Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Molly Johnson: Toronto Mike'd #368

Episode Date: August 16, 2018

Mike chats with Molly Johnson about the passing of Aretha Franklin, her career as a singer-songwriter, the Kumbaya Festival, the Kensington Market Jazz Festival and more.

Welcome to episode 368 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99.9% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you, Ontario. And propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. And Paytm, an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot.

Download the app today from paytm.ca. And our newest sponsor, Census Design and Build providing architectural design interior design and turnkey construction services across the GTA I'm Mike

from torontomike.com and joining me this week is singer-songwriter Molly Johnson okay Toronto Mike listeners this is Mike is singer-songwriter Molly Johnson. Okay, Toronto Mic listeners, this is Mike, and I'm going to level with you here. This entire introduction was added post.

So what happened was, well, you're going to hear this all in a moment because I've actually decided not to edit a stitch of this. So Molly Johnson came over, the Molly Johnson, and she thought we started at 10. I headed down for 11. I was a bit sweaty when I discovered her at my door at 10. And she had just received word that Aretha Franklin had passed away. In fact, she told me and her phone was blowing up because I think every media outlet in the country

wanted Molly Johnson to discuss Aretha Franklin on their program or on their news channel or whatnot. So all this is happening. I'm going to be very honest, completely honest with you that Molly was cranky. I don't know how else to put this, but she was, and I would cut to the chase, so to speak. So she told me she didn't have much time. I told her, could I please have an hour? And she kindly agreed to give me an hour. So I took every second of that hour, and I didn't want to waste it on this intro.

And I told her what I tell every guest when they come on is I tell them, you need to be right on this microphone because these unidirectional mics won't pick you up if you're off it. And I got this, I've been doing interviews since I was four years old. I know how to use a microphone. I will knock it on this mic because I don't want anyone's germs. It was like, that's how it was before I pressed record. So when I'm pressing record, and for the first time in 368 episodes, I'm not doing this intro live. I'm doing it in post, which I do for TMDS clients, but for my podcast, it's always completely live to tape.

So I'm totally... I'm jarred somehow. I'm a little nervous. I think that's the word for this. Because Molly Johnson clearly does not want to be here. She doesn't have much time. There's other stuff she's got going on. It became very clear she was only here because she wanted people to know

about the Kensington Jazz Festival. That's a great event that she's responsible for. There's a lot of talk about that in this episode. All of this happened before I pressed record. I thought about editing this episode to make it like a tight and positive 45 minutes

or a half an hour. And then I realized that defeats the whole purpose of the real talk, the Toronto Mic'd. So I'm now going to play our discussion in its entirety, no editing, as it happened, and you will now witness what I would say the thawing of our relationship. It starts off awfully chilly. It's very cold for a while. Then it warms up, and I swear to you, when we said goodbye, we had a hug.

It was like we were friends so I've never experienced a metamorphosis like this but you're gonna now witness it live now because of the nature of this episode um I still worked in a uh traditional sponsor mention for Brian Gerstein from propertyinthesix.. But Molly never got her six-pack. So I want to say thank you to Great Lakes Brewery, as always. There'll be an event at Great Lakes Brewery on September 12th for Toronto Mike listeners. And I want to thank Census Design and Build. Go to censusdesignbuild.ca for all your architectural design and interior design requirements. Please do that. Tell them Toronto Mike sent you. And if you go to Paytm Canada, go to paytm.ca and download the app.

Use the promo code Toronto Mike when you make your first bill payment because they'll give you $10 towards a future bill payment. So now that I've thanked the kind sponsors of this program, here is my hour-long heavy dose of real talk with Molly Johnson. Welcome, Molly. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having me. It's a sad day. Aretha Franklin has passed away. Was Aretha an inspiration for you in your career? I'm sorry, I just heard that noise about a minute ago, a second ago, and I didn't realize that you were starting with an Aretha Franklin question. She's had a huge impact in my life,

and I'd like to take a moment to just absorb what's just happened. And so sorry, I don't have an answer for that. No, I completely respect that. I'm sure you're processing this right now, so I'll try not to keep you too long. Of course, normally, listeners of this show know we go rather deep, but we're going to

keep this one a little shorter than normal out of, no pun intended, out of respect, if you will. Thank you. Now, quick hellos. Liz West and Gene Valaitis are a couple of listeners who just wanted to make sure I said hello to Molly Johnson. They love you. Oh, hi, guys.

And I wondered, have you ever worked with Bill King in your illustrious career? On occasion, back in the day, yeah. Back in the day. Nothing permanent or long-reaching. I've done a song or two with him. I'm a massive fan, and of course we're going to talk all about you

and about your festival, and I want to hear about that. But just right off the top, I would be amiss if i didn't mention the fact that your brother is in my favorite show of all time in fact there's a dvd set in front of you there that's from the the of the wire i love the wire and your brother was in the wire my brother was not only in the wire he created created The Wire. He was the first director on The Wire. So, yeah, he did a little bit of acting in The Wire, but the reality and the real story there is that he actually directed The Wire.

Well, I want the real story here. So, obviously, we know him on the screen. He's Gus, season five. Well, read the liner notes that you've got apparently right here in this box. Maybe you should read the liner notes. I'm sure his name's in there somewhere. So, yeah, okay, well, I just wanted to point out that... Oh, yeah, he's awesome.

I've got an awesome, awesome big brother. There's no question. He's always doing something interesting, and, oh, he's a great guy. And his name is Clark Johnson. If anybody's looking for the names here. And, by the way, my name's Molly Johnson Johnson if anybody's looking for the names here and by the way my name is Molly Johnson if anybody's wondering

normally I go live to tape but because of your time constraints I'm going to put in the intro post so you'll get a good thorough introduction for sure let me begin with if it's okay with you let's talk about

Altamoda if I may it's okay with you, let's talk about Altamoda, if I may begin. Let's start with Julian, if that's a good place to start. A question right off the bat, of course, is from Drew Gorski, who wants to know if there's any chance for an Altamoda reunion, but can you tell us a little bit about singing of Altamoda? Well, I was theota? Well I was the singer but I was also the writer and the director of the videos and the manager and a million things back in 1984 and no I don't think they'll ever

be a reunion of Julian because the drummer passed away in the 90s. All right we do have you know some bands to replace some members who pass away in that regards I thought maybe there's still a chance to reform but we did All right, we do have some bands to replace some members who pass away in that regard, so I thought maybe there's still a chance to reform. We did reform, and we called ourselves the Infidels. Here's a jam. So this jam we all know and love. This is heavy rotation on much music, for example, but this is 100-watt bulb.

