Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Michael Williams: Toronto Mike'd #1318

Episode Date: September 1, 2023

In this 1318th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Michael Williams about his years in Montreal and Vancouver before arriving at MuchMusic where he hosted the Pepsi Power Hour, RapCity, Soul in the City, Electric Circus and pretty much every other show on the network. 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.

Welcome to episode 1318 of Toronto Mike. Proudly brought to you, better late than never for Mr. Williams. 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. 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. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success.

Pumpkins After Dark. Use the promo code TOMIKE15 and save 15% this month at PumpkinsAfterDark.com and Redleaf Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his highly anticipated Toronto Mike debut. He's here, folks, in the flesh, Michael Williams.

Well, it's been 10 years in the making, I guess. You've been doing this for 10 years? 11 years. 11 years? 11 years last week. How did you manage to dodge me for 11 years, Mr. Williams? I just say no. How is it so effortless for you to say no to me over 11 years?

It's been effortless to say no to most things over the last 15 or 20 years. There are some things that are just really compelling to do, and most of those things... And this is not one of those things. No, most of those things that are really really compelling to do. And most of those. And this is not one of those things. No, most of those things that are really compelling to do are things that I do myself. So I stay in the studio, man. I have a studio tan. I stay in the studio.

And I'm always writing and recording and doing those things that I am dreaming about doing those things that I haven't done yet that I should definitely do. So, uh, I haven't really, this is the first podcast. I think I've done. They, all the podcasts that I've done have been in,

uh, conjunction with the much movie two nine nine queen street West, which without a doubt, we're going to talk about. We had the director over here. We had a little taste of it, but we're going to find out more about the new Much Music documentary. But I will tell you, 11 years in the making, I think I asked you a couple of times in person, like at radio.

I would crash radio events and you'd be there and I'd be like, hey man, you should come on Toronto Mike. I think I bumped into you at a Spoons concert like about a decade or so ago. Yeah, I'm the opening act for the Spoons. I come out and do, was that the one at the Great Hall? Did you go to that one? I honestly, I feel like it was at a college. Possibly. I go out and I DJ in front of them.

Right. And I also, two standing ovations, I was quite surprised. And the tunes are always good. And I just go introduce myself and introduce the spoons. And then I also play with them and do some background vocals and stuff like that. Them images in Vogue, been working with them a lot. The box I've got on the 29th with the box out in Oakville for a charity event. And don't forget on the 29th also, if you are around the sound of my voice uh the phoenix club

uh michelle pagliero was going to be there burning it down wow and i get to introduce him at the walk of fame so that's a that's a big deal for me okay well this is a big deal for me michael uh quick question off the top does your middle name start with a k no okay because when michael k william. Williams, Omar and the Wire came around, he went by Michael K. Williams, and I wondered if your middle name started with K. No, my middle name starts

with E. E? Yes. It's Edward. Eric. Eric! Shout out to FOTM Eric Alper. By the way, Michael, you're now an FOTM. That's Friend of Toronto Mike. So you did manage to dodge me for 11 years. 11 years, man. So why now? Well, I haven't really been doing a lot of interviews. I've been working for years on my book and how to present that not like a book, to do it in a different sort of way that might be interesting to myself and someone who would

actually spend money to pick it up and um so i've been working on that trying to make that interesting uh like i say really interesting to me and everyone else and uh i did a couple of interviews a while back and uh both of them i would see in not in conjunction with, but they weren't pleasant experiences. Really? Yeah. Now I'm interested. I did something for something that's supposed to be coming out.

I don't even know what it's called. So it hasn't come out yet. Yeah, I did a couple things. Something else that I think is out. And there were two times when I almost got up and walked out. You know, it was that bad. That's yet to happen. This is episode 1,318.

That's yet to happen here, but there's a first time for everything. What exactly pissed you off? By the way, everybody I know has done this but me. So they were called, yeah, yeah, Toronto Mike's looking for you. Toronto Mike wants to do you. You know what?

Toronto Mike wants to do you. I'm good friends with Joel Goldberg who's been on several times. He actually drove Ziggy Lawrence once for her appearance. Like he would take her chauffeur and her bodyguard, I think. But Joel Goldberg. Great guy. Also from Cleveland.

Also from Cleveland. Yes. So you're in that club there. But he wants, I think many years ago, he said, oh, I'll talk to Michael for you. He did. He did. He absolutely did. I just, you know, I would like to have something to talk about as opposed to what I did and what I may be doing or whatever. And I just

didn't feel I had a lot to contribute, but I did contribute a lot before. But talking about that kind of leaves you stuck in time sometimes. And know and we are talking to different generations so the generation i was talking to at much music is not the generation that's listening to your podcast possibly or that i would be talking to now i think you're addressing right now the gen x of the gta and beyond right here but you know you talk about you don't you don't necessarily even though you're a part of this documentary so there's a lot of nostalgia looking back at much music. And we are going to look back on this podcast. But I thought we might start.

Let me drink this in, Michael. It's a beautiful Friday. I just finished a bike ride. Tell us, what are we listening to, Michael? What you're listening to is taken from the album Reggae Can't Done by Willie Williams, who I've worked with. I met him actually at Much Music, him and Jackie Matu, the late, great, incredible Jackie Matu that gave you musical youth, sound dimension. And he is reggae. When reggae was being invented in the room, Jackie was telling everybody what to play to a great extent. He was the original keyboard player at Studio One. Actually, Monty Alexander was the original keyboard player. Jackie

Matu replaced Monty. Monty started at about eight or nine years old. And when he eventually went to Florida with his mother and met Frank Sinatra and began to be his keyboard player for the lifetime, Jackie took over. Okay. And Jackie and Willie, I met, I think, the first couple of weeks I was at Much Music. I was asked to go down to P&D's Uptown, which was a very popular place for reggae music, live music, and dancing in the community.

And I went down there to do an interview with Willie Williams. And we met. Later he introduced me to Jackie Matu and we've been friends and worked together in the studio. I'm on a couple of his tracks. My voice, this is something that I co-produced with him. Actually I did produce this track. We have two versions of the track. We have a vocal and we have an instrumental. The instrumental features the one and only, at the age of 88, he was just in Hamilton a while ago. I saw him, Herb Alpert, who is just a gentleman and a god in the music industry.

There are three films out on Herb Alpert. He just lost his business partner and friend, Mr. Moss. And I used to work for them, actually, in Montreal. I worked for A&M Records. And of course, one of the first records that I got as a kid was The Lonely Bull and a few other Herb Alpert releases. I got it courtesy of RCA Record Club. And I ordered, you know, when you order those records and it says you'll get 12 records. So not Columbia House? That's Columbia House, no?

No, no. Oh, because I did Columbia House. Yeah, Columbia House, I believe mine was the RCA Record Club in the States. Oh, in Cleveland. Right. And you see, you say you say oh yes i can handle ten dollars as a young kid i can i'll get ten dollars that'll be a couple of months allowance

but i can pay that and then your parents get a bill for 64.95 for 12 records and i got the records my parents eventually got the bill. I don't know if they paid it, but I was a Herb Alpert fan from then on. And I went over Willie's house one day, and he says, let's have lunch. And he played me the new record. His house sounded like Studio One in the basement. It was just a beautiful sound to it and feel. But of course, that's because he was doing it, and he's

one of the original purveyors of Jamaican music just an international superstar for his song Armageddon Time which he co-wrote with Jackie Matu and the soul vendors were the band originally and the track was actually not called Armageddon time uh the track had another name to it the real rock and willie wrote vocals to it and added some effects and things and sang it with the soul ventures and the soul soul vendors and jackie matu was there on keyboards and directing everything and it became a hit um then uh it was played in a club in the UK by Don Letts, who was DJing, and he was also in the punk scene. And of course, punks and reggae and skinheads and reggae

just all got together. Skinheads weren't always these violent things that we expect them to be now. Skinheads were right in there with the black community, enjoying the music and also understanding that they were downtrodden as well so uh down in the in the ghetto everybody mixed and everybody had a good time and don let's played it the clash was in the audience of course uh dancing and jumping up with everyone else loved the song and the song armageddon time was the b-side of London Calling, but it was also the very

first hit single for The Clash. And they've done it over and over in various versions. And just to work with Willie and Jackie has always been a pleasure and joy. I got to manage the affairs for Jackie Matu when he got sick with cancer for the last year or so of his life I said what would you like to do until you're no longer here with us not that that would ever happen but unfortunately it did and I just took care of everything that he wanted to do like playing with the scatolites one more time introducing the reggae awards with willie williams and just killing the place and leaving and also doing some recording of his last album

and then he has a both willie and jackie i was on a bunch of their tracks that have yet to be heard but that track that you just heard was uh um a wonderful collaboration between myself willie and i brought herb albert into it. I heard the track and Dave Madden from Zap Pow and the Whalers Band was on it and there was just something missing. I wanted a certain sound that I remembered and then I remembered that the sound was the sound of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. So my friend Glenda,enda fordham from fordham pr i know glenda yeah she goes you can do this you know her about no i don't know her about well hang on i'll help you find him and she helped me find him i called and um it was an interesting experience his secretary was obviously from new

york living in la and gave me the what do you want all of that uh she was a bulldog for him and i said i just have a track here i'd like him to hear i'd like him to play on it and send me the center of the track calls me back in like half an hour and says do you have a vocal sheet to it a lyric sheet i didn't but i did we made it really quick sent it over and she calls me back again and says he's going to call you tomorrow he called me the next day and uh i mean first of all he's calling me from la on my cell phone i said he says what would you like me to do and i said mr alpert sir i can't even afford this phone call you know how can i possibly ask you to play for free he says don't worry about it i love the track i'll do it and uh what would

you like me to do and i explained i'm explaining to the great herb albert what i would like him to rock and roll hall of famer and he did it it. And that's the vocal, that's the instrumental dub. And there's a vocal track to it as well. And turned out really well. And we're still releasing it and re-releasing it and remixing it. He was just on tour. So we released it while he was out on tour. And I heard from his son-in-law, I think his son-in-law or something,

Randy Badazz, who did Rise for him. And he said, it's one of Herb's favorite tracks that he did. So, I mean, the fact that I did something that he liked and he collaborated with me, I thought it was, me and Willie, I thought it was an experience of a lifetime. Well, it's a mind-blowing story. And, you know, you mentioned Herb Alpert's partner there, Jerry Moss. So that's the, just for those who don't know, Herb Alpert, that's the A in A&M. And Moss was the M.

