Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Norm Wilner KOTJ: Toronto Mike'd #255

Episode Date: July 31, 2017

Mike and Norm play and discuss his ten favourite songs.

And right now, right now, right now it's time to... Take out the jams, motherfuckers! Welcome to episode 255 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer, and propertyinthesix.com, Toronto real estate done right. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me is senior film writer for NOW Magazine, Norm Wilner.

Welcome back, Norm. Thank you. Thanks back, Norm. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And for those who didn't hear your initial visit, I need to urge them. First of all, what's wrong with you? Why did you skip the Norm Willner episode? People have weird blind spots. You can't save everybody.

Well, it's time to redemption. Let's call it time to redeem yourself. Go to episode 142 actually pause it right now don't even listen to norm's jams until you learn more about norm go listen as if people are gonna listen to me i made jams jams are coming episode 142 is where we explore the uh the career the esteemed career of Norm Wilner. Have you done 113 of these since my last? Well, yeah.

Is that your math? I don't know. My math. I think so. Yeah, that sounds about right. Exactly. So how long ago was that that you were here? I would have guessed a year, but I guess it's been longer.

Well, I claim to do one a week, but truth be known, on average, it's closer to two a week. Yeah, I've been doing someone else's movie for less than two and a half years, and episode 131 hits tomorrow. And that's more or less weekly. By the way, I was going to ask for an update on someone else's movie. So did you notice a dramatic uptick in subscribers after your last visit? It's funny. When I do wander over to somebody else's show, I bring people back with me. It's kind of cool.

Because you're talking to podcast listeners. That's true. That's like the subset of the subset. Like, now that you're talking to podcast listeners, they already subscribe and queue up episodes. I hope. I mean, I hope. Who can say? Well, if they're a movie buff at all, they gotta try

someone else's movie. Oh, thank you. Well, I mean, if you're a movie buff at all, they got to try someone else's movie. Oh, thank you. Well, I mean, if you're listening to me, you obviously care about cinema. Otherwise, I'm just some random person who popped up in your feed, which is probably more the case. I am a random person

who's popped up in this podcast feed. But sometimes people want to know, like, for example, people have listened to your brother kick out the jams, Mike Wilner. Now they want to hear Norm and dare to compare. Will I choose a Canadian song?

Will I choose anything released after 1993? What are the odds? You know what? I actually really enjoyed your brother's jams because they seem so, like what term? Genuine or like? Genuine, retro, authentic. He loves what he loves and he always has.

I mean, so do I. Ideally with music, everybody should. But yeah, I mean, I'm a little... I'd like to think I'm a little more progressive in my taste. I thought you were going to say cooler. Well, I'm definitely cooler. I mean, movies are cooler than sports. They just are.

That's to be debated. No, no, I just said so. I made the statement. Here's the word I'm looking for. Earnest. Yes. Refreshingly earnest. Yeah, Mike's a be debated. No, no, I just said so. I made the statement. Here's the word I'm looking for. Earnest. Yes. Refreshingly earnest. Yeah, Mike's a feeler.

He hides it, but he does. He has a rich emotional vein. And yeah, I mean, just the fact that he picked songs that he sang his kids to sleep with, that's really nice. I don't have kids, so I'm allowed to not have that. But you have a dog. I have a dog, but he's a jerk.

You don't sing to Dexter. He, you know... You don don't sing to Dexter. He, you know, um, you don't play songs for Dexter. Dexter has only ever responded to music. We bumped into, this is such a stupid Toronto story.

We ran into Anna Kendrick and Edgar Wright, uh, the week Kate and I, or maybe a couple of weeks after Kate and I took Dexter in, because he was a stray that we found in the market, uh, in a neighbor's yard. And we tried everything to find his people,

but they don't, clearly didn't want him. And, uh, so we've kept him in that was seven years ago and actually you know what seven years ago this week was the was the um the scott pilgrim junket in toronto and edgar wright and anna kendrick were wandering around chinatown where we lived and we were walking him uh and we just rounded the corner and bumped into the two of them. And I'd interviewed them the day before and I know them a little bit just because I've interviewed them both in the past.

And we stopped and talked for a second. And as soon as Anna saw Dexter, she started cooing to him. So that is the only time anyone has ever sung to him. And he did like it. He was all over her. I feel like I live with Anna Kendrick because... You have small children.

The Trolls movie gets played a lot right now. That's my three-year-old's current favorite movie. But the thing about kids is they watch that same movie over and over again. Yeah. When did they stop with Frozen? How long did it take? Yeah, the Frozen was... Yeah, that was a long one.

It's like a year and a half, right? Yeah, the Frozen was a long time. But then there was a Zootopia period just before Trolls. I just talked to Jenny Slate last week. She plays the sheep. Okay, yeah. I quite like Zootopia. I prefer Zootopia to Trolls, but at least with Trolls

you get the gorillas cover and you get the sound of silence so you get a little bit of Simon and Garfunkel. There's a little taste there for the parent. Well, Pixar and Disney both sort of insist on original scores and music. And DreamWorks is way happier sampling and riffing on that. And it's fine because it works usually. But I think about all the Shrek songs.

There's a generation of children who were introduced to Hallelujah by Shrek. Definitely. Which never ceases to boggle my mind. It's like you're going to grow up and find out what that song is about, and you're just never going to stop crying. That's funny. That's right. See, movies are cool.

Movies are cool, and I can reveal here that I believe my wife has a crush on Justin Timberlake. I think everyone does. Is that right, dude? I passed him in the hallway. He's a very handsome man. He's no Matt Bomer, but come on, who is? Oh, I don't doubt he's a handsome man. So we had a passing, was it Sam Shepard who died today?

And Jean Moreau. It's just a, I mean, we've reached a point, a tipping point in celebrity where everybody's old enough to just start dying off, right? Because celebrity as we understand it really started in the 40s and 50s. And so the people who were young then, that's 70, 80 years ago, they're going to be going on a constant rotation. But now it's starting to feel like body blows. It's like we're reaching critical mass

because who would have thought that Jean Moreau and Sam Shepard would die on the same day or be connected in any other way? They're just so completely random, and it's just hitting people on different levels. And that plus everything else that's wrong in the world right now, you just feel like you're wobbling all the time. Recently, Alan Cross revisited the show. And I said to Alan, I said, you know, when a new rock star, like, I don't know, Chris Cornell or when David Bowie passed.

Oh, Bowie. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Like when that happens, Cross basically has a full day of like media pops on like radio stations and television stations to talk about the passing. I see you pop up. Yeah.

So like who's calling you? I'm a go-to guy for CP24 and CTV News Channel when somebody dies. And I don't know why. I just, I guess because I've been at this long enough. I've been, you know, 30 years interviewing people. You have a pretty good chance of having spoken to the dead person, which is, I think, why they call me, you know, did you ever. And if not, I can box that person's career into two and a half minutes really well because that's my thing. I can distill anything like if you listen to my podcast you'll hear me constantly just dismiss an entire genre

of something in three sentences because that's just a way of shorthanding it because I used to write really really small capsules and I kind of honed that skill so you're you're media friendly you know what you're talking about and clearly you're dependable like they can well you might take the call I can find my way to the office sure sure. To the studio. Yeah, no, I'm that guy. I hate it though because, you know, if I get a call, it means I have to talk about something that means something to me emotionally. Right. You know, when, I'm trying to think of the last one that really hit.

Somebody, I can't even remember. I was just, someone called. Was it Batman? Adam West? No, not really. I mean, he was. You weren't a Batman guy? No, he was a decent guy,

but he didn't mean that much to me as a childhood hero or anything. No, you know what? I honestly can't remember the last one that really... George Romero. That was like two weeks ago? Yeah, it's that, yeah. And he was a lovely, lovely man.

I'd met him once. We had a lovely conversation. He was like one of those people who, apparently it's the same with David Lynch, like he gets all of it out in his work. So he's just completely charming and delightful, casual, relaxed person to talk to. And Romero, like he changed the way I see the world. The zombie movie didn't exist before he made it. Zombies were a different kind of monster. And he came up with the cannibalism and the flesh-eating. Well, the flesh-eating is cannibalism.

He came up with the idea that it's a monster that used to be a person and that the greatest hook for all of the Living Dead movies is that invariably someone dies and comes back and attacks their own people, their family or their friends or their lover. And that's a primal, horrible fear that we all have, that the people we love will turn on us without explanation or rationality. They'll just come at us. It's the bridge between the vampire and the werewolf.

