Ohio Players, the Platters, Dutch Robinson, a multi-octave range. And you will tell when you hear the choir, it's all one man. And I thought that was incredible. So we did a song called Lord, which was 17 minutes. And it was right after I left Much Music. And I wanted to do a catalog of male black singing.

Everything I wanted the kitchen sink. And Dutch was the guy. And when the people from Cirque du Soleil heard what we were doing, they brought him into this. And it was magic after that. Listen, the choir. One guy. Nobody does that. Nobody does that.

Stevie Wonder, maybe, yes, but not a whole choir. Wait till it comes in. It was a nice little... And these are all the players from my session, because I said, if you're going to take my producer, you're going to take my singer, you're going to take everybody. That's how I got to contract. I was the contractor of the album Alegria. Plus, on the last song, Nocturne, it was something that the fellow from Cirque du Soleil had sitting there,

and he couldn't find anybody to play it. My trumpet player played it. He used to play with Phish and Joey Somerville. He's now in Atlanta, and he did that, and it was incredible. So you always want, as a band leader, you always want to keep your musicians working. I kept my musicians working at triple scale and they did some historic work.

The theme for me has always been that I learned when I started to work in music, if you can't make money, make history. Amazing, amazing. Just reading quick feedback from Glenda Fordham, who's enjoying your Toronto mic. Hey, Glenda. The aforementioned Glenda.

And really, what I loved about the second appearance is that the first appearance, very much heavy, of course, even though I did sneak in a lot of much in this episode because that's the way I roll. I'm very sneaky that way. And we just saw that documentary and it's all in my head. But just revisiting all this great music you've been a part of uh you mentioned during much pre-much post-much like i

people probably see michael williams and they go oh the vj what's he done since 1992 you know what i mean off the radar but uh very relevant and very interesting and i really appreciated this chat man no i'm always in the studio. I'm always dreaming. I'm always, you know, I'm never letting anything or anyone stop me. I'm fiercely independent. And I will work with you if you're going in my direction. I will help you if you possibly need help.

Meyer Clarity. I started with TJ. A lot of other musicians call me up just for help. I put Cat Dyson in with Colin James when he needed a guitar player. She was playing with Prince. I put Ettrick in with Colin James as well. And the late Washington Savage also played with Jeff Healy. You know, occasionally I get those calls. Eddie Bullen almost went out with Simple Minds because they needed a keyboard player, but I believe he was having children at that time

and couldn't go. So, I mean, I'm always in music one way or another, and I fight to learn everything I can about my craft, about music, to make it better, either as a producer, a player, an engineer. What's this now closing out this is the uh toronto mic closing theme this is the lowest of the lowest yeah courtesy of low to low who also have a documentary i saw last week and it's great called subversives so if you don't have a documentary about you or some sort of film about you, you're no one in music. So everyone that saw

the Much Music film that wasn't happy, I encourage you to make your own story, man. Tell your own story. If there's a story to be told, who's going to tell it better than you? I decided that before the film, and I've been shooting shit for years, man. I've got me with Jimi Hendrix's dad. I got me with all kinds of stuff over the years. And I just found a case of like eight millimeter films from high school and stuff. So who's going to do that better than me? Nobody else. You just need people to help you put it together. And it's so easy now. So this is going to this is like the that film is sort of like the Velvet Underground.

Only 20 people, only 20 people bought the record, but they all started bands. Amazing. It's like, yeah, you hear about those Sex Pistols concerts, and you find out everybody in attendance started a band that night. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so you're an Oakville guy? I'm an Oakville guy.

I'm over in the beaches now because I'm doing a lot of work downtown, so I didn't want to go back and forth. I have concocted an idea where Canada Kev, FOTM Canada Kev, will pick up Michael Williams, if you're in town obviously, on December 9th and bring you to TMLX 14.

We'll work that out. We'll feed you. We'll take care of you. I don't know where I'm going to be in December so let's work this out. You call me a week ahead and I'll let you know. But this has been fun, man. This has been fun. You're amazing. We'll definitely have to do it again.

This clip here, I'm going to play this. No Cleveland, no Bowie. I heard that going. Whenever there's no this, then without this, there's no that. It comes up a lot, actually, it turns out. My go-to phrase now is I look them in the eyes, and I say, no Cleveland, no Bowie. Okay, so I got to give you another one from the West Coast.

Here we go. I'm celebrating my birthday out in Vancouver. And I'm going to a restaurant. I think it's called The Boathouse or whatever. I'm going down the hill to the restaurant. There's a car. There's a guy. It's just downhill.

There's a guy on a bicycle. And he comes down and he shouts, Michael Williams, Michael Williams. And he it's just downhill, there's a guy on a bicycle, and he comes down and he shouts, Michael Williams, Michael Williams, and he's, you know, our age, and he says, I will follow you anywhere, I will follow you anywhere. I get out and I talk to him and I shoot a little thing, and I'm a little embarrassed, and similar to that, I'm at the Cat Solano Festival, a whole car of guys stop, and they go, we have a phrase, and I say, what's that phrase? They say, when somebody says it's cool,

we say, but is it Michael Williams cool? Love it! And that! That's a t-shirt right there. That's going to be a t-shirt. Is it cool? And on the back it's going to say, is it Michael Williams cool? Question mark.

And that brings us to the end of our 1,331st show. I know you're active on Instagram, not so much Twitter, but remind us how we follow you. It's all coming because Glenda's helping me with all that stuff now. All right, Glenda, you know your work cut out for you there.

I'm here to help. Absolutely. But you can reach me and you can find me. Trust me. If you want me on your radio station, you can find me. You want you can reach me and you can find me. Trust me. If you want me on your radio station, you can find me. You want me in your town, you can find me. You can reach me

and I'll hook you up with the great Michael Williams. Exactly. If you can't find me, find T.O. Mike. Mike at TorontoMike.com. And you can follow me on Twitter at TorontoMike.

And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagna. Pumpkin beer, man. Man, that pumpkin ale. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada.

Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. It's now happening, guys, in Milton, Ontario. Get your tickets. T-O-Mike-1-5 saves you 15%. Do it up. And Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. This is a big week, Michael. I'm going to my calendar here in real time. Uh're at Ridley FH. This is a big week, Michael. I'm going to my calendar here in real time.

Uh-oh, uh-oh. This is a big week. Tomorrow, did you ever see this show, Baroness Von Sketch Show? Yes, I have. So Carolyn Taylor is one of the comedians, a part of that show. She's got a new show on Crave, getting in there just before the Much Music doc. Carolyn Taylor makes her Toronto Mike debut. Then this is exciting. Wednesday, Jamie Campbell

and Brad Fay are going to come on. They're from Sportsnet. Thursday, Cam Gordon returns and Friday, Ben Mulrooney makes his Toronto Mike debut. So look, he's been avoiding you too. Is this the thing? He's been avoiding you? No, no. We only kind of

hooked up in the summer. He's coming on. He's excited. More Bell Media talk then. avoiding you too. Is this the thing? He's been avoiding you? We only kind of hooked up in the summer. He's coming on. He's excited. Okay. More Bell Media talk then. See you all. Thank you.