Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Boguski from Blue Rodeo: Toronto Mike'd #878

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

Mike chats with keyboardist Mike Boguski about Etobicoke, playing in Blue Rodeo, and his latest single “Here’s To Tomorrow". And he plays a killer version of Diamond Mine LIVE!

But Mike, you're a big number in Toronto. You know, like you really are. I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get city love My city love me back, for my city love I'm in Toronto Mike Welcome to episode 878 of Toronto Miked A weekly podcast about anything and everything 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. McKay CEO Forums, the highest impact and least time-intensive peer group for over 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski, or as as I call him Mimico Mike. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the Mimico real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Blue Rodeo keyboardist Mike Boguski. Welcome, Mike. Welcome. I'm so happy to be here, and I'm so appreciative of your perfect pronunciation of my surname. Okay, let's start with that.

I went to Michael Power with your brother, Mike. No way. I mean, Mark, you're Mike. No way. I blew the reveal there. Okay, so you're a Mike. Oh, my gosh. You got a brother, Mark Boguski.

Mark. Oh, he's going to be so happy. He's my age. We were in the same graduating class. See, everybody calls me Bogu in the industry, right? But that was my brother's nickname, right? He was always Bogu. And then as soon as, like, you know, things happened for me,

the poor guy lost his nickname. And then, like, you know, he's got to listen to Greg Keeler tell, you know, 5,000 people, that's Bogu on, you know. And he's like, that's my nickname. So I told you before we pressed record here, I had the big reveal off the top. And then you're probably like, how do I know how to say that name? Yeah. So your brother, I guess he's a class of 93.

Yeah, class of 93. Me too, buddy. We were the last class from the original location of Michael Power. And I actually, we see in grade nine, I was in the original location. And then grade 10, we did half a year. And then I think in January, they moved us to Erringate. So I had a year and a half of the original campus, which was so cool. And now you're like near, went to Centennial Park or something.

Yeah, Erringate, Rathburn, and Renforth area. Yeah, the Erringate. So we are connected by our- Power, love. Are you power music, Mr. H? No, no music at all. No, I wish. That was your department.

But did you get to play a lot of music at power? Like, is that when... Oh, my goodness. That was when it all happened. You know, this is unbelievable. Like, this revelation has set up everything. Okay. Because I was a punk in grade nine.

Like, my brother, if you remember, he was the class president, you know? He was... I remember he was a nice nine. Like my brother, if you remember, he was the class president. I remember he was a nice guy. Super nice, super class, you know, campus man. And then like I'd be in the smoking section with a cigarette in my lock. I'd be like, hey, Mr. President, how you doing? And then like after I was done looking cool, I'd be like, okay, don't tell mom you saw me smoking.

You know what I mean? So wait, for the record, how many years below, how many grades below your brother Mark? When I was in grade nine, I think Mark was in grade 13. They don't have grade 13 anymore. No. Yeah. We called it OAC. Long gone.

Yeah. Long gone. I mean, I got my oldest. Yeah. Only did four years of high school. Everyone laughs at me. My wife's from Alberta. They didn't have grade 13. Okay. from Alberta. They didn't have grade 13.

Wow. My teenagers don't have grade 13. Everyone's laughing at us that we needed five years for high school. I loved it. It was like you finally came into your own. You were with the people that you kind of gravitated with from grade nine. But music sort of saved me because I was a real bad kid, like really bad. Mark was like a peer minister and a camp

counselor and yeah what a sweetheart your brother is sweet guy everybody loves him and i was just like you know bad long hair heavy metal and i remember i think it was mr h or one of the music teachers was like heard me play and then he was like you know you gotta you gotta get into this music thing and i'm just like what and i and I came to a stage band practice in about grade 10 and 11. And I really got into it. Yeah. There was one of these years, Mr. Kalunkle and he, he sort of jammed with me and he, and both of those guys really heard in me that I had a musical talent. And I gotta be honest, Mike, like if they hadn't brought me in and I'm, I'm not embellishing this, like I would have ended up like bad, like really bad. You would have ended up bad, really bad.

You would have ended up in jail or dead? Something, yeah. And people in my crew from back then have ended up in those situations, right? Wow. And it just underscores sort of my new, I really got bummed out when Harris took out all of those programs from public school education. Because for kids that are wayward, those instrumental band programs and classical programs, all of those programs from public school education. Like, you know, because for, you know,

kids that are wayward, those instrumental band programs and classical programs, they offered a, you know, like it took that teacher in that program to look at me and say, hey, you know, you got talent. And I'm just like, wow, that's awesome. Nobody's ever said that before. You know what I mean?

And that was the beginning. That was the beginning of my journey right there, you know? Amazing, amazing. By the way, you look a lot like your brother. I have not seen your brother since 1993, but I remember him well. Like I haven't seen him since 93. He hasn't changed at all. He's the same,

same good guy that he always was. Wow. Okay. Well, is he going to listen to this? Oh, he'll definitely listen. He'll be super happy.

This, this will definitely, he has no idea this is coming. Wow. I mean, so many years of just having his little brother steal the spotlight from him. It must be hard, right? Let me just identify that you do literally have a bodyguard here, a chaperone, if you will.

Oh, yes, I have. So who is this that's on my couch here listening in? This is Jason, Jason Snyder, who, again, my brother and I really were into, have not been the same and that whole world. And I often bug Mark. I say, isn't it funny that, like, all of your idols, like, are now my, like, colleagues? And, like, you know, I just, I completely stole your world from you.

And we had Jason's book. Like, we read it. We loved it. So I have this sort of Broadway Danny Rose relationship with Jason. Like, I'm, like, the guy, like, the hardest guy to sell. Like, yes, I'm in Blue Rodeo. That's great. But, like, you know, my own career, it's like, and I always respect that Jason, you know, he, he tries to sell this weird thing I do to, to not a marketable, you know,

I'm not saying that what I do isn't cool or hip, but it's, it's not an easy sell. Like, especially my first album, right, Jason? A bit of a tough one. No, this is my first time meeting Jason. It's a pleasure. But Jason's the guy who hooked me up with Art Bergman. so I just want to let the listenership know, like, the reason Art Bergman said, yeah, I'll Zoom with this guy who's got a podcast in Toronto is basically because Jason said, hey,

you should Zoom with this guy in Toronto. So, Jason, I just want to say thank you to you, because one of the thrills is having a convo like that with Art Bergman. Now, thumbs up or thumbs down, what did you think of the Art Bergman episode of Toronto Mic? Be honest here.

I should have got him a mic. I should have got him a mic. But you got the head. You want to get in there? Okay. Okay. Here comes Jason. Jason Schneider.

Hi. And yeah, I got to say, this is finally to be in the Toronto Mic Backyard Studio. I've been waiting for this moment for at least a year. And yeah, to answer your Art Bergman question, he is always, when it comes

to interviews... Like you don't know what you're going to get. Is that the deal? Like with Art, like is Art unpredictable? He's definitely mellowed a lot in the last few years, but you know, there's certain topics you's certain topics you just don't get him going. That's about it. See, my job is to get him going, so that's where you've got to be careful.

And you did a great job doing that. Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. It's the Mike Boguski Show. For listeners, I realize who can't see us, although there is going to be an archive of this on the Toronto Mike Facebook page, so if you want to see the action here. But there's a keyboard in front.

You're ready to play. You've got a keyboard. You've got your amp. This is amazing. Well, usually when I do these things, I just sort of rap and talk, and Jason said, you know, just bring like a small keyboard,

and I thought, what am I going to do with a small keyboard? And yeah, I sort of haven't played a gig in about 14 months. I don't know if you're aware there's this thing going around called COVID. Did you get your vaccine yet? I did. I got both of them. Okay, me too. Jason, what about you?

You only got one? Get out of my backyard. Just kidding. It's okay. It's okay. He's going to get a second soon. Good stuff. So we're going to hear live music.

Can you please identify this character that's on your keyboard right now? he's going to get a second soon. Good stuff. So we're going to hear live music. Can you please identify this character that's on your keyboard right now? Well, this is heat back. This is a figment of my deranged imagination. So it's, for those who can't see, it's a, I guess, I'm not a, I'm a total straight edge. So Jason, what is this?

Is this a, what would you call this? What would the kids call this these days? Oh, that's for cannabis usage. That's a water pipe? Is that what it would be? Yeah, that looks like it, yeah. And it's adorned in a 19th century smoking jacket. Because, you see, I derive most of my artistic inspiration from Chili Gonzalez, Jason Beck.

