Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Hanafin Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #1256

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

In this 1256th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike kicks out the jams with FOTM Mike Hanafin during a sad week for him. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1256 of Toronto Mic'd. 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. 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. Season 4 of Yes, We Are Open,

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And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mic'd to kick out the jams is Mike Hannafin. Welcome back, Mike. Welcome back. And I just noticed the numerology of this. I am 198 shows since my last time on. See, we should have delayed it a couple of episodes,

uh, make it a nice round 200. But that means that you've done almost 200 podcasts since I was here last May. You were here last May because I actually did that homework. I, uh, found out you were episode 1058.

58. Yes. And we chatted with you about your years at CFNY and CFRB. And yeah, we had a great chat and you're back. And before we even catch up any further, I have made a pledge that I will get to the first jam as soon as possible.

And then we'll catch up as we kick out these great jams. So I have but one question for you, FOTM Mike Hannafin. I think I know what it is. Are you ready to kick out the jams? As ready as I can possibly be. Woo! What a start.

In more ways than one. Woo! In more ways than one. You can start me up, but never stop I've been running hot You got me ricking, I don't grow much heart You can start me up You can start me up, but never stop Never stop, never stop, never stop You make a grown man cry You make a grown man cry You make a grown man cry

You make a grown man cry Swear on the fire That goes to lean I won't smooth right in the rain Make me say Oh yeah Now I want to buy some Windows 95. Tell me, Mike Hannafin, why this Rolling Stones jam? The significance of this is this is the first song

that was played on my first day in professional radio at CJCS in Stratford, Septemberember 7th 1981 uh the station signed on with the news at 6 a.m and as soon as the news was over in the sports which i did i did the sports on that station for three and a half years three years um that riff was the first song wow and i never forgot it so every time you hear that riff you're taken back to your first day on the radio. I love it. And it was a labor day. So my first day in radio, I'd come out of Humber.

And, you know, nice easy transition to a little tiny radio station. And a great place to get my experience, as it were. Humber, of course, but you did try to go to ryerson are the the university formerly actually it was a polytechnical institute at the time formerly known as ryerson now tmu but why didn't you end up going there it was bizarre i i got accepted for the interview stage twice and the first year i went uh this is out of high school, and I went and I was all geared up. I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a sportscaster,

but I knew the business wasn't just, you just don't go and be a sportscaster right away. So I go and I get interviewed and the interviewer was their English teacher in the course. Like, you know, random different teachers in the course. Right.

And it was the English teacher and he didn't really like me. He didn't like Mike Hannafin. He didn't like the fact that I wanted to be a sportscaster, that I was so sportscaster-focused. Right. And I, you know, the interview went okay, but I didn't get in. You got turned down. I got turned down.

And it was, you know, I was disappointed, but I had only recently made that decision I wanted to get in. So anyway, so I took the next year and I went to university i went to u of t i went to arendale we've discussed that right now no one has utm back then no one has arendale i went to arendale i worked at their campus radio station and i did sports and i did a night tuesday night dj session and i had some fun and then i applied to go back i applied again at ryerson and i and so the interviews set up i'm accepted for the interview i got the same guy on the english teacher was random and i saw him and i immediately said whoa can i get somebody different no he should have to recuse himself he's rejected you once and the same thing happened he

was like well you know he turned you down again i got turned down again and then i but i had a backup plan i had already applied as well to humber for radio broadcasting so i i can't got to get to the second jam and this is great but i want to know those first days at uh cjcs you were doing like less nestman farm well i got thrown into it what happened was i was this i was the junior newsman so i do the sports on the top of the hour and i would do the news at the bottom of the hour short little newscast and the third or fourth day i was working there the news director doug lester great guy not less nestman no doug lester okay his wife had a baby and we were already at the station and she calls and says it's time and doug lester has to race out of the building and i've got to do it all

and he's showing me like with 30 in 30 seconds he shows me how to read a farm report it comes on bn comes on the ticker and he goes over read, read that, read that, read that, read that. And BN is broadcast news. Okay. So I'm thrown into this. We're not all insiders here, Hannifin. Come on. So I get thrown into this. And of course, I don't know how to read the farm report. And I ended up reading like five minutes and it turned out it was only supposed to be 90 seconds.

And the jock is like waving at me. No, stop. See, there's no farm report on CFNY. No, there sure isn't. Okay. But it was a good learning experience. I was reading the hog prices and the soybean prices. Well, my only reference for this is Les Nesman,

like the sow report or whatever he had. WKRP in Cincinnati was an amazingly accurate show about small town radio. It was staged in Cincinnati, but it had so many things. Well, it was a low budget. So who would be the Herb Tarlick of CFNY when you get there? Of CJCS, you mean? No.

Oh, CFNY? Only because I think, I don't know if anyone cares. Yeah, I stayed as far away from sales at CFNY as possible. Okay, so it's not Cliff Cohen. Okay, let me kick out your second jam. Can't wait to get to this one. I don't want to be a villain no more. I just met a nurse that I could come by. I don't want to be a villain no more. I just met a nurse that I could come by. I don't want to be a villain no more. I just met a nurse that I could come by. I love it.

But for a Ramones song at almost three minutes, it's quite lengthy. Well, there's about a minute and a half is gaba gaba hey over and over and over again. This is from their It's quite lengthy. Well, there's about a minute and a half is Gabba Gabba Hey over and over and over again. This is from their It's Alive album. Album, I say. I'm so fortunate I'm old enough. Wait, you say album because I say Al-blum. Album. Like it's Pablum.

No. Album. It's Alive. It's a double album. And it's like rapid fire, obviously. It's the Ramones. I'm so fortunate to be old enough to have seen the ramones i saw the ramones at club kingsway of all places in 1980 can you remind me

where's clubs it was i'm not even sure it exists anymore but it's um kind of uh oh geez um like is this the etobicoke kingsway yes okay. Okay, so that's near Park Lawn Cemetery there. Exactly, exactly. And it was just a little building. It was like a community center kind of thing. They turned into a club with a stage. Where the Ramones played. And the Ramones played,

and it was like sticking your fingers into a light socket for 70 minutes. And I was nuts in this little place and everybody's you know moshing and everything else i stayed away in the back but then it turns out so i saw them yeah and i got this album later it's a i got a british import of this album and it because it was done in this is their concert new year's eve 1978 79 somewhere in there um at the hammersmith Odeon. Woo! And what an album. But it turns out later, a friend of mine,

a later friend of mine, was at that show. He posted his ticket stub on Facebook one time and I went, hey, I was at that show. We were both at the same show. Approximately how many people would have been at that show? Oh, I would say 750 to 1,000.