And it was a wonderful relationship. It was a tight, I got to work for them, which was a thrill of a lifetime. Just from the standpoint, they worked like I worked. Most of these companies, you go to the top top and if there's an asshole at the top, there's an asshole at the bottom. But this wasn't like that. These were people that loved music, that worked for musicians, that no matter what, they wanted to get the best music out as possible and they allowed the artist to do that. And working with them was a wonderful experience. They put their company together on a handshake.

So when they finished their company and sold it off, they had to spend about a year or something with lawyers, just coming up with the contracts that reflected their handshake. So I'll let the listenership know on a, this is we're recording on a Friday on Wednesday. I dropped the, uh, August is, we're recording on a Friday on Wednesday. I dropped the, uh, August,

2023 Memorial episode of Toronto Mike. It's brought to you by Ridley funeral home, where I, we talk about people. We lost, uh, people we lost in August, 2023.

And there is a Memorial for Jerry Moss in that episode. So you can go back and listen to that. I got to ask you about how you get to Canada. So why you get to Canada? Cause you're a Cleveland guy. And then of course you about how you get to Canada, or why you get to Canada, because you're a Cleveland guy, and then, of course, you're from Montreal, but what brings you to Canada? Oh, well, geez, a lot of this will be in the book,

but the easy... Don't worry, anyone who's interested in this is going to buy that book. Oh, sure they are. This is just to whet the appetite. Well, what happened, I was a member of Up With People, and I... Wait, didn't they uh correct me if i'm wrong they played a super bowl halftime show yes we did you were on this you were there i'm not sure if i did because the super bowl halftime doesn't really mean much to me

i stopped watching you really don't know if you were a part of a super bowl well i was part of there was something really mind blown There was something really big. It's a mind blow. There was something really big. I'm not sure if I was at the Super Bowl halftime, but we did other shows that seemed to be that big in these big stadiums and stuff. Okay.

And we toured the world together. And I was a member of Up With People. Wow. And as being a member of Up With People, I got to tour the world. Also, I was a lead dancer. The dance instructor was, she actually worked with Jackie Gleason and all of his dancers. So that was kind of a cool experience, June Morse. Also, I played an instrument, I played percussion, and I sang backgrounds as everyone did in a 175 person choir. And I did, by the time I finished, I sang at least four or five songs and a couple of duets and at least one or two solos.

And it was a great experience for me in terms of stagecraft and learning all of that. I was one of these kids that always was in every choir. And I used to sing Gregorian chants every Sunday at like 9 a.m. at a place called the Supplementary Center in Cleveland. That was an addendum to the choir. So if you were in choir, you could be in citywide choir, and citywide choir did really interesting classical things, and Gregorian chants were one of those things.

So anyway, as part of being a member of Up With People, I went on tour around the world. A month in California where we just trained and then we did a quick tour of California, Southern California, and then we went to Europe. And while in Europe, I met some Canadians who invited me to Montreal. And at the time, I was looking for a school to go to. And I had been accepted by Ohio State University, Kent State University, University of Arizona. And at Loyola, there was a possibility and a rumor that Marshall McLuhan was going to be the next head of the communications department there taking over from Father O'Brien.

And Marshall McLuhan passed, so Father O'Brien continued. And this was the first communications department in Canada. I went there to check it out, and then it checked me out. And eventually I wasn't, I almost got into the school, but not quite. I almost got into the school, but not quite. So rather than not go to school, I went for English and drama and theater in January of that year of 73. And then I applied again. I applied again, and the head of the department, Father O'Brien, actually let me into the department with the last day of late registration at 4.49, and it's closing at 5 o'clock. Right. at five o'clock right so there was a bit of an urgency there but it was uh it was a great school and uh i'm with the much movie i'm going back there and i hope to do a show showing of the music

on on the campus and in the department and discuss it with students and with media students and stuff like that but it was a great school i was uh allowed to learn as much as i possibly could uh in english and in french and also i dj'd there i had a mobile dj group called jason stan and company and that was my partner stan darville and my um and my friends and we just uh i've been i've dj'd since probably about like djing actively yeah since i would say about 68 69 you know but when they were sock hops and stuff and i also did some radio back then as well wncr and uh i worked at wclv and I built my high school station. Music has been a part of life for me constantly. My family was a bit of a military family on one side and music family on the other side. Then both of those sides kind of combined to where the guys who were in the military,

I have pictures of my uncles, one being a guitar maker and his brother being a guitar player and they both played they were weekend warriors and stuff like that and uh i remember looking behind the couch and i he had a guitar with rusty strings and stuff on it that was the original telecaster i had seen it in a downbeat magazine it said the new telecaster and the original telecaster that was sitting behind my uncle's couch with rusty strings on it unfortunately i didn't get it when he passed away his kids did not know the value of music or being a musician and um so i went to school at loyola and i that's how i got to canada really and but many an american has come for schooling and gone back home uh what kept you here you've

been here i take it you've been here ever since pretty much um what kept me here um well my son i originally you know i started a family here in montreal and i love montreal i i really do love montreal i love vancouver i got to see more of Canada than most Canadians because I've toured with either a band like the Pointed Sticks that I've worked with for years. Vancouver Punk Band. Vancouver Punk Band, greatest album ever. Perfect Youth by the Pointed Sticks, produced by Bob Rock.

The first full album that Bob Rock ever produced was The Pointed Sticks. And sonically, you could see the promise of his career that's taken him to Metallica and everything else. Just a great producer and a really good guy. And the musicians in Vancouver I love. The musicians in Montreal that I worked

with and a lot of them. And by the way, feel free to shout them out only because I'm a big fan of the little details. You mentioned pointed sticks well pointed sticks they're on tour in japan right now and i should really be there with them i love it uh i miss them and every time they come to town or i go to vancouver i'm always with them as a matter of fact i just uh co-hosted i just hosted one of the stages at the cat solano Festival in July, and that's on West 4th in Vancouver. And that's right in front of what used to be Quintessence Records. Now it's Zulu Records, and they moved it across the street, and I DJed and host right in front of it.

That's the first place that actually gave me a paycheck other than djing to work in music and my job was to work with appointed sticks on a number of levels i was their tour manager i was their promotion person i was their uh you know i was everything chief cook bottle washer all that stuff as i took them across the country and we came to Toronto, played The Edge, and we did a live broadcast on CFNY. Is this a Gary's presentation? It was. I got to work with the Garys and Ron Chapman,

and actually my office in Toronto was at The Edge right next to the Garys and Jane and Ron Chapman and everyone. And Ron Chapman has a new film. It's the 1969 John Lennon concert here. He's the one who put that together and a number of other films as well. Wow. And great, great director.

Speaking of films, real quick, I just want to shout out Mike from K-Dub who loved you in the Doug and the Slugs documentary. Oh, okay. And I saw it too. And you're all over that. I said, Michael Williams is all over this Doug and the Slugs documentary. Why won't he come on Toronto Mike?

I was just in a few places. I got a call from Glenda about that. And what happened was I also have talked to a number of members of the band and his family. And everyone wanted to know why Doug and the Slugs were a hit out east when they came out east. It seems that I may have had something to do with that. A friend of mine, Kathy, had sent me two copies of the Doug and the Slugs original single. Now, everyone know this. The original single of Too Bad is far different than what you hear on the record.

What you hear on the record is crap compared to the original single that has all the party and all the fun in it. And it was done for no money. And it is just so much better than the album. On the album, they sort of turned the reverb on and they produced it. On the single, they went in and did it on their own dime. And Quintessence Records, the place where I actually, I had been on tour with Triumph. And at the end of that tour, I was on tour with Triumph doing Lasers.

That's a whole different other story because I'm a licensed Lasers as well. Toronto's second best trio of all time. Yeah. And I was working with them, working my way up to working with Rush. So I had worked with Sheriff. They were really good friends of mine before the hit. And I got off the road with Sheriff. Arnie?

What's his name? Sheriff? That's the guy from Frozen Ghost, right? Yeah, Arnie. Arnie, yeah. Okay. And so when I got off the road with, and actually Gowan was on one of those dates with Rheingold, which was interesting, but it was mostly Sheriff.