It's the predator that stalks you that looks like someone you love. And that one, he gave the world a nightmare that it didn't have before. And that was a seismic change in the landscape. Think about how many zombie movies there are right now and zombie TV shows. They didn't exist before him. And so on top of all of that, he was like a favorite uncle. So I'm trying to do my three minutes on this thing and also thinking about, but he was such a nice man. God damn it. Why do we have to lose people? So yeah, that was a big one. Bowie was a big one too. Lou Reed. People you don't know you're going to miss as much as you do because you can literally not conceive of a world

where they're not around. And because of movies and music, they're never gone. They're still, I can play David Bowie now and I'll feel happy. And I'm actually mildly disgusted with myself that I tried really hard, but I ended up cutting Bowie. Spoiler alert. It's an anti-spoiler. But there are a lot of people, and I have a laundry list of acts that I didn't include. Well, if you want, at the end, you can give some honorable mentions. Oh, I will.

Oh, which reminds me, before we move on and start kicking out jams, I had a question. Your brother mentioned this, and I can't remember if we talked about it on episode 141. For me, as a guy who loved this song when this came out, this is a fascinating fact to me.

This is not, I should point out for people listening, this is not one of Norm's jams. But it should have been, but it wasn't. Two on the nose. But you were in the music video for this song. I am allegedly in the video, yes. I was at the concert. I was about five rows above the guys dancing on their chairs in the video. Maple Leaf Gardens was at the concert. I was about five rows above the guys

dancing on their chairs in the video. Maple Leaf Gardens in I'm thinking 1984 or five, whenever it was. I won tickets on the radio. And myself

and my friend Steven Weisberg who came with me from my high school buddy, we are in there somewhere. I don't, I have never been able to find myself.

I would have been wearing glasses at the time. Stephen was taller than me, so I'd be the short-looking guy with glasses in the crowd scene. But unfortunately, the resolution has never been there because it was produced in the 80s and it looks like crap now. You can't really zoom it. And now if it was in HD, there would be a better chance.

If someone would transfer the 35mm negatives onto HD, there would be a better chance of finding me. But I am in there somewhere. I will make some calls on that. But that's amazing odds. Like the odds that you,

for what station did you win the tickets from? Chum. It was 1050 Chum. They did an after school, no, sorry, it was a morning show call-in thing.

It was like an 830 trivia. It was a guest, I think for that one, because I did it for a lot of stuff at the time, because you could just, you know, you're at home,

you're bored, and there's contests on the radio. I won a lot of movie tickets from Metro 1430're at home, you're bored, and there's contests on the radio. I won a lot of movie tickets from Metro 1430 at the time, from Andy Barry, in fact. And with this one, it was like an 8.30 a.m. call and guess the song kind of thing. They would play like a tiny little snippet of it,

and it was Stop in the Name of Love. No, sorry, no, that was the second one. It was Knock Three Times. And it was not hard i don't think anybody else was calling in well good for you and uh that's very cool that you you know that you can say you were there when that video it's pretty cool single from a very big but there was no bigger band oh no they were huge the panel was open for them it was a great show great show but okay so we're how this is this is my way of segueing. So the odds on that, yeah, that's not one of your jams.

But that's the difference between Mike Wilner and Norm Wilner because Mike loves Duran Duran. And he had Wild Boys. He did. Which was like, it was a big deal for him that it was a non-album single, right? Like that's his stat. That's his thing. I don't have the same obsessive nature.

I mean, we both have OCD. That's basically how we could be. Well, that's why you're good at what you do. Yeah, that's how we can be the people we are and do what we do. But yeah, it's not quite as important to me. Because I don't have as many emotional memories associated with music,

as Mike clearly does, I went with something more... I just took it literally. I came up with a summer playlist. Like the best, my ideal summer playlist, and I left off a bunch of stuff, for which I apologize. So as soon as-

As soon as we're done, the 10 jams, you can drop your wonderful mentions. What I mean is as soon as this goes out on Twitter, I'm going to start getting crap from people about, why did you leave this out? I know you love it. It's like, yes, I do, but these are the 10 that I ended up fighting hardest for.

There's nothing more subjective than coming up with your 10 jams. Yes, it kills me. So great luck that you ended up in the video for Reflex, which I'm sure is like whenever Duran Duran comes up in a conversation, do you ever say, you say, oh, by the way, I wouldn't be able to shut up about it. Like I get t-shirts made.

Did I mention I was in the video for Reflex? Like I would say that every time Duran Duran came up organically in a conversation. I'll tell you, the first few years when it did come up, if I was around people who knew it, because it was kind of cool. But again, it's like an urban legend because you can't prove it. All anybody wants to know, if I tell the story, and I haven't told it in years, all anybody ever asks every time is, but who were the guys on the chairs? It's like, I don't know. They were five or six rows ahead of us. We thought they were going to die. We

thought they were going to fall off into the crowd. And did you get wet? Is that the other question? No, that's not even real. It doesn't even look close to real. No, it's terrible. I think that's why they won't update it to HD because it'll look horrible. They can redo the whole thing like they did the Star Wars updates. Yeah, the front row got misted probably because there was that effect where the drum smashes. That was an onstage thing, if I remember correctly. But no, we did not get one. We were miles away. All right. So speaking of odds, I'm going to tell a brief story. This story is more appropriate for your brother than yourself, but you're going to have to endure it because it's timely here. So my oldest son is not a very big baseball fan. Not a big baseball fan, but I'm a

big Blue Jays fan. And you let him live, but I'm a big Poochie fan. And you let him live in your house. We've come to compromise on other things. But I, you know, he's been to, I did the math. I think he's been to 15 games at the Dome in his life. He's 15 years old.

He's been to 15 games. That's not bad if he doesn't like it. Yeah, I've dragged him to a whole bunch and his grandmother visits from BC and drags him to games. So it's probably more than I've been to. Come to think of it. Really?

Yeah, I don't think so. Maybe 10. Have you ever been up to the booth? Yeah, I visited Mike fairly often, more often than I actually go to the games, I would probably say. You could always go up there and talk about Field of Dreams and Bull Durham

and try to tie them together. Whatever we do together, they always come up. Okay, so James, 15 games, and including a game in 2008 with me in which Greg Zahn hits a walk-off Grand Slam. That was the second walk-off Grand Slam in Blue Jays history. The first since James was born, since my son was born. So I thought that was pretty cool. You know, how lucky are you you're here for a walk-off Grand Slam?

So fast forward to last Thursday. I was going to say, didn't we just have one? Last Thursday, my son's grandmother comes from BC to visit and wants to take my son James to a baseball game. So they go to the Blue Jays game on Thursday. James is there when Steve Pierce hits a walk-off grand slam. This is the third walk-off grand slam in Blue Jays history, the second since my son was born. He's been at both of them. Right. So what you're saying is you have to start taking him to every game. Well, it gets better. It gets better. Okay. So yesterday, which was Sunday, the same grandmother from BC wants to take both my son, James, and my daughter, Michelle, to the Blue Jays game again. So James is going

back to the Dome yesterday. They're there sitting at the game when Steve Pierce hits another walk-off Grand Slam. So my son has witnessed all three walk-off Grand Slams during his lifetime, but he's only been to about 15 games. Doesn't that break your brain if you start to think of the odds? He has to be at more of them. That's what it is. My wife, who actually understands stats far better than i will is probably gonna have a conniption over this there is no connection it's just random oh yeah yeah my son's not contributing to this but the luck involved to be at least the luck involved is off the charts i do not believe that my son has influenced i mean he might the batters you can't prove oh like in the natural right because

he was influenced when she would stand up you know right you never know i tied baseball and movies movies prove everything a couple of questions for you norm on twitter before we kick out the gems uh kevin ahoy uh wants to know the worst screening experience that you've ever been to oh wow i don't know i couldn't tell you i've done this for a long time there was a there was a screening of the first pirates of the caribbean where the projectionist screwed up the reels they you know they used to project films in individual reels and you'd have changeovers oh actually no now that you think yeah uh so what would happen is yeah uh in the in the 90s they shifted to a platter design where you conform.