It was a pretty big little building, but they were all jammed. Was this a Gary's presentation? What are we talking here? No, not a Gary's presentation. I think CFNY. Okay. Sometimes it's both. I don't have the ticket stub on me.

Do you remember your very, very first story for CFNY? Yes. I was hired by fred patterson in uh 1984 sorry who i'm not familiar with yeah freddie p um and red patterson you know they the first day i was there they sent fred assigned me i guess he got a press release or something was sent to him about a female bodybuilder and he says why don't you go talk to her do a little story about you know this female bodybuilder apparently she's really good't you go talk to her do a little story about you know this female bodybuilder apparently she's really good and she's like in all these big competitions so i go and i do this kind of trying to make her sound as if you know she's a female bodybuilder but she's

still feminine and she's all this and she's that and she was really nice and i did a little interview and i packaged it together and then it went on the afternoon sports that day and i do the piece yeah and freddie p comes off the back of it and goes well i don on the afternoon sports that day and i do the piece yeah and freddie p comes off the back of it and goes well i don't know about all that i think still feel like kissing popeye oh different times 1984 and of course i'm at home hearing you know my first piece for cfny and there's f. But I laughed so hard about that. Did you catch, it just appeared on YouTube because somebody finally digitized it, but did you see the Pete and Geet show

that was recorded in Cable 10 in Mississauga? Not far from Palma's kitchen, by the way. We'll get back to Palma. I have not watched it yet. It's on YouTube. But I actually have the tab open. I just haven't gotten around to watching it because I really do want to sit

down and watch that yeah you mean because i was there footage we really have like us normies like you have uh memories it's in my 84 to 88 time period right but i like did you attend it no no because because i was weekend sports and weekday reporting and then I would do the afternoons three days a week when Fred would do the mornings. So in recent Toronto Mike history, Mike Stafford returned. I listened. Did you listen to the Mike? What did you think of the Mike Stafford return? I think I sent you a message saying how much I admired the job you did on that.

It was, you know, you know what came out? Like, obviously Mike has had some things happen. Your true personality came out in that your, your true empathetic, um, caring about people really came through loud and clear in that, uh, episode. I was, thank you. And I sent you a message saying you're awesome. Well, listen, you had me at your. No, you had me at awesome. Okay. So, Mike, okay, so the reason I bring it up is because subsequently,

I know you listen to Humble and Fred's podcast as well. So, I guess, as I recall, Humble and Fred played a clip. This is last week. They played a clip from that YouTube video I was just chatting with you about. And Howard referred to the news guy as the news guy. So I'm on, this is Facebook Live. I saw it. Okay, he saw it because I'm on Facebook.

All I did was, and I know Howard and Fred know this, but I thought some listeners might not know that that voice who's the news guy is Mike Stafford, that they might know better from 640 or something, or 1010 or something. So I wrote a fun fact. The news guy is Mike Stafford. And I't know if howard thought i was trying to suggest that he tell him because of course i know he knows that's mike stafford but that triggered the conversation

where uh they actually spoke about mike stafford on uh toronto mike and i'm wondering you might have unique perspective on this like could you speak to the relationship you witnessed between uh freddie p and mike stafford when they were bffs back then they were like brothers at that time now remember i was there 84 to 88 this is before howard showed up and um but stafford's gone before yes but mike was an essential part of the Pete and Gates morning show. He was, they, you know, he was part of it. He was, he was not just a newscaster. He was part of the show and the comedy that, that generated from that.

And, uh, Mike and Fred were like brothers. That's what I hear. And I mean, they were so close that, uh, not that long ago, maybe a decade ago, uh, you know, Freddie P was invited to be Stafford's best man. So they were still good friends. And then the rest is all documented on Toronto Mike's. Go listen to the three Stafford episodes. But I did get a lot, I got your feedback.

I got a lot of feedback on the Stafford episode and overwhelmingly positive and thinking I did a great job and saying it was great to hear Stafford's voice. So the only two negative pieces of feedback, I think, came from Humble and Fred. So that's because they have a different perspective on things with Stafford's voice. So the only two negative pieces of feedback I think came from Humble and Fred. So that's because they have a different perspective on things. And again you want the best for people

and I hope Mike Stafford I hope he does take the initiative to do that, the podcasting idea because he's got a brand. That's what I told him. Exactly. He's got a brand. Now it may not be everybody's cup of tea but He's got a brand. Now, it may not be everybody's cup of tea,

but he's got a brand. Who is everybody's cup of tea? Have you discovered that podcast? I think it's... Is it me? I think it's possibly

Toronto Mike is about as close as it comes. 99% of people love Toronto Mike. I'm getting a return invite, aren't I? You're going to get some gifts before you go.

Okay. I hope you got room in that belly for Italian food and I got some craft beer and some good stuff coming up, but I want to get to this third jam. I'm glad you could find this. I gave you the link. You made it easy. Because this is not

off an album. Well, when you give me the link, you've just dummy-proofed it, as they say. Not even I can screw that up. Well, it's the me the link, you've just dummy-proofed it, as they say. Not even I can screw that up. Well, it's the producer in me. I did screw up. Apparently, you don't say... I was saying parental leave

with Sandra Plagakis. Parental leave. Yeah. I like parental better. Can we change it? Nope. This is one of my favorite driving songs.

Okay. When I'm driving up to the mountains in Vancouver. I'm waiting around the train station. Waiting for that train. Take me. take me away from this lonely town Too bad you don't love me no more, girl Too bad you put me down Can you believe we lost this guy at 27 years young?

Can you believe that? How many unbelievable musicians died at 27? It was becoming a bit of a problem at one point. Like all these different sensational musicians. Well, there were three in a row. That's sort of like bang, bang, bang. And then then later another one that we will get to we'll get to yeah so and even more recently than that you've got amy winehouse for example was 20 crazy um yeah this is one of my favorite driving songs um and it's on a box set that one of my neighbors had

of all kinds of hendrix recorded everything he ever did. Anytime he was in a studio, he recorded it. Just see what comes out. And this is in that box set. It was just an obscure recording. He did of this song. He's on a million versions of this song and it's my favorite.

Love it. Love, uh, love the Hendrix sound. It's just, uh, it's groovy now. So this is like a Vancouver driving to the mountains in Vancouver jam.

Yeah. Okay. For me. So let me ask you some Vancouver questions here. Oh, geez. Did you cover the 2010 Olympics firsthand? I did not cover it firsthand. What I was doing, I was in charge of one of the radio stations I worked at at the time.

I was in charge of its website. Is that News 1130? News 1130, which is now City News 1130, whatever. Sure. They did that here too, by the way. Yeah, I was the web editor in charge of the, we were part of the consortium that all the different networks were on. And I was in charge of the News 1130 Olympic pages. And because I had previous Olympics experience,

it came in handy quite a bit, and experience with TV and pulling clips. Well, remind me, was it 1988? No, 1996. I was in Atlanta with your buddy Donovan Bailey. I was with him on Tuesday morning. That's right. Are you kidding me?