He's become sort of an antihero to me that has really inspired me. During COVID, I fell down the Chili Gonzales rabbit hole, and it's a deep hole, let me tell you. It goes very, very, very far and wide. Amazing. Now, I will tweet out a photo of... What's his name again?

Well, his real name is Jason Beck, but his stage name is Chili Gonzales. But this is Heatback, which is sort of inspired by Chili. But it metaphorically represents, it's sort of my statement against post-modernity in music, which I can't stand. This is the place to spill your passions on this. I feel like I'm in a confessional right now. Well, dude, get comfy. And I can't believe you're going to play live for us later.

Like, I'm so excited. I mean, think about it. This is a beautiful day. Like, the sun's out. We got Jason's comfy on the couch. He's got the cans on. You're there. I know you just said straight edge,

which tells me you're not going to down a fresh craft beer. No. It looks good, though. But Jason, do you want one? They're cold. I just got them. Do you want one? They're so good.

Come on, have one. Do you want the IPA Octopus Wants to Fight? Do you want that great lager over there? Or do you want the Canuck Pale Ale? I'll take a lager. A lager. Okay. You take, and you know what?

I think I'll have one too here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here, let me. Drink for me. You talk, Mike. You vamp for us here. I'm going to vamp. Okay, so I'm just going to talk a bit about this.

So I can't play with musicians anymore because of all the rules the Ford has made and then taken away and then made again so it started off with you know I had a jazz trio and I had a lot of people that were you know in that some great musicians and then and then eventually I I tried to do like a livestream every week I was gonna have my trio play from my studio basement, but then I couldn't have people in. And then bit by bit, I got down to the point where I could only play solo piano. That was it, because I just couldn't be without musicians.

So I had put out this album. It's basically a jazz trio version of a number of Blue Rodeo songs and some hard bop tunes, and it didn't really sell very well. So anyway, enough rambling. This is sort of like if Weather Report was in Blue Rodeo. So I've split this keyboard into three sections. I've got Jaco Pistorius down here. I've got Zavanol in the middle.

And Wade and Shorter up top here. So this is the Michael Bogusky trio. I'm going to take the cans off. I'm going to do my version of Diamond Mine. Okay, I'm wondering, should we move that mic so it captures more? Because right now it's... Why don't we? Okay, so do whatever you want there.

If you break my mic, I'm going to send you an invoice. I'll just send the invoice to Blue Rodeo. Okay, yeah. This Blue Rodeo, they can cover the cost of that mic. For sure. Yeah, so you move the shock mount as opposed to the microphone. I'll come and help you if you need it here. How's that?

I'm going to move that because now that thing's blocking the camera here. I know. Here we are. Big studio production. Let me help you out. All right. So. Oh. I just help you out. Alright, so. Oh!

I just moved this guy. Alright, we're going to figure this out. You need to see this? No, I don't need that. I'm just going to use this as my guide here. Okay, so that means they can't hear you now. They can only hear you.

Alright. So that means they can't hear you now. They can only hear your keyboard. So talk to your keyboard. I'll make sure we have it locked. All right. I almost fell and took down the whole set. That almost happened live, which would have been very funny. I'm just going to look at the camera. Yeah, we're ready. Let me hear it. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. guitar solo Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Holy... Honest, I'm going to move that mic back to your mouth, but that was fucking amazing. Holy!

Honest, I'm going to move that mic back to your mouth, but that was fucking amazing. Thank you. That's the best I could do with one keyboard. Yeah, right on, man. There's some Blue Rodeo fans out there in Mike's backyard. Hey, Blue Rodeo keyboardist. Neighbors from, like, other streets have said,

where is that beautiful noise coming from? See, this is my future, though, right? Wow. You know, like, the plan is to get, like like a pastel blue tuxedo with a bow tie and, you know, community centers, libraries, retirement homes, you know, those kind of places. Bringing it to the people, you know. Honestly, you can play my backyard every day if you like. I will be here. Weather permitting. Yeah, you don't live too far.

Dude, I'm going to crack open. I got to have a Great Lakes now. That was unbelievable. Live music in the back. It's been so long. You sounded amazing. That's my favorite Blue Rodeo song. Really?

Diamond Mind is my favorite. But Diamond Mind is my favorite Blue Rodeo song. It's a good one, isn't it? Well, it's my favorite, and I've seen you guys many times. But here. Okay, so thank you, Great Lakes. They're helping to fuel this real talk here. And I'm drinking a Sunnyside IPA and can't wait.

Oh, man, so damn good. good mike you're so fucking good so this talent just sort of you had this talent at power or you had some like kernel of what your potential at power and some music teacher at michael power high school said nurture that or pretty much pretty much like my dad was an amazing guy. Like, he had no background in music. Neither of my parents did. But he would just bring home classical albums and take us to the symphony. But he'd also bring home, like, albums by the Pogues and the Clash. Like, there was a real mix. But music, especially classical music, was big.

And, you know, there was the neighborhood lady who would give lessons to the kids, right? And I remember, this is a bit of a rant here, that she would, I'd say to her, oh, can I do Kiwanis Festival? Which is a sort of festival of like, you know, where aspiring kids go to, you know, compete with each other for their parents' glory. And I wanted to do it. And she said to me, you know, I don't know how to break this to you, but you just don't have what it takes to play live. This is when I was, like, really young. Right. And it just broke my heart.

But, you know, I realized that, like, the journey of music is a series of heartbreaks that almost continue on a weekly basis, at least for me. So years later, I found this teacher was meeting people in the grocery store. He said, oh, I always knew that Mike Bogusky would be successful i just i always knew it but i remember i remember and i won't mention names because i'm not that kind of person but anyway so i i had those names those sort of lessons and then you know i really love classical music that's that's really what's in my blood like you know wow it's it's what i love to do it's what i still do it's what sort of bothers me about chili um you know because like chili comes from

like a much different background than me like I think he went to the crescent school and he went to mcgill so that's a pretty slick school and they've got a pretty great instrumental music program so I think like you know again my harris got rid of everything for the rest of us right like it's gone so for the next you know generation of kids who might end up in a gang, I don't know if that's safety net's going to be there, but then Chili sort of, you know, he would have had all of that and, and sort of, he lectures to people about what's wrong with classical music. And I, and I think my, my problem is first of all, and then this is, I think first of all, that Chili Gonzales is amazing. Like his music is great. Uh, and his shtick about, you know, doing rap while playing

piano is, is truly great. But where, where I sort of stop being on the chili wagon is when he sort of tells people what's wrong with classical music. And, and I think like, and it doesn't matter if you're talking about classical music or if you're talking about truth and reconciliation, or you're talking about anything, I think you have to be of the community to speak those things and i don't think that chili is a bonafide class like if long long wants to tell me what's wrong with classical music i'm all ears but i don't want to hear it from somebody who might be using the institution as a shtick to sell his own music and he does it brilliantly but like i i like classical music i like the rigor of it and i think the problem is that the the 20 years of underfunding classical music education in public

schools has resulted in people just not even knowing anything like shouldn't shouldn't everybody at least know who mozart is or or bach like what's wrong with that you know no well said if anytime a rant comes upon you just release it into the microphone i did i don't think that rant was too bad. No, no, no, no, no. I'm very reasonable. My girlfriend warned me before I came on. She's like, let's have a talk.

You've been warned. Hey, can we do a little tiny bit of a Tobacco talk before we go too deep? I can talk all hour about a Tobacco. I love a Tobacco. Well, first I'm going to read a comment that came in when I said Mike Boguski's coming on. It's a Sarah Moosh. Sarah Moosh. That's got to be from the Queen song, right? The Sarah Moosh. Sarah Moosh. That's got to be from the Queen song, right?

The Sarah Moosh. Sarah Moosh. I don't know. Is that in there? Okay. Right. Sarah Moosh says, he is my spirit animal.

Wow. His playing makes me rageful with jealousy and furious at myself for my lack of dedication to piano. Wow. So everybody hates everyone. That's amazing. except this guy like i said there's that guy who showed up um pointing like like beyond the fence he's like he just like

he heard this beautiful sound in the new toronto sky and he's like where is that beauty coming from and he's like just exploring investigating like where did that come from isn't that beautiful though but see that's what i'm all like my whole thing is like i want to just show up with this and again i've chosen a corgan one because i'm going to read something here again and stop me when i when the chili rant it gets gets me on the sued part of the equation just stop me so this is this is chili talking about uh the outro he did on dra's song, Marvin's Room. And I ended up playing an outro on a synth that was sitting there, like a Korg M1, like a really bad 90s synth.