It's called conforming the print. You stitch it together, basically, on one single platform. You start it running and you leave it going. Now, this is fine unless something is wrong with the reels and you don't catch it. So at the 7 p.m. Monday night screening of the first Pirates of the Caribbean, which didn't start on time because the crowd was insane. Even then, which was weird, because nobody knew it was going to be anything,

but it was like Disney's big summer movie, and I guess people had either oversold the theater or they jammed it. And the Johnny Depp fans came home. Well, that hadn't started, right? This is the movie that made him a movie star again, because he'd been out for a while. He'd been on the outs making art films

that nobody wanted to see. um reel one was fine and then reel two upside down and backwards which means um which means you're screwed because when that happens you can't fix it because of the platter thing you would have to they basically have to play the entire film before they can deconform it and fix it so as soon as that happens i know enough about projection you're like well i'm screwed i'm not gonna like this movie's two and a half hours long and i am not gonna finish it tonight there's no way we can see this and so they ended up screening it at uh they said they immediately apologized but they didn't do the fair thing which is to tell people that they're boned because you can't because it's a 700 person free audience they're

gonna riot if they find out they can't watch the rest of this movie so disney tries to manage it but they don't they're so busy trying to find a solution and there isn't one that i just got angrier and angrier and the room got weirder and weirder and people just like no the movie's not going to happen we should leave we should go because there was there it was such a big crowd that there were two rooms playing it and this was back in the days when you actually had two prints they couldn't it wasn't digital they didn't just duplicate the screen so next door the film was playing properly but because we waited more than a couple of minutes it was impossible and it was also a sellout you couldn't get into it i would have happily stood in the island watch the whole movie but because it was pretty good but uh yeah so as a result of that

it just got really ugly and people were really upset and angry and it was warm in there and it was gross and it just got worse and worse. And then they offered to finish it for us. They said we could have a catch-up screening at midnight of a two and a half hour movie. So we came back the next morning at 10 a.m., enjoyed situation in the Sheraton Center, the late-gone Sheraton Center Theater, of a movie called Deceived with Goldie Hawn and I think John Heard, who just died also this past weekend,

or the week before, and they screwed up the reels. So it was real movies, you know, a two-hour movie will usually be five or six reels. This one was under two hours, so let's say five. we got one two four three five which means that the huge reveal that the the husband is alive just dropped in and because the mistake was such that the shots kind of lined up there's a moment where she leaves a house and it cuts to him watching through a window. Now what we didn't realize was 40 minutes later in the movie, it's a different window and totally unrelated. I once rented

JFK on VHS and it came as two tapes and I played the second tape first. I hear a lot of people... The only time in my life I've done that. But because of... I just thought... I did thought it was a bit strange, but it seemed plausible. Like I figured, oh, this is how Oliver Stone did it, like started here. Yeah, because the editorial structure is like it's an bit strange, but it seemed plausible. I figured, oh, this is how Oliver Stone did it, started here.

Yeah, because the editorial structure is anachronistic. Chronological? Chronological. It's desynchronized. Yeah, like Pulp Fiction. Yeah, yeah. I could absolutely... And it's funny, you're not the only person that happened to.

Is that right? Yeah. Because it's the only time I did it, and I felt so stupid stupid when the credits there's credits at the end of the first tape i mean sorry i'm watching the second tape and the movie's over in like 75 minutes yeah but i knew there was two tapes i just thought i i put in the wrong one first yeah so basically and yeah uh jfk i'll never forget uh i never made that mistake again but and it's funny not many not many movies came on the two tapes yeah well anything over two and a half hours would usually get a second cassette. Was that the Mendoza line there?

I remember Titanic was two tapes. Yeah, some long ones. But JFK was two tapes, and it screwed me up. Yeah, that's why VHS won the format war, really, ultimately, because you could get a two-hour movie on a single cassette when beta was limited to 90 for the first year. Hey, there you go. One more question on Twitter.

Nerd, nerd, nerd. No, I love fun facts like that. I'm a huge nerd. Kathy Penny. Kathy Penny asks, just how many films does Norm own? He tweets photos from his home and the collection looks massive. I love Dexter, she adds to the end. Dexter usually is figuring in these pictures somehow. I don't know. I have lost track. Thousands, definitely. Blu-ray, DVD, a few still on VHS, some Laserdiscs. Any beta, though, in your collection?

I had a couple of tapes. I did. Early stuff that wasn't replicated. There was a, I think there was an early Kino release of an Ilo Pino movie, something like that. But yeah, no, I have thousands. This is what happens when you cover

home video for a quarter of a century. I started writing home video reviews in 88 for the Star and had a column somewhere until about 2013 I still get stuff here and there and I still buy a lot of stuff Criterion releases I'm still totally up to date on that and yeah it piles up

I have many thousands cool now we're going to do a little business here before we kick out the jams if everyone listening gave a dollar a month piles up. I have many thousands. Cool. Now we're going to do a little business here before we kick out the jams. If everyone listening gave a dollar a month to my Patreon account, that would be really cool. Let's do that. So patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. Give what you can. You can also get there

by clicking the big orange button on the side of torontomike.com. Norm, there's a pack of beer in front of you from Great Lakes Brewery, and that's going home with you today. Oh, thank you very much. You're going to take that home,

enjoy that with your wife and Dexter, and enjoy. I am a big fan. I do like their stuff, actually. And I noticed there's one here that I haven't tried before. This is not a plug. This is just me reading the thing

directly in front of me. Yeah, the blonde lager is new to me. I have not seen this before. This is not a plug. This is just me reading the thing directly in front of me. Yeah, the blonde lager is new to me. I have not seen this before. You know why? Because that's the one you've got to go to Great Lakes to buy. But that also means it's something like $2.70 a can or something, because there's no law that says you have to match

the LCBO rate or whatever. That's a plot. My wife prefers the blonde lager over everything else. Well, I mean, summertime, that's basically everything for me is lagers and the occasional saison. But, oh, yeah, I've had the octopus once to fight before. I've had the red leaf before. These are pompous ass. Nice.

Actually, I'm assuming they're going to be at the Hardhouse Craft Beer Festival on Thursday night. So I look forward to saying hi to them in person. They better be. Yeah. And if they're not, then they'll definitely be at the roundhouse thing at the Steam Whistle Brewery next weekend. Oh God, the hangovers. You've got a tough life.

By the way, you're not just getting the beer. You're going to need a nice pint glass to drink your beer in. So Brian Gerstein is the gentleman from propertyinthesix.com. As again, your brother would be more interested in this probably than you, but as we speak,

Brian is in Cooperstown because Tim Raines is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. And Tim Raines was a longtime Montreal Expo, and Brian was a die-hard Expos fan, so Brian made the pilgrimage, if you will, to witness this moment in history.

So Tim Raines in the Hall of Fame. Brian is there right now in Cooperstown. But when he gets back, he would love to meet with anyone who would like to have a conversation with him. www.propertyinthe6.com So call Brian at 416-873-0292 if you're planning to buy and or sell in the next six months.

Just by meeting Brian, you'll also receive a free property in the six pint glass and a six pack of Great Lakes beer. So again, give Brian a call. Sure, he's in Cooperstown, but he might even answer his phone. He's checking voicemail 416-873-0292 or just go to propertyinthesix.com and contact Brian. Brian Gerstein is not only a big Expos fan, he's also a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. So enjoy your pint glass, Norm. Thank you. Norm Wilner, are you ready to kick out the jams?

That's why I'm here. Oh yeah, I'll tell you something I think you'll understand When I say that something I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand I wanna hold your hand Oh please, say to me The Beatles, I Wanna Hold Your Hand I want to hold your hand Oh, please

The Beatles, I Want to Hold Your Hand Let me be your man Tell us, Norm, why did you pick such an obscure band from Liverpool as your first band? Let me hold your hand I just want to listen to it. It's, um...

I don't think I need to explain why the Beatles are so important. I mean, my brother and I were raised on them. I think everybody of a certain age is... There are people now who say the Beatles are overrated, and those people are idiots. Pure and simple. There's absolutely no...

You can't overrate their importance, their influence. And this song, before Kate and I even met, we were talking about music. And we'd been emailing back and forth over stuff. And this was the little test I had for people on whether or not I was even going to date them. I suppose it's no more a test than any other kind of flirtation. But I would ask, you know,

if you could only save one Beatles song, which one would it be? And this is my pick. This is the example I always use, because it is the history of rock and roll. It's not the first rock song. It's not the best rock song. But it is everything.