So maybe segue from Altamoda and tell me about playing with the infidels well the infidels came about because uh we wanted a real we needed a drummer on a kit we weren't we had our original drummer in the alt in altamoda who passed away steve jelena uh had an interesting way of playing. He was an innovator in the electronic drumming world that was so new back then. And he was an amazing, energetic dude. But Infidels became a rock band. And we went from being a punky 80s band right into this Infidels thing, which was pretty hard rock in my view. Let's just go a few more seconds,

because this is a fantastic tune. I mean, we all loved 100 Watt Bulb. And another, I'd be happy to play another Infidels track, because I promised Basement Dweller, but he wants to hear some of this, so just... Okay, sure. Oh, yeah. And this, of course, is Celebrate.

Sure is. Very nice. Norman Ornstein, my music partner on that, on the guitar. We wrote all the songs together, actually. Thank you. And I have to add, much like Beyoncé's brand new video that was shot at the Louvre in Paris over five days,

we shot the video for this in the 80s at the ROM in about two hours. And it looks fantastic. About 30 years ago. There you go, Queen B. There you go. Well you go we love her she's one of my favorites but she didn't invent the thing either did i i'm sure it's all been done before i think that's what we say absolutely Breeding Ground how did you hook up in the 80s how did you hook up with Breeding Ground it's funny to hear that

well frankly I was in Ottawa for a year or two I'm a Toronto girl but my mother moved to Ottawa we moved to Ottawa I was in Ottawa for a year or two. I'm a Toronto girl, but I was... My mother moved to Ottawa. We moved to Ottawa, and it was a pretty rough time for me. Very racist.

People were not digging me at all. I was the only brown-skinned kid in my entire high school, I believe. And John Sheriff from Breeding Ground and his pals were the only guys in Ottawa that would actually talk to me. Had, frankly, the balls to talk to me. Wow. And they did, and we were kind of pals back in the day in high school,

and I moved back to Toronto and started Altamoda, and a few years later, this band Breeding Ground showed up, and it was those guys. So, loved those guys. So love those guys. I love this song. I had a lot of fun playing with them. This is Happy Now I Know. Sure is.

And the sweet female on this is you, Molly. That's fantastic. Molly Johnson. Yeah. I have a question from Jake Gold. Oh, you do, do you? Yeah, I do. And, of course, Jake, one-time manager of the Tragically Hip.

Or so he says. So he claims. that's right. Is there any evidence of this? I don't know. I don't know. He wants me, he says, ask her about the Kumbaya shows at the Old Ontario Place Forum. So can you please tell me about the Kumbaya Festival

that you established back in, I guess, the early 90s? Yeah. AIDS was very new in Toronto. People were dying. Men were dying. Claiming, everyone was claiming it was a gay disease. Of course, we all know it wasn't a gay disease. It was a disease that hit the gay community fast and furiously.

But it had been brewing and killing people in Africa for easily a decade. but it had been brewing and killing people in Africa for easily a decade. So I felt tasked with breaking the bad news to everybody that wasn't gay or an intravenous drug user that you were at risk of AIDS. And I felt, because of playing in bands like Breeding Ground and Altamoda and the Infidels and all the bands around then actually playing to university students and actually realizing they're really not getting that message. They're really not thinking this is everybody's disease. Quite frankly, back then the gay community considered it their disease.

And I also had to do a lot of heavy lifting around, no, this is everybody's disease it's it's actually killing everybody so I lost a couple of pals and uh frankly you just heard that body of music so it's not hard to put two and two together realize none of that stuff none of those great songs you just heard had any financial impact on my life at all. And I ended up and still am a broke and not making real money in the music business. And it wasn't about making money, but I couldn't even pay the rent. I was just done with making records. And I thought to myself, well, I can't sit here and do nothing about this huge thing that's bubbling around with the Rolodex I have of people I know, that I love, that I want to stay connected to,

even though I don't really want to be in the music business anymore. So that became Kumbaya. I asked the hilarious comedian Sandra Seamus to come up with a name that didn't have the word AIDS in it. Because back then, in my naivete, I believed that AIDS would be gone after the first year or two and we could move on to another charity if this thing works. So we needed a name that just brought people together at the end of the summer to do something good. And she said Kumbaya. And I was a little busy at that moment. So I said, sure, in a way we went with that. People need to know there were no, there's no internet. These were phone calls I made from my apartment I couldn't pay for.

And one of those phone calls, of course, was to Denise Donlan, who was running Much Music. And then that next phone call was to Moses Neimer, her boss, and we created this thing where every single person at Much Music donated their day. Cameras, makeup, everything. Ontario Place, which is now, I don't know, is it Budweiser? I don't know what it's called. Yeah, Budweiser Stage. Something beer-like. They donated the entire venue. Like I'm talking the insurance, the security, the popcorn salesman. Everybody that day brought themselves to that day without being paid.

also done a whole bunch of benefits and was kind of tired of being the only person at that benefit that wasn't actually being paid. The caterers were paid. The sound and light guys were paid. Quite frankly, the guy with the smoke machine was getting paid. And me singing my little brains out for a cause I believed in was not getting paid. And it annoyed me. So between my annoyance with the music business, my and frustration with them, and my deep understanding of losing friends to a disease that nobody understood. These are all things that culminated needing to talk to young people having a vehicle that I could actually get to these people. I mean, one of the most impactful things that happened in the four years of live, 12 hours of live television, you have to understand it was a hilarity. It was, backstage was insane

and fun and fantastic because I didn't let managers or record companies backstage. So you got Mary Margaret going, oh, I'll sing with Blue Rodeo. You got all these kinds of cross collaborations that would never have happened. But through all of that amazingness of the Barenaked Ladies playing with Kim, Andy Kim, was Dougie Gilmore walking out, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. They were actually in the playoffs. He was probably the most important person in Canada at that precise moment. And he

said, what should I do? And I thought for a second, I said, you got any hockey sticks? He said, yeah, I got some hockey sticks. Of course he's got hockey sticks. Doug Gilmore, he's got sticks in the trunk of his car. Somebody ran out and got them. I handed him a handful of condoms, and he walked on stage and showed every Canadian boy and girl who loved hockey what a condom was and how to put it on. You can swear, by the way, just so you know.