Somebody just ran 984, because he covers really in depth. I'm really into his perspective on track and field today. Was it wind aided or was it? No, it wasn't. And then I asked him afterwards. We do his show. And then I said to him, I looked him in the eyes and I said,

if you could run in 1996 with today's shoes, because he was explaining his bounce to get off the shoes. Nuts. He looks at me and he says, he said, 9.45. Like, this is the time he believes he would run with today's shoes. Well, what was Bolt's record? I want to say 9.58 or something like that. I have to Google it.

But yeah, Bolt, of course, fastest man of all time. But yeah, Donovan Bailey's 9.4 won that gold in uh atlanta and this guy just ran it last week i was a i was a field producer for tsn at 96 olympics we we discussed that previously but absolutely unbelievable experience and what about curling so of course there was curling in vancouver in 2010 yeah i went to a couple games a couple of ladies matches but i also got to curl on the ice they used my league the richmond super league whatever it was called then competitive league a lot of former briar players and all that they used us to test the ice and the clocks that makes sense yeah it makes sense and all the tv

crews were out and i'm curling on the ice and all of a sudden i see all the tv crews were out, and I'm curling on the ice. And all of a sudden, I see all the TV, the TSN curling people were all there, testing their camera angles and testing this. And all of a sudden, I see a bunch of TSN people marching out from behind wherever. And they're all coming, because in the control room, they could see me. And they're going, that's Hannififin what the hell is he doing on there because i used to work at tsn right way back look at you okay so they all came out and then we got pictures in the whole bit what about cfny recognition um yeah when i moved to vancouver in 2005 i started curling and i'm in the royal city curling club one night in new Westminster.

Uh, there was a bond spiel going on. And I guess my, I had my name on the board for a team. I had entered a team and two guys come up to me and they say, are you, are you Mike Hannafin that used to be on CFNY? And I go, yeah. Oh my God. That was the, uh, Andrew, Andrew Tully and Tully and Brad Dougherty. They were avid CFNY listeners when they lived here,

moved out and they were just going on and on about CFNY. I could tell you, because I've had 1,250 such conversations, but once in a while you get a media guy who just lived and breathed everything happening on CFNY during the Marsden era. One guy I'll shout out who is exactly that is Paul Romanuk. Romanuk

loved his CFNY back in the spirit of radio days. And when I first met Paul Romanuk, when he was working at TSN I was working at CFNY, I'm not sure exactly what the time frame was he came right up to me oh Mike Hannafin I love what you're doing

love CFNY so you know there's a I know you do know but there's a CFNY doc on the way like they're wrapping up some interviews and this and that and I guess they didn't get far enough to talk to Mike Hannafin in the spirit of the documentary i

already i totally understand i was a very small piece of that puzzle you were the backup you were like i was the second sportscaster now cfny was not a sports station you know what do you know about cfny right it's not sports it was part of credit to david marsden he made it part of the whole station vibe but um yeah i i i actually sent a message to alan cross about you know long ago saying if if you want me to talk i'll talk but there are so many other people who are far more important than me uh phil evans uh captain phil he lives out he was interviewed a bunch of other people and of course Brother Bill

Brother Bill so I'm going to promote some future episodes because he's coming up he's coming up but actually so he is going to be in person

at the end of the month but he might do a we're doing a special episode I don't want to reveal the subject matter but he might zoom in for an episode before then

and in person for that episode will be Ivor Hamilton wow so Ivor Hamilton scheduled I that episode will be Ivor Hamilton. Wow. So Ivor Hamilton scheduled, I think maybe next Friday, Ivor Hamilton scheduled to be in the studio with some special guests joining remotely. And then, of course, the Brother Bill jam kicking.

I don't know how it'll compete with the Hannifin jam kicking. I'm just in awe of the fact that I actually worked at the same radio station as people like Ivor Hamilton and, you know, just different people. Alan Cross. I worked at the same radio station as Alan Cross. Scott Turner. And May Potts, who just recently won an award. Yeah, Rosalie Trombley award. Who could be more, you know, worthy of that than May Potts? I don't know.

She's worthy of that. And Scott Turner, I always think of him as like an unsung hero. He has a great voice, great knowledge, like just a great guy, great guest. What depth that radio station had of talent. It was amazing. Good bench.

Okay, let's get to the next jam. And shortly, very soon, I'm going to get back to Vancouver because I have a very interesting subject to discuss with you regarding vancouver but let's kick out another jam Now you can tear a building down But you can't erase a memory These houses may look worn down But they have

a value you can't see yeah guitar solo This is my neighborhood This is where I come from I call this place my home You call this place a slum You wanna run the people out

This is what you're all about Treat poor people just like trash Turn around and make me cash Now you can tear a building down But you can't erase a memory This is a parenthetical jam. Open letter to a landlord. Living color. Talk to me, Mike.

It's one of my favorite bands of all time. Not everybody's cup of tea. Four black guys from New York playing rock and roll. And they just had to break a mold that was predetermined for them. And I remember them going on MTV one time and somebody was interviewing them and says, do you ever get any backlash about the fact you're not? He goes, Oh yeah,

we get people going, why aren't you playing rap? Why aren't you playing rap? Of course your previous jam was a, uh, black rock and roller. Yeah. Well,

the all timer, but, uh, great band. And the one fun fact, as you like to say, living colors, the name of the band,

they spelled color. Oh, you are because Vernon Reed reed was uh born in england and he decided to name the band with the british spelling well they did it correctly i love it there you go so a lot of people i'm of the opinion a lot of people can name exactly one living color song you know they know Cult of Personality because it was monster. Yeah, because of the WWE. Even beyond that, like just a monster big radio hit or whatever, but underrated band.

Like, listen to these guys. They did three sensational albums and then they semi broke up. I think there was some health issues involved but Vernon Reed

and Corey Glover, Coreyory glover they kind of drifted apart a bit and then they reformed later but oh vernon reed the guitarist is just amazing and i again lucky enough to have seen this band and another band it's like putting your fingers in a light socket the energy um i saw a video one time MTV showed, or sorry, Much Music, not MTV. Much Music showed it. In Toronto, they played someplace downtown and they had ceiling tiles fell out of the roof

because of the extreme noise in the bass. Amazing. Love it. Love this jam. Okay. So while we're kicking out jams, we're catching up. Great selection, inspired choice. Were you, true or false question for you, Mike?

Were you the Toronto Junior Bowling Champion in 1977? True or false? Correct. I mean, that's not a true or false question, Mike. Okay. I should have said it like this. You, Mike Hannafin, were the Toronto Junior Bowling Champ in 1977. True or false?