It's all in there. The hand claps, too, especially. I just love those. And it's made on the cheap, and it was before their production got really great. I mean, it's just pure in a beautiful, magical way, and it's not about holding hands. That's the whole point of it.

It's a, you know, Kate says this too, that the Beatles were the first band to sing about sex, to actually talk about emotion on that level rather than, you know, I mean, metaphor. It is a metaphor, but they also say, I've got something to tell you and I think you'll understand. And it's not about holding hands. And it's just beautiful. It's just perfect and it resonates in you. And if you still don't get goosebumps at the end of that, that baseline, there's something wrong with you. You won't be surprised to learn the Beatles show up in quite a few of these jam-kicking experiences.

How could they not? Not only does the stuff still rock, what, 65 years later? But, 55, I'm not that old. But it's, oh, yeah. It's in our DNA. It's in Oh, yeah. It's in our DNA. It's in the firmament. It's in the fundamentals. It's like a mathematical equation. If you break it down far enough to the square roots,

you'll find either the Beatles or maybe Chuck Berry. The tougher challenge is probably which Beatles track do I go with? I think that is the tougher... It tells you more about the person than they think it does. In fact, you told me to do a spoiler alert, but Freddie P. from Humble and Fred That is the tougher... It tells you more about the person than they think it does. In fact, don't mean to do a spoiler alert, but Freddie P from Humble & Fred is dropping by in two days to kick out the jams.

And we might just hear another Beatles track there. What are the odds? Who knows, right? Who knows? But that was great. Thank you for that. Let's hear Norm's second jam. Out on a windy common, that night I ain't forgotten. When she dealt out the rations with some or other passions, I said, you are a lady. Perhaps she said, I may be. We moved into a basement with thoughts of our engagement. We stayed in by the telly, although the room was smelly.

We spent our time just kissing, the railway arms were missing. But love had got us hooked up, and all our time, it took off. I got a job with Stanley, he said I'd come in handy. That's Up the Junction by Squeeze. A lot of my stuff is going to auger towards Power Pop. I know that about myself. But this one lines up nicely. Strangely, there seem to be a few songs in here

about people falling in love with English women. It's a strange thing. I seem to have a tick. But again, as with the Beatles, I was into Squeeze before I met Kate, who comes from Stockport, which is not too far from Liverpool. So that was the other accidental... I didn't know that at the time with the Beatles, I was into Squeeze before I met Kate, who comes from Stockport, which is not too far from Liverpool. So that was the other accidental. I didn't know that at the time with the Beatles question.

So that lined us up quite nicely. Hang on one second. So that bridge, that little thing, which isn't even a bridge, that little bounce, makes me tear up every single time. I don't know why. I don't identify with this song in any way, but it's just so beautifully done. And that too, so great. So this is a happy, bouncy, joyful song about a guy who gets trapped into fatherhood by his own lust.

If you listen to it, you won't hear that. And that's something that runs through a lot of my favorite songs, too. They're really not very happy songs, but they are magnificently bouncy and produced really well. There is a magnificent... I'm going to say that word a lot, I'm sure. There's a magnificent... They might be Giants cover of this song out there somewhere.

I have it. I think it was on a radio performance they did, either in the UK or in California, and it's almost as good, out there somewhere. I have it. It's on a, I think it was on a radio performance they did in, either in the UK or in California and it just, it's almost as good but I ended up going with Squeeze on this

just because, you know, the original and Can't Go Wrong. Plus, it's a pun. For those listening who might only know,

maybe they only know Tempted, I think that was the big radio. Tempted's a big one, yeah. The radio hit, Black Coffee in Bed. Oh no, that's XTC,

isn't it? I can never get that right. For years and for decades, I've confused Squeeze and XTC. XTC, I always remember they're the dear God people. That's right. But this is, yeah, this is my favorite Squeeze song. I also like songs that don't fade out. Oh, that's interesting.

I like a crescendo. I like an ending. Go big or go home. Yeah. And this song, Up the Junction, you don't actually have to live in the junction to appreciate it. That is not what that junction is about. All right, let's hear your third jam. All right, let's hear your third jam. Bangs To drape across your forehead To swing concordant angles

As you incline your head Once with a girl I fell in love Some time ago Now she had bangs Are that on which the word hangs Some time ago, now she had bangs. Are that on which the word hangs? I'm only holding your hand. So I can look at your... Bangs.

Bangs. They might be giants. Bangs. A song that I would bet nobody knows. They might be giants. Bang. A song that I would bet nobody knows. It's on a couple of their greatest hits or their compilations. I love this song. This is the opening track on Mink Car, which is a delightful, wonderful, weird album

that had the misfortune to be released on 9-11. So there is a documentary about the Giants called Gigantic, A Tale of Two Johns. It follows them around on what was supposed to be released on 9-11. So there is a documentary about the Giants called Gigantic, A Tale of Two Johns that follows them around on the, what was supposed to be their record launch tour. They were on the Daily Show on September 10th. They played at the Tower Records in what I think was lower Manhattan. It is an amazing movie because it quietly and never directly makes the connection that they're basically the heart of New York City,

that these guys are just this Brooklyn band who write smart, weird college rock, were just bouncing around singing songs about life and death and didn't even realize it. And after 9-11, everything changed. The album barely got any traction, but this is a beautiful, beautiful song. And there's this amazing line coming up just now. I dig your veins The hangs To drape across your forehead

Here it comes To swing concludant angles As you incline your head And although I liked you in Eveway I mean, if you want to talk about earnestness, that's such a beautiful line, but it also gets proscenium in there, which is like a proscenium to stage a face that needs no makeup. It's just so just perfect. It's just good writing. It's smart. It's got a killer beat. And yeah, I beat myself up for not picking a dozen different They Might Be Giants songs. The first one I ever heard was Birdhouse in Your Soul, and it was going to be my pick,

but then I realized, ah, the live version's a little better, and then I realized Jonathan Colton has an amazing cover of it that brings it back to the original lullaby concept, and then I remembered that nobody knows Bangs, so screw it. You guys have just discovered

your new favorite summer song. It's only 16 years old. And you can't listen to Bang bangs without smiling like i heard it when you sent it to me or you sent me the list i know i was absolutely not familiar with it and i listened absolutely because they might be giants they're the uh shadowy men on a shadowy planet people or am i confusing them with no that's the other thing but they're istanbul not constant okay that video tiny tunes uh no uh but they played it on much music a lot and i used to record videos off of much music That's the other band. That's interesting. But they're Istanbul, not Constantinople. Okay, that video. Tiny Tunes? No, but they played it on Much Music a lot, and I used to record videos off of Much Music,

and one of my personal video compilation cassettes had Istanbul, not Constantinople on it, and so I watched it many, many, many times. Oh, they had fantastic things. And you're right, sorry, yeah, so I was erroneously mistaking Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, which is the Kids in the Hall song, and I don't know why those two got mixed up.

Do you have any theories on why my brain is merged? I think they're both pure roots for old culture. Like they're in the 80s and 90s, the late 80s, the early 90s. They're definitely part of the same web of, oh my God, you like that? You'll like this. Right.

And yeah, no, the, oh. Bangs. I just, I love them so much. No, great. And you can see why releasing on 9-11, so unfortunate in a million ways, but that's a happy song, and I don't think people were ready to be happy for a long time.

No, it was, I mean, you know, music kind of bounced back faster because the Grammys were a few weeks later. But, yeah, it was, you know, for a New York band to release that album on that day, I can't, you know, I can't even imagine. But the album is great, and it holds up, and there's so much stuff out there. The album's called Mink Car,

and it is available on most musical places. You can also find it at tmbg.com. Yes, that's right. Which is where I live, basically. You're looking for Norm. tmbg.com. They're looking for Norm. TMBG.com. They're playing a concert in Central Park next weekend, or a week from Saturday,

and it breaks my heart that I won't be able to be there. Let's hear your next jam. guitar solo My music network My music network Avoid trends and cliches Don't try to get the date And when the sunlight Hits the olive oil Don't hesitate Like so long it hurts My music network

In a symbol too far With the anatomy of a stain To determine where you are The symphony of Ganges at the main No matter what you heard My music at work My music at work My music at work

The Tragically Hip, My Music at Work. That's my favorite hip song. The more I think about it, and we've had a lot of time to think about the hip the last year or so, I think this is perfect. I think it's just the straight driving. You can hear their origins as a bar band. You can hear their complexity, the evolving lyricism, all the stuff that Gord does. the evolving lyricism, all the stuff that Gord does.