And so I got off the road with them, went on the road with Triumph, got off the road with Triumph, went out west. And the last day before I was supposed to come home, I walked up West 4th. And that's where I walked into quintessence records and there was just a whole wall of local music that i listened to the staff was really knowledgeable and i love record stores i go shopping everywhere i've got a pretty huge collection in storage that has been vandalized in hamilton my stores got robbed at least two or three i know i know we're gonna talk to tom wilson well that and

gary santucci who sort of helped you know and uh i guess his place got vandalized and then you know it's like the look we'll i'll give you a picture we'll put it on your site if anybody sees this piece of art honestly let's do it let's do yeah because a lot of my artwork and family heirlooms that got robbed as well okay let's do our best i'm nuts about that but uh i went out so i went out west and uh the day before i came back i walked into quintessence wonderful experience great people and i said who owns the store met the store owner and i believe before i left the store, I had a job. But he had loaded me down with all the product. Last thing he gave me was the pointed sticks cassette. This was before Walkman's, so I had built my own out of, you know, I had built my own sort of little double deck.

I had a little double dubbing deck of cassettes that I found in Iowa Recorder. Got my big headphones plugged them in i listened to it on the way back on the plane the whole cassette a couple of times and long plane ride and uh got off the plane went to the next phone went to the phone right across from where i got off at and called them and said yeah i love it love it. I'm in. I'll be back tomorrow. They sent me a ticket. I flew back the next day. And I worked with a ton of bands and stuff on the West Coast.

First and foremost, The Point It Sticks. And I have a whole West Coast life and family. So my life would go Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto much later. Toronto much, much later. Pun intended, of course.

Pun, absolutely. Much intended. So Mike and K-Dub loved you in the Doug and the Slugs documentary. It was fun. When she asked me the question. Well, here,

this is Mike saying, and by the way, I'm going to ask you a question about the name Mike in a second, but your reaction to the question about cultural appropriation by the band was perfect. I thought so. You know, made me laugh, and if it made everybody else laugh, that was fine. Yeah, reggae music, I mean, come on. Music is music. If you can play it, I'm lucky.

I'm fortunate any form of music that i love um and that i like i seem to be lucky enough to be able to play that form or to work in that form with respect to the originators and with respect to the music and with respect to who i am and whom i'm who I'm playing with. And I think Doug was having fun, man. They were having great fun. Doug and Slugs were the best party mixtape that you could have for a college party. And that included always a lot of reggae

or reggae-influenced music, whether it was Loggins and Messina or Millie Small, the real stuff or the fake stuff everybody wants the feeling doug gave you feeling he get there was so much feeling and so much love and so much fun in that debut single that my friend sent me so i was doing music in montreal at all of the popular clubs downtown from the winston churchill pub to darwin's to grumpy's to le privé i was djing in all these places via tape before all these services came out so i put it in everywhere i played it at every popular club and bar in montreal that i could so

there was a little bit of familiarity, maybe. You were making it work, Michael. I was making it work and it was just fun. It was just a lot of fun. So I enjoyed it. And then of course, Doug was around a lot when I was at Much Music, but I never met him. You know, we never sat down and we'd say, how you doing and have a drink or no not really because it was just all going so fast that okay we're gonna get you to much here let's get you much quick question about your name michael williams uh i got a like a tip don't call him mike that was the tip yeah never never a mike i haven't called you mike but some people oh yeah

mike mike this mike that yeah no i i know a mike is something that you speak in but some people oh yeah mike mike this mike that yeah no i i know a mike is something that you speak in and uh michael is me so that's you are michael i mean my birth certificate tells you i'm a michael as well so shout out to the michaels out there you were looking at that measuring tape so let me just give it to you now ridley funeral home wants you michael williams this is uh you never know if you have to measure something shout out okay you never know use that as you wish actually i i officiated a funeral about a week ago my friend jack litchfield who wrote the canadian jazz discography back in 1982 and was the biggest friend of jazz music and music you could ever have passed away and uh i officiated that with my friend Chris Hall. And I had also done a bunch of work with Jack

and miss him terribly. But this guy had an incredible life. He was about 93. And he is one of the people very responsible for jazz being where it is, not only in Canada, but definitely in Toronto. Okay, I'm sorry for your loss. But you know what?

He had a great life. He had a great time. It wasn't any loss. It was a party. Celebration. Yeah, exactly. Okay, everybody. Ridley Funeral Home.

I want to just tell people we recorded a new episode of Life's Undertaking yesterday. Brad Jones' excellent podcast. I get to co-host that and it's a really good episode about the dog days of summer and our love of dogs. So check out that episode, Michael. I know you're not a beer drinker, but I want to tell the listenership that Great Lakes Brewery is hosting us

all on Thursday. So I'm recording on Friday, six days from now, Michael, you should come to this too. TMLX 13. We're all going to gather at Great Lakes, which is near Royal York and Queensway.

Not, not too far north of here. And our first beer is on the house. Palma Pasta is going to feed us all. So you're going to have a delicious Italian meal. Thanks to Palma Pasta. Do you like lasagna, Michael? I do.

I cook a great vegetarian and or meat lasagna. So you do eat meat? I have eaten, I eat a little bit less meat now and a better quality of meat now than I did when I was on the road and stuff like that. So it's like drinking. I drink a lot less now,

but it's a better quality of alcohol. Okay, you can't beat Great Lakes for the beer, obviously, but also Palma Pasta has a, just a delicious meat lasagna and it's in my freezer right now. So before we say goodbye at the end of this, you'll take home a nice lasagna, frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta.

You're going to love it. And if you are around on September 7th, and this goes to everybody listening to 6 to 9 PM on Thursday, September 7th, we're all collecting. It's 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. Stick that in the GPS. Show up. Say hi. Hang

out. Have some food. Have some beer. It's just going to be a good time. That's coming up. You got a band playing or what you got? Normally we do have a band playing. This time, I mean, Lowest of the Low have played once. We've had the Watchmen. We've had some big bands. Blair Packham has played. Shout out to the Jitters.

You talk about spoons. Well, the keyboardist from the heyday, Rob Pruce, has played. Shout out to the Jitters. You know, you talk about spoons. Well, the keyboardist from the heyday, Rob Pruse, has played live at one of these events. He's a good friend of the show. So you're the last guy to come to Toronto Mike here, Michael. But here you are now. Now, even if you storm out, and I do want to know what made you walk out

of those other podcasts, because I want to get you to Mudge and play a clip. But what happened in these other podcasts where you just walked out? Like they didn't respect you? No, I didn't walk out. I was ready to walk out walked out like they didn't respect you no i didn't walk out i was ready to walk out oh you didn't i didn't walk out i wasn't uh i was ready to one it was uh the questions had nothing to do with anything that was um that was to be discussed and uh there is one situation though there though. There was a film that I was asked to be in for Play the Record.

And the director called me and said, I don't want you in the film, blah, blah, blah. OK, fine. And Gene's my friend at Play the Record. So I said, sure, I'll do whatever for Gene. And then when he called me, the questions had nothing to do with the store or my relationship to the store or music or whatever. And what's he asking you like for the weather? I don't know, man.

It was channeling your Harold Hussain. I just got off the phone. I just got, it was, it was over the phone. It was over the phone. It was a preliminary thing. And I just,

I just got off the phone and never called back. No, I've never done a pre-interview. Like I won't do it. Like, yeah, no, I don't do those either, but he did that.

And then one of the other things, I did an interview, and then I went to them and I said, look, I'll give you your money back and just take me out. You know? It was that bad. Wow. And how's this going for you so far? So far, so good, man.

So far, so good. I mean, I'm good. Okay, that means a lot to me because I don't want you to be the first guest in the history of Toronto Mike to walk out of here. But, you know, I lived it. So a lot of people, you know, they're talking to Michael Williams.

They got to go to Wikipedia and find out who is this guy. I was a much guy from the beginning. They don't have a lot of information. There isn't a lot of information out there, correct information. So if you go to Vancouver, the information is on on me is different because i did different things there if you go to montreal it's completely

different there uh those people know me i would say probably a lot better than the people in toronto you know what happens i would work and go home well here okay so what happens and this has happened many times in the past is a person like yourself will come on toronto mic and you'll set the record straight on different things and educate us and then there is a uh Wikipedia editor named Rosie Gray Teo who will update wiki sourcing this interview as the source and you you might find changes in the coming days based on what we've never checked my Wikipedia but uh you show great restraint well yes because I find that Wikipedia is pretty incorrect a lot of the times because it is crowdsourced information.

And so it could be what the popular rumor is, but normally not really correct. And then a lot of people haven't talked to me, and I haven't done a ton of interviews since after Much Music. I've noticed. And even during Much Music, I did a bunch of interviews, but there's not a lot of information because I didn't come from Toronto, I guess. I think people don't know that, though.

I feel the average Joe thinks you're a Toronto guy. I think so. In fact, I think Joel told me you were from Cleveland, and I was a little surprised to learn you were from cleveland and i was a little surprised to learn you were born in america i was originally born in cleveland yes and in cleveland we had a radio station wncr and wmms so working they were both rock and roll stations one was run by well actually there was a a black man who was in charge of one of them. And that one, he was, his name was Billy Bass.

And Billy Bass, he's still alive, just, Billy Bass was at RCA at one point in his career. And he was also at Chrysalis at another point in his career. And Pat Benatar told me about some great stories about Billy Bass because he was the big supporter of her in the beginning. Nobody was supporting this rock and roll potential diva that had, you know, a four or five octave scale who sang opera and all that stuff. Sort of like she would have been considered kind of like almost a female version of Meatloaf in terms of her range of singing. And Billie also worked at RCA, and Cleveland was very instrumental in the career of David Bowie. No Cleveland, no Bowie.