I try not to. Now I'm playing hip because I was looking at the bill. You mentioned a few of the bands that were there, but I mean Rush was there. The Tragically Hip. Well, it wasn't Rush. It was the Party Boys. It was Geddy and Alex.

And awesomely supportive through the entire thing. I mean, they Alex was one of the first ones in. And when Alex says yes, everybody's in. It was just that simple. Sarah McLachlan too, right? Oh, yeah.

Sarah saved our ass one year. She was sick as a dog. And we weren't flying people in. We didn't have flights. We didn't have hotels. Everybody was giving the day. Whatever that day cost them personally to get there, it was their thing. We raised millions and millions of dollars for people living with AIDS across Canada, by the way. And we consistently

still do that because people have left money in their wills. Good for you. So yeah, the hip were definitely there, for sure. Now you said something I just want to revisit here, because people think when they see a musician like yourself all over Much Music, for example, which is a national station or on the radio, we assume that you drive around and you're Bentley or whatever, and then you've got your mansion or whatever. I think there's an assumption that if you're on TV

and you're a popular singer that you're Richard Davis. That's America. That's not Canada, my friend. That's America. If you see an artist on TV in America singing a song they wrote, they're getting in a Bentley. I, sir, do not have a driver's license. I mean...

Just so you know. Just so you see. This is all about real talk. Just so we're understanding. No, we're understanding. And now I got to level with you. Yeah. So this is episode 368.

Yeah. This is probably the first time... And now, actually, I feel a little change in the climate. But this is the first time I felt like maybe my guest had better things to do, maybe didn't want to be here. And I mean this with all due respect, because normally the show

unfolds a little bit differently, but I felt like a little, I'm going to say nervous that maybe you're Molly Johnson. I think of you, you're a great singer, you're well respected, and I think you're an amazing talent. And I don't want to waste your time. And I honestly felt a sense like

for the first time and it's been it's been six years of doing this and yeah I felt like you were bothered to be here and oh I'm sorry I know and I know you don't owe me anything because I like a lot of artists maybe not enough of them I'm not a narcissist I don't actually like talking about myself. I could actually... Did somebody make you come here, I guess? No, no, but I thought we were talking about Kensington Market Jazz Festival,

which is an important piece and needs promotion and needs publicity. It's an artist-run, volunteer-driven jazz festival, year three, in Kensington Market, supporting Canadian Torontonians, musicians in the trench. It's an amazing festival, and I'm happy to talk about anything, to be honest. But I did think I was coming here to talk about my little jazz festival.

I'm happy to talk about my past. My past was great. You know, as you heard, I got to make great, write great songs and record great songs. And the Toronto Canadian music community is a beautiful thing. And I think Kumbaya and to a more newer extent, the Kentian Jazz Festival are really signs

of how much we respect and care for each other in all our different genres. And we have this beautiful community of that. So I'm always happy to talk about all of that stuff for sure. Of course, I have a great detail here I was going to share and we will at the end as well. But I was definitely going to talk to you about the Kensington Market Jazz Festival. And of course, there's 400 musicians playing over 200 shows which is uh it's hilarious an enormous effort it is a great effort we have so much fun sitting in this dumpy little room in kensington market with this giant whiteboard with all the venues in the market that were programming jazz that weekend and slotting in some of Toronto's finest players. It's just a ton of fun.

And just to make sure people know, because I will publish this today, so people will have plenty of time to know that this is September 14, 15, and 16 of this year, 2018. Okay, thank you. And by the way, I do make people nervous. No kidding, I make people nervous. Abso-fucking-lutely, I make people nervous. Well, I'm kind of happy I'm nervous

because honestly, I don't know, people come in and it becomes routine and no one makes me nervous. Nothing I do is routine. Well, here's the word I'm going to use. Here's the word I'm going to use for you and I hope this doesn't insult you, but I got a diva

vibe. Have you ever... And I thought, well, okay. I did not know. I thought you were coming at 11. I was on a little bike ride. I wanted to feel things out. So I don't even know what time it is now. Now it's 10.30 or so. So I get home sweaty. I see you at my door, and now already there's a little

misunderstanding, so I get things ready. And you tell me. You break the news to me that Aretha Franklin has passed away. I was going to play Aretha and talk to you because I knew she was very sick and ask you about how she inspired you. So I played it to ask you about it because I figured how can I not ask you about Aretha when I just found out Aretha had passed away. Of course, it's probably too soon for you to process this. Yeah. I mean, the beauty of Aretha in the last few days is she got to die at home, that we all know. And we know that she was surrounded by friends and family.

Stevie Wonder dropped by, people were dropping by. In the black community of America, Aretha Franklin has gone to a better place. What do you believe, though? I believe that, too. This, of course, is an Otis Redding song, of course, but Aretha made it her own. There's very few songs I can think of, you know, popular English language songs that actually were reclaimed by somebody else. And when I hear this song, I only think of Aretha.

I mean, she was an inspiration to so many. I mean, I can only imagine you, Molly, that you wanted to sing, right? You've always wanted to sing. No, I've not always wanted to sing. Okay, well, tell us then. Holy shit. I'm sorry, did you want me to talk while Aretha Franklin was singing?

Because I'm struggling with that. Well, I can take down the song. No, I want to hear Aretha 24-7, man. I love listening to her. Yeah, so back to this other question, or a word you used and thought you might insult me. Well, it sounds a little... I think you would insult me.

You are insulting me, and you'd insult someone like Aretha Franklin, too, with the word diva. Because unfortunately, my friend, the word diva used to have such a beautiful meaning to it. It was about a woman that dedicated herself to her art. I'm thinking of Edith Piaf. I'm thinking of the great Jesse Norman. I'm thinking of that.

And the Kardashians and the kardashian generation have ruined that word and unfortunately guys like you see a woman who's got shit to do and you're not my main focus so therefore i must be a diva i must be this girl who's so full of herself and so and and And it's unfortunately, because that's the way the word, that is what has become of the word. A lot of words have been ruined. Like for instance, the word fun. When did fun become a bad word? When did people having fun become something bad? Like that's a weird thing to, too. So I look at words a lot, because I do write songs, and I'm working around words all the time. So over my career,

I have been called that and much, much worse. And quite frankly, all women who know what they'd like to do and are doing it are put down in this world. It's a problem, and we're going to change that. We're coming for you. If that makes you nervous, you as in all of you, if that makes you nervous, get the Black Lives Girls in here. I dare you to. I'd be happy to. That's really insulting to me.