And I, you know, they're back in the news again because Jen Bechuel and Nick Duponti's movie is going to be a tip. Long Time Running, the documentary about the tragedy. Right, yeah, I've seen the trailer. I can't wait. It's their last stand, their final concerts. I know Nick, I had Nick on my podcast earlier this year when his movie Black, oh God, Black Code came out. And we talked about it a little bit. And I can't, I know some of the people working on it.

And I can't imagine what it is like to be making this movie now. I'm really, like I just, a couple of people have asked me, like, why do you think TIFF is an opening with it? And it's like, well, because if Gord dies before then then it's going to be a funeral and you don't want that uh and i want to be able to listen to these songs i think it's going to be the same as with bowie they won't let you be sad these songs are just too good too powerful and too they pull you along i mean just listen to this You're all alone and the dummies might be right Outside the darkness lurks My music at work My music at work

I'm falling high from birth My music at work In the middle of the earth My music at work I'm a man without desert My music at work My music at work My music at work No fade outs for Gord Downie.

You get no argument from me. That is my favorite band of all time. And I love the track. And it's funny because when we talked about the They Might Be Giants track, I brought up Kids in the Hall. Yeah. That video was Bruce McAuliffe, right? Directing that?

I believe so. He did some of them. So we have a direct connect to Kids in the Hall in my music at work. Everybody knows everybody in Toronto. Yeah, no, the hip are, they were never as formative a band to me as they should have been

because I was already an adult when they started. I was always aware of them and I saw them a couple of times. I think it was like small film festival parties or things where they performed, but they weren't huge concerts. I've never seen them in an arena And I couldn't go and just, oh, I wish I'd been there. But at the same time, I have so much lived experience of them. You can't live in Toronto in the 90s and the 2000s and not be part of that wave of fandom and love and support. And what they've been going through now, I mean, I can't imagine. I literally cannot conceive of living this way. And to watch Downey do what he's been doing with his last year or so, just the Cheney

Winjack program and everything else he's been doing with Secret Path, and to make a difference and go out on his own terms and never stop being relevant, I think that's just, it's a, it's a, it's the ideal life, I think. I find it all very emotional. Just, just in this, you mentioned the movie or the documentary that's coming out at TIFF. Like just, I mean, I watched the last concert, where was I? Cape Redden. And I watched it on TV there. And I got to the middle show of the three in Toronto at the ACC. So I got to the middle one and I went by myself. And it was just very emotional. And you're right.

The songs will always be there forever. And they will make you happy and they'll make you feel good. And remember, you know, cottaging and all these creative things will flush back. But it just felt different at that time. It just felt like we were saying goodbye to a dear friend. Yeah, very much so. And even now, talking to you now,

thank you for a hip track, by the way. Couldn't not. Another band that's showing up an awful lot on these Kick Out the Jams is the Tragically. We had a streak going. I think the first three people who kicked out the jams, I think, was it Hebsey? Your brother had a hip track, right?

I think so. I'm pretty sure, pretty sure. And then Siobhan Morris from 1010 came in and she had a hip track. I think we had three in a row. Nice. So it's glad to get them back here. Well, if they're going to turn up on anybody's show,

it's going to be like the Toronto Centric Podcast, of course. Absolutely. Can't go wrong with Tragically Hip. All right, let's kick out another jam. Thank you. But no one's beyond what you can tell Maybe it's because I'm so versatile Style, profile I said, and it always brings you back when I hear Ooh child, from the hundred and a half to the now I rode the marathon to the very last mile Well if you battle me, I will revive

People always say my style is wild You've got call, you've got cow Step to me, I'm a rival If you want a battle, go eat tonight Open from your anus, you check my style Go ahead, put my rhymes on top Beastie Boys another dead musician now that I think about it yeah Adam Yock

Adam Yock Kristen Power Intergalactic Intergalactic again this was a tough one because I could have picked dead musician now that I think about it. Yeah, Adam Yock. Adam Yock, Kristen Power. Intergalactic. Intergalactic. Again, this was a tough one because I could have picked literally any Beastie Boys song. I almost went with the Eggman song, which is all Jaws from Paul's Boutique. I would have gone. I was

happily chosen. No Sleep Till Brooklyn. I've lived in Toronto my whole life, but somehow I'm a New Yorker. A friend of mine moved there in her 20s and she said that the city forces you to be your best self all the time. I may have even said this the last time I did the show. And yeah, there's not a lot. And unfortunately, I did choose Three White Guy Rappers, which is my own blind spot for hip hop.

But I love this song. It's a bouncy, great song. The video is a hell of a lot of fun. It's all crazy. And it just feels like a joyful overdose of everything they were interested in in that moment. It's all just poured in there. You know, let's make a song about robot fighting, robot space aliens, and then also throw in a reference to the song Ooh Child and whatever else we can think of. That's their thing. They can always make you understand exactly where their reference points are. I love the Beasties. Love them.

They're just their entire catalog all the time. I still stick them on my phone when I go for rides and listen to the Beasties. And yeah, Intergalactic is fantastic. It's tough to pick one, but you picked a good one. Yeah. How could you not? I think this one actually does fade out. This might be to pick one, but you picked a good one. Yeah. How could you not? I think this one actually does fade out. This might be the first one that fades out.

I think it goes, do it! I don't think it does fade out. No, maybe it doesn't. We'll get there in a minute here. I refuse to chop them down. Oh no. We're going to play it out. And you're right. This is a band that will never perform again. There is no replacing

add rock it's done oh yeah gone way too soon cancer in 47 i think something like that not even yeah in their 40s i called an mca didn't i and another one actually where they shot that amazing documentary, Awesome, which... Oh, that's right. It just goes into the next song on the album. Oh, I think this is Biz Markie, is it? I'm trying to remember. Biz Markie appears on a bunch of the albums doing this stuff. Oh, maybe. I'm trying to remember Biz Markie appears on a bunch of the albums doing this stuff well the green ain't no brother like the K-I-D-D

you know what I mean I'm telling you what the heck I'm telling you just goodness to the people here you go because I pulled it from my album cut

so that's how it ends on the album yeah oh no they did this we were talking about low resolution stuff they made a documentary called Awesome

I F'n Shot That that's how it was. And it was all shot with handheld camcorders that they distributed to the audience. 50 different cassettes were all synchronized. And because it was, I think, 2002, it's all low res, high def, and it looks like crap. And you'll never get a good version of it. But if you can see it, if you can go out and find it somewhere, it's definitely worth a look. No, I'll hunt that down. And Stiller pops up in there, just in the audience singing along like he knows every lyric. I like this band because they start off as like a kind of a party band that's, you know, fight for your right to party.

They were marketed as a joke band. Yeah, but one of the bands where by the end of their career, you didn't respect the band more than you respected the Beastie Boys, whether it was about Tibet or whatever. They were thoughtful and mature and interesting and eclectic.

They were so not what they started being promoted as. Yeah, it's like if Limp Bizkit grew up all of a sudden. Could you imagine? I'm going to get yelled at now. Or the Offspring or whoever it was. Yeah, they're so clever and what they did on Paul's Boutique was revolutionary to the point where people Spring or whoever it was. But yeah, they're so clever.

And what they did on Paul's Boutique was revolutionary to the point where people didn't notice it for 10 years until you turn around and it's like, oh, that all came from that album that nobody liked at the time. Well, as you see on my wall, I have a Public Enemy shirt because that was my favorite rap band.

And they shared a label for a while, Def Jam, but I always liked the Public Enemy number one, but Beastie Boys were always right there and I always loved that band too. Thank you for that. Let's hear another jam from Norm Wilner. guitar solo And then on the corner Suitcase in my hand Taxi in his closet

Venus in a vest Me honey on rock ropey my hand taxidermist corset Jane is in a vest me honey on rock ropey riding a studs

big at gym those were different times they

studied rules and the ladies they ruled their eyes Sweet Jane Sweet Jane

Sweet Jane Lou Reed, Sweet Jane. Yeah, off Rock and Roll Animals. There's a version, this is more or less the version that appeared on Walk on the Wild Side, the Best Of collection, where they cut the first three minutes of the rock intro, which is fine, but very something. But we should tell people I cut a lot of it, too. Yeah.