Really? Absolutely, absolutely. Bowie, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople, it all launched out of Cleveland on on wncr and wmms and wmms was a station if you look it up i believe it's maybe 50 years or 40 years for sure it was voted the number one rock and roll station in america the buzzer wmms because it was just the greatest it was uh whereas wncr was more of a progressive rock, more of a cerebral affair,

WMMS was where the party was constantly. So they had Kid Leo, they had Billy Bass, they had Shauna, they had just the greatest DJs. That's where I learned my craft, was at those two stations along with WCLV, which was one of the great classical stations in the history of classical music in America.

And so that's what I did after high school. I was always doing something in music. I'd go high school, practice basketball practice over to the radio station. I would start at the classical. So you did like basketball? Because you're not sure if you played a Super Bowl halftime show. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't think it was a superbowl half but it was something pretty big like that well they did an i feel like um they did a couple of those yeah they did a few

of those that's back before they uh went and got the big stars i guess the big stars start with probably with michael jackson maybe but uh back in the day yeah yeah back in the day. Yeah, back in the day. But I mean, I played basketball. In high school, I was a multiple letter man, and I had my numbers and stuff, so I played basketball. I swam. I did track. I played football. I kind of did it all, and not too poorly.

I got my letters and my numbers and stuff like that, but I also knew the downside of sports, where sports was just another area that if you were young and black in America, you looked at getting out of your possible condition by playing sports. And I knew what the downside of that would be, so I worked on my mind as opposed to just my body.

Smart. Literally smart. Okay, I'm going to play a clip of you from back in the day. And then we're going to talk about how you end up on much music. Let's listen. The Parachute Club supporting their second album At the Feet of the Moon, January 31st in North Bay. Check it. Oh, that's the concert listings in...

My friend Retro Ontario has provided me with some clips and just some taste of Michael Williams as a DJ on Much Music. So I'm not even sure. I'm going to find out where this goes when you find out. Let's listen here. under my skin spoons All right, I got more clips.

Oh, Mark Daly. Okay. Now, right here, of course, is the MuchMusic handbook. And if you don't have a MuchMusic handbook, God, I sound like a girl, don't I? The texture of your voice has definitely changed. General Public, Ashford and Simpson, and Pat Benatar from Much Music. That's also a little fast, too, I think. General Public on Much Music with Tenderness from the LP All the Rage.

Going out to the folks like Steve Macklin and the Point of Sticks, Bob Rock and the Palos. The Palos are currently in the studio with Dave Foster, working on a brand new album. You know you're Vancouver. We have Dave Edmonds going out in that direction out west. We're currently, yeah, the panel is recorded currently in the studio with Dave Foster, working on a brand new album, and we wish them all the greatest of success. We have Dave Edmonds going out in that direction out west, and we also have Lindsey Buckingham going out to Bob, who just absolutely loves this one to death. It's called Slow Dancing from the LP Go Insane. And for the Kensington crew, they said they must have this,

and it's all yours, Madonna, much music like what you're not okay um yeah so it is what it is man how'd you get there like like how did you score the gig at much music yeah you're you're a day one or right no i'm not a day one or okay i'm i'm about a week after okay so the famous moment is uh christopher ward and john jd roberts right i was at the party i was there i was there so there's a bunch of pictures if you look at the pictures i'm there in the background and i've seen a bunch of these pictures it's kind of interesting and uh i went to the party how did i get there um my okay so i'm in'm in Montreal and Montreal was just great. I'm working at Showm FM, my dream station. I listened to when I was in university.

The wonderful thing was that I came from Cleveland, Ohio and went to Montreal for university and discovered that musically, the cities were like sister cities vandergaff generator vandergaff generator genesis i saw them as an opening band for it's a beautiful day always a big band pink floyd but the real touchstone for me babe ruth the mexican babe ruth would play clubs in cleveland babe Ruth would play huge concerts in Montreal. When I got there, one of those songs that I heard that kind of crossed over was Babe Ruth,

the Mexican, as well as Chaka Khan with Rufus and things like that. Shom had a wonderful, a wonderful, large, varied catalog of music that they would play music that i was familiar with from cleveland ohio so i felt quite comfortable add on top of that quebec or french canadian music if you prefer to call it that uh it was quebec at the time because there was a real feeling of nationalism i guess and um it was great it was just wonderful so i So I was working. I went to university. I DJed all through university. That's how I got through university and paid for it along with the student loan. And afterwards I started to do more work. I always wrote for the, I wrote for the Sunday Express. I eventually worked at Shom sometime after I finished the Pointed Sticks tour.

I got a job at Shom FM. And that was just great. Was Steve Anthony there at the time? No, he was not. No, he was not. He never worked at Shom FM. He worked at CKGM. That was the AM station.

Oh, I've had that story wrong for 10 years now. He's never worked at Shom. So when Corey Hart comes on in and calls him the boy in the box, this is the story Steve tells. That's not Shom. He's the boy in the box at CKGM, not Shom. CKGM, okay. Yes, CKGM was the pop station.

Gotcha. And I don't know. I couldn't, yeah, yeah, he was at the pop station. He was always at the pop. He was never at the rock and roll station. And we took our rock and roll real serious there. So it was, it might've been a little difficult for him. But so I got the job at Shom

and through the job at Shom and killing that, I did a thing, I was asked to do a thing on Saturday because my PD, Rob Braid, thank you very much, came to me and said, we got six hours on Saturday. Can you do something with it? Absolutely. I was a hog for airtime, more airtime, man. Give me more airtime. Are you kidding me? I can, yeah, I had shows that I had done and things that i had written that i wanted to do so i did a thing called club 980 and then changed the name to sold in the city and club 980 was the forerunner it was sold in the city it was a six-hour version and this is like i would actually go to the record store on thursday and fr, pick up new product, go around to all the record companies with a limo,

just throw all the new records in the back. Tons. I would fill the back seat with records. I would fill the trunk with music. And then I'd go to Pierre Music, which was the big dance store in Montreal, downstairs on St. Catherine, and right outside of Pierre Music every Thursday. Sometimes

on Friday, my friend would bring back all the new records from New York City. His name was Cass. He's no longer with us, but he was the one who was responsible for really getting those special records out. He would have one or two of this and the people that would get them would be the big DJs. But because i unloaded his truck to get free music because i couldn't afford to buy it he would give me things like the very first ub40 single food for thought wow double-sided with kings or this 12 inch or that 12 inch and he would just hold special things for me and i would take this music and go into the studio on Saturday. I would do from like maybe about 10 o'clock till, I don't know, three.

Actually, it was probably more like 11 to four. I would finish at about four o'clock. Four to five, I'd have a bite to eat. Five to six, I would prepare. Six o'clock, I was in the studio, and it was spontaneous combustion. It was just the most incredible amount of freedom, trust, and fun that you could possibly have

with your clothes on. It was just great. It was just my kind of radio. It was spontaneous. In other words, whatever I wanted to play for six hours, I could do. Everybody was on the show from the Stray Cats to Tina Turner because she was just coming back at that time. Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder.

Anybody of that day that was in town would sit with me or I would call them and they'd do a spot on the show. And the amount of music and the type of music and the variety of music that I could play was pretty spectacular. There's a documentary being done on it right now in the form of a web series. There's a book also to go along with that called La Racine de Hip Hop au Québec, The Roots of Hip Hop in Quebec. And there's a video being done, not just around my radio show,

but the true roots of hip hop in Quebec with a lot of the MCs and rappers and people that I worked with. That was one of the special things about the show was that the rappers came in to me to help them to promote shows. I had already interviewed the Fat Boys, Run DMC, and anything else that looked like it might be hip-hop

because back then it was just called rap. And they came in after listening to my show and they said, we'd like to do promos and stuff for you and I'll send some stuff to you so you can kind of hear it. But we all got together in June. We hadn't seen each other in like 40, this show was like 40 years old so it predated a lot of things here in toronto and for my money the way hip-hop developed in the way

that black music developed in this country but mainly hip-hop it was like these beer cans were different silos all over the country so you had the silo in montreal you had the silo in toronto you had the silo in vancouver which was the rascals in montreal you had the silo in Montreal, you had the silo in Toronto, you had the silo in Vancouver, which was the rascals in Montreal. You had all the people on my show, the quality crew, the classy crew, DJ Ray, Butchity, all of Blondie B and her sweet teddy bear. toronto which would have been me she me later on the dream warriors and what have you but none of them talked to one another right none of them knew about one another and none of them really know who came first this came first because i was there okay that's the way i see it and in montreal is ground zero for hip-hop for me especially for canadian hip-hop because all the stuff that i played on my show that would have been considered rap or hip-hop we produced it all locally in the studio in a place like this you know that was it so that made it really special for us well i'm going to revisit something that you mentioned

missy me she's also an fotm i love that woman but at around the same time, or maybe a titch later, Maestro Fresh West rises, and you play a role in this. So I have a couple of questions about Maestro. The first is, okay, I've had him on many times. I've had Joel Goldberg on, and we've kind of covered this, you know, Joel Goldberg also directed those early videos

for Maestro, like Let Your Backbone Slide, etc. And Dwight Drummond makes cameos in these videos as well. You're the original host of Electric Circus, right? Well... I know that we're kind of all over the place, but... The Electric Circus, John Martin asked me to write that and put that together and to create that with him.