True. That's unbelievable. I'm sitting with a bowling champ. Earlier this week, I had the 100-meter champ from the 96 Olympics, and now I have the Toronto Junior Bowling Champ from 1977. The only proof I have of that is a headline from the Mississauga Times from 1977, which I cut out of the paper, obviously. Sure.

Yeah, I threw a.244 in the Toronto Championships and a high single. So I didn't have high triple. I had the high single. Well, that's a quite big compliment. Nine straights. I had no idea I was sitting with a bowling champion. And I loved bowling. I watched it growing up.

I watched, you know, the... It was big on TV for a while. Huge. It was one of the highest rated American sports shows ever in that era. Was ABC, Chris Schenkel and Bo Burton. They would do pro bowlers tour every Saturday afternoon. I'd watch it religiously. And I loved bowling and I took it up and I actually became good at it.

And later on, I got to keep playing once in a while, but I wasn't playing that well. I got invited to some media, you know, media celebrity things that the pro bowlers tour would come to Toronto once a year and I would get to play. And one year, I got on the same lane as a guy named, a hall of famer named Walter Ray Williams. And I defeated him. What? And of course the scores. Was he trying his best? got on the same lane as a guy named a hall of famer named walter ray williams and um i defeated

him what and of course the score is trying his best well he was just practicing it was you know for them it's a practice he was bowling left hand no no he was he was he was getting used to the lanes he was practicing he's trying different things but of course the scores are up on the big board there right and here's this mike beating him and mike hannifin defeats walter ray williams and he did not take it well you know you're a big deal when you use your middle name like that right like he ain't no wally he was walter ray williams jr williams jr that's a real name right there you can look it up he was a great bowler but he was he had an attitude and he did not like the fact that a media guy beat him. You showed him up.

You showed him up. Okay. So we're doing another jam and then I'm going to ask, and then I'm going to bring you back to Vancouver because, uh, in fact, this ties in nicely with the Jersey you bought. And I'm hoping you'll wear that for our photo. Sorry, did I say bought? I meant brought. I brought, yes.

He didn't buy it. I don't buy jerseys. Okay. Look, I have trouble speaking. Uh, I can't even, I, so many words I can't say right. Women, woman, I get those messed up all the time. You know that. You listen.

But here we go. Let's kick out another one. Are you a big Courtney Barnett fan? I like what I hear, but I've never sought it out. Go find it. Seek it out. I stare at the law. It's Wednesday morning.

It needs a cut, but I'll leave it growing. All different sizes and shades of green. Slashing it down Just seems kind of mean In a way it's a shame you get away Thinking it's just a game Who am I to deny myself A pawn for you to use At the end of the day

It's a pain that I keep seeing your name But I'm sure it's a ball being you I don't know why who I am Or who then I am trying I make mistakes until I get it right And I for, and I for, and I for, and I for And I for, and I for, and I for, and I for, and I I don't agree with that Why can't we just talk nice?

Mike, I'm digging it. And first jam you've kicked, well, not that familiar with the Hendrix cover there either, but this is beautiful, buddy. Great job. She's an amazing artist. Australian, left-hand guitarist. Should have thrown it up there with Jimmy.

Like Jimmy, yeah. But, and that guitar, when she plays that, the guitar she uses for that song is probably as big as her. And she can really shred when she wants to. Tremendous artist. And this song is called Small Poppies. Small Poppies, which is an Australian phrase meaning if you get too big for your britches, they cut you down.

And so the small poppies survive, not the tall ones. Oh, I see. We need our own version of that. Yeah. First time I saw her again, Saturday Night Live, and I went, what? How did I not know about this person? Well, it's hard to know about things now

because back in the day you're like, oh, I heard it on the radio or I saw it on Much Music, but now what do you do? Well, it's 10 years ago. Yeah, exactly. And I was just blown away. Three albums now? Three or four? Nice.

All great. She's a tremendous artist. Great live, too. So speaking of great live, the Vancouver Canadians, this is AAA? Single A. Single A. Was it ever AAA? They used to have a AAA team way back when. Way back. I've dated myself. Pacific Coast League.

Okay. So I mentioned you bought something, but you really did just bring something. You brought a jersey that you're going to wear for the photo. What is that jersey you brought? It's one of their uniforms. They have three, and it's their red uniform. Vancouver Canadiens is a Blue Jays affiliate. The Blue Jays single A, high single A team.

So a lot of the prospects start there. Right. Manoa started there in 2019. And what's your, the big question is, how are you affiliated with the Vancouver Canadiens? I am the official scorer. What? I've been the official scorer since 2011.

And you're still the official scorer. You haven't, you didn't listen to episode 1058, did you? I did. I'm selling it to the FO team. I'm the official score i've been there since uh 2011 and for my 10th anniversary year which was last year because there was two years there was no games um they gave me they presented me a jersey with my name and the number 10 on the back amazing and uh you got to meet d Steeb. Well, what they do, the franchise brings back a lot of the old Blue Jays for autograph nights.

They call them Superstar Series, things like that. And Dave Steeb, I was a reporter covering the Jays in the 80s and 90s, and I covered Dave Steeb, and we just didn't get along. We didn't get along that well. I've heard this from other journalists. I was probably a punk reporter, and he didn't like me or whatever. He had a chip on his shoulder. That was part of his intensity.

That's what made him Dave Steve. But post-game, it wasn't always fun to talk to Dave Steve. You know, he would be a little crusty. So anyway, he comes back to Stratford. Sorry, Stratford. He comes back to Vancouver for a game. And I walk into the front office and Dave Steve's all by himself. And I just walked over and said, I introduced myself.

Dave, I'm Mike. I used to be a reporter covering the Jays in the 80s. And he looks at me and he goes, yeah, you look familiar. And then he pauses and he goes, I was a real piece of work back then, wasn't I? See, Larry Milson put it best he said that yeah he was a bit crusty but you had to kind of hear him out because he was still he was also thoughtful and he didn't give you bullshit answers like so because i know hebsey had a lot of run-ins to mark hebshire with uh he used to have a uh sports podcast i heard the last one in fact i

think i commented on it i was shocked that was the last episode of Hebsey on sports. I'm still like, oh, I'm free Friday mornings. Good for him. Anytime you can make a decision that's your decision,

that's a good decision. Good for Hebsey. Because I've been on the other end of that when it wasn't my decision. That's right. As we speak, there's only been

one Hebsey-less Friday. So the next Hebsey-less Friday is only two days away. So what other kind of... I'm thinking, did you meet any members of the greatest outfield of all time? Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Mosby, and this guy right here.