And I thought I was just showing, well, it could be something like this. And in my mind, I'm like, yeah, then they're going to rent me a grand piano, and the next day I'm going to do it for real, right? I do the outro, no pedal. Those of you who play piano might know that without a pedal, also to do something, I was kind of struggling. But afterwards was like, whoa. They're like, that's it, obviously, and that was it.

That's the 90 seconds that you hear at the end of Marvin's Room. It's just me sort of like unknowingly transferring the wetness in my eyes to the keyboard and making the song cry, as Jay-Z would say. Okay, so there's a lot in there. But to me, the Korg M1 is the people's piano. Like, this is the reggae piano. This is the every Hungarian Polish hall wedding band piano. And so by Chili, who is a sponsored Steinway artist, and sponsored by the Glenn Gould Foundation.

I wish I was, but I'm not, because I'm a rock and roll guy. And so Chili's, you know, deconstruction of the Corrigan One has inspired me to do a whole classical album on the Corrigan One using the crappy piano sound. And I'm working on like book one of the Well-Tempered Clavier, which is this intense series of preludes and fugues by Bach. And all summer I've been working on it. So that's coming.

That's coming. And again, inspired by Chili. Shout out to Chili. But you know who my last guest was on Toronto Mic? The most recent guest on Toronto Mic was Kevin Hearn. Oh, I love Kevin. Kevin, and I'm only doing keyboardists from now on. Nice.

From now on, that's all I'm going to do on Toronto Mic. But good chat with Kevin. And I had no idea. I talked to him for, I don't know, over an hour. I had no idea it was his birthday, and then later I found out that it was his birthday. And I had no idea. I talked to him for like, I don't know, over an hour. I had no idea it was his birthday. And then later I found out that it was his birthday. Like I just had no idea. Now he's St. Mike, so we're not allowed to really like him.

That's right. I'd rather be a Trojan than a motherfucking blue. There we go. This guy's got his bonafide. That's how you can see if somebody really went to power. Okay, before we find out about how the hell you got into Blue Rodeo, which is fucking amazing. Etobicoke Talk.

So what neighborhood did you grow up in? I grew up in Islington Village. So I'd be, like, right at Bernthorpe and Dundas. So, you know, right around the corner from Old Power. I drank a lot at the Rose and Crown. Remember that bar? That's, like, right across the street from Power and then a little bit towards Islington Yeah well there's a few bars there There was

I'm going way back here So do you remember the Islington house? Can you remember that? Remember there's like an old turn of the century tavern Right at Bernthorpe and Dundas I remember Old Mill Donuts Old Mill Donuts My dad would take me there before he'd take me to Brentwood Library

Every Tuesday So there's a in the real statics video For the Ballad of Wendell Clark parts 1 and 2 For Old Mill Donuts. Old Mill Donuts. My dad would take me there before he'd take me to Brentwood Library every Tuesday. So there's a, in the Real Statics video for the Ballad of Wendell Clark, parts one and two, there's a pretty good footage of that Old Mill Donuts. Like if you're looking for historical records. I'm all about Etobicoke. Why didn't I wear my Etobicoke t-shirt? I had this Etobicoke t-shirt that I was going to wear. Well, that's like Etobicoke's band, Real Statics.

That's like the Etobicoke band. They are the Etobicoke band. Well, I've started a band called West of Jane. So that's, how cool is that name, right? That's like the Atopical band They are the Atopical band Well I've started A band called West of Jane So that's How cool is that name Right That's pretty good It's Cleve Anderson

Who's the original Drummer from Blue Rodeo He was married To Ingrid Schumacher Am I right That's correct And went Chose a job

In the post office Yeah he did I you know There's nothing wrong With that Back in those days No no no No judgment

The union was A lot stronger back then So if you had a post you can't you don't have a crystal ball no you don't know what blue rodeo will become right and just to be honest like that life the blue rodeo life is not for everyone like remember i'm number four okay so so do people still like do people come up to you and say, hey, Bob, that sounded good? To me, I wouldn't be in Blue Rodeo if it wasn't for Bob. When I got the gig, I remember they didn't tell me that I had the gig. They would just give me six or seven batches of shows for two years. And I'd be at gigs gigs and guys would be like oh i just got i just got called for an audition to blue rodeo and i'm thinking like well that's

interesting because i'm playing with blue rodeo like next week i wonder what's going on there right but fair enough they had three keyboard players before me so they really wanted to make sure that they had the right guy now because bob bobby was was such an improvisational wizard and like he he kind of set the template now like I really wasn't into you know Blue Rodeo in the 90s I knew of them and I was like oh that's cool there's this band that sounds like the Beatles with this crazy keyboard player that's like doing all these solos and obviously I love the Doors and and like he was very much like Raymond Zarek but like I studied with his teacher a guy named Casey Sokol, who was sort of a guru in the Toronto music scene

for this thing called free improv, which is basically like, you have no idea what you're going to play, you just start with a couple notes and whatever. So I guess when it came time to me, I always played that way. I remember when I joined the Beauties, they were like, yeah,

you've got to play more like al cooper all that crazy solo stuff ain't gonna work for us so if you want the gig don't play so many notes right yeah so i was just like oh that's okay everybody says i'm great what's going on there so but it was good because it it refined me but then when it came time to play with blue rodeo like when they called me like they called me like like the day before a U.S. tour and they're like, oh, their manager is like, hey, we got your number from somewhere. Do you want to play with Blue Rodeo? And I was like, I always watch Jeopardy at 730, RIP Alex. And no, I never answered the phone from 730 to 8. And then it rang and it said Starfish Entertainment.

And I'm like, don't answer. This is some internet cable scam or something. Right. pick up the phone i'm like yeah what do you want i don't and i never pick up the phone during jeopardy right and they're like you want to play the blue rodeo and i'm like what like what are you scamming me like what in a couple weeks i just had a baby by the way at the time so i'm like this is this is for real like these people i i'm like this is happening and they're like yeah can you be in ferndale, Michigan, like the day after tomorrow? You got your union card? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I got my union card. I didn't.

And I just got on like a Greyhound with like a little keyboard. I'm learning 30 MP3s. And then I show up on the bus, and I think they took a look at me, and they saw how young I was, and they had like a band meeting. They're like, they talked about just canceling the tour, right? Because they were like, I was young. I was like 29, and those guys were like my parents' age, right? Right, yeah.

They just automatically were like, this is not working. Their guy had just bailed. And then I said to myself, before I went on stage, I said, you know, what have I got to lose? This is probably the only gig I'm going to play. So I might as well fuck all that Al Cooper shit, and I'm just going to play the way I like to play, right? So I let it all out, and Greg was like,

oh, man, this guy's awesome. Okay. You know what I mean? Because I played like, I don't want to say, I have a completely different style than Bobby. I don't sound like him at all, but I'm a free spirit when I play. I just go with it, right?

Right. So I think they love that. Jim loved that, too. They both, it wasn't just Greg. They both were really, they loved, what's the guy's name from NRBQ? Terry Adams is a crazy piano player. When they were in New York, they were big fans of that band, and they wanted a keyboard player that had that willingness to sort of be free.

So I think Bobby kind of fit that, and then, you know, all the other keyboard players were great, but. Well, I always make the mistake of assuming everyone listening knows who Bobby is, but maybe we should tell the world. Yeah, he was the original keyboard player, Bobby Wiseman. Yeah, he was one of the founding members along with Cleave. And then they had James Gray, who was a great keyboard player after Bobby. He was very much like a...

I remember the first time I saw James play, we were doing a gig. This was shortly after he left Blue Rodeo. It was at Axis Gallery in the Junction. A good friend of mine, Derek Downham, used to hold this jam. And James had just left Blue Rodeo and Derek were playing a duet. And I remember seeing James play piano and I thought to myself,

fuck, is that how good you have to be to be a professional keyboard player like it really left an imprint on me right so so they've always had great keyboard players you know so but you're number four four then there was a guy after me named bob packwood before you and i remember at the dakota um i tried talking to him about music and i sneezed because i have allergies and i was just sort of talking about, you know, what are your influences? And I sneezed, and I said, sorry, I have allergies. Are you allergic to anything?

And he said, just to bullshit. And I remember, oh. That's my line. That's not nice. So I did get along with him. But I really got along well with James. James was great. And Bobby, I went to all his shows, like, you know,

all his solo movie things and all that. So I've sort of known those guys in a capacity before joining the band. And what year do you join Blue Rodeo? 2008. Wow. That's okay. So it's funny because I mentioned Kevin Hearn was my last guest and he joined like a successful band midstream, right?