My publicist sent me here an hour early. I was happy to hang around outside. It's a beautiful neighborhood. I loved, I'd have been happy to walk around. I had no problem. I even offered you time to have a shower and get it together. I'm really appalled, actually, that you would think I'm a diva. Molly.

I was sitting on your front porch surrounded by sidewalk chalk, quite happy when you rolled up on your bicycle. But Molly, this is Thursday, right? So you were coming Tuesday, right? So I rearranged my whole day because you're coming at a time. Because a friend of mine died and I had to go to a funeral.

That's why I rescheduled. No, I know. I'm not here to fight with Molly Johnson. No, I don't know that. So after, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes, I start, you know, is Molly coming, right? Because I have other people coming after, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm sorry. So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm saying is you, this isn't me like thinking that, you know, why aren't you paying me the attention I deserve? Because you came, you physically came to my home studio to record an episode of Toronto Mic, episode 368.

Yeah, lovely. And I think you think this is like a typical mainstream media outlet where they do a three-minute soundbite about Kensington Market Festival. No, no. There's a million stories around Kensington Market Jazz Festival. We're year three, number one. Number two, I have been doing interviews since I was four years old. So I never treat it lightly. I don't treat anything about this business lightly. I don't take anything in this business for granted, including you and your time.

I'm sorry your friend passed away on Tuesday. I just learned that right now for the first time. So I wish you had told me that on Tuesday. It would have made a lot more sense to me why you weren't here. I don't know you. No, you don't know me, which is maybe part of the problem. I moved you to another time. And I appreciate that. I'm so

grateful you're here. Good. Well, it doesn't feel like you're grateful I'm here. It sounds like nervous and annoyed. I used a word I shouldn't use. Diva. And a little afraid. None of these features are setting up for a great interview. Trust me. I can assure you that...

I'm really sorry. I know you've been doing interviews since you were four years old. No, you don't know that. You just told me. Well, I just told you now, but you didn't know that when you were calling me a diva. I shouldn't have called you. But I guess because I got a very serious sense that you didn't want to do it,

didn't want it to rush. I felt I had to abort my typical styles, typical format, in order to kind of free you from this hassle. And again, if this has anything to do with the passing of Aretha Franklin, I'm so sorry and my condolences. And I just, you broke that news to me.

It wasn't shocking, we knew that was coming. She was very sick, it's true. But may I ask you about somebody else who passed away recently? Just a little Big Sugar to kick it off here. But can you please share with us what was your relationship to Big Sugar? And could you comment, perhaps, did you know Gary Lowe? Could you comment on the passing of Gary?

Gary was a trailblazer in that he brought his reggae sensibility to other kinds of music, including Big Sugar, and colored music, his music, with it. Painted beautiful colors with that bass, and played with all kinds of bands that weren't traditionally reggae, so he really brought reggae to all of us in a way, so that's the Gary Lowe for me. Cordy Johnson was a bass player when I met him and a student at OCA drawing pictures, cartoons, and playing the bass and wearing Converse running shoes and hanging around me like a dirty smell, and he wanted to be in my band so badly, but I already had a bass player.

His name was Terry Wilkins. Terry plays with Rough Trade and a bunch of players. He's still playing Sinner's Choir, a big band for Terry Wilkins now, great musician. So I had a bass player, so I told Gordy, why don't you play guitar? Because a lot of times I have gigs where there's no piano, and I could play the same jazz standards with guitar. Why don't you play guitar? Because a lot of times I have gigs where there's no piano,

and I could play the same jazz standards with guitar. So Gordy is a brilliant artist beyond just a guitar player. The guy has got a set of ears on him that are insane. He can mimic anybody, anytime, anywhere. He used to call me on the phone. And for at least a minute and a half, I thought I was talking to my dad, who's a black American.

This is Gordy. Gordy could do that. Gordy's a genius little guy. And so we started playing guitar, and Terry Wilkins on bass, and Al Cross on drums. And we played clubs like Clinton's. And Clinton's dressing room was upstairs.

And I'd always have the band play a couple songs before I came out. Not because I needed a big intro, but because I'm a bit lazy. And I don't really care that much about singing. It's just a thing I do so I can do other things. But I wasn't born to sing. I don't die if I'm not singing I can go months without singing anyhow so I'm sitting up there and Gordy would play the intro ladies gentlemen Molly Johnson and I'd say I'm not coming down till I hear you sing a song wordy so he go that that that that

Molly Johnson and I wouldn't come down and he'd do it da-da-da-da-da-da, Molly Johnson, and I wouldn't come down. And he'd do it again, and I wouldn't come down. And then he'd go, okay, she's not coming down, and then he'd say on the mic, because she said that I had to sing a song. And then Gordy would sing a song. And over time, he'd sing two songs, and then he'd sing three songs, and we're singing duets. And I kind of brought him into guitar and singing,

because I did. Wow. There you go. There's your big sugar story. Well, I knew there was a connection, and I'm glad you could flesh that out for us again. Sorry about the loss of Gary Lowe. That's terrible. He left some great music for us to enjoy,

though. That's the beauty of musicians when they pass. They leave often a treasure trove of music well i'm surprised to hear that uh like if you couldn't sing you wouldn't miss it it sounds like it's not your first love is so is it fair to say that you sing you sing for the money is that what i'm hearing i don't want to put words in your mouth no because i think i mentioned earlier to you i've actually never made any freaking money at this. And I'm in it 40 years. So clearly I'm in it for something other than the money. As a diva, maybe.

Unless I apologize for the diva comment. Well, it's going to haunt you now. Remember, I'm not in the industry, so this is the passion project. Because you're talking to musicians. You're part of the business, my darling. Nice, nice. Okay, so, what do I like to do?

Molly Johnson? Yes, please. You asking me? I'm asking Molly Johnson what she likes to do. I like to write songs. That's what I like to do. I like to collaborate.

I like to be in a room with a musician writing music. That is my greatest love. And everything is a road back to that room to get to write songs that hopefully resonate with people like you. How is it that there's no money in this?

Because I haven't had any real success at that song. So you need a hit single, I guess south of the border is where you need it to play? I don't know. They hipped it pretty well and they never went anywhere. So it's just, you know. I didn't get the breaks that way. I got breaks other ways but not that way.