So just a full disclosure, that intro that you heard was much, much longer before I chopped it up. Oh, yeah. You lopped off like three minutes. Yeah. And rightly so, because this is the bit that rocks. With your permission, of course. Sure. Well, it gets closer to the version that I first heard. And the Velvet's, like the original track, the Velvet Underground, is very soft and composed and delicate and precise in a way that a lot of their studio stuff was.

But when you hear this version, it's like, this is what the song is. And there was that whole thing that came out of the late 60s and early 70s in music mixing where there was this weird fake precision. It was just, everything was snuffed out and it wasn't alive anymore. Billy Joel recorded songs in the attic because he wanted the live versions of the songs

to be out there for people so they could understand what he was trying to do on his first four albums. And with this, you hear this song, and it's like, yeah, this is, again, if you pick one rock song from the 70s, and you shouldn't have to because there was so much great stuff,

this is up there. This is a perfect pop song that now roars like an angry Detroit car that just, I don't even know how to describe it. It's, this is rock and roll. That wind will never really fade Oh, the buildings don't always blink their eyes That children are the only ones who blush That life is just a dime Anyone will have a heart

And when they run and break it Anyone will play or fall And when they're running Your New York is showing again. Yeah, it comes up a lot. I found out about Lou Reed's death walking the dog. I was walking home.

We were still in the market, and I just saw it on Twitter. I was walking past the hospital at Bathurst and Dundas at Western General, and it just took the wind out of me. You don't know how important an artistic influence is on your point of view until they're gone. I know I said this already, but it just absolutely devastating. Reed and Bowie and a couple of other people that I had always had. And I, you know, it's one of those things you turn around and realize, oh, I have everything they ever recorded.

I have all the box sets. I have all the live albums. I can't imagine not having these things. And this just, you know, I still have them. That's important. Also a song that finishes strong. And I like that you specifically wanted the live version. Oh, you hear it. Yeah, just the way he hits the lyrics,

the way he uses his voice as an instrument. Anyone who ever played a pa-ha-ha-heart, that's somebody who knows how he wants his song to sound. You're a movie guy, so I can tell you that I always liked Perfect Day. Trainspotting. Trainspotting. It's used perfectly.

It's used brilliantly. Having never done heroin, I can only assume that's close. But it does give you a way into the material that you might not otherwise have. That scene would be very different with a different song. And, you know, the Cowboy Junkies

version of Sweet Jane is beautiful and lyrical and lovely. I'm glad that's in the world, but the song is supposed to rock. Excellent. Let's hear your next jam. What is it? Oh, yeah. I broke free on a Saturday morning I put the pedal to the floor Headed north on Mills Avenue And listened to the engine roar

My broken house behind me and good things ahead A girl named Kathy wants a little of my time Six cylinders underneath the hood crashing and kicking Ah, listen to the engine whine I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me. I am going to make it through this year if it kills me. The Mountain Goats, This Year. Yeah, this one actually does have an emotional component. Sorry.

You know how we were talking about generations and how things go in cycles. Everybody has two, three years where it all goes to shit, where everybody dies and everything is horrible. So between 2006 and 2008, no, 2004 and 2007, I'm getting the numbers wrong, I lost three grandparents. I lost an aunt very young who had been,

actually she'd been in Western for a while, a different time than the time that the Reed story, but that's another association there. And I lost my dog dog I lost my cat it was just it was two and a half years of pure death and it was awful and everybody's been through it if they're a certain age you know cyclical and a friend of mine sent me this song and I knew the mountain goats but I didn't know this one song and I knew the mountain goats but I didn't know this one and he said this is for you that was all he said and I needed it I mean it really bad and yeah it's I'm not gonna say that it was it was absolutely the worst period of my life I'm not gonna say that I was depressed or suicidal or anything like

that I certainly was fine but you don't know you need something like this. Something that drives you and pushes you and then you slowly figure out what the song is about. And God damn it. I needed this song. I needed this really, really bad. And in Jerusalem this year. It's hopeful.

It just comes back for you. I didn't think I was going to sing on this show. But yeah. Also, the fun fact, the video is a riff on Michael Haneke's Funny Games. And that's something I didn't think John Dernial would ever pull off either. So yeah, Mountain Goats, great band. One guy, kind of a genius. He's writing books now too.

His first novel, Wolf in a White Van, is a lot of fun. I haven't read the second one. I just, yeah. I needed this song and I got it. Let's try and finish. See? You're right. No fade outs for Norm. I don't do that. And I was right there with you. I totally can see how that, you know, you needed that song.

It was there for you. You know, I'm going to make it through this year if it kills me. It's a great track. And I have to confess, I did not know anything about the Mountain Goats when I spun this song for the first time a couple of days ago. What a great way to be introduced to them, too. Great track. He put out an entire concept album about wrestling a couple of years ago.

He's one of those artists. Darniel is one of those guys who's just, whatever he is doing, I want to be part of it. I want to be in on it. I want to know it. I want to have it in my mailbox as soon as it arrives. Awesome. Yeah. Let's hear your next jam.

Is this what I think it is? Yeah. សូវាប់ពីបានប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់ពីប់� I'm not going to lie to you. You're lying in your bed and on a Saturday night You're sweating buckets and it's not even hot But your brain has got the message and it's sending it out To every nerve and every muscle you've got You've got so many dreams that you don't know where to put them So you better turn a few of them loose Your body's got a feeling that it's starting to bust

You better rev it up and put it to use And I don't know how I ever thought That I could make it all alone When you only make it better And it better be tonight And we'll fly away on those angel wings Of Rome and your daddy's car We'll be there for you tonight We'll be there for you tonight

I'll be there for you tonight And if you don't have anywhere to go You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll And even if you don't have anywhere to go You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll And we'll speak, so you'll ever need All you'll ever need to know Darling, darling

You and me, we're going nowhere slowly And we've got to get away from the past There's nothing wrong with going nowhere, baby But we should be going nowhere fast Everybody's going nowhere slowly We're only fighting for the chance to be last There's nothing wrong with going nowhere, baby That's Ellen Ame and the Attackers, Nowhere Fast. Isn't that fantastic?

That is the most 80s a song can ever be. It's got like four different key changes in the first. And here comes another one. It's just so insanely busy. But it's the opening number from Streets of Fire. And it's performed by Diane Lane and her big band. And it introduces you. It's like a six minute sequence that pulls you in.

And it is ludicrous and overheated and bright cherry red. And it is so good. This song, you know, you can make fun of Streets of Fire. God knows people do. It's the movie Walter Hill made after 48 Hours when Universal said you can do literally anything you want. Here is a bag of money. And he said, I want to make a 1950s rock and roll fable after a nuclear accident where

everybody walks around as cliches from 50s doo-wop numbers. And they said, okay. And then he got Jim Steinman and Diane Warren and all these power hitters. Well, you can hear Diane Warren there. Oh, totally. Angel Wings and Daddy's Cars and all of the lyrics. They're just nuts. But this is such a great swum.

I screened the film at Harborfront three years ago, I think, or two years ago. We did this whole series on invented worlds, movies that wouldn't, like, the thing you're seeing

in the film wouldn't exist if they hadn't had to build it for the movie. And Streets of Fire, people were kind of like, oh, this is ridiculous. Why did you choose this? And then I went down and I watched it with the audience.

It was one of the only ones I stayed for. And this number, there wasn't a single head that wasn't bobbing, a single foot that wasn't tapping. It just grabs you by the sternum and pulls you into the world. It's such a great song. This song is a time machine because it takes you right back to the 80s. Whether you want to go there or not, you're on your way. I hear so many holding out for a hero.

I can hear all these different 80s tracks inside this song. It's amazing. And people confuse it with Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young, which is the last song in the film. It's the out song, the other Ellen Ames song. But this is the opener, and this just kicks so much ass. It's so much fun. People, please rediscover Streets of Fire. It's out in Blu-ray

now from Shout Factory. Great special edition. Play it loud. Here comes the big ending. Two choruses. A choir. This is epic. Everyone's on coke. So good. Sorry. Don't speak, speak as a word Don't speak, speak as a word

Don't speak, speak as a word Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, So if you're not sweaty or just crashed your car or something, you listened wrong. I was going to say, I'm sweating. Are you kidding me? I just, you know that. Well, you were air drumming for the last four minutes. Yeah, that 80s dance where you kind of run on the spot or whatever. What's that called? I think the Running Man.