Because he takes over for Andy Cregan. Right. So Barenaked Ladies already established. I mean, they didn't have their number one, uh, billboard hot 100 hit yet, but they were, they were a known entity.

So what's it like to join a band that's like already an established band with Canadian hits and stuff. Like what's that like? It's, it's, it's definitely an education in ego check. You know what I mean? Cause there's just such strong dynamics.

It would be like, it would be like being a step mom to a divorced family that's been together for a long time, right? Right. You sort of have to just accept that there's this very powerful... But do you feel like a second-class citizen? Do you feel like... Now I don't, no. Okay, now you don't.

But those guys, they're a national institution, right? I was playing in a bar band at the Dakota on Sundays. So it was a bit of a, like, who like who's this so how'd you get the call like i played with a lot of bands back then and one of the bands i played with was uh the beauties we you know we were a bit of a thing we had like a scene there where you know the lineup would go to dundas we'd have like uh you know johnny marr would be there and and the guy from the police, what was his name? Copeland. Stuart Copeland.

Who else was there? Who's the guy? Paul Anka was there one night. Wow! Yeah, so it was like, wait, this little scene. Paul Anka. Catherine O'Hara. So when you're in a scene like that, you just meet musicians.

So I ended up getting a gig with the artist previously known as Oh Susanna, Susie Ungerlinger. She's now renounced her name, rightfully so, and that's a good call. Respect that. And she was very cool in that she... I actually bugged Justin Rutledge, who I've known since grade 9. Good friend of my cousin's and been on the show as well. Yeah, all of us.

He's fantastic. He went to my brother's school. So it's funny, I went with your brother Mark and I were in the same graduating class. His BA. Justin was Bishop Allen of my brother's school. So it's funny, I went with your brother Mark and I were in the same graduating class. His BA. Justin was Bishop Allen of my brother Steve. Yeah, so like, even back in grade 9 and 10,

Justin and I would be doing our music thing respectively and he always, he stole a bunch of girlfriends from me, I remember. Well, he's a good looking guy. He's a good looking guy

and that never really, like he's married now and congratulations, he's got a kid, he's settled down but yeah, he definitely, you had to watch out for that JR, you know. Well, he had blue eyes,. He's settled down. But yeah, he definitely had to watch out for that JR.

Well, he had blue eyes, right? Like I think. Very, very handsome man. You know, I beat him in the height department, but he's definitely got the eyes. But anyway, so I asked Justin, I said, hey man, can you, can you see if you can get me a gig with Susie? Cause I just love Susie's music and I still do. She's an amazing songwriter and got a great voice.

So I did a gig with, I must've done a gig with, cause Justin always got a great voice. So I did a gig with, I must have done a gig with, because Justin always played with the Beauties. I did a gig with Suzy. And so then when Bob Hackwood abruptly left, they asked Basil, who's kind of like ear to the ground guy, who do you know?

And just, I think he asked Justin and Justin said, oh, you should check out Bagoo. And Basil's a very sort of rightfully proud musician. He's like, well, I don't know who this Bagoo is. And then when Justin said, oh, you should check out Bagoo. And Basil's a very sort of rightfully proud musician. He's like, well, I don't know who this Bagoo is. And then when Justin said, well, he played with Suzy. Now, anybody who's played with Suzy, her songs are not kind of like,

oh, this is straight Hank Williams country. Like, they jump all over the place. They've got key changes. She's a very rightfully demanding artist. And so the musicians that play with Susie are never hacks. So when Basil heard that I played with Susie, he was kind of like, oh, he plays with Susie. Well, he must be okay then.

And then that sort of like was enough of a reference to at least get the gig for the one show that they had to do. You get the show and then you were yourself and you did your thing. And then they said, we will take more of that, please. That's a great story. You got a great story. Quick fun fact about justin rutledge there quickly is that are you familiar with dave hodge yes okay well dave hodge's favorite musician of all time is jr

is jr well jr was one of my favorite musicians at the time like he's a very talented guy like he's he's really you know a typical canadian situation i think he's more he's more um celebrated in europe like in the uk he's huge right like they love him he's got that danko jones model going we're big fucking deal in europe and uh yeah yeah well that's that's what for a lot of us and and i think you know my good friend chili i think that's why he left too because he he kind of tried to make a go at it here with that band uh What were they called? They were Soul. Remember the 90s band Soul? Vaguely.

Yeah, he was the keyboard player in Soul. And his brother is like this big-time film scorer that's friends with one of my good friends who's the head of film scoring at Berklee. So they're a very musical family. Wow, wow. Now, Blue Rodeo, huge in this country and massive in the city.

I always felt like if Blue Rodeo wanted to do five dates at the Budweiser stage or five dates at Massey Hall you'd fill those places My mother has sort of become my manager she said to me, I read in the paper that Blue Rodeo isn't on the list of doing this

Massey Hall opening, what's going on there with that? and I'm like, I haven't even I don't even talk to anybody in the band or my, but my mom is the first to flag this. So I sort of had to explain to my mom, like, mom, I think we might be doing a tour maybe in February. I don't know. So like, you know, for us, we can, we would rather just play Massey Hall as a, you know.

But you are, I know you're, oh, maybe it's Budweiser stage. Actually, you're booked for Budweiser stage. I think you guys have the record. Blue Rodeo is a record for a band to play Budweiser Stage the most times. I believe you have that. Yeah, I have a plaque. It says we played 20 times, and that was like a couple years ago. And we also have the record, other than Gordon Lightfoot.

Oh, at Massey Hall. I think we're number two. And they gave us a big, cool plaque when we did that show. So that was pretty rad. It's all fucking rad, actually. So i'm just curious about blue rodeo and then we're going to talk more about your solo stuff and stuff but like what are the guys like like i just want to know primarily like jim cuddy greg keeler and colin crips like uh they're they're and glenn and battle yeah yeah and we have a new fellow jimmy bosco as well who kind of plays with us when he's not with the sheepdogsdogs. They're all amazing human beings.

And I got to say, you know, the best part about being in Blue Rodeo is the humor, the inner humor. And those guys challenge me musically, and they really challenge me personally. And I think in life, when you're challenged personally, you either rise to the occasion or you run away from it and attack it and victimize yourself. And I think the longevity of being in Blue Rodeo, this is my 13th year now, has definitely made me a better human being.

And I would say that goes right up until like last week. What was it like to play the 2010 Olympics? The 2010 Olympics was amazing. We got to go to Vancouver. I remember we were all backstage. We were on the Whistler stage. And we were supposed to play to a whole group of Canadians.

And Canada and U.S. were playing hockey. And I can't remember the American player who tied it up in the last minute. But I remember Sidney Crosby scored in overtime. And I remember when we were going into overtime, we were like, if they lose, we still have to play to this crowd. Right, it changes everything. This is going to be the worst show we've ever done.

And then Sidney scores. And then before you could even react, we're like, Jim hits the first card and everybody's screaming. Oh, my God. It was this moment of Canadian zen. Amazing. That was just the perfect. The perfect.

You couldn't get a more Canadian moment than that. Wow. Yeah. And I can still hear Iggy. That was just the perfect You couldn't get a more Canadian moment than that Wow And I can still hear Iggy That's what Sidney yells Iggy at the top of his lungs Because Jerome McGinley's got the puck To get that puck to him And then he slides it right in the 5 hole

Of Ryan Miller It's really bugging me that I can't remember who the American player was Who tied it up I actually don't know, I'd have to guess Is it Patrick Kane? No Jason's going to Google it remember who the american player was who tied it up uh i actually don't know i'd have to guess but uh 20 patrick kane no well we have uh jason's gonna google it all right he's reaching for his phone right now he's gonna yell it in my my ear in a moment here uh tell me if you don't mind um trafalgar square so like in 2011 you're playing canada day uh celebrations in london england oh

that was cool sounds cool cool. That was amazing. We did a whole, we were in France, we played in Paris for the Canadian consulate, and then we went over for Canada Day, and it was a big crowd. It was like 25,000 plus. And I just thought, wow, there's a lot of Canadians in London. Yeah, it was a Canada Day festivities. I remember Colin ran into, and Jim ran into Rod Stewart on the street. It was a funny story.

They were walking, and there was this whole crowd, and Rod Stewart was there, and I think Jim gave him a high five. That was the story. But, yeah, it was a great show. And Colin Cripps, again, just a great gent as as all of the blue rodeos are just i just think now that uh you know sadly the tragically hip are are no longer due to some tragic circumstances right uh but now i would i would argue i'd put forward a solid argument that the torch is held by blue rodeo now you know it's it, it's interesting. I don't think of it that way.