Hi, I'm George Bell. You listen to Toronto, my hero. I realize I had the two songs on the same pod. George Bell has never come to Vancouver to sign autographs, which is not surprising. But no, Lloyd Mosby came a few years ago with Barfield, actually. I sat with them in the outfield stands for a little while,

and they were just hilarious because they see me, and Mosby's like, hey, you, I know you. Where's your microphone? Because I used to wave microphones in their faces. Wow, the shaker. Yeah, and Barfield's son played for Vancouver years ago. Josh, yeah. He played for Vancouver a few years ago.

Yeah, he played for the Padres, right? I'm not sure he went that far. Okay, I think he didn't stay in the Jays. One of his sons made the majors, for sure. But it wasn't the one that was in Vancouver. Oh, it was a different Barfield. Okay, Jesse Barfield, cannon for an arm. And, of course, that great 92-93 teams

they had Dwayne Ward on them. I think one of the greatest losses now there was no World Series in 1994 but that was also the year Dwayne Ward hurt himself and was never the same pitcher. Like that injury I think devastated the dynasty. He was supposed to take the shoes of Tom Hankey

Right. Like he did in 93. Yeah exactly. It didn't work out and sometimes was supposed to take the shoes of tom hanky right and uh then like he did in 93 yeah exactly and it you know it didn't work out and sometimes it doesn't but i'll tell you what it worked out and that we won another world series but when he would come into a game we used to sit in the press box watching the jays play and as soon if they were up by after seven the game was over right because ward would pitch the eighth hanky would pitch the ninth, game over. And Ward was unhittable. He was probably as good as Henke, but that's just the way that the team was built.

I mean, I love those teams. And man, that was a great bullpen we had going on there. Wow. Okay, now for something different, but from an album I absolutely adored. I still spin this disc all the time. Let's kick out your sixth jam. This is Fife asserting himself.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. I never have stuck cause I'm not a half-stepper. Drink a lot of soda so they call me Dr. Pepper. Refuse to compete with BS competition. Your name is Special X so won't you suck it with the mission. I never walk the street thinking it's all about me. Even though deep in my heart it really could be. I just try my best to like go all out. Somebody been saying you're shorty black you're bugging out. Zulu Nation, mother's last creation.

Minds get flooded, ejaculation. Right on the two inch tape. Your shorty back your bucket up. Listen, listen, since I do work as a crack for monotone. Chilling up the jazz, so get your own. Smoking R&B because they try to dupe me of the best of the back. But they can't dupe rock, force, ab, strap. Original, you can't get your own, and that's pitiful. I know I'd be the man if I co-yanked the plug on R&B. But I can't, and that's bugging. Bugging out, Tribe Called Quest. Great tune. Pfeiffer, you know, he wasn't the dominant voice in the first album.

And he wanted to assert himself. And this was the second song on the second album, and he just blew it away. This is from Low End Theory, which is a playthrough, man. All of it's good. I still, I listen to this all the time. Like, I'll listen to bands,

and then I'll come back to Tribe Called Quest, and I'll listen to other bands, and I'll come back to Tribe Called Quest. And of course, Low End Theory gives us a scenario, which I still know every word to. Last song on the album with an all-star cast. Oh, yeah, yeah. Busta Rhymes on there?

Busta Rhymes is absolutely on there. They had that relationship with Brothers from the New School. What was the other? Anyway, there was another consortium at the time. But great album album great song and Inspired Choice awesome buddy it's the start of what is going to be a bit of a theme

of some of my favorite musicians who have now departed or unfortunately that's right okay well we'll get to that next jam in a minute but I'm going to take this opportunity to chat you up about a subject I'm very interested in.

So I was listening to a lot of radio in the eighties and every station seemed to have like a sports commenter. Like, you know, you know, you'd have a Rick Hodge, for example, on Chum FM,

Brian Henderson on 10 50 Chum for sure. Absolutely. You'd have Freddie P. These are the people that I grew up listening to, and they were my, like, you know, kind of the goal I had in mind, all these different sportscasters. And I came into Toronto Radio right at the end of probably one of the greatest eras of sportscasters.

Every station had a sportscaster or two. Well, let me name the station and let's see how you do naming the sportscasters. You ready? Yeah, sure. Let's start with the mighty 1010 CFRB. Well, you had Bill Stevenson was the sports director and then you had Dave Hodge way back when.

That's F-O-T-M, Dave Hodge. Yes, exactly. And who I worked not with, but I worked at TSN when he was at TSN as well. And he's one of the funniest people ever. And he loves his music, man. Holy smokes. Such a talented man.

And Sunil Joshi was there at the time. Also an FOTM. And I ended up going to see FRB after he left. When I got laid off by CFNY, I needed work. And Fred Locking, who was another person who worked at CFRB, he called me up and said. And we just lost him. Yes, unfortunately. Another unbelievably talented and unbelievably underrated sportscaster.

One of the great straight sportscasters, not an opinion guy. Just give you the sports. And he was fantastic. And he also had a voice about seven octaves lower than mine. Man, love it. CFRB. Now let's talk CKEY. That would be Jim Hunt, the late, great Jim Hunt.

Shaky. One of the greatest. Wait a minute. I just realized Lloyd Mosby, he's Shaker. He's Shaker. And Jim Hunt is shaky. Jim Shaker is shaky. Okay.

What? Yeah, Jim Hunt was hilarious. I used to hear him on The Fan. He would be co-hosting. I was so fortunate. One year, the seat assignment in the Argo Press box, I sat beside Jim Hunt. And you'd just laugh for four hours.

You'd not stop laughing because he was just telling jokes nonstop. It was so much fun. And Chris Maybury. Maybow. So he's also an FOTM. And that's awesome. And you recently had lunch with you recently I had lunch with him had lunch with Chris

I think it was yesterday the days are all blending together but shout out the name of the guy there's a guy you had lunch with who I'd previously

invited on but I never heard back now I'm wondering if he ever got the invitation and I hope you'll have him on because Eric Thomas

so you know my big memory of Eric Thomas was Tom Rivers show on 680 he was on CFTR I've always wanted Eric Thomas

yeah he was on CFTR now people know Rac wanted Eric Thomas. Yeah, he was on CFTR. Now people know Raceline Radio and all the race car stuff. But yeah, he was doing like, like if they were doing the Unfriendly Giant or something, he'd be a part of that. Eric Thomas is one of the most talented people you'll ever meet. He can do any voice. He used to do Danny Gallivan in the press box.

We would just be just having so much fun he'd be doing downey gallivan and things like this but i'll tell you an eric thomas story that relates back to my first appearance here i used to produce the dick beddows sunday night talk show on cfrb sure and around christmas time one year uh dick had arranged to have somebody come on and be santa and you know we'll take calls from the kids and and guy, Dick Bedos, the guy didn't show up. And I immediately just picked up the phone and I called Eric Thomas at home. And I said, listen, Eric.