Running Man. I'm going to play this later for my 16-month-old because she's like a dancing machine right now. I don't think she'll know what hits her. I'm sure she won't. There were a bunch of soundtrack cuts that I thought about picking. It was going to be either this or Three Small Words from Josie and the Pussycats, which is, again, a perfect pop song that just happens

to be a fake song in a movie about a fake band. But yeah, Nowhere Fast deserves a little time back in the spotlight. Come on, guys. It's glorious. And a fake name, but just the name Ellen Aime and the Attackers is pretty damn cool.

Yeah. Fun fact, stupid fun fact. In The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, there's a disc with a bunch of bands on it, and Ellen Ame and the Attackers are in there. Joel Silver produced both movies and just decided to throw everything he could in there. I love fun facts like that. It's a dumb fun fact.

It's silly trivia, but that's what I'm here for. And that had Elvis' wife in it, right? Priscilla's in that movie. I'm pretty sure is she in that? no, no, no, no, no she is in Ford Fairlane, yes, because it was right after The Naked Gun people thought she was a comic actress

and I was a huge Naked Gun fan pretty young guy back then, loved The Naked Gun and then I loved Ford Fairlane too actually I actually maintain that Ford Fairlane in 1990, if you had made that exact same movie with Dennis Miller instead of Andrew Dice Clay, it would have worked. Like, it would have been a hit. And now it's just like, oh, this guy's, this terrible actor in the middle of it is ruining everything.

Oh, man. Yeah, Andrew Dice Clay. It was a short ride. I hope he saves some money. I mean, I think he's on the rebound. I'm not too sure. Yeah, he was in a Woody Allen movie a little while ago, and he's on a TV series now, I think.

Good for him. Making a comeback. Well-deserved. Why not? I've got to eat. Hickory dickory dock. All right. Let's hear...

We're so much better than this. I won't finish that one. Let's hear another jam from Norm Wilner. When I was a young boy My mama said to me There's only one girl in the world for you And she probably lives in Tahiti I call the whole wide world Well, boy, yeah, she probably lives in Tahiti. I call the whole wide world, I call the whole wide world just to find her.

Or maybe she's in the Bahamas where the Caribbean sea is blue We've been in a tropical moonlit night Because nobody's told about you I call the whole wide world I call the whole wide world It's a wonder I call the whole wide world I call the whole wide world I'm half way there I call the whole wide world I go the whole wide world My map really high

I go the whole wide world I go the whole wide world It's a fun This is Reckless Eric and the song is The Whole Wide World. Yeah, just one of those little tracks that you don't think is going to resonate. It's in the Stiff Records box set. It's this odd little part of it is a novelty track, and then it all of a sudden turns into an actual rock song.

You can tell I really like growling guitars, huh? Yeah. I love this song, and I will go years without thinking about it. It's one of those weird little tracks that just bounces around in your brain, and it came up maybe a week ago. We heard some version of it on the radio, and it's like, oh, my God, that's right. I have to include this one, too.

And it's so great because it's complex and weird and it's straight-ahead rock and roll, but if you listen to the lyrics, it's about a guy who is never going to be happy because he knows he can't find this person. He is prepared to travel the whole world for love. It's an optimistic, earnest, and doomed song, but it feels so much for all of the characters in it.

It's that little sketch at the very beginning of this girl in the Bahamas crying because no one told her that there's someone out there for her. It's so weird and touching and loving. And then just to connect it to movies, obviously Will Ferrell sings it in Stranger Than Fiction on either a guitar or ukulele,

some little small acoustic instrument. And again, I didn't know that was the song that was coming. When he starts into it, it just tells me everything about where this movie is. And the way the film handles it, he's singing it to Maggie Gyllenhaal, and it's this small, wistful little performance in the movie. I think we faded out there. Yeah, well, early rock records. That might be the only one that fades out, I think.

But yeah, I just, such a great little song. And again, it's the kind of thing that people will forget exists, and then they'll hear it, and the world floods back to them. Well, let me tell you this. So there's one jam to go, and I can tell you, I'm going to think off the top of my head, you're the seventh or eighth person who came in to kick out the jams, but you're

the person with the greatest percentage of songs that were not in my collection already. Oh, cool. Which is a claim to fame right there. What is the percentage? Like, what is it? Well, let's, I can tell you, I had the Beatles the person with the greatest percentage of songs that were not in my collection already cool which is a claim to fame right there what is the percentage like what is it well let's i can tell you i had the beatles track the hip track and the beastie boys track and that was it wow so three out of the 10 songs i had already sometimes i mean you know sometimes a guest will come in your brother i had a lot of your brothers and i asked him for one track or whatever but a lot of times a guest will come in and i will have eight or nine,

or my buddy Elvis came in and kicked out the jams. I think I had them all. They were, you know, same wheelhouse, but I kind of found this exciting because I had to go source out Reckless Eric

and I got to be completely honest with you, I don't think I've ever heard the name Reckless Eric before in my life. He's pretty much a one-hit wonder. He was around, he still releases albums. He is still fairly popular in the UK and has a

following, but yeah, he didn't break. This song is the only thing people know. What year though, can you tell me what year the whole wide world would be from? I want to say 78 or 79. It might be a little bit later, but the Stiff Records label started up with, you know, like all British punk and post-punk is in there so it would have been in that window somewhere but it's a fun it's a fun track you can you can hear that kind of that brick kind of dirty brit rock sound going there and i like it when it's grimy right and i like songs that kind of start i just always like songs that kind of start slow and they kind of suck in and then they just boom like just just go i love the false start

of the chorus too that it's not the the chorus. He just says that first little verse and then establishes his mission statement. I would indeed go the whole wide world to find this person. Then it comes up with another person and that's where the chorus comes in and it just kicks in. Notice I did not bite.

They did not trick me with the fade down. That was great. So yeah, I learned about Reckless Eric today, the mountain goats. I'm so glad. Even Streets of Fire. I know you're talking about Reckless Eric today, The Mountain Goats. I'm so glad. Even Streets of Fire. I know you're talking about it like everybody knows Streets of Fire. No, I know.

I don't know Streets of Fire. When I send out the email for a guest on someone else's movie, when I try to invite them and lure them in, I use the example of Streets of Fire as a movie that I would pick to talk about because I cannot believe it exists. It doesn't, it's not right. And what year did that come out again? That was 84, I think.

It shouldn't be a thing, but it is, and it's magnificent. It's like, it's an imaginary movie that someone managed to pull into existence through sheer force of will. Let's kick out your last jam, and then don't go away, everybody, because Norm's going to give some honorable mentions.

I have a few. A dozen. All right, let's hear this. train down to coney island with the money i saved gonna get me great drip down a lot of basil hay and get kicked out when i can't see straight and what an island to be Fountains of Wayne with Red Dragon Tattoo. I could just listen to it, frankly. I think this is the perfect pop song. This is from their second album, Utopia Parkway. They're a band of two guys and some other friends. Adam Schlesinger and Chris, oh God, I'm going to forget his name,

the guy who's now Look Park. They are, I don't know if they're my favorite band, but they might actually be at this point. They no longer exist. They broke up a couple of years ago very quietly, just sort of fell apart. Schlesinger runs off and does, he's I think the prime mover on the songs with Rachel Bloom for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend these days

where he cranks out seven or eight tracks an hour he wrote the song he wrote That Thing You Do he writes amazing fake pop songs and it's because he understands what everything works and where everything goes

and why things should go where they go this little bit is one of my favorites here. Will you stop pretending I've never been born? Now I look a little more like that guy from Korn. I thought it was porn for the first two years, which is also funny. That's right. And here we have the perfect power pop solo. I mean, you can't not smile.

You can't hear that and not grin. It's just such a wonderful, infectious, silly song. And it's about someone doing a stupid thing for love, which is kind of my jam. It's just, it's a wonderful, wonderful song. And, oh, it was also the song Stephen King says he was listening to when he was hit by a van and almost killed.