I think of it like, okay, this is a band, and I'm showing up to a gig. And then I remember there was one gig we did where, for whatever the reason, they brought us through the parking lot, and it was just like scores of cars and families camping and people playing Blue Rodeo songs. And I thought, wow, there's like a whole world that exists outside of I'm a working musician playing in a band right like and it really there is a culture around where where the first generation fans are now bringing their

grandkids grandkids yeah and people people like schedule their summer calendars around our shows it's like oh the amphitheater and we do this like run out in alberta and we and then we go out to newfoundland and yeah it really is an amazing phenomenon. Now, just to talk about Kevin and the ladies there, because they had a different trajectory. I think they were sort of a level of success like The Hip and Blue Rodeo. I'm not getting nitpicking here, but they were a big Canadian band, and then they took a step back and went to the States

and literally started from scratch, I think, again, to try to build up a fan base. And I think Blue Rodeo did a similar thing, but they were just at a point where they were like, this is such a slog. And they basically made peace with the fact that we're great. We're a great Canadian band. We're loved in Canada.

And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. I love playing Canada. I like playing the States too, don't get me wrong. But there's something cool about seeing all the different parts of the country and having all of these people come out and know every lyric it's it's an amazing experience to witness from the stage I like the way you worded that because I recently had Kim Mitchell on the show and this happened to him essentially so I guess go for soda was the big single they

were pushing I remember that I was such a guy I love Kim Mitchell I know he's awesome he is awesome he's no he's fucking awesome but I guess the label also had Twisted Sister on the label, and we're not going to take it. And I guess, as you might know, with labels and such, they chose to push the Twisted Sister single versus Gopher Soda. Next thing you know, Kim kind of puts on an OPP hat and embraces his Canadianity, as they say. There ain't no shame in that game.

No, there isn't. And, yeah, you mentioned the Burnick Leeds. The one big thing they had in their back pocket was Jason Priestley. So here's what happened. Priestley, they became friends with Canadian Jason Priestley, who directed the video for The Old Apartment. Oh, yeah. That's my favorite song of theirs.

You know, that's one of my favorite songs. I actually just played it on the last episode. I think that's a great song, and lots of good shout-outs to Toronto references like the Danforth and stuff. But so Jason Priestley becomes their bud. He gets them on 90210 because the Berenaked Ladies play the Peach Pit.

Oh, wow. This is a huge moment in awareness in South of the Border. Like, this is sort of when they start to break South of the Border. Next thing you know, you know, one week goes to number one, and then that's it. I guess you can tour forever in the States for the number one hit. So that's it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then, of course, they did a theme song to a little show that I never watched, but apparently is very popular. Wow. That's what you want. That's the money ticket, to get a show song that's syndicated internationally that will be played for the next three years and you can't do any i don't think you could do any better if you planned it than that particular show at that particular time it's an unbelievable story so good on those guys but uh good on you guys so again i see in the calendar

august 28th at budweiser stage i don't is that i think i don't know like i was gonna ask you it's in our it's in our calendar. I was told we're doing it. So as far as I'm concerned, we're doing it. You never know with COVID. Things can change. And it is,

I know in Libertarian Alberta, we are doing the Calgary Folk Festival on July 18th, because they've just basically said, we're open in business. Yes. We're now officially open. So we're there. I think we're doing an edmonton show

uh there's a saskatoon show and like i said i i heard whispers from the from the blue rodeo um corners of the world that there might be a tour in the new year because we finished we finished we finished a new album we have a new album in the world like it's all done it's just got to get okay i was gonna ask you mike like what's your how do you get folded into the writing process like like like what's well i'm not a writer you see the jim and greg are the exclusive writers of blue rodeo so it's it's it's it's the they write their songs and then they come to us to flesh it out right in terms of uh color and texture you know like you know basil and glen are the rhythm section and then you know i call into myself you know we we color the songs with our our canvases of of you know i don't think there's

going to be any of these kind of uh spirogyra inspired sounds although i wish there would but on the new album actually greg uh gave me free reign to to play a lot of synthesizers so there's a bit of a born in the USA vibe on some of his songs. Amazing. Which should be very cool. I was going to ask you about Jim. Okay, so Jim, like, I think he has this deal with, I'm sure he has this deal with you guys,

where he can do the Jim Cuddy band, and then he can do Blue Rodeo, and he kind of switches up. Like, I feel like there's a calendar or something, which one he's focusing on. Well, he's fully committed to, like, Blue Rodeo is the main gig. Okay. And I think what he does is he takes time off when we're not touring. Everything's different now, but in the old days,

we would do a tour and then he would do a tour with his band. He always made sure that there was no conflicts. Here's a big question. Have you ever heard a song from the Jim Cuddy band and been like, oh man, I wish that was a blue rodeo song you ever had that moment uh no i just they're very different songs he writes very differently with his band than he does with us he um you know it's just a different vibe i went to their valentine show at massey hall a couple years ago it was a really great show um but no i've never

heard us i i there's a few times where he's asked me to play with his band like i think there's like maybe once or twice i've done it and i i just remember learning the parts and learning the songs going wow this is totally different than blue rodeo it's just a different vibe and he's got an incredible keyboard player steve o'connor who who's a very kind of uh smooth nashville kind of guy you know he can really just play very smooth and it's a different vibe and I'm sort of more wild and crazy and aggressive. So love it, man. Hey, what do you think of the, uh, here's a random question, right? What do you think of the skydiggers? Love the skydiggers. Jim loves the skydiggers. My brother, Mark loves the skydiggers. I remember

bringing him to the Dakota and introducing him to Andy and he's just like, man, you know, everybody, don't you? And I'm like, I guess I do. But yeah, no, the Skydiggers are amazing. And I used to go to their Christmas show. At the Horseshoe. Yeah, I did a little album with Mike Timmons and Andy Mays. It's an incredible album called Townies, an audio play.

I think Mike put it out last year, and there's a lot of improvised piano on there and Andy sings and it's a brilliant album. In addition to being crazy talented Andy Mays, one of the nicest people I've ever met, Andy Mays. Incredible human being.

Is that a Canadian thing? I think so. I'm meeting a lot, now I meet not as many as Jason here, but I'm meeting a lot of musicians. I love their work Because I'm meeting a lot. Now I meet not as many as Jason here, but I'm meeting a lot of musicians. I love their work, and most of them, most of them, sweethearts, like I'm impressed with just how decent a human being they are.

Yeah, well, you know, I mean, it's... I think all Canadians are definitely having a moment of reckoning this last little while. But yeah, by and large, we like to think of ourselves as good people, and I think we Canadians are definitely having a moment of reckoning this last little while. But yeah, by and large, we like to think of ourselves as good people, and I think we are good people. But I think collectively, we're definitely trying to come to terms with some darkness. Oh, no doubt. In fact, I'm hearing, like I can hear in the distance, my neighbor Chi, who was on my show last week.

Her mom's Cree, so her dad is Nigerian, her mother is Cree uh so she we spoke very openly honestly and you're absolutely right like I don't know about my family we we took the year off of Canada Day celebrations to kind of like to educate ourselves and reflect upon this almost like like we need we need to sort of learn like what what the fuck happened and you know ensure that you know we as a nation that this never happens again essentially oh yeah well yeah jump in there hold on Jason you're sharing that mic

I should have brought out another mic for Jason well yeah just getting into this topic I just wanted to mention that I know Greg was you know even 20 years ago he was a big supporter of Leonard Peltier, and I'm just trying to think of that album they made, compilation album.

Anyway, Blue Rodeo has always been supportive of this issue. Absolutely. You know, I know that most Canadians are coming to terms with a lot of these things recently. But yes, to Jason's point, Greg and Jim, both of them, have been well aware of that with songs like Fools Like You going back to the early 90s. And Greg is just a very strong ally to the Indigenous cause. And I had quite an intense discussion with Greg a couple of days ago. And the outcome of that discussion, which I don't want to get into the specifics of it,

but I am now taking the indigenous studies course at University of Alberta. My wife just did it, and she's told me I'm going to do it too. Yeah. I started a charity a little while ago to help the reconciliation, a very little thing called Manitoba Project. It ended up making like $100,000 for the Native little thing called called manitoba project it ended up making like 100 grand for the native addiction council of manitoba but you know the point of it of it is that you know charitable efforts are great but if you have a deficiency in understanding of certain things it's incumbent on all canadians to to take time to educate

themselves about what's going on because if you don't know what's going on, you think you might have an opinion or you might have a point of view, which you've got to challenge it. And Greg is very wonderful for challenging certain mindsets that I think a lot of Canadians may not even realize that they still occupy. Well said. Now I'm thinking of the Jenny Wenjack Foundation,

and now I'm thinking of Gore Downey and what he devoted his final years to and now i'm thinking of this is where it's going now i'm thinking of blue rodeo at the at strombo's house oh yeah so were you at strombo's house i was at strombo's house oh there's a little person yeah hi did you want to come out yeah that's uh my youngest uh my youngest of four that's my youngest. My youngest of four. That's Morgan. Wow, four. She's five, yeah.