And I knew Eric could do a Santa. Right. And Eric did two hours. Wow. And I'm sure Dick hopefully paid him at some point. But he just, sure, I'll do it. And this is, is you know the weekend before christmas well he saved christmas listen that's that's an anecdote i can he was bring up

when he's on amazing eric thomas i'm gonna say it now he's coming on toronto mike i'm gonna ask him about saving christmas that's amazing c f t r that would be uh john badham, John Hennon. Ted Bird was on at that time. Right. And then Eric Thomas before that. But Eric wasn't a sportscaster. Oh, yeah. He was.

Okay, yeah, okay. But there was, Hennon hired Eric. And then Eric stayed there for a while, and then he left. And maybe there was a, you know, he could see the writing on the wall about they're going to shrink staff, whatever. And then Eric stayed there for a while and then he left. And I, maybe there was a, you know, he could see the writing on the wall about they're going to shrink staff, whatever. And then he formed his own company with race line radio, which is a syndicated radio,

um, kind of a, you know, talk show type of thing. Smart move. Oh yeah. And he's such a gearhead. He's,

he's fantastic at it. Okay. Now let's go to chum AM. It's 10 50. That would be, umrian henderson absolutely one of the great sportscasters of all time and i'll tell you a funny story one time i'm filling in for fred one morning at cfny and my sportscast would come on at 6 30 7 30 8 30 and so i would listen to the other sportscasters before and i I turn on, and I have already written my 630 script.

Right. It's already written, you know, and I got my lead story, and I hear Brian Henderson come on the air, and he starts reading his first story, and it's almost word for word what I've written. Like, it was just, it was, and I had to rewrite it. Well, here's my thing. Because you know you wrote yours before you heard it.

No way. But who would hear both? You never know. Okay. You never know. And I couldn't professionally live with myself. Even though you know you wrote yours independently. Interesting.

I put it aside and I rewrote a new one. Parallel thoughts. Yep. I just, I was like blown away. But there's no way that I'm going to go on the air at 6.30 because I'm Mike Hannafin and he's Brian Henderson okay i'm going to go on the air at 6 30 because i'm mike hannifin and he's brian henderson it's gonna look like you are exactly stealing from and i don't ever want to have that so i rewrote that and i saved it and i put it aside maybe i

read half of it at 8 30 just whatever okay so brian henderson uh gone too soon and scott ferguson worked at both chum am and chum FM. So shout out to FOTM Scott Ferguson. He's been on the show. He's great. He was my mentor when I started, when I came out of school and I interned at CKFH and Scott took me under his wing. What a time to be alive.

Okay. Chum FM. That would be Rick Hodge. Rick Hodge, also in FOTM. That's my job. He was the guy that, he didn't invent it, but he put the personality into sportscasting. And Fred Patterson, again, and I think Fred would admit,

he probably looked up to Rick Hodge as well. Who do you think came first with that? Was it Peter Gross on City TV or Rick Hodge on Shum FM? Ah, there were... Because Fred Patterson credits Peter Gross as his inspiration in how to write that kind of commentary. There were a few people like that,

and they were kind of intermixed. But remember, Peter wasn't on the radio. No, he wasn't on the radio at that time. So, you know, City TV was kind of doing the, it was a personality station. It was not, don't give us the straight goods, give us your take on everything.

Right, right. Okay, let's get to CKFM. Glenn Gingrich. I'm not sure when he started there, but he was another guy that was very influential for me. Like, I considered him a friend at the time when I came into the market. I love this exercise we're doing here now.

We will get back to the jams, everybody, but Toronto Mike's enjoying himself. Okay, CKFH. Well, there was a lot of people because that was the sports station, right? here now we will get back to the jams everybody but toronto mike's enjoying himself okay ckfh well there was a lot of people because that was the sports station right so you had the sports uh you know the play-by-play guys and you had the sports casters it was john mcgilvery scott ferguson ended up going to ckfh um trying to think of some what about like a jerry howarth well jerry howarth was was more on the broadcast end but he also didn't because at that time did they make you don't do double duty they may have

done it with him but i'm not even aware of that because joe bowen was he there and joe was doing joe was doing leafs but he never was a sportscaster that i can remember he started doing leafs in the early 80s because i was still in stratford and i would listen to him as i was driving back and forth from mississauga to stratford sometimes after a weekend and I'd hear Joe Bowen doing games well because he might have called his last game he was like shouting out his I think 42 years or something doing it you think he'll he'll leave well he he ended the broadcast with Jim Ralph uh with a tone that it could be their last hurrah and there's been no decision made on whether those two are back to call radio game so it's possible they've called their last hurrah. And there's been no decision made on whether those two are back to call

radio games. So it's possible they've called their last game. Well, considering what happened in the last game of the Tampa series, um, I sure hope not because he kind of got screwed. Well, send them on the damn road.

Like they're pinching pennies here. It's like, uh, it makes no sense to me unless, unless there's a decision by corporate to not give an f about radio like you'd have to just literally not care about radio to do what they did what does it save like 10 grand we'll pass a hat around okay leaf fans everyone puts in five bucks okay ckf oh we did ckf h uh did we do ckf h okay cfny of course is where you were and that's fred patterson also an fotm cbc uh rick cluff

and a cast of thousands they had a lot they had a huge right and they of course they had the national sports and then they had their local sports and um i used to i did a little bit of work for cf for cbc as well once i started freelancing so that's like the golden era of toronto radio sports casting that you grew up listening to that influenced you. And I would listen to all of them. I would be flipping the dial around. I knew Stevenson was on at five minutes to the hour. And then Jim Hunt would be on five minutes after the hour or maybe a little bit later.

And I would just listen to them all. Amazing, amazing. And then later, of course, not when you were growing up and not when you started in radio sportscasting. But at some point at Q107, we got to hear John Gallagher. And I would run into John at different games and practices and different things like that. Shout out to John Gallagher. A character.

He's in, oh yeah, he's a good FOTM. He's in Nova Scotia as we speak. I teased you earlier, Mike Hannafin. I'm loving your jams. I'm loving the chat here. But I do have a lasagna for you from Palma Pasta. Happy birthday, Anthony Petrucci. His 56th birthday was yesterday.

He's a member of the Petrucci family. They own Palma Pasta and it's delicious, authentic Italian food. You're going to love it. And I'm actually going to get to eat a little bit more of this because last year I was here, I got one. Right, last May. And I left two days later, so I didn't get to eat very much of it.

Well, when you... I left it with my friends. When you get a slice of that Palma Pasta lasagna, let me know what you think because I'm sure you'll love it. Oh, it was fantastic. Okay, quickly, Ridley Funeral Home, we shouted them out, but there is measuring tape for you, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921.