Oh, wow. Yeah. He recreated the moment in his TV show, Kingdom Hospital. I don't know why this is on. Oh, I do know why this is on my mind. I just did this whole stupid gallery of Stephen King movies. Okay. And, oh, hand claps. There should be more clapping in the song.

Hand claps are the best. It's funny, actually. Fountains of Wayne is a band that I deeply, deeply love, and Kate and I discovered by accident because I bought the wrong album. I meant to buy, or rather, I thought I was buying a Kings of Leon album, and they both had hits around the same time, and someone said that,

oh, you'll love this album. Every song on it is a different band song if you listen to it. And it was whatever Kings of Leon album was in, I think think 2003 or 4 whenever the fountains of wayne album welcome interstate managers came out so i bought the welcome interstate managers brought it home we listened to it we fell in love with it and every song does sound like a different song and then dove back into their catalog and found utopia

parkway which is their previous album which has a red dragon tattoo on it which is just yeah i think it might actually be my favorite pop song now that i think about it it's just it's just magnificently crazy wow and you mentioned that thing you do and yeah you know that movie that song had to be you know you had to believe that could be a radio hit for that to work you know i mean and it worked yeah like i always thought that was a great fake song in a movie yeah and you you hear four or five different versions of it by the end of the film you have to be as sick of it as they are. Right, right. But the first time

they play it, when it speeds up and goes crazy, it just, it is magnificent pop bliss. I just, I love a song

that pulls me away from whatever it is or in the case of a movie song that works for the movie I'm watching. Yeah, and all the songs, that thing you do

soundtrack is incredible because every one of those songs is a fake song riffing on a type of music. And the other thing that's really fascinating is that Tom Hanks designed that movie so that it is American pop music

without the British invasion. The idea is that the Beatles didn't happen in this alternate universe where the Wonders are a hit band because it's 1964 and there's no Beatles. And so all of the music has to be produced in the absence of the Beatles, which is really fascinating because you can hear them removing the influences. Is there anything that man cannot do?

Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks? Play a villain? I don't think he can do it. What's the meanest guy he's played in a movie? He plays an assassin in the Lady Killers in the Coen Brothers movie, but it's an arch comedy and it doesn't really land. No, he's a genuinely nice person.

I think it would be very difficult for him to play a bad guy. That's true. Yeah, he always plays a pretty likable guy. All right, let's hear some... Yeah, feel free to ring off some honorable mentions.

That was a fantastic 10 jams. Thank you for bringing them. You've introduced me to a whole bunch of new stuff that I'm going to start diving into, but let's hear what didn't make Final Cut.

Almost anything off of Stars, Set't make Final Cut. Almost anything off of Stars, Set Yourself on Fire, almost anything off Broken Social Scenes, either you forgot it in People or... No, I think I would have harvested that one pretty hard. I almost... I gave you a bonus track possibility, which is

The Metrics' Black Sheep, which is a track they never recorded, or they never... Obviously, they recorded. They never released it. And Edgar Wright got Brie Larson to cover it in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But the version on the CD, on the soundtrack, is the Metrix track. Okay. Not the Brie Larson track.

Because that would have doubled your CanCon, because you only have the hip track. I thought about it, too. Your solo CanCon. Yeah, I pulled off a lot of stuff. Half of Bowie from 1975 to 1980. Queen, could have gone for Queen. Don't Stop Me Now, which is in Shaun of the Dead, and a million other things, but that has the perfect iteration there.

White Lines, which is also in Shaun of the Dead, actually. It was one of the last ones that I cut. The Stones. Which Stones track were you going to go with? I was torn. I really like Jumpin' Jack Flash. I really do. Mixed Emotions, which nobody remembers.

I do, because I was working the C&E when the Steel Wheels tour was going on, and that was the big radio cut when they came to the grandstand, and I stood outside, because I was working that night. I think you told me this. Did I?

Okay. So when they came around, I stood outside the stadium and listened from outside the grandstand at the C&E. I can totally see the appeal. You're right. They had a couple of... He bought that album because I was an idiot.

But there were a couple of radio singles, and that was the first big one. And there was a, I could almost hear you cry. There was like a second sweet... I still like that track. It came off that album. A River Deep Mountain High,

either Ike and Tina Turner or an Annie Lennox cover that just kicks so much ass. Has an amazing piano line. I didn't have any Motown in there. I didn't have any... It's tough, eh? I've actually been working on it myself,

so I can attest that this is not an easy task. How have you whittled it down? Like, what did you end up... Did you tack in any direction? Did you... Have you released your... No, I'm waiting for the appropriate time to release my 10 jams into the wild.

But some of the bands you just mentioned actually were considered. And it's funny, you mentioned Metric. I just want to point out if anybody... I have not had Metric on the show, but Avery Haynes came on the show. Oh, yeah. The sister of...

Emily, yeah. Emily, there you go. Right, Emily Haynes. I'm sure they would love to do this. Yeah, I've had... Oh, there were a whole bunch of other covers that I could have gone with. I thought about doing an entire list of covers

and then I realized that was a coward's way out. I love cover songs. I'm deeply, deeply fond of the idea that you can get inside something, take it apart, put it back together again in a new way. I'm with you. Natalie Merchant has a cover of... What was on the 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged album?

Was it Because of the Night? The Springsteen song? I can't remember. Patty Smith? Patty Smith sang it, but the Maniacs covered something. There's an amazing cover of... Yeah, sorry, now I'm locking up

because I can think of so many of these you could go forever um i'm glad you mentioned covers because i was conflicted too because a lot of i ended up with at least my 10 that i have right now at least two of them are covers oh yeah so i decided i don't you know covers okay but it's amazing how you can interpret a song differently and then that becomes your preferred uh version oh yeah totally um you know, one of the Bowie tracks I was going to use was Man Who Sold the World because I wanted to bring it back from everybody thinking about it as a Nirvana song.

I know, yeah, they think it's a Nirvana song. And the Bowie track is weirder. The production is just insane on that one with the high... But that's a good example of where I prefer the cover. That's one of the examples like that. That's one of them where I actually prefer the Nirvana cover. It's pretty good. It's all good.

And thanks for your second visit to my studio. Oh, this time I get beer out of it. It's pretty good. It's all good. And thanks for your second visit to my studio. Oh, this time I get beer out of it. It's a pleasure. That's right. You didn't get beer the first time. So you get the pint glass from Brian, the beer from Great Lakes Beer. Before I even say goodbye to everybody, tell them what's the best way for them to subscribe to your podcast. If you're going to find someone else's movie, you can find it on Apple Podcasts,

iTunes, Google Play Music, and Stitcher. You can also find it directly online at someoneelsesmovie.com and on the web at, no wait,

I did that backwards. You can find it on Twitter at semcast, S-E-M-CAST, or on the web at someoneelsesmovie.com. You can find me on Twitter at Norm Wilner

and you can tell that I record this same outro every week for the podcast because I've got it memorized. And now you stole my Twitter. I was going to drop your Twitter handle, too. I'm going to do it again so they can make sure they don't forget it. But thank you, Norm.

Fantastic. I want people listening, though. You've got to queue up the Mike Wilner jams and the Norm Wilner jams and let us know which set you prefer. Let them fight in your ears for prominence. But remember, when people pick their jams, there is no wrong. You can't pick a wrong song. This is so subjective. You like what you like.

Yeah, absolutely. There are no wrong answers in rock and roll. Correct. Country music, though, there are plenty. And that. Oh, Dolly Parton, Jolene. Oh, Jolene, which there's a Miley Cyrus version floating around, Backyard Sessions, that my now 13-year-old daughter was into,

and I loved that too. That's a great track, Jolene. Yeah, yeah. And you can't help but sing along to Jolene. That's one of those ones you can't listen to. Yeah, I think that's why I didn't pick it, because I would have been singing along to it. And I'd be singing with you.

I derailed your outro. That's okay. And that brings us to the end of our 255th show. You can follow me on Twitter, at Toronto Mike. Norm, as he mentioned, is at Norm Wilner. Don't follow that at Norm guy. He doesn't do his own

tweets. We're sick of that. I think we talked about that last time too. He just wants to sell you a shirt. You know what? We're not doing that. And he denies climate change. There's a lot of issues with this guy. Come on. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer and propertyinthesix.com is at Brian Gerstein.

See you all next week.