She's a sweetheart. Speaking of sweethearts. Okay, so Strombo. So can I play a little bit of the Bob Cajun cover? Yeah, go for it. Just play a bit of this. Here while I drink my beer here. So Bob Cajun. Blue Rodeo starts off the Strombo Show celebration of the Hip 30. So Bob Cage. I left your house this morning at a quarter after nine.

Could have been the Willie Nelson, or it could have been the one. Left your house this morning Had a little laugh tonight It was hip-hop cages Saw the constellations Reveal themselves one star at a time Man, gorgeous. Yeah, really gorgeous and really somber.

Both for many reasons. For what everybody's trying to understand and thinking about Gord and Keeler's voice can definitely cut into the soul. Absolutely. No, man. I still have to tell the story at some point.

Like I'm at a grade school dance. I don't know who the DJ was. Maybe it was Brian master. I have no idea, but I'm at a grade school dance. So it's before I met your brother at power and he puts on try by blue rodeo. And it was like a new single.

He put on the 45. He said this is new or whatever. And it was like the first time I heard Try. It was like... Pretty good song, man. It's a pretty fucking good song. I'm like, who are these guys? Yeah, they know what they're doing.

So this song we're listening to now, if you're curious, this is from Strombo at a series called Hip 30. And a lot of great bands covering tragically hip songs and just really loved the way you guys covered Bob Cajun here. Yeah, and what was cool is we did that live that year at the amphitheater and what they did is on the large screens, they live streamed Gord's Kingston performance. So the crowd is watching Gord dance in Kingston

while we're playing Bob Cajun. Oh, August 20, 2016. Yeah, it was pretty insanely cool. Again, that would go up there with the Sidney Crosby goal gig list. So last Blue Rodeo note, and then I gotta talk to you. Zach Parise!

I always liked Zach Parise as a player. I know he's a devil, and then he was a Minnesota Wild for a long time there, but I always thought he was a really good player. But okay, there's a... Okay, and you're right, though. Playing that gig in Vancouver,

had the Americans scored in overtime, would have been a rather different experience. We would have been called to task. Oh, you got lucky. You dodged a bullet there. Okay, so you guys were inducted into the canadian music hall of fame this is in 2012 uh during the juno awards what was that experience like i mean that was an amazing experience uh you know a lot of my uh former colleagues you know they would

always ride me they'd be like yeah man you were just in the right place at the right time and i'm just thinking like okay to a certain extent yes but you still have to nail the gig and then hold it right so i i mean i'm not going to take like i wasn't like my name is on the inductee list sure but you know that's really a testament to those guys and and the longevity of the institution that they've uh developed and it's an industry award the the award that i really was i can't believe i'm believe I'm part of this, was the Governor General's. Because that's sort of like the highest award for the performing arts you can get. Wow. So you got like a medal or something?

It's like a medal, yeah. You're not wearing it today, though. I'm not wearing it today. But whenever I go to the symphony, I put it on just so I can be like, I'm part of your little world. But you're wearing dog tags there. Is that from when you served in NAMM? No, this is from my daughter. Okay.

See, I shouldn't make a joke. It's something very important. Number one, Dad, we love you. And whenever I don't feel the love, she says, Daddy, look at your dog tag. Okay, that's amazing. Now I wish I didn't make the joke. I'll fix it in post. No, that's okay.

But how old is your daughter? She is nine, and my son is going to be 13 next Friday. 13, nice. That's teenager time. Holy smokes. Oh, yeah, the talk back is already happening. Every day. You know, my teens were sweethearts throughout their teenage years.

You and Mark, eh? Both of you. Is that what happened? You guys. I hear a lot about teenage girls. She's turning 17 in July. Right. And I hear so many stories from my buddies about their teenage girls,

and I think, did I just get lucky? I haven't. You saw there's a five-year-old. So we'll see how she ends up. But did I get lucky or what happened here? I think you're just a good guy. I don't know. You and my brother are going to be okay.

And me with my prickly demeanor and caustic energy will probably end up fighting everybody. How many kids does Mark have? He has two. He has two girls. How old are they? The one of them is four and the other one is seven. Oh, yeah. That's like I got a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, so I know that drill.

They went to camp today. This is the first day because they were homeschooling because, oh, not homeschooling. What's it called? Remote learning. Oh, I'm sorry. Five and eight. Sorry, Mark. Okay, eight.

Okay, that's grade two. Going into grade three? Remote learning. Oh, I'm sorry. Five and eight. Sorry, Mark. Okay, eight. Okay, that's grade two. Going into grade three, maybe. Wow. Okay, good for you, Mark. Hey, so I want to talk about Here's to Tomorrow, but I got to ask you, you played at the lowest of the low? I did.

I did. I did. What did he call that album? He did it like a box set sort of compilation greatest hits thing. And we did a song called Lazy Days Days and then we did Hole in the Ground. See, cause they had come on tour with us and I was a big fan of Lois Lowe. My brother was a big fan of Lois Lowe.

I brought my brother backstage and he was, he really fanboyed out with Ron. Okay. Yeah. It's not, it's not hard to do, man. You know what I mean?

And like, I love Lois Lowe. Don't get me wrong. Great band. But like my brother's like, he takes it to the next level. Yeah. So, but those of us, those mean? And like, I love the lowest of the low. Don't get me wrong, I'm a great band, but like my brother's like, he takes it to the next level. Yeah. So.

But those of us who, like those of us who are at the right age for Shakespeare, my butt. Right. I've noticed this because I'm friendly with the drummer from the Watchmen and stuff.

Oh yeah. And we have this discussion all the time. We have the lowest of the low on this, on this, this, this, this level of like,

I don't know who else is, but just like the clash or something. Okay. This is where we've got lowest of the low. And you'll hear from like others and like, I don't know who else is, but just like the clash or something. Okay. This is where we've got lowest of the low. And you'll hear from like others and like, oh, well they were just sort of Toronto famous. Like,

you know, Sammy tells me, you know, oh, they wouldn't even fill the common or ballroom in Vancouver. And I'm like, like, I don't know what,

I don't know anything about any of that. I just know that. Is your keyboard okay there? I am. I'm listening to you. I'm just segwaying into keyboard okay there? I am. I'm listening to you. I'm just segwaying into something that will come up in a minute. Bottom line is,

I fucking love that band. I love that album. And every episode of Toronto Mike closes with a song from Shakespeare in my butt. Well, Ron is an incredible songwriter. And I think they made an effort to kind of stay real to their kind of working class DIY aesthetic.

And I think they consciously chose to keep it that way. Well, they didn't do videos. They did a whole whack of shit to like suppress their fame, if you will. Like total punk move. Which is amazing because like so many times like that's not the case, right? And anyway, it was a real amazing thing to have a tour with, you know, the first half being with, I think it was the Do Right Assassins. Yeah, okay.

That was the name of that incarnation. And then having the Sadies on the second half. Amazing. So one more last band before we talk about Here's To Tomorrow, which is like a trippy instrumental that you'll tell me all about. But just Great Lakes Swimmers, you did an album of Great Lakes Swimmers? Yeah, and this is amazing, this is a funny story,

how the music industry works, so Tony Decker is sort of, he is the Great Lakes Swimmers, I mean, I think it's, he just changes things up, so he called me up to do a session, and he said, oh, you know, can you play piano on these two tunes,

and, you know, like it's just like work, right, it's a session, you know, he paid me with a fee and whatever, and, you know, they have this thing called neighboring rights, where like starting in the 80s, like know, like, it's just like work, right? It's a session, you know, you pay me the fee and whatever. And, you know, they have this thing called neighboring rights where, like, starting in the 80s, like, guys like me who didn't write the song but played on the session, we get a little bit of a little, you know, little crumbs to help.