To let people know, I'm playing. Is it okay if I play a little of you in the background? Oh, sure, sure. I don't listen to me. Oh, there you go. I must have left my heart. So is it 2000 when you sort of start releasing solo material well

the way that happened was i've been doing those fundraisers those kumbaya aids events and i done four of them and in that period i got married and i had a baby and that baby came on the last year of Kumbaya, 1996. So, took a bit of time off and the guy that I co-wrote this song with, Steve McKinnon, enticed me into coming back to writing songs. And I love writing songs and I could write songs with babies. They sleep sometimes, not nearly enough, but they on occasion sleep. And I found bits and pieces of time to... I was not writing an album, I was writing songs. And after a year or so of that, Steve McKinnon noted

that we now had enough to make a record. And I really didn't really want to make a record. I really did not want to record music in the music business. But they were beautiful songs and they deserved to be heard. And he was able to find money outside of the music business to record it. So it was an indie record and that's the first record. And it was sort of a... He tricked me into making a record.

Now, Molly, when you're forced to listen to... Right now, essentially, you have no choice. What are you going to do? Take off your headphones, I suppose. But do you recognize that you have a gorgeous instrument that is your voice? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's no doubt about that.

The voice is great. Sure. I know people don't like to listen to themselves. I don't like listening to myself. Yeah. No, no. The voice is, no, my voice is what it is, you know, and it's certainly changed since this recording because I'm much older.

But yeah, you know, it's never been, that's never been the issue, I don much older. But yeah, you know, it's never been, that's never been the issue, I don't think. I just, I record stuff. I don't,

I rarely stick around for the mixes. And I record, to this day, live off the floor with my band. And what you're always hearing is the take. That keeps it authentic sounding. This keeps it real.

Absolutely. Good. No, it's gorgeous. But I need to point out to the let me share with the people, and this is something tremendous, is that you made history at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival because you're the first Canadian female vocalist in the festival's

history, which was 17 years at the time, to sell out a show at the main on the main stage yeah so then again i'm maybe you need to be more blunt because maybe i'm stupid but uh you're not you've been very clear that there's no money in it and that you never made money in this game but i mean i read that sentence I don't know how... Even a Canadian... Go back to that sentence. Canadian. I'll read it again.

So, Canadians in there. That's true. For sure, right? So, I'm not the American they brought in where they paid them three times what they paid me. Right? I sold it out, but I didn't earn those ticket fees. Like, that went to that festival,

and they paid me a bit of money. Right? So, it didn't earn those ticket fees. Like, that went to that festival, and they paid me a bit of money, right? So it didn't really... And by the way, maybe we're generationally apart, but I am from a generation that certainly didn't think about getting into the music business to make a lot of money. I got into the music business because I loved the musicians and I love the culture and I love my community. And that hasn't changed at all.

I was never in it for the money and it wasn't until, well, I won't name names, but somebody in my life said, yes, her expensive little hobby that I realized, oh my God, I guess I got to focus on trying to, besides break even and pay my musicians, try and make some money at this. Which, of course, I still at this point have not found the golden ticket to that.

But yeah, I sold out the jazz festival. And I just played the TD Jazz Festival this year. They gave me the opening spot for an American artist. I got paid under $2,000. I have four musicians on stage and a sound man, and my production guy. So I got five guys only. They paid me two grand.

You got to know I didn't make any money on that show. No, I mean, you have to eat, right? And you have to pay rent. Well, I didn't make any money to do either of those two things.

Does that... And that was like a couple of months ago. Are you bitter about this reality of Canadian music? No, absolutely not. I'm not. Well, a little bit.

Of course, you can hear it in my voice. I'm a cranky pants, but that's mostly because I'm also old, 59 years of age. No, because what I've done, what I've learned to do, is that's Kensington Market Jazz Festival. You can't bitch about stuff for decades

and nothing changes. You want to make change, you've got to get in there and make change. So don't want to make change. You've got to get in there and make change. So the way I made change on that is I started my own jazz festival. And it's cash only at the door. And we social media the heck out of it, which is why I'm in your basement today, because it's very important to us that we sell those shows out

so that the artists get that money at the end of their set. Our volunteers stay at the door. They collect the cover. When the set's finished, they literally take that cash and walk it to the stage and lo and behold, hand it to the musician.

It's a miracle. If somebody listening right now wants to attend the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which is, again, it is Saturday. What is it? Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So that's September 14th.

Yeah, September 14th, 15th, 16th. 14th, 15th, 16th of September, they go to kensingtonmarketjazzfestival.com, and there you will see an unbelievable, at least I think it's unbelievable, fantastic website that gives you incredible amounts of information about our festival, including ways to volunteer and ways to donate. website that gives you incredible amounts of information about our festival, including

ways to volunteer and ways to donate, but mostly volunteer. We are always on the hunt for really honest, straightforward people that love the music we're promoting because they actually hold the money and give it to the artist. So it's kind of a really important piece of business that we vet, we meet with our volunteers, we take pictures, we practically police check you. We don't, but we practically do. But that's one of our challenges in the festival is getting committed, honest people

who support what we're doing to come out and volunteer. And 400, that's a large number of musicians. It's hilarious. And frankly, it's more than 400 because that's a lot of bands. And every band's got a couple of people. So what we do, this is an invitation only festival. So we invite you because we know you. We know you've been in the trench making this music all year. You're making records. You're really trying. You've been out there for years. That's the musicians we have in our festival. And the committed to the genre, they've committed to this music. You want to talk about not making money. Trust me. I don't know who sat in this chair where I'm sitting right now, but most musicians, the 95% of us,

barely make a living wage at what we love. But that's the ticket. We love what we do. So it's almost okay to barely make a living wage, right? So we're dealing with, we book the creme de la creme of the Canadian live music scene. You just, it's phenomenal. You walk up and down Augusta Avenue and music is just pouring out of every venue that starts with Trinity Commons, Supermarket, Poetry, Paminar, Handlebar. Some great clubs already exist in the market. So we really just programmed our music, the music for this weekend into existing nightclubs. So we're not buying porta potties. We're not spending money on production.

We're not doing any of that. So we're actually able to, with the help of some really beautiful donors, there are no corporates. There's no bank attached to this. Is that intentional? Absolutely intentional. Are you kidding me?