So you're a co-creator of Electric Circus. I would imagine that would be me. Um, I basically wrote it, Joel put it to TV and John asked me to do it. And then Monica was, uh, it was primarily a vehicle for Monica. And, uh, I did the first number of shows and set the and set it in stone. And then, yeah, then I left the show. Okay, so in those very early days when you're actually the host, a lot of people don't remember Michael Williams, host of Electric Circus in those early days,

but are you the host or maybe you're at least there when Stevie B is playing at Electric Circus Live? Well, this is, oh, you're going to that story. Yeah, well. Okay, so you want that story. I want the story from your perspective. So the story is, is that that day, actually, my nephew was coming to visit me from Cleveland. And he had gotten taken off the bus

because he was dressed like Flavor Flav, the clock and all that stuff, and in a wetsuit and stuff, and they didn't want to let him across the border. And I was rushing to the station because I had to do an interview with Stevie B and all that. And I had a car accident. I had a pretty severe car accident.

Someone hit me. I didn't hit anyone. Someone ran the light and hit me. And so that all happened. I finally wound up at the station a little bit later than I thought. And Stevie B was there. He had just done the electric circus, I believe, and we were getting ready to do it.

And one second. Sure. And I was talking to him and his manager and uh he says well you know we're we're looking for some stuff we're looking for new music and stuff like that maestro was on next door and i said like this and i pointed to maestro right and i introduced them and that's how we got his american deal okay so you're basically uh that's actually the way i've always heard this story so i slight variations on like who plays when or whatever but maestro's playing live at 299 queen he's playing live in the other

room and around that time we had also had because around that time um we used the other room for live performances where the electric circus was, and so there was a permanent stage area set up there for a while. I remember using that for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five as well. They came in and did Magic Carpet and a few other things and stuff like that. And, you know, like I say, I left the electric circus as soon as I possibly could. But that's because this was a television vehicle for Monica Diehl.

Or did you want off that because you had your other VJ duties? Well, that part will be in the book. I'll elaborate on that in the book. There we go. There we go. I was waiting for that. There we go. There we go. I was waiting for that. That's what you were waiting for. Yeah,

that's a, uh, yes, but it became Monica's show. And, uh, yeah. Okay.

I, I, I'll read between those lines and then I'll get to read it when that, but when does the book come out? Ooh, soon as I finished, probably next year. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. You just really teasing this out. Okay. Yeah, man. I mean, it's just been,

it's, it's been, uh, difficult not to write it in a linear way. You know, this happened. Well, even this,

it's tough to even chat with you in a linear way because of just, it's interesting. You got the Cleveland, you got the Montreal, you got the Vancouver, you got the Toronto. So I would kind of like to make the book a little bit more like my mind my map that okay that's that's my book's going to be the same way okay so we got the maestro that's basically to finish that story

uh yeah my flex has been on too but this is a u.s record deal that maestro gets thanks to stevie b discovering him on uh at 299 queen electric circus and that's thanks to Stevie B. discovering him at 299 Queen. At Electric Circus. Electric Circus. And that's thanks to you play a role in connecting Stevie B. to Maestro. Absolutely. That was the role, Stevie B. to Maestro. That wasn't, you know, I'm not sure. I know how Joel tells a story. I know how Maestro tells a story. And Farley.

And Farley might have a different story, I'm sure. Well, this is what i find fascinating grabbing it all now you are i don't think you gave your permission uh but you are sampled on a maestro fresh west song i am sampled on a maestro fresh west song i never got paid on that but you know i am sampled on a song and uh i i have some stuff that maestro probably might do in the future, a couple of artists that I work with that want to do with him, and that'll be the payback on that. But yes, I am sampled on a Maestro song. Look, I think Maestro is, I think he's one of the great gentlemen in Canadian music.

He's just the nicest guy. He's always working. He's always positive. He always brings the good good he never brings the bad and um culturally he's just a big part of what hip-hop became in canada and most people look at him uh as being you know the beginning of it but in each marketplace like in montreal right dj quality crew, classy crew, everybody had their MCs, everybody had their DJs.

And you know what? Maestro's the best of the best. It sounds like you were the DJ Ron Nelson of Montreal. In terms of having a radio outlet where you could showcase the... Oh, well, here's the difference between me and everybody else, I think. Well, different here's the difference between me and everybody else i think well there's a big difference between me and everybody else but the big difference of what from what i was doing was that we were on commercial radio we weren't on college right that was so we were we were blasting it all over the city and so i did college radio at Loyola, which was only heard on the campus.

But when I stepped out, it was always commercial radio. And the challenge was to get to do what I really wanted to do on commercial radio. Okay, good point there. Now, to put a little bull in the Maestro Fresh West thing, because I find this fascinating. I had the late, great Al Mayer from Attic Records on this program. Wonderful, wonderful man. lost him uh too soon but al mayor tells a story about uh i guess uh haywire was a attic uh al mayor would have said this i signed maestro as opposed to suing right because he you he didn't you know he didn't sample your sample he dropped the needle drop

the needle yes from a Haywire song. Yes, yes. So that was it. Dance Desire. That's it. Yeah. It's wild, right? Dance Desire. Was it Dance Desire?

I think it's Dance Desire. It's the start of Dance Desire. Wasn't the song called Drop the Needle? No, Maestro's is called Drop the Needle, but Haywire's song is called Dance Desire. Oh, Dance Desire. Yes, yes, yes. Right, right, right.

All right, Shadow 2. And he's, we lost my my show's still with us he's still still with us we lost him in toronto i mean he's in uh yeah new brunswick now yes yes he is in new brunswick now and uh with his family and doing great right so i'm going to uh read some questions from fotms and then i'm gonna drill in and get that like because you really haven't answered the how do you end up on much we sort of how do i end up on much i go to a club i'm on the radio i'm on i'm on two radio shows i mean two stations i'm on uh i do the thing that nobody does i cherish doing the things that nobody does i'm on two radio stations simultaneously in the same day so i'm on for four five hours on showm fm then i'm on for six hours

on ckgm doing club 980 sold in the city so that puts me up to like damn near you know i mean come on that's a lot of radio in one day and i never felt it and i always loved it and one night after i finish i take some of my rappers i think i was with wavy wand and the classy crew and we go over to the local club which was called checkers on park avenue i go up into checkers and i get introduced to the woman that's going to become my manager she managed al waxman king of kensington and john candy and i said those people make a lot more money than i do needless to say i never made as much money as those people did but i got the work done and she helped me to do that katherine mccartney and uh she became my manager and we had a meeting the

next day uh i did a demo for much music one night when I was on the graveyard shift at Shome, which was regular for me, and sent it to them. They called me up. I went down to see the opening party, the opening event, how they worked and how they did it. I had been in that space before in conjunction with the Pointed Sticks and talked to John Martin andie mandelkow at the time who were doing all the interviews and they were doing a show called the new music the new music basically was the was sort of the um the new music was the base for everything that we did and much music was an outgrowth of the new music. And so I went to the party, went home, said, hmm, okay, I get this. And got an invitation to come back in a few days to try out for Much Music. And I did.

And after the first day into the second day, John Martin says, okay, you can stop trying so hard you have the job. I basically didn't do anything that I didn't already do on show. Right. You know, so basically as opposed to having just a microphone like we have now, I had a microphone on my lapel, a lav, and I had a camera. So I just did the same thing. And then I said, oh, oh well eventually I have to be concerned about how I look and so I had other people help me with that and uh all of that and in Montreal we were always concerned with how we look uh because Montreal was always a lot more

fashion concerts right so and because of the shows and the things that I was doing in Montreal yeah I looked good when it had to look good but this whole tv thing was a new thing for me and uh that's how i got the job and uh then there's a lot more to that uh this is 84 and there's a lot more to that that'll be in the book in the book but that's basically roughly how i i got job. And at that point I stayed in Toronto. I mean, I stayed in Montreal. I lived in Montreal,

but I would come down to Toronto and work for four or five days. And I go home to Montreal for four. How long did you keep that up? About a year and a half, two years. It's tough. Okay. Now you mentioned show them in CKGM where you're doing the radio shows.

Wasn't there also a soul in the city show on chum FM? Well, no, there wasn't. There was a show I did on, on chum FM. That was a Saturday night show. I originally wanted to go work for CF and why? Because I love the station. That's where Steve Anthony. And I guess, yes. And but I knew David Marston. i was a fan of david marston i had every year when i would drive home to see my family from montreal and drive through toronto um i would listen to david marston's uh new year's eve show or christmas show right normally the christmas show and uh i went to meet

him once uh when i was out with the pointed sticks and uh told him how much i love the station and how it was one of those places the only two stations i ever wanted to work in canada was cf and y and uh showm fm and uh and i worked at showmfm so we were talking about it there and stuff like that and that was kind of that was kind of neat to have the conversation and go out to the house and see how they worked and stuff and i was out there for the pointed sticks as well and they actually played them they were the only station in town that played the pointed sticks so uh but yeah that's in the nutshell that's how i got the job at much music and stayed there you know i think i'm the record holder i'm not sure but when was your last what year was your

last shift i have no idea completely forgot about it it's been that long all right well you were there i mean at least nine years but uh okay i'm going to like i threatened to get to these questions i gotta do right now but i'm just playing another clip of you i just want us to hear a little more of you infernal majesty and that was the title of their debut album which is right here uh none shall defy and uh as you can see i have a couple band members with me and there's a mascot on here and they want to name the mascot the band says this mascot cannot go without a name iron maiden has eddie and uh accent has the ball right and you gotta have a name it's time to name this creature we just can't seem to come up with a name and we give the

canadian crowd a chance to get a name okay well now let's just look at the rules of the contest and the game, okay? Now, you have to name the Infernal Majesty mascot. All entries must be mailed to, and we'll give you the address in just a moment. Winners will be announced, of course, in one of the upcoming Power Hours, so you'll have to stay tuned to the Power Hour to find out exactly when. The contest is open to all MuchMusic viewers, including MuchMusic employees and their immediate family. Which is an absolute first. Approximately 150 pieces of merchandise will be awarded to the contributors of the 50 best names.