Right. And usually, you know, it's not a large amount of money. For whatever the reason, the one song I happened to play on, I think at one point robert plant tweeted about it and then another thing happened where it got picked up on gossip girl or one of those shows i got syndicated so suddenly i'm getting these like really large checks that i'm not used to seeing i'm like what's going on here and it was because of that one so now i always give them a christmas card or i call them or you know i play eddie haskell hoping i could get called on another

uh another session so tony if you're listening to this, I'm available anytime. It's a numbers game, right? Just playing as many things as possible and then your odds of one of them getting picked up by a show. Well, yeah, it's a funny thing. This is the thing.

Spotify really is, streaming is a different entity. Basically, if you do niche music like I do, my only hope of making money from streaming is if, you know... If Drake wants you on one of his new singles? Or if I can get on one of those, like, erotic spa lounge playlists, you know, where I can just sort of, like, just do that. Ethereal.

So I'm actually thinking of making a sex tape called Couples Therapy to sort of offset all the divorce I've been hearing about, you know, about people. So I think we need music to bring couples back together. And, you know, I'm just going to kind of do like, you know, new age sounds, you know. Yeah, that's, that works. You kidding me? It'd be good like, I don't know how you get compensated for this, but podcast music. You need that opening theme and that bed underneath the...

I don't want to say the name Giancomeci, but when you're doing... I know, don't tell anyone I said that. But when you're making your opening monologue, you need that music underneath. So this is the new album. First of all, I'm going to do the classical piano album on the Korg M1 to show the chili. But are you going to play? Because you're going to play something. I was going to play some Bach. I was going to do the classical piano album on the Korg M1 to show the chili

I was going to play some Bach I'll turn the mic when you're ready but first can you set it up what is Here's to Tomorrow I know you guys have some big names involved in this Here's to Tomorrow it's your show you set it up as you wish

but before you play something let me turn that mic to the end Here's to Tomorrow was really just it up as you wish. But just before you play something, let me turn that mic to the air. Let me just talk about Here's Tomorrow. So yeah, Here's Tomorrow was really just, it came out of a number of things. First of all, I really, really love Colin Cripps as a person. And I really love him as a musician. Would Colin do Toronto Mic'd? Oh yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Get him on here. Sold. Yeah, done. He would talk about guitars and the history of of guitars and cars and everything he's he's just a wealth of knowledge he's a great human being and i was really a big fan of junk house and all the stuff he did uh you know the kathleen edwards stuff and uh to be in a band with him is just like wow crash vegas crash vegas yeah so like for me colin is like he doesn't try to sound like

another musician he is colin but he is very influenced by a certain style of British guitar playing, like The Edge, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler from Suede. It's just sort of like a certain kind of late 80s, 90s guitar style. And so I wrote this very kind of nod to Manchester riff. I wrote, you know, it really came from, I'm going to be perfectly honest, so I did a gig at the Dakota Tavern a number of years ago, and I'm such a huge Smiths fan,

and when I finished the gig, my buddy said, oh, you'll never believe who's standing behind you the whole night, just checking out your every note, and I said, who? And they said, Johnny Marr. I said, what? I go, let me hear him. Where is he? And he had left, and I was just like, are you kidding? And so, I ended up trying to connect, because Kevin Drew, who's a friend of mine, is connected to Johnny. Yeah, and I tried to connect with Johnny.

And I asked his manager, because he wrote this great, the Smiths wrote this great song. Hold on. This great instrumental piano tune. Hold on. Yeah, you can do it. Yeah, you just move the shock mount, not the mic, though. That thing that the mic is attached to. So you see the shock?

Here, sorry. No, I'm kidding. All right. Is that it? You're doing that well? Oh, yeah. So move this guy instead of this guy. Oh, okay.

So this is like your shock mount. Let me just fix it in here quickly. Okay. Go ahead. Sorry. So move. You want to? Okay.

Okay. Sorry. Okay. I am concentrating to, okay. Okay. This is just a segue. So they did that, oh, Morgan did that. I'm just going to play an excerpt. They did this piano instrumental called Oscillate Wildly. I should have set up a second mic. Yeah, that's okay.

My bad. So I ended up connecting with his manager trying to find out, like, did he do any other piano tunes? And they didn't even, like, answer me. And I was like, oh, man. I feel like such an idiot like i sent him like four emails and they probably think i'm crazy so i ended up like often a source of inspiration for me is to uh hey how you doing little person you want to come out for live music nice to meet you that's monica

and morgan this is jason and Mike Mike's from Blue Rodeo Nice to meet you You like music? You want to come in and hear live music? So yeah I can't remember where I was So anyway Often when an artist rejects me

Or annoys me I tend to take that as a source of inspiration And so I wrote this kind of tune That was based on that vibe to take that as a as a as a source of inspiration and so i wrote this kind of tune that that was based on you know that vibe and uh i gave it to colin and colin ended up doing a great guitar part and then um i just basically ended up giving it to this videographer called michael huracan who's been working with greg solo stuff and i just said you know what like just create a video that's basically a narrative of 2020.

And he came up with this great sort of, I found out later he's a documentary artist. He's not even a music video guy. And so basically the tune is like a snapshot of 2020. Okay. And what happened in this crazy year. And, you know, that's that. That's Here's to Tomorrow. Here's to Tomorrow.

And amazing. Love of Colin, pain of rejection of Johnny. Okay. I loaded it up, but are you going to play it live? Well, I'm going to play the intro for you. Hold on. Okay. We're going to move that mic, I guess.

I should have put up another mic. It would have been easy, but too late now. All right. Then we won't do it. You can just play it. How about that? Okay. So let's hear a little of Here's To...

And the intro will be on my Couples Therapy as a remix. I love that idea. Here we go. I had a crazy thought that... Do you know how... Do you know how it's always a dandy dandy with a rocket ship from a thousand forward space itself and just do this whole new universe of force

but it's tons of times you don't even know where it went like, maybe one day we'll tell you how it came out maybe like in the universe and that's what all the marines are or something like that yeah, like, yeah that's his phone There's Colin So good Hey And that's like

How soon is now? He stole that from Johnny Marr But I told him to I said just steal it. Thank you. Yes, the magic. Thank you. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីបានប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពី Cynhyrchu'r ffordd y byddwn ni'n ei wneud. Look at this. Thank you. Musique So far ahead You know man Trippy I dig it man You dig it?

I dig it Seriously I dig it Otherwise Normally I would like After 35 seconds I bring it down I know I'm like I'm waiting

For the fade I know He's not bringing The fade down It was sounding good It was digging it. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day. Got to give it out to Tim Vesely, Real Statics,

who mixed that and added some additional synths. And he's a very incredible musical guy. He's very soft-spoken, and he's very intelligent, and he's been a real asset to the Blue Rodeo world. He sort of worked with us on the last album we did and I really enjoy working with him. So big shout out to Tim. Davide D'Arenzo on drums,

who's just another great, amazing drummer. He played with, you know, Jacksville for many years. He played with Tom Cochran and who else is on that? I am, yeah, I think that's it. Amazing, dude. Now we, just to bring it full circle here, we're going to close with a little more Etobicoke talk here. Love it.

So, like, are there any, I mean, I always think back of, you know, I never lived in Etobicoke, but I was going to Power, which was in Etobicoke. And now I live in Etobicoke, so here I am. Wait a minute. How would you go to Power not living in Etobicoke? I think, as I recall, I was on the other side of the Humber, so the east of the Humber River. You were east of James.

And I had to choose between Bishop Morocco and Michael Power. These were the two options. And I ended up doing Power. But I was like I was, you mentioned Jane Street. So that's kind of where I was. Now I remember like when I think of like Etobicoke like spots or whatever, I always think of like Apache

burgers. Oh my gosh. I'm going after this interview. I didn't eat any lunch. Wow. Do you remember the old, old Apache? The original? That's not the original. I remember across the street was G&B. G&B was across the street. And then you had Apache.

But if you go back to, I think around 91, he changed it. And he made it look like a retro diner. But like it was really 70s before. Right. Right. Yeah. It was, you know, obviously there's divide. I think if you live east of Jane,

you might be more inclined to go to, I don't know. Oh, Jumbo Burger. Jumbo Burger. On Dundas. Right. Not Keogh. Where is that? It's Runnymede in Dundas.

See, Jumbo Burger has maintained the original 70s facade, which I kind of always hoped that Apache would do that. There's a place in Scarborough that's kind of cut from the same cloth. Name's escaping me, but if you walk in, I don't know if you remember Mojo Radio. Do you have any memories of Mojo? So Ripken is on the wall. Ripken from Mojo Radio,

who coincidentally is on Toronto Mike next week. Cool. I know. But he's on their best burger in Toronto. Ripken hasn't been on 640 in like 15 years or something like that. But this keyboard

is from 91. The real McCoys? Yeah. The real McCoy maybe? How about Bert and Ernie's? Yeah. Bert and Ernie's was on Bloor?