Money often ruins things. The model I like to use is committed donors, people that have money for the arts, want to support the arts, actually love this or that of our festival and help us with a few thousand dollars or more. So we have committed sponsors, donors, who help us with a few thousand dollars or more, right? So we have committed sponsors, donors who help us as well. Now, this is a similar model to Jazz FM in the city,

which relies on donors. It's like a public... The radio station. The radio station, yes. Right, right. And I mean, I mentioned off the top, Bill, I was wondering if you were friendly with Bill King only because he was just here and we talked a lot about... His festival, the Beaches Jazz Festival, right? So it was all fresh in my head. And he went off on Jazz FM because he used to be on the air there. Of course he did. And he had some

serious issues with how it was being run by Porter, Ross Porter. And he was very frank and blunt about... He will be. Why it's gone to shit over there at Jazz FM, in his opinion. Well, he would know because, like you said, he's worked there and he has stayed in radio. So he works at different radio stations now.

C-I-U-T, he's on. Yeah, this is his thing, right? And he's a working musician. So he's been an on-air host. He's been on both sides of the glass. So he is probably a good person to have insight into that. I, you know, I'm ambivalent about Jazz FM, to be honest. I'm disappointed in them, all of them. I don't care who the hell they are. They've all blown it. It was a great opportunity. It was a huge service to Canadian musicians, and they blew it. Sort of. Because now what's happening, I've noticed, not that I listen, because I don't really listen to... But what I have noted is that because they fired

all their on-air hosts, there's more music. Right. That is true. That is true. And so they go, well, you know, as a musician, that's all right. I was thinking if you were a Torontonian who loves jazz, maybe you were parking money at Jazz FM, the radio station. I have no money to park anymore. Not you, but others. I'm talking to somebody listening.

Like somebody listening. Let's say they were. And let's say they are like Bill King. They are so disappointed in what's happened to the station. It might be wise for them to take that money and donate it or pledge it to the Kensington Market Jazz Festival. Well, there's a button on our website for that. Absolutely. Donate button.

We love that. We have a PayPal account. Blah, blah, blah. Because all your money is going to the artist, it sounds like. Yes, it is. And we have operations. We have money to rent and things we need to pay. But to that point, I feel very sad for people who donated money to Jazz FM

because it seemed like the very next day they were shutting things down and firing people, and it was just awful. What I'm hoping is it doesn't discourage those people who believe in supporting the arts with public and private money. I'm hoping it doesn't discourage them, not discourage them from giving my festival money. I could care less. It's all money everywhere.

There's wonderful arts initiatives all over Toronto, all over Canada, starting with something as big as the National Ballet down to the Boys and Girls Club's music program or Regent Park or St. Stephen's Music or all the many things. So there's many, many places for kind-hearted and generous Canadians

to pledge money that will probably no longer be pledging a jazz FM. And that's a sad thing. I think they'll probably rise out of the ashes. Let's see what happens. They should park their money with you. How's that? I'll be talking.

Go park their money with you. They can park their money with me, but, you know, I'm not... Our festival needs, like I said, money for operations, but we're a very small group. There's four of us in the room. It's a lovely room. It's a sun-filled room

with a giant whiteboard of all those musicians we just discussed. And I certainly would not turn down money. That's crazy talk. But even if it's going to the artists? Well, usually it would go to things that support the artists. It's very difficult to take

donor money. Like Toronto Arts Council, they wanted to give me a chunk of money to pay the artist. I'm like, I don't want to play God. I don't want to sit there with $30,000 and decide which musician gets 10 of it and which musician gets 30. I don't want to do that. As an organizer who all these hours it takes for you

to help organize this event, do you get paid for that time and effort at all? No, but I must say that the first two years, I scrambled money together to pay things myself and with a few people. But this year, year three, we have some lovely money from Ontario Arts Council. Not as much as we asked for, but we definitely got enough to pay people

bits and pieces of money to keep it going and just keep the lights on. Really helpful, and we hope that when we apply in the following sessions, we'll double down on that. But yeah, this is all back to Molly not being really good at making money. It's just not one of my skill sets. You mentioned the National Ballet.

Is it called the National Ballet School? Well, it depends. It is actually the National Ballet of Canada. Okay. Mel, I'll pause you for a moment. I hate to do this. A proud sponsor of this program is a gentleman named Brian Gerstein, who is a real estate sales representative.

But he has a question for you tied to that. He's going to ask it. So we're just going to listen for 30 seconds as Brian asks you a question. Propertyinthe6.com Hi, Molly. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mic'd. You can reach out to me directly at 416-873-0292 for any of your real estate needs. Molly, my daughter, has been a semi-professional ballet dancer for many years at the Victoria International Ballet Company and will be going to Ryerson to study fashion design where her ultimate goal

is to design ballet costumes for the National Ballet of Canada. This leads me to your own studies in your early teens at the National Ballet of Canada when you were in class with Karen Kane. What was that like and can you hook my daughter up with anybody there for costume design? Look my daughter up with anybody there for costume design. Tell us about, as a teenager. Well, first of all, I want to answer his question because I have answers for his question. No, please, I'm sorry. And I love that his daughter studied dance

and is going to Ryerson for fashion because Ryerson is the leader in that particular division. They're very strong. I know many people who teach fashion there, and I know many quite famous designers, like Erdem, for instance, who's a very big designer right now, who came out of the Ryerson Fashion Program.

It's awesome. Congratulations on getting your daughter to university. It is a heavy lift for any parent. Congratulations. There is a group of designers, these two young, not young, young, young men. They are called Hoax, H-O-A-X, Couture, Hoax Couture, Jim Searle and Chris. These two have been designing clothes, not only for me, but have been designing for the National Ballet and doing unbelievable design work, not just for me, but have been designing for the National Ballet and doing unbelievable

design work, not just for the ballet, but for the synchronized swimming team and other types of uniformal type items that we haven't even, you and I, sir, haven't even thought about, that will be a wonderful world for your daughter. So I would highly recommend that she immediately put her resume together as an intern and sent it to the National Ballet Costume Department. They will look at that and be charmed. And if she hammers away at that, who knows, in a few years, she might get to intern there. And in the meantime, if she's very lucky, she'll Google hoax couture. And maybe those fellas who are on Queen Street, steps away from Bryerson, would spend an hour with her and

talk to her about what they do with the ballet. So can I get you an in at the ballet, I think, or can I give you some insight into Karen Kane and being a student at the ballet? I can only say this about Karen. There are very few arts administrators that I adore and admire. She is a marvelous Canadian. What she has done for the National Ballet in the years since she has taken it over are nothing short of miracle. When I went to that school, it was one building on Maitland with a handful of townhouses.