I have fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery, great, great partners of this program for several years now. Delicious craft beer brewed right here in southern Etobicoke, available across this fine province. Not available in British Columbia. Hannah Finn, I'm sorry. I won't be able to take it with me, but I'll figure out what I can do with it.

Well, somebody will take it off hands, including me. Okay, so the wireless speaker there, that's courtesy of Moneris. And you know what you're going to do because you've been listening to Toronto Mike. Do you know you listened to season four of Yes, We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast,

unlike this one. It's an award-winning podcast. What? I've never won an award. That's got to change. I know. I i have been nominated i just got nominated for like uh i can't remember what it's called these are all these i never heard of any of these words but episode 1256 i haven't been i haven't won an award this is a fact yeah but yes we are open has won an award and al grego is a great host and he's been traveling the country talking to small business owners about

their trials and tribulations and it's inspiring AF. I've learned a lot and I've been inspired by it. It's been great. Sandra Plagakis is going to listen and get inspired for her business. I listened to her episode this morning. She swore a lot. Have you noticed

I don't swear with you? You swore first. No, I don't think so. Yes, you did. I'm going to review that tape. I first no i don't think so yes you did i'm going to review that tape i should play it right now well yes you did because uh maybe it's because we had a two minute chat before i pressed record and i heard several f-bombs because for sure maybe in the recording it sounds like i swear first but absolutely on that zoom she had already swore up like a sailor you said i f zoom was the first thing i said i i can swear because it's my show i fucking hate zooms she wants to know why she hasn't been on yet you who live in bc you had to come in person okay i don't like twice twice that's right okay wait we got to get back to these jams but

you know recycle my electronics.ca is where you go to find out where you can safely drop off the electronics and devices and old tech. Don't throw it out. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca. And the Moment Lab, oh man, the Moment Lab are signing a deal with an FOTM, but I will announce it at a later date once the ink is dry. But they specialize in public relations, and they have a team of experienced professionals who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience

and generate positive media coverage. I would love to introduce you to my friends, Matt and Jared at The Moment Lab, and you can learn how they can help you achieve your public relations goals. I literally just did this with an FOTM. It's a marriage made in heaven and lots of good things happening. And it's not Stu Stone I'm talking about, even though, or Rick Campanelli. Or me. I don't have a reputation to rehabilitate. That's, you are lucky. You are lucky. But they're a great PR company

and they help you with the content as well. Okay, let's get back to these jams. I love this jam. Oh my goodness. Let's talk about it after we play a little bit of it. Oh, I don't like that sound. Do you hear it? Is it?

It's in the left channel, Mike. Can I go pull up a version from YouTube? Do you hear it? I heard those oscillating things. Something's going on. I know. I'm like, I know this song intimately, and that's not going to be there.

So we're doing it proper because it's such an important jam to me. It's the last song on the last studio album that Nirvana recorded, and there's a bit of a theme. Okay. It's an amazing song. let's find a version on youtube there we go i hear it there too wonder if it's uh let me try a different version maybe that's uh i hear it there too yeah well maybe the song maybe they threw it on there maybe i'm so used to unplug Unplugged. In Uro was a very raw recording. It was purposely done that way.

And I listen to the Unplugged version more now than I did this version. Okay. This will all be edited out, all that other stuff, right? Of course. Of course. And the sad thing is, shortly after this, he's dead. 27 Club. Mm-hmm. All apologies. In the sun, in the sun, be as one. In the sun, in the sun.

Mary, Mary. Mary Mary I wish I was like you I'm now certain that that noise we heard is part of the recording. You're right, that is a noisy recording. Talk to me about Nirvana's excellent All Apologies. And the drumming. Dave Grohl.

Have you seen Foo Fighters? Yes, I have. When they did their encore, did Grohl go behind the drum kit? You know I can't remember. In Vancouver, he did. And I said to my friend Caleb, I said, if I'm in that band, I'm the drummer in that band, I never let him

go behind the drum kit. Because he might break the drum kit. The drummer, the late great drummer of that band was a great singer too but dave grohl is such a powerful guy that he was just oh what a drummer but and you're gonna hear more great drumming in your next jam we could just tease that but yeah nirvana this is yeah in utero i mean i was i was there for it you were there for it and it was special man this was great shit And coming off the back of what they had just done, it was like, you know, how much pressure were they under?

So I bought this disc day one. I got it at Sam's Downtown Disc One. And I still remember, because I was at Gorn U of T, and I walked over to the Sam's to pick it up day one, because I knew it was release day. And I remember looking at the track listing and it was something like 42 minutes or something. And I distinctly remember like, oh, only 42 minutes.

Like I remember feeling like I wanted, I was hoping there'd be more content. Like it felt like a short album. But it's all killer, no filler. Absolutely. And again, there was a lot of stuff going on during the recording of this because they wanted it raw and the producer was not sure and all this other stuff there was a lot

of back and forth going on and the way i'm playing it on youtube is if you leave the page it pauses so i won't do that again my well i really did screw up the uh i screwed up the all apologies oh my goodness but i think we got the gist of it and it's starting to fade out but i like this part here. Hold on. We'll let it fade into the next jam. All in all is all we all are. And the next song is also the last song on the last studio album of a certain band that I adored and grew up with. And watched right to the very end.

And it's for the fans will get it. It's all we know. In this one of many possible worlds All for the best Or some bizarre test It is what it is And whatever It is what it is and whatever Time is still the infinite jest The arrow flies when you dream The hours tick away, the cells take away

The watchmaker keeps to his schemes The hours tick away They tick away The measure of life Is a measure of love and respect So hard to earn, so easily burned The measure of life is a measure of love and respect So hard to earn, so easily burned And the focus of time

A garden to nurture And grow to You have to think that Neil Peart, he wrote this song. I think he knew it was going to be the last song. This album, Clockwork Angels, which I just think is unbelievable, he calls it his masterpiece. I think he knew he was done. And this song has a few lyrics.

It is what it is was one of the favorite phrases of his drumming coach. The guy had a drumming coach right to the very end because he always wanted to be better. And I don't know if you've read Neil's books, his travel books, which are interspersed with Rush stories. I read them. they're amazing books for any rush fan should read them but if you read one of his last books it was all in there that the band was not going to be touring anymore he was done he wanted to spend time with his kid his young daughter from his second marriage and um that's one of the saddest things that uh that he got taken

away from us too early so yeah your uh most recent three jams include uh showcases for people no longer with us fife dog their uh tribe called quest bugging out then of course kurt cobain on all apologies the last song from their last studio album. And then The Garden here by Rush, the last song on their last studio album. That's heavy, man. And everybody has their own interpretations of Rush songs and lyrics and Neil's lyrics, and I had my own. And having read his books, this one really touched me.