Okay, we have white logo buttons, full-color albums, which will be autographed. And we have t-shirts and all sorts of stuff. Hey, when are the picture discs coming, okay? Let's talk picture discs here, Rick. Well, that may be next. Okay, so, I mean, you can pick up an album, you can pick up a button or a t-shirt, and you may actually choose the name of this gentleman right here. I knew they'd get a credit on the next album.

Yeah, the final winner will get an actual credit on the next album. All right. Exactly. So here's the address. Let's take a look at it. Send your entries to That Infernal Monster. Care of the Pepsi Power Hour. 299 Queen Street, West Toronto, Ontario.

M5B2Z5. Name the monster. Win the prize. Sitting in with me is Rick and Ken. Now Rick's on drums, Ken's on guitar. Pepsi Power Hour. Okay, here's a question from Basement Dweller. He says, if and when the almighty Michael Williams

makes his long-awaited Real Talk deep dive appearance. Ah, hello. You know, this version of you from whatever, mid-80s, sounds, you got the deeper voice in this. So maybe it was pitched up, that earlier one we had. A lot of times the older tapes and things are pitched, are at a speed that maybe, the older things are not digital. When they get to digital, the speed may definitely change so

basement dweller says uh you definitely need to ask him about the different outfits he wore on the various programs he hosted those transformations from power our host to outlaws and heroes fill in were beyond breathless so why thank you so let's talk about this because we already you know you're the original host of electric circus you hosted uh you so you hosted so let me get rid of our uh pepsi power hour here uh you hosted pepsi power hour yes soul in the city soul in the city you hosted here another little clip i pulled rap city has moved here, two, three. The freaks of the industry. Rhythmic American poetry. Gang violence needs to be wiped out.

It's the man in the band. Rap is the future. Peace. I'll let the rhythm hit him. Ooh, ladies. The world needs a lot more. Now see a full hour of music with a message. Rap City.

Now Tuesdays are much music. You were doing all the shows. Like, that's just interesting. There was nothing that I couldn't do, and there was nothing that I didn't do. You know, I was also the, I didn't travel as much because I did a lot of fill-ins for people when they were not there for one reason or another.

And I also covered a lot of shows, you know, like James Brown got out of jail. He did a show and I hosted that. You know, things of that nature. I would host our feed and stuff the only thing i was really sad that i didn't go to was uh live aid that would have been that would have been the the jam i did go to the very first show at the uh joe lewis of prince the purple rain tour wow and um and a few other things that was uh you know one of the m MTV music video shows out west and stuff like that. But hey, man, yeah, I was everywhere doing everything, always.

And I didn't, a lot of people would get ready. I come ready. I'm just ready to do what I'm here to do. And that was very different. And they found that a little disconcerting a lot of them so um you know like that but yeah rap city was uh didn't like the name of the show because obviously there was a show uh named that in the u.s rap city an mtv show an mtv show but rap city was really an outgrowth of sold in the U.S., Rap City. An MTV show. An MTV show. But Rap City was really an outgrowth of Soul in the City because before there was Rap City, we handled all the music in one show,

which actually I didn't mind at all. I really kind of preferred that to give you sort of a more well-rounded aspect of the music. But then Rap City became a very popular show on its own, just like the Power Hour was always popular. And Soul in the City was, you know, those were all number one shows. And I was quite proud of that.

Well, DJ Dream Doctor wrote in. He wants to know, what did you think of the Power Hour? Like, did you legit enjoy the heavier music? Dude, I play the heavier music, dude. I don't just enjoy it it that's a part of my life i'm not a manufactured uh this is not manufactured consent or or anything like that this is what i do is what you're authentic i not only am i authentic but i mean i play the music which most people don't really know and not not poorly, not too poorly at that,

but yeah, man, are you kidding me? I'm working on a project now, and the theme to it is, it's called The Midnight Drive, or Michael at Midnight. And the theme to that show is a theme, is a track that Stevie Ray Vaughan should have done. Wow. And the guitar player on it is

actually bob marley's guitar player and also peter tosh's guitar player the guy that did him and his brother uh my buddies the kinsey's donald kinsey the kinsey report does midnight drive but um they uh played on johnny they suggested to peter tosh johnny be good and they played on Johnny. They suggested to Peter Tosh, Johnny be good. And they played on it and stomped it. And all the guitar tracks on just about every Bob Marley album. You got your bonafides, man. My guy, Donald Kinsey, is playing guitar on all of that stuff. So, no, it was funny, too. It was always funny to me because, oh, black people don't play rock and roll.

And I'm going, well, when was rock and roll not black? In my neighborhood, it always was. But we also learned, you know, like when everything, when every, what is it? Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young came out. First thing we did was we all learned Down by the River. We all learned it. Then Buddy Miles came out with it. And you have to understand the

tradition in america for american black performers performing in various situations with various audiences i mean you know people like charlie parker used to do sweet 16s and bar mitzvahs and stuff like that so jackie wilson would have to learn all the popular songs in Yiddish. And Duke Ellington did too because that's where the money was, that they were musicians. So black musicians had a tradition of playing the Beatles

and playing anything else that was popular of the day to communicate with their audience and especially their non-white audience, I mean their non-black audience who would be there. So it was always an interesting thing to hear the Isley brothers put their spin on something. Or as a matter of fact, Esther Phillips back in the day, she recorded And I Love Her by the Beatles and it was a bigger hit than the Beatles. And they flew her to England they paid

for her to come to England to perform their song on top of the pops or one of those shows right so yes the music and if you look in my record collection to the gentleman that asked the question you will find those records and so much more that your head would probably spin that i would have these things you know i listen to q107 and i go pussies you know i go you know like there's so much stuff they should be playing and they just don't i mean and uh you know i hate that commercial where they do the queen thing with the baby head and all of that stuff but really i mean toe for toe yeah um we would have a we would have an interesting round you know because where i come from uh like q107 doesn't even you know that doesn't really register i come from shome you know like we this is the land of the wo Tango Bomber. I love it, man.

The Wango Tango Bomber, Showm FM. Not my show, someone else's show. But they used to play Wango Tango every morning at the end of the show. This guy calls up the station, calls up the police. If they play Wango Tango one more time, I'm going to blow up the station. So the DJ, what does he do? He plays Wango Tango. The police catch the guy on the way to the station to bomb it okay all right speaking of rock and roll i got a note from jeff burrows

drummer for the tea party oh yeah he says uh he says michael was an incredibly knowledgeable vj my band i think he's talking about tea party here tea Tea Party, yeah. My band hung with Mike a couple of times while recording in Moran Heights. Yeah, that was about 15 minutes from my place. We hung hard and heavy. As a matter of fact, Jeff invited me to the UK. First time I went to the UK was to see Jeff play with, oh gosh, what's his name?

Hang on a second now. Let's get it. No, we're going to come up with a name. Hang on a second. Well, give me a clue. I like this game. The guy who originally sang... Oh, gosh, I went for his birthday.

British band? No, he originally sang Money for Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd doesn't sing Money. You know that. I do know that, yes. Roy Harper, that's it. Good job. British Bob Dylan, Roy Harper.

So he's producing roy harper's album and he says come on over to the uk we're doing a celebration for roy harper's birthday party and by this time i have been hanging with them at moran heights recording their last album they did there and hanging with jeff and just getting lost man because if there's a party jeff is going to find it. I love it, man. I love it. And they were just great. I love the band.

And I went to England to meet Jeff, and he didn't show up right away. I'm at the hotel. He's not there. And I'm there. Where's Jeff? Where's Jeff? So I go to the show.

I talk my way into the show with my friend's wife, Rebecca de Havilland, and Benoit's wife, great friend. And we go to the show. We get in. We're at Royal Albert Hall.

Everybody's there. Kate Bush, David Bedford, the orchestra that played tubular bells uh jimmy page you know every brit because he is the british bob dylan he brought them all into folk music and you know you had roy harper and then you had john male and then you had long john baldry these guys were sort of like the founding fathers of british rock and roll sort of like ronnie hawkins everybody played in their bands right right so uh i get there we see the show and then afterwards there's a party and we find the party

and i meet roy harper just the best time. Roy Harper on stage says, there's this Canadian guy who was producing my record and he came up to be at the show and everything. And we hadn't seen him. He was supposed to be in the show. We hadn't seen him until rehearsal today. He walks in and says, give me a guitar. And he steps up on stage and it's Jeff Martin.

Well, he's pulling. Yeah, that's a Jim Morrison and it's Jeff Martin. Right? Well, he's pulling yet. Yeah, he was great, man. That's his Jim Morrison impression he's doing there. I'm so glad they're back together and doing what they do and at full strength. Great band. They're going to record with I Mother Earth. This is coming up, I think, in October.