Karen took it not to a whole nother level. She took it to a whole nother, nother, nother, nother level. A new stratosphere. A new stratosphere. And she was cherished and loved when we were students, and she's cherished and loved now as an adult. I learned some of my very best stuff for singing, believe it or not, at the National Ballet School. I have never had a singing lesson, but I spent 14 years at the school learning how to breathe, frankly, through pain.

And you may have noticed the music business is full of pain and anguish. I was going to ask you if you're obviously very talented that you're dancing with Karen Kane. I didn't dance. I mean, it was classes with the girl. Let's not get carried away. She's Karen Kane after all. She was, like I said, another level. But still, not everybody.

They don't let it just... My daughter's a competitive dancer too. The National Ballet is not about competitive dancing. It is a whole other world. Right. It is competitive with a capital C. Right.

But different, but way different. But yeah, I get it. How does that segue, like at what point do you realize you could sing and that you, and at what point did you segue into a singer? Because we think of you as a singer songwriter now. Well, if you go back to what i said about what i actually love doing which is songwriting which is i.e making stuff right okay

so if anybody wants to dive deep into the bio you'll see that from a very early age i was a kid and i did a lot of musicals for mr and mur And I mean, if I was singing, whatever, five years old, I was like a potted plant. I wasn't like lead roles with Ed Mirvish at seven years old. I was like a kid on stage being a kid, but surrounded. Like I heard Porgy and Bess for six weeks, maybe eight. I heard that score. I heard Gershwin.

I heard that. When did I segue into singing? Years at the ballet. I was at the ballet. I loved the structure of the school. I loved the structure of ballet. I loved the whole world of classical ballet. It's a world into itself and you either get it or you don't get it. And I totally got it and I totally loved it and I breathed it. But what I really wanted to do there was be a choreographer. I wanted to make things. I hear you. Got it? So, you know, the ballerinas can see the end of the road quite clearly. And God forbid you break anything because that's the end of the road right there. So nobody learned to ski or skate or toboggan or do anything.

Right. You're not breaking anything. But one of the beauties of the ballet school was that they had a teacher there that taught every art form, every discipline but dance. to let us learn that there's many disciplines within the artistic world, whether it's poetry or literature or fine art or sculpture or photography, all these things. And they were always on option in a very cramped, sweaty, smelly room with your hair in a very tight bun. But those options were there.

Okay. So, and I wasn't really about the tutu ever. I was all about how to, how do you make that and working with choreographers and learning, learning how that works. Right. I'm happy to put a tutu on. It's a badge of honor and it's, it's a thing, but it wasn't something I grew up dreaming of. No, no, no, no. I grew up dreaming of wanting to make stuff. I put on plays in my backyard when I was a kid. I wrote handbills for my backyard play and went on the Avenue Road 5 bus and delivered handbills to my backyard play

and strangers arrived at our backyard at eight o'clock on a Saturday night. Like I was doing stuff. I just like making stuff. You're a creator. I like building stuff, yeah. And, you know, my sister, my big sister Tabby, who was Rick James' backup singer. She was Stevie Wonder's session singer. She was in Hair.

She was in Jesus Christ Superstar. She's still a very well-regarded actor and singer on the Toronto scene, my sister Tabby Johnson. And it was her friends, her big friends. So we're a few years apart, maybe six. None of us are good with numbers. Everybody lies about their age except me. I mentioned already I'm 59.

I'm happy to say that. But so there's a few years apart. So I was just young enough to sort of hang around, but not old enough to actually have to participate. Right. Right. So I grew up. And if you think about where the National Ballet School is physically in Toronto on Maitland Street, it's literally two blocks from Yonge Street, which is where the Colonial and all those clubs were right around Yonge and Dundas and all around in that area. So I actually could walk out to Yonge Street, slip in the back door, the cock door, the Colonial Tavern, sneak up to the balcony, look down and see artists, in particular, an artist, a woman named Sean Jackson. Sean Jackson was married to Dominic Triano later in life, but in those days, Sean was in a band with her brother called Sean and Jay in the Majestics.

Big R&B band. Toronto, where does the blue come from in Blue Rodeo? Let me just tell you. Toronto in the 70s, when Jim and Greg, mostly Jim, were growing up in Toronto, this was an R&B town. this was an R&B town it was an R&B town Spadina had three clubs on Spadina one of them's a liquor store now there were clubs all over the place Doug Riley Dr. Music it was a scene in the 70s and Shawn Jackson was the reigning queen.

Not only was Shawn a great singer, but not only did she make her own clothes, but she wrote her own songs. And I saw that from the balcony and went, hey, I love the notion of that. And even though I don't play an instrument or read music, I got to figure out how to write songs. And so from that second on, that's been my focus to today. I make records and sing songs live

because that's what gets me back in the room with the guys I love to write songs with. Did songwriting come naturally to you? Absolutely. I love it. I'm not very good at it, clearly, or I'd be a millionaire by now. Money is not a good measure. Exactly. Money is not a good measure. I know. And it's terrible to society we live in where money is the measure of all of that. And you're only as good as how much money you make. And it's terrible how we live like that. But I can't change that. I can just putter along doing my thing. You are an officer of the Order of Canada.

I certainly am. Which is an incredible honor. It is my favorite thing. What does it come with? You get like a plaque or is there some kind of a... Oh my God, no. You get this... Well, first of all, Michael Jean our uh governor general at the time so a lot of laughs i mean you see the

photos we are just heads back big guffaws like ugly laughing was going on number one um i'm wearing it today it's right here it's usually it is. It's usually on my jean jacket. I've ceased wearing any other jewelry. Can I ask now, I feel better about us right now. I know it's not all about us, but just so you know, I feel better about us.

We had a rocky start, but I feel that I earned out. I feel exactly the same. Do you think we could get a, after this is all said and done, will you still pose for the traditional photo with me? I take a selfie with every guest who comes on. You're so funny.