And of course, Rush wrote a song called Spirit of Radio. And you worked there. I did. It was a very accurate song about the old CFNY. You know, the early 80s. The Spirit of Radio.

The late 70s, early 80s. I always refer to it as the Marsden era. Because it seems to begin with David and end when he leaves. It's the spirit of radio, David Marsden era of CFNY. Who I still admire to this day. I send a message to him every once in a while, especially on his birthday. And I'm so lucky to have worked for that man. He actually, and Freddie, hired me. And what a great thing to put worked for that man. He, he actually, and Freddie hired me and,

uh, what a great thing to put on my lifetime resume. I'm a big Marsden guy myself. He's been on a few times, including that episode one. Oh, two, one.

That episode should win an award. You know what? You're right. And the director of this new CFNY doc wrote me an email to say when they were like making the decision to go forward with the CFNY doc, that week he listened to episode 1021 of Toronto Mic'd and I think it was a good research for him. I think it helped power him a little bit. And he was writing me on a train ride to wherever Geetz Romo is living these days. I can't remember where he was going, but he was going up to interview Geetz for that documentary. And he said he was listening to Geetz Romo on Toronto Mic, and he just wanted to thank me for the research. Yeah. Because he got to hear like 90 minutes of Geetz sharing all this info before he sits down with Geetz for the doc.

You, I consider you the documentarian, maybe. sharing all this info before he sits down with Geetz for the doc. I consider you the documentarian, maybe, what's your term? The B-minus documentary? It's one of your favorite phrases, isn't it? B-minus? B-minus. I don't think I use that phrase. You cracked me up one time. You called me, you said something about you're the B-minus piece.

We won't get into it. But anyway. But no, you have put together a B-list. No, no. A long documentary list now of CFNY material. All the different people you've talked to. I mean, you talked to me because my initial thing was, you worked at CFNY.

I want to talk to you. You got it. Yeah, you worked at CFNY and then you had some CFRB and you've talked about TSN. Don't sell yourself short here. I could have. And again, we've got two more jams to go and it's only getting heavier from here, but we could

have talked about the pinball. Oh, yeah. I interviewed all these people. Don Matthews. Matt Dunnigan. That's episode three. TSN, I worked at TSN for six, seven, eight years, whatever it was. And some of the great- Mike Day was your-

He was my boss. You think Mike Day would be a good guest on Starlight? Absolutely. Mike Day worked at Global when Sportsline was being created and all that. Yes, guy. But he was always- Oh, at Bob McCowan. He was always the executive producer producer type

okay i'm sold you had me at hello mike day is uh and he knows where he knows everything and you played a role in the greg moore uh tribute show i was the associate producer for that the day after he passed away um i was watching the race the he passed away he crashed in california speedway and immediately the phone rang and it was my producer, Scott Higgins, saying, you're working tomorrow. You're helping me put together the Greg Moore Tribute Show with Vic, Vic Router, FOTM. And that show, we were putting it together as the show was literally on the air. We were editing things in the control room to get them on the air. And Vic was amazing.

He just played ball the whole time. And the great thing about that show is we recorded it and they played it from start to finish at his memorial service. Wow. Wow. You know, I realized a theme in the last few jams

in the conversations. Death? A lot of talk of the end is nigh here. And I'm going to look in the eyes. Are you ready for your penultimate jam here? I am, yes. Raindrops keep falling on my head

And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed Nothing seems to fit Those raindrops are falling on my head They keep falling So I just did me some talking to the sun And I said I didn't like the way he got things done Sleeping on the job Those raindrops are falling

On my head they keep falling. But there's one thing I know. The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me it won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me And to be clear, these are not my jams, these last two songs. These are favorite songs of my mom, who passed away last week. And 88 died peacefully. And I had originally sent you another two songs and sent you a little note saying, do you mind changing them to a couple of my mom's favorite songs?

Engelbert Humperdinck, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, which was a massive hit in the early 70s probably, maybe late 60s. Yeah, Engelbert Humperdinck and Tom Jones, they had the big rivalry going, and my aunt loved Tom Jones, and my mom loved Engelbert Humperdinck, so I never forgot that. And the last song that I threw to you to possibly play

was another song that she just loved, and actually gave me, I actually grew an appreciation for the Carpenters as well, especially this song. Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? You are near, just like me They long to be close to you Why do stars fall down from the sky Every time you walk by, just like me, they long to be close to you. On the day that you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true.

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair and gold and starlight in your eyes of blue. That is why all the girls in town follow you all around. Just like me, they long to be close to you. Mike, my sincere condolences on the loss of your mother, Phyllis. I'm so sorry, man. Thank you. And thanks for allowing me to throw a few songs in tribute to her. And I also, when I came into your studio,

I also noticed that you have a Wendell Clark, a photo of Wendell Clark. And that was my mom's favorite Leaf player. It's a sign, man. Yep. So you booked your trip here before your mom passed away leaf player. It's a sign, man. Yep. So you booked your trip here before your mom passed away. Yeah. I usually come back here once a year

to see mom and see friends and different people. To see your mom, to see Toronto Mike. Yep, exactly. That's a recent thing. But yeah, and she passed actually last Wednesday. And I remember when you informed me of this, I'm like, okay, dude, we can do this anytime. Like, you must have a million things going on.

But I'm glad you decided to do this. We got to kick out some jams, get some more Mike Hannafin stories, and this tribute to your mom with Engelbert Humperdinck and the Carpenters. Beautiful, man. That's beautiful. Thank you. Just like me Just like me, they long to be close to you

I'm close to you Mike, thanks for doing that, man, and for kicking out the jams with me. And again, my condolences. On behalf of all the FOTMs listening I'm so sorry for your loss man thank you very much you know I have a sense of relief because she had advanced dementia no longer suffering from dementia and that's that was kind of how I'm taking this now and that brings us to the end of our 1,256th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Mike is at Mike Hannafin. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Mineris is at Mineris. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada

The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH See you all Friday when I pay tribute to the tragically hip

for the May 2-4 weekend. Jamie Dew and Tyler Campbell are dropping by. We're going to kick out our favorite May 2-4 long weekend hip jams. And there'll be plenty of Great Lakes beer consumed during that 90 minutes. See you all then. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. And I don't know what the future can hold or will do for me and you.

But I'm a much better man for having known you. Oh, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green. Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is

Rosie and Gray Well I've been told That there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who, yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray Cause I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah, I know that's true, yes I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true

How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down ropes And they're broken in stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms me today.

And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France, and I've kissed you in Spain. 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 Sacré-Cœur 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 Warms us today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy now Everything is rosy and Everything is rosy and gray