And I'm actually, I've been invited by Jeff Burrows to record backstage with members of Tea Party and I Mother Earth. That'll be freaking cool, man. I can't wait to do that. So they're doing a track together? I think it's just concerts together. I think they're going to be like I Mother Earth will open. I'm not sure who's

singing for I Mother Earth. They've got the two lead singers now, but I'll find out. But that'll be cool. I've got to ask you about another band I love. Chuck D's been on this program and of course, I guess 1990 uh professor griff made anti-semitic comments and moses banned him i understand moses banned public enemy over that well what happened was moses got upset about it not that not that he shouldn't have right but it was already something that we had effectively dealt with i dealt with that sort of stuff on that we had effectively dealt with i dealt with

that sort of stuff on the show pretty quick and pretty i dealt with it before it became an issue i would try and do that and handle it as it could be handled and uh that whole band and everything obviously that was lifted and he was happy that i had dealt with it in the way that i did okay so there's this is a a there's a memory of you not necessarily agreeing with moses over the ban but well i think the ban you know there was a ban on them by the time i get to arizona you know what i mean i think that was a pretty effective because there was that line uh there was the anti what they felt was the anti-semitic line well chuck did go spend some time at the Wiesenthal Center

and learned what he needed to learn from that. And as long as people are learning and we're growing, it's a good day. If we can't talk, then what's the use? Good points, good points. I think it's Welcome to the Terror Dome, I think, has the line in Welcome to the Terror Dome. And also there were some lines. I think by the time I get to Arizona, the car blew up. That was the big thing.

Okay. Well, you know, speaking of Super Bowls, right? Yeah, they wouldn't recognize Martin Luther King Day in Arizona, and NFL pulled the Super Bowl from them until they did. Well, and I mean, look at the stuff that's happening now. I mean, there are so many. super bowl from them until they did well and i mean look at the stuff that's happening now i mean there are so many what are there 43 states with anti-lgbt rulings they're probably about the same number of anti-black history rulings and all that kind of stuff so you know obviously make america

great again doesn't mean make america great again it means to subjugate this group versus this group and versus that group and if everybody opens their eyes you know it it would be a lot easier and if people talked it would be a lot easier but i don't think things have gotten you know to a certain extent things have gotten better but to a great extent things have gotten really foul on that note okay so i have to talk to you about this documentary i'm very excited about the much music doc 299 queen street just before i get there i want to tell the fotms listening that pumpkins after dark is coming soon and i got a promo code to say 15 this is important michael this is in milton there's a park in milton ontario where pumpkins after dark takes place september 23rd through ha Halloween. And if you buy your

tickets now, you save 15% with the promo code TOMIKE15. TOMIKE15. Write that down, Michael. So I'll see you at TMLX 13 on Thursday and then I'll see you again at Pumpkins After Dark. Now, what happens at Pumpkins After Dark? It's mind-blowing, man. Big giant

pumpkin displays and light shows. You walk this park and it's a mind-blow. Lorne Honigman was here yesterday. Great guy. I don't know if you know this. You were scheduled for noon yesterday. Yeah, well, I didn't know that, but I guess I did. And then Eric and I talked about it.

He sent me the stuff and everything. Sorry about that. Lorne was going to stick around to see you. We were going to take a photo of Lauren Honick. Oh, wow. He's a great guy. He's lawyering now, right? He's the law.

Big time. He's the law. All that. He's going to get some tickets for his grandkids to go to Pumpkins After Dark. So shout out to Pumpkins After Dark. Shout out to recyclemyelectronics.ca. If you have some old tech, some old devices, some old electronics, don don't throw it in the garbage michael the chemicals end up in the landfill go to recycle my electronics dot ca and find out a safe place to drop that off and it'll be properly recycled

it's good for everybody and i want to welcome back a new sponsor this is the first episode of september so we have a brand new sponsor raymond James Canada. They have a fantastic podcast called the advantaged investor podcast, and they've got insights from leading professionals there. If you want a valuable, they're valuable perspective on Canadian for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success, subscribe and listen to the advantagedor Podcast hosted by Chris Cooksey. Cooksey, if you're listening right now,

I hope you're at TMLX 13 on Thursday. And now, the big question for Michael Williams. Hang on a second. Yeah. Before you get to the big question. I gave you a heartbeat there. Before you get to the big question.

Yes, sir. What do you do on this show if you got to go to the bathroom? You know what? Go to the bathroom. All right, I'll be back. Then we'll do the big question. You keep, just keep it going.

Don't hit your head, though. You going to hit your head? No, man. I'm good. You just keep it going. I'm going to keep it going. I'm going to keep it going. Absolutely.

I've got more clips here. Let's listen to a little bit of Michael Williams' Back in the Day. Today in stereo, this is the nation's music station, Much Music. Today in the Spotlight, we feature a band band that when video began to get big they really weren't doing that many videos because they had taken a bit of a turn for the worse. They were still touring but you know things weren't that great for them so they took a lot of time off and then the much heralded comeback album done with Mirrors. They signed actually, they left CBS, went to Geffen Records and hooked up with a man by the name of John Kolodner, who became very important to their career. He also has guided the career of Whitesnake to a certain point, and he works at Geffen Records and said,

hey, I know exactly what you guys need. And it wasn't really until the permanent vacation album that things were completely, 100% strong, like Aerosmith had been in their heyday. I always thought if there was a video for tracks like Dream On, it would be a hit all over again. And of course, the hit they had with Aerosmith, re-recording Walk This Way and using Joe Perry and Steve Tyler in the video.

Run DMC. Yeah, there was, I think, an Aerosmith spotlight you were introducing there. So yeah, you hosted everything. You hosted everything. You hosted everything at MuchMusic. Yeah, well, I really enjoyed that because I was able to blast on all cylinders while I was working and also all the music. The wonderful thing that you will see in this film, because I think it is time to talk about the film. Oh, it's time to talk about the film. Can I introduce it by telling you Seismo Allegra wrote in and wants to know,

did Michael Williams contribute to the Much Music documentary? He has the coolest voice of all the VJs. Tell me about 299 Queen Street, the Much Music doc. Okay, well, I did contribute. And how that happened was I got a call from Erica. And she asked me to contribute to the film,

and I said, I don't know. Erica M., all my kids came home. You ignore them. This is important. We're talking about the dog. Children are great. And so she asked me, and I think I called the director. I'm not sure.

Sean Menard? Yeah, I think I called him. F-O-T-N, Sean Menard. Or I'm not sure if I said no to Erica or no to him. I think I said no to both of them, but thank you very much. And then. And you said no to me. Yeah, yeah.

Well, see, so you know. And I then later arranged to meet him, meet Sean and his partner, the producer, at starbucks this is sort of pandemic time right and uh to talk about it because i said no but you know talk me into it yeah this is rock and roll let's go so i meet them and um we're uh sitting there talking coffee. And Sean looks at me and says, well, now you know that I didn't know anything about you or what you do or who you were or none of that sort of stuff. I had no absolute clue. And I said, yeah, you're winning me over real quick time here. This is good.

So should I leave now? And he says, but as I began to do the research and stuff your name kept coming up and so it should yes and so it should and uh and he says then i just discovered more and then i sat down and looked at the tapes and i said yes and he said so and we're here talking and i said fine and good and he discussed the method he was using to do the film so there would be no new footage there would just be new voice tracks and old footage i said well i'm quite confident and very comfortable with everything that i did on air uh footage wise so i don't have any problems with that but the problem i have have is, you know, doing the film.

Is doing this. Yeah. Because you're signing away a certain amount of yourself, you know. And this hadn't been done before. Not that it shouldn't have been done. But it hadn't been done by possibly the people that should have done it. Us, right? And so I would have to trust this guy and i don't know

this guy and and it's i'm so far removed from the much music experience although uh people some people a certain age a couple about three generations of canadians relate to me through that experience yes uh whereas i go to vanc, I have a different relationship and dah, dah, dah, but the whole country knows me has that. And I am grateful and I am thankful for all of that airtime and for the kindness of, of people across the country. And I was really possibly one of the first black folks uh accepted into their home on a regular basis on a daily basis that they had to pay for to see okay so that was a pretty big deal to me and a pretty big deal

in the whole media landscape because there wasn't a lot of me at that point later on there would be more of not me but at least people that looked like me or people that wanted to do what i was doing and that became interesting in itself so through our conversations and our coffees at starbucks i still said no and then at the end of the meeting he said something that actually caught my attention and made me want to be involved he said that he was literally um putting himself on the line to do this film uh does that mean self-financing what does that mean that means put that means self-financing yes to a to a great extent i think and putting his you know putting his well- wellbeing on the line to, to do this

film. And I thought that was a, that reminded me of myself. That's what I do for most things that I do. And so I thought, well, in that case, yeah, I can help with that, you know, because if that's your level of commitment, that's a level of commitment that's the level of commitment that i need to work with so in addition to being in the film like i see for example there's a uh an experience tour a much music experience tour where you get to see the documentary and then there's an intimate and interactive with much music vjs are you part of this tour i think that i am i'm not sure where i'm going or whatever you gotta get that in the calendar michael well i've been working on it man i've been there's a 13 city tour

yeah and i'm trying to be a part as much as that as i can so i can go across the country and say thank you um and thank you and thank you again press the flesh, shake hands, look at people, let people, um, meet me for those who haven't and might want to. And, uh, I will also be lecturing at schools, uh, in media departments, uh, music stores, whatever I can do, man, to get out there with the audience. And again, just say thank you for a wonderful run. And who knows? Maybe we'll discover what's next out there. I think that we absolutely will because there is a lack. You know, this is a country where the music is better in the grocery stores than it is on the radio.

You know? It's sad but true, right? You know, hey, I'm in aisle four, man, listening to the Stones. Okay, I'm picking up my milk and the music is just great. And no frills, and sobies, the music is just great.

Okay, real talk, Michael. You know, this is the home of real talk. And I think sadly you're correct about that. But the Much Music Experience Tour, where you can see the dock and then meet people like you, is in Toronto on September 22nd. So that's actually, so September 22nd, 8 p.m. It's at Roy Thompson Hall.