Of course I will. Because I want to, people can see that then in the selfie. They'll see this lapel. Is that what that's called? Well, it's a lapel pin, which they really should rethink because not all us girls wear suits. But I love it. You get two of these little pins,

and you get a medal, a beautiful, the actual Order of Canada medal. And there are very specific places you wear it. And I love it. It represents insane amounts to me. I would never take that medal off. Like, I would just wear it everywhere. Yeah. There are some of us, Denise Donlan,

who pretty much have it on her bathing suits and in her pajamas. I'm pretty sure she does. Denise has been on the show. That was fantastic. Yeah, I love Denise. She's wonderful. Do you know how many Junos you've won? No.

You have a guess? Not really. The very first one is a bit confusing because we got it. Junos you've won? No. You have a guess? Not really. There's one that's kind of good. The very first one is a bit confusing because we got it so early in the day that I don't believe the Junos were even televised. It was so early in the day of it, and it was so early in the day of the Junos that the category was just awful. It was, let's take all the colored folk and put them in one category. So as I recall, it might've been as awful as Oscar Peterson,

Billy Newton Davis, Truson Wrights, Altamoda. It was awful. And I believe we won that year, It was awful. And I believe we won that year, and I believe I left it on the podium and gave it back. Basically, you've got to figure this shit out because this is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Number one, Ultimoda is not an R&B band.

It never was. I'm sorry that there's people of color in the band. And that legacy carried right through the infidels. You're brown. You need to play R&B. What are you doing playing Aerosmith-inspired music? You're supposed to be playing Whitney Houston-inspired music. What's wrong with you, Molly?

You should be an R&B star. Blah, blah, blah. I think in Canada we get a false sense of progress in this regard where we look down. Oh, no, there's been progress. Oh, my God. Are you kidding? Look where we are now. Now we've got all kinds of colorful categories at the Junos.

None of them are on TV yet, but we got them. We have a ways to go, but we've come. No, we're on it. We're on it. We're on it. My next question was like, where do you keep your Junos? But I don't think you value this hardware.

Well, it's not that I, the funny thing about Junos is, you should have them after a certain period in the music business, but they don't actually do anything. It's not even as impactful as Grammy nominated. Like Grammy nominated seems to have more impact than Juno winner. Like that will sell albums.

Is that what that would do? I'm not sure. I'm not sure what any of it does at all. I'm really not sure. I'm really not sure what, I just know that I love my order of Canada and I know exactly what it means. And I know exactly why I got it and I know exactly who pinned it on me

and I'm such a freaking crazy Canadian that I love it. It's so important to me. And if we didn't mention it, you received that in 2007. Yeah, I was a child. I actually was one of the youngest people to ever get the thing.

I was going to say, it's almost like a lifetime achievement award that seems a little young to get. Yeah, yeah. In fact, I think it was pinned on me with the direct thought that this would enable me

to do more things. It was... Open doors? Yes. And I mean, really, you use your power. You talk about maybe the compensation isn't monetary, but the Kumbaya Festival, for example, and this Kensington Market Jazz Festival,

these are things that you're able to do because you're Molly Johnson, so maybe it's not so monetary, but this is an influential, important sport. That's exactly right, and that's the driver. Like, I don't drive for fame. I drive for what fame can do. And I watched Madonna do it a million years ago

and I realized, well, if I wait to be as famous as Madonna, I won't do anything. So I just started doing things. Let that be a lesson to all you people out there. Do not wait for fame to do good. Everybody can do good. Take your neighbor's garbage cans in. Hello.

I do that, by the way, Molly. I thought you might be that guy. I love doing that. Just quick note, people know you did host on CBC Radio 2. I did for five years. How was that experience? Not great. CBC is a

troubled place. It's a troubled place and it's a culture of fear. I survived it, but just barely. And this is a girl that's been in the music business for years, which is notoriously brutal. And if I'm saying that my time at the CBC, I barely survived it, I think that speaks volumes right there.

I had a child in a very expensive school that was doing him an enormous amount of good. And so I sucked it up for five years to help defray the cost of my child's school. And that check from the CBC actually went directly to my child's school, and I never even saw it. And it wasn't that much,

because I was part-time at the CBC. Clearly, it was not big money. And I'm not Jan Arden. I'm Molly Johnson. So there's a big difference in pay. Is that because Jan had hits? Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. And she's a great artist and one of the funniest people in Canada.

Now, that investment in your child's education, though, that's one of those priceless things. If you're going to invest in anything, that's where you put it. Oh, yeah. Being mom is my biggest job and my most important job. And even though my kids are, frankly, old, not that old, but in their teens, I'm still, I did a little laundry and started to chili before I came to see you today, my friend. How many kids do you have?

Two. And they're teenagers? One's a teenager, and his name is Henry. And the other one's in university, third year, and his name is Otis. Otis. Respect. It all came full circle here. Yes, but actually named after my uncle Otis.

Okay. I actually have an uncle named Otis. I do have a son with a middle name, Henry. I always like the name Henry. I love Henry. It's my grandfather's name. But do people call him Hank? No, they don't. You won't let them?

He doesn't let them. He prefers Henry. He's very Henry-ish. Molly, one more time, just to make sure people know, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, again, this is on September 14, 15, and 16. And you mentioned, say the URL again, is it kensingtonmarketjazzfestival.com? That's it.

Go there. That'll get you everywhere. Get you everywhere. Yeah, well, it's a lovely thing. We'd love to have everyone there. It's just super chill, super groovy, great, great music, live, living, breathing

musicians actually playing the music you're listening to. That's super chill. Now you've got to get home to that super chilly you were making. That's right. Well, like I said, I have a teenager at home, and when I leave this lovely spot you have,

I'm going to walk down the street, and I'm going to phone my 18-year-old son and say, as many mothers of 18-year-old sons will say, get out of bed and turn the chili off. No, I have a 16-year-old son. Okay. And on days like this, sometimes it's 1.30, and he's still sleeping. It's incredible. Boys, teenagers, it's funny about kids.

You can't get them to sleep. They won't sleep through the night. And then suddenly, you can't wake them up. My 14-year-old daughter, though, is up early. Like, I can't believe she's up and at it 9 a.m. Like, they're so completely different. Girls are different. Girls are different.

Viva la difference. And that brings us to the end of our 368th show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike molly is at the molly johnson the molly johnson that's the key word there's the molly johnson great lakes brewery are at great lakes beer property in the six.com is at raptors devotee propertyinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee. PayTM is at PayTM Canada. And the Royal Pains are at Royal Pains Band. Molly, thanks so much for making the trek here.

And I really did enjoy that. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Well, you've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do For me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you