Was that near Royal York? It was where Bloor and Dundas sort of Remember there was like a Well that's why because Bishop Morocco is at Dundas and Bloor. But at the same time, you could make an argument

that Michael Power was at Dundas and Bloor. But isn't that crazy? There's two Dundas and Bloors. I know, it is crazy. Only if you're from the West, you know that there's two Dundas and Bloors. By the way, Etobicoke talk real quick here. When was the last time, maybe it was today, I don't know,

but when was the last time you were at the Six Points area of Etobicoke? I was here When was the last time Maybe it was today I don't know But when was the last time You were at the Six points area Of Etobicoke I was at the six points Last week Trying to see if the Shoppers Drug Mart Still stocked cassette tapes

Because I've started This new record label That's only cassette based Yeah they're like No You should have called This 20 years ago That's amazing

So then I went to Ultronix Hi-Fi At Royal York And Prince Edward. Okay. They had some. Oh, wow.

So, you know, I did eventually find it. And my last topical shout-out, I've got to give it out to Chaos Music at Royal York and Bloor. My father bought me my first keyboard there when they opened back in, like, 90. It was a Roland JV-80. Wow. Bill. Bill sold JV-80. Wow. Bill. Bill sold it to my dad. Wow.

And Bill's still the owner. And I got to give it up to him and his store, which I buy all of my music gear. Because I think in these times, you've got to support your local merchants, right? You can just go to Amazon, but why? No, I'm with you, man. I got an audio dealer myself.

Absolutely. I'm with you. And Lou, the an audio deal a dealer myself absolutely i'm with you and lou the manager yeah i want to give it out to lou as well and my solo record can be purchased there on consignment my well here shout out all the places we can like support you yeah in my improv album blues for the penitent available on vinyl at chaos music at royal york and bluer serving all your musical needs and my trio jazz trio album with Michael Bogusky Trio is for sale in CD. That medium will be gone soon, but it's there as well. And of course, you know, you can stream it too.

Amazing here. I know that you're an Etobicoke guy, and here we are in Etobicoke. So I just want to shout out. Oh, I want to also give a shout out to Jay at Chaos. So it's Jay and Lou and Bill. That's where we are, but where exactly? Only because I'm thinking there's shoppers at Royal York

and Blue. Okay, so the old Chaos music used to be like beside the Crooked Q, beside the dance studio, and then they recently just moved to the, where it used to be a travel agency, and it was prior. I mean, back when I was at... Across from the Rogers? Right across from the Rogers. Yeah. Remember it used to be a Woolworths. Okay,

so it was a Woolworths. Okay. Because the Walmart that's now defunct, that was at the Honeydale Mall. Do you know what Honeydale Mall is? Oh, yeah. Honeydale Mall. So that was a Woolworths. But first it was a Woolworths. It became a Woolworths.

And then it became a Walmart. Right. Hey, how about this? Do you remember taking the streetcar down Bloor Street ever? Do you remember the Bloor Street streetcar? Yeah. It would go right by the Swiss Chalet. That was our, yeah.

Now there's one at like Shorncliffe and Bloor. This is really boring everybody, but there's like a new Swiss Chalet that took over. And I got one at Kipling and Queensway, but they're tearing it down for condos. That's a bit of a problem, but I'll never leave it to Obakar. My father used to call it the Polish Holy Land.

It's very, a lot of Polish and Russian. yeah this neck i'm half polish half ukrainian back okay okay well bogusky that's polish that's polish yeah because it's sky when it's ukrainian typically as i recall some of it yeah sometimes sometimes okay amazing so and okay so so uh that means that when you you have the same weekend that has in ronci's you got the Polish thing going on, and then on Bloor Street West, in Bloor West Village, Ukrainian Festival. You got the Ukrainian Festival, but they always were on the same day. Yeah, it's funny that they managed to peacefully coexist,

because there's a bit of a history there. Yes, there's a bit of a history, absolutely, there's a bit of a history there. Okay, this has been amazing, but I was going to shout out Mimico Mike, because Mike Majewski, he's the guy who basically, he's in the know in Mimico. So if anybody's interested in like moving to the hood here, you're not actually in Mimico now, Mike. You're in New Toronto, but you can throw a stone and hit Mimico. And Mike Majewski, almost called him Boguski.

That's a different Mike. I don't know where that came from. But Mike Majewski is at realestatelove.ca. Reach out. Just tell him Toronto Mike sent you. I'd appreciate it. I just also want to shout out stickeru.com. I have Toronto Mike stickers on top of that red box. There's a red box behind your keyboard, behind your keyboard. So where's your keyboard? Yeah, there you go. So there's two. Yeah, take that. So the red box. So the red box

obviously is a lasagna from Palma's Kitchen. I've got a lasagna from Palma Pasta. I get a lasagna? You get a lasagna. Those stickers are from StickerU. I know you're going to want to stick one on your car, of course. But anywhere you like. Those are a couple of, one for you, one for Jason, actually. That's the deal there. I have some hand sanitizer here. Can this go on my

keyboard? Oh, that would be, are you kidding me? That would be a dream come true. Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars of the community since 1921. They've got hand sanitizer here on this end of the, see, we had to make a lot of room for your keyboard. So hand sanitizer on this end of the table for you. Shout out to them. And there's a brand new sponsor. I want to just let all the listeners, all the FOTMs, I want them to know. McKay CEO Forums. So I mentioned them in the intro. McKay CEO Forums, they have a podcast that I'm going to be writing about at torontomike.com. And I'm urging everyone to subscribe and check it out. McKay CEO Forums, fantastic people.

And I appreciate their support. Brand new sponsor, which I absolutely love. And last but not least, I mentioned them already a couple of times because I cracked one open and Jason cracked one open, but Great Lakes Beer, I'm actually got a meeting there tomorrow working on some top secret things I'll be telling you about. Once there was a Toronto Mike listener experience

at Great Lakes Brewery and Ron and Lawrence from Lowest of the Low played live. Amazing. I mean, one day, I don't know, one day, imagine Mike Boguski playing TMLX live at the Lakelands Brewery. It's just me and my Korg M1. Hated by chili, loved by Michael.

But that Diamond Mine sounded amazing. It sounded like Weather Report, didn't it? That was good, right? Jason, you dug that vibe there, man? That was great. Honestly, it's my favorite Blue Rodeo song. Yeah, it's the best Blue Rodeo song. But remember, the next time, if we do it again,

I'm going to have the blue pastel tuxedo. And blue for Blue Rodeo. Hopefully, it'll be a little cooler than this. But I warned you there'd be some lowest at the low at the end of this thing. Not a problem. Say hi to Mark, class of 93,

power grad. I will, I will. That's amazing. He's going to love this. Yeah, I should shout out fellow power grad. So when, who told me,

I had no idea. I never connected those dots for a long time. Lou from Chaos is also power. Wow. Okay. Beck,

I want to shout out FOTM Beck who was friends with Mark maybe you even know Beck Beck Dinwoody who said hey you know

that's Mark's brother and I went like really and then I was like get me Mike Boguski make this happen right away see it's my brother

thank you Mark thanks for getting me this interview and Jason of course Jason thanks again for Art Bergman I can do that anytime. I love that guy's jam.

Oh, John Borah, who's a great Toronto songwriter, and we did an Art Bergman cover as part of Canadian Music Week. I know John Borah is going to be doing a whole thing of famous Canadian songs. There's a great Art Bergman cover. Go to John Borah's social media to check that out. Is it Hawaii? I love you, John. I miss playing with you. I to check that out. Is it Hawaii? I love you, John. I miss playing with you.

I love that Hawaii jam. Is it Hawaii? I hope so. And that brings us to the end of our 878th show. And what a show. Live music.

I love it. I'm going to make all musicians play live from now on. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Is it Mike Boguski Music on Twitter? Yeah, Mike Boguski Music. Not on Twitter yet,

but on Facebook and Instagram. Okay, everywhere. I think maybe even Twitter. I don't know if you've been told yet. Maybe. Maybe somebody did that. I don't know. I'm actually not on it myself.

My girlfriend does all of my posts because if I were on it, it would be bad. Tell your girlfriend to retweet when I tag you on this one here. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. McKay CEO Forums. More about them in the coming days.

They're at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. And Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. Mimico Mike, he's not on Twitter. He's on Instagram, much like Mike Baguski. Here are all the Mikes. He's at Majeski Group Homes.

See you all next week. Everything is coming up, rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold with the smell of snow. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.