So if this is, Sean Menard is self-financing this. He rented Roy Thompson Hall for this? That's got to be a pretty penny, right? It's got to be, man. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I used to have a corporate job where I would look into this stuff for various things.

I'm just guessing. This is spitball. I have no idea. But I would think that's about, you're looking at like at least, I don't know, $25,000? Am I out to lunch? I don't even want to go there, man.

But yeah. And I'm not sure what's going to be completely involved in the Much Music experience other than what you say. There's going to be a Q&A. There's going to be the film and possibly a few other things going on at the same time.

So you're a part of the intimate and interactive. Do you know, I mean, Erica M will be there, I take it? I'm not sure who's going to be there. It's all going to be a surprise. She'll be there I mean, Erica M will be there, I take it? I'm not sure who's going to be there. It's all going to be a surprise. She'll be there. Yeah, she'll definitely be there. But I'm looking forward to all,

I haven't seen the film, so I'm kind of. I was going to ask you next if you've seen it. No, man, I haven't seen the film, so I'm looking forward to going. So you're going to see it

for the first time at Roy Thompson Hall? I'm going to see it for the first time. I hope you like it, man. Well, I'm hoping that I love it too, you know,

but again, I'm good with anything that I did again i'm good with anything that i did i'm good with anything that i said in the in the interview and stuff like that with him so i'm speaking to the images i'm speaking to a few questions and stuff like that i'm good with all that stuff and um if he's happy with it i'm good good to go. So this will be a nostalgia trip. I do know, because I have him on my calendar to talk to him, I think maybe two weeks from now, is Bill Wilichka. So I know he's a part of this.

Bill Wilichka, and he's got a great, looks like a great book coming. So it'll be interesting to see because we don't have regular events where we get together or anything like that. So a lot of us haven't seen each other since right since we finished uh we were all working on a project with steve anthony at once so we would get together and that but that didn't come to fruition and now this is and i think this is the first of many films that will be films or television shows or docs or whatever that people will think of much music and want to do this. But also it'll open up to discussion because we were pretty, it was pretty unique. There's been nothing like it since and everything that has attempted to be like it has failed. that has attempted to be like it has been has failed and um i think people miss something open and honest like it was it wasn't that it wasn't all the tv bullshit you know what i mean it wasn't it wasn't all the corporate tv stuff and if it if that ever happened gosh we'd do something to throw it out right you know and uh it was uh it was a lot more fun but really i uh my one of my fondest

memories is that i invented the christmas tree toss that was mine people will think that was steve anthony yeah no that wasn't steve that was you should tell me now all the things that you you you invented that got uh other co-opted culturally appropriated dare I say yeah I did a few things you know that people tried to follow up and do but I mean the wonderful thing for me is that

if I do something it's kind of hard for somebody to go and do it after me so I kind of you know that's just I don't know what that is but um it's like except for maybe electric circus because uh they co-opted that for me and people don't know no that became a completely different show when i left well you had you had to be more attractive i know at some point like there was a there was a moment i watched it from the beginning and there

was a moment where regular people i knew my buddy warren peace guys i knew from high school would be dancing and then you had to be a supermodel well that i was out of there then i was out of there then that's when they started to dress people and stuff like that and everything i don't think warren made the cut i mean you know there was uh and yeah i was out of there by then It didn't reflect what I wanted to do. Yeah, I'm glad you're a part of this 299. I can't imagine a documentary about much music in that era that did not include you, but there's another gentleman I just want to ask you about because he's been over here. We had a great chat, and I can't imagine this documentary

without him, but I'm told he has nothing to do with it. Master T, do you know anything about why Master T is not a part of this dunk uh i think you did he tell you no i haven't talked to him since no then i suggest you talk to him i have no clue man i mean i i thought i had no idea that um that there would i think everybody footage wise is in the film sure i i don't know if everybody participated in the film right um so i don't have the uh although i did tell him that i was doing it and i also did uh tell christopher as well and when i had decided to do it and i figured everybody else would make their own decisions but I was under the impression

that everybody was going to contribute to the film one way or another. That means that they were actually going to sit with Sean and do something or whatever, and whoever didn't, I don't know what their deal is. I'm sure everybody has their personal reasons. I'll find out, Michael. I'll find out. Yeah, just talk to him.

I'm on the case. You're on the case. But I'm rooting for great success. Roy Thompson Hall, that's an impressive venue. I think it's going to be a great midnight movie in the years to come. You know what I mean? It's going to be the type of thing that people sit around and watch and discuss and have a legal smoke to now that they can do that.

and have a legal smoke to now that they can do that. And I think it's going to be quite interesting just to see what, you know, I mean, it happened. We did it. What people think of the film is what they think of the film. But I think the big thing that's going to come out of this is that they miss it. Without a doubt. Before I say goodbye, I play a little Lois to the Low.

We say goodbye. I want to just ask you about cooking real quick here because cooking yes i know you have a passion for music okay and i will say if so if let's you know if gordon lightfoot passes away i know i'm gonna see michael williams on the tv somewhere i did i did an interview with gordon lightfoot a couple years ago and by at actually the same time I did Eddie Kramer Jimi Hendrix producer uh Bobby Kurtola the great late Bobby Kurtola that I was I was working with Bobby before he died we had a television we had a doc that we had written on Bobby Kurtola and uh it was going to be great we were going to start in a room the size of this with a little

audience and then take it into a cafe and just build it and build it i miss him so very much and uh gordon it was a great interview man it was because when i was a kid in cleveland ohio when i heard if you could read my mind i completely lost it and it cut through everything else you heard on the radio everything and you're pointing the radio, everything. And you were pointing to Brian. I'm pointing to Brian Linehan because before we pressed record, you saw Brian Linehan in the studio. He was my, he was my favorite person at city TV.

Wow. And I used to always go from my office across the hall to his and spend as much time as I could with him. Because when I would come to town from on my way to Cleveland in university, driving through Toronto, if I stopped over, if I stayed over, I watched City Lights. If I stayed, if I drove through, I listened to David Marston. And Brian was one of my most valued friends one of the one of the five people at City TV that I just love so dearly and I miss him we used to laugh we used to laugh like every time

we would just laugh we would always laugh and he loved me and i loved him i loved his craft somebody said what do you want to be when you grow up in a much in an interview in the early days of much music i said i want to be the brian lanahan of rock and roll and music you know like wanting to be the anthony bourdain of music and in terms of food i went to cooking school a few years ago because I felt I should. And I wanted to learn how to do things correctly that maybe I'd been doing incorrectly for a good part of my life. And also, I love cooking and I love food. So to me, it's music and food, man. Those things definitely do go together.

And that's a big part of my life. But it's nice to see. I hadn't seen a picture of Brian in years, man. That's a big part of my life but it's nice to see i hadn't seen a picture of brian in years man that's a great picture hearing you talk about him and your friendship and i looked over at the picture i i could feel myself swelling up here we lost him far too soon yeah far too soon there was no one better and as he told me i said dude how come you're not doing entertainment tonight or whatever he says because one of my questions would take the whole show you know and again he leaves you laughing and he was just he was a gentleman he was a genius and uh geez i i think uh i think that uh he would be proud of what i've done so far so without a doubt michael and you know i'm saying goodbye here but i realized like

why the hell aren't you on mains in the mainstream media like why don't you have a show on 10 10 like i know mike ben dixon's now going to be looking at programming for 640 there should be i was at 10 10 i was also at 640 they never gave me 10 10 i had a show for about a year, a year or so, a year and a half. It was great. And Mike Bendixson was there. And I guess. Well, we got to reach out to him. He's got new responsibilities now. He's got new responsibilities.

So we will see. Spider was there, too. Spider Jones. Spider Jones. F-O-T-M. And John Torrey. I'd go on after John Torrey, too. So I don't know why I don't have that show.

Well, you're so well-spoken. Great stories. I would love to do that again all across the country in one way or another. So I know when CTV calls me, the first thing I ask, who died today? Right. You know, and so the fact that I can put a special spin on those things is great. And there's more to be done. So I think there's at least one or two shows.

I've written a bunch of shows for me and for other people. I've written one for Spider, and I think I'm going to produce that. But I hope to write and produce something myself, on myself, for myself, for someone else. Or maybe I'll be like you and just be an independent warrior, man, and have it out there. Dude, my door's always open to you. I know it took 11 years to get you here to make your debut. I hope it was worth it, man. Look, I'm going to see you back here in 11 days.

I feel like we left a whole show on the cutting room floor here. But thanks for doing this, buddy. Thanks for doing this. No problem, man. Thank you. I enjoyed it. Thank you very much. whole show on the cutting room floor here but thanks for doing this buddy thanks for doing this no problem man thank you I enjoyed it thank you very much and that brings us to the end

of our 1318th show you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike Michael you're at I want to get it right but Grady Dredd help me out here

oh well I'm I where am I at where do you want us to find you on the only place you can find me really is on Instagram or Facebook, some of that sort of stuff. And then there will be other places that you can find me.

But you know what? When there are other places that they can find me and other things that we're launching, I'll be back. How's that? Sounds good. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Join us there on September 7th for TMLX 13. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Pumpkins After Dark, they're at Pumpkins Dark. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And welcome back, Raymond James. The name of the podcast is The Advantaged Investor. Subscribe right now. That's your orders. See you all.

Checking his calendar in real time here because I have no idea. Let's see who's up next. I can't wait to find out. Eric Thomas, who is on CFTR with Tom Rivers, and of course, he's the race line guy, all things auto racing. We'll talk to Eric next week.

See you all then. And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is...