Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Remembering Hal Harbour: Toronto Mike'd #1305

Episode Date: August 12, 2023

In this 1305th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike remembers Hal Harbour a.k.a. Doug Barron who has passed away at the age of 71. You'll hear a couple of Doug's CFNY jams, how he ended up on the air at 102.1, the people he worked alongside, his music with Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith, his role as Steve Rogers on Trailer Park Boys and about his love of surfing. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

I think, you know, going traveling around the world, very visionary man, playing that stuff very early on. Shep baby, something going on here. Shep baby, something going on here. What a sound, what a stimulation of the endorphin. That was me and Billy there. Okay. Whoa! Whoa!

Chef Baby, something going on here. Chef Baby, something going on here. What kind of music is this? Music. What kind of bloody music is this? What a sound, what a stimulus. Yeah, I'm laughing. That was me building it.

What a sound, what a stimulus. Yeah, I'm laughing. That was me building Billy. That was me and Billy. That's it. It's all over now. You think we're high now? We're going to take it to a new plateau. Yeah. Okay.

I think, you know, going traveling around the world is very visionary, man. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Okay. We're going to get back to the rules. We're going to get back to the rules. We're going to get back to the rhythm. Okay.

Okay. But you blew my mind. That's what it's all about, really, isn't it? That's what it's all about, really, isn't it? Oh, I think that's a perfect lead-in. It's Shepard at Blond Wigman. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. This song you're listening to is Chris Shepard and the cult's Ian Asbury.

And this CFNY jam was produced by Hal Harbour. Hal's real name was Doug Barron. And on August 9th, 2023, Doug died at the age of 71. Doug died at the age of 71 to quote his obituary his spirit was indomitable to the end but his body could not keep up less than a year ago

in September 2022 Hal Harbour was my special guest on Toronto Mic'd. And we talked about his years at CFNY, his music, his role as Steve Rogers on Trailer Park Boys, and surfing. Here's an edited version of that conversation. I've never had a mom in a relationship. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby.

Wait a minute. We gotta get back to the roots, we to get back to the roots. We're going to get back to the rhythm, you know. Okay. Okay. Okay. I think, you know, going traveling around the world, very visionary man. Playing that stuff very early on. Welcome to Toronto Mike's Hal Harbour,

or would you prefer if I called you Doug Barron? Well, I don't use Hal Harbour so much anymore, but I answer to either. Well, good. Then I'm going to call you Hal. Yeah, good. Sounds like a Paul Simon song. You can call me Hal.

It does, doesn't it? I was given that name by brother Jake Edwards when I was working at the rock station here, Q104. We were driving across the Halifax McDonald Bridge and the station was just becoming on the air. And he said, we got to come up with a name for you for the news guy in the morning. And Hal Harbor just kind of sprung out of somewhere. So we went with that. And Hal Harbour just kind of sprung out of somewhere. So we went with that.

And of course, Earl Jive used to call me Halibut Harbour, Halitosis Harbour. You know, he had the whole run. Brother Jake Edwards, also an FOTM. Hal, you are now an FOTM, a friend of Toronto Mike. So congratulations. Thank you. Have you at all kept in touch with Bro Jake? Any contact of Bro jake over the last i don't know like last decade or so yeah we communicate a couple times a year he's out in on the west coast there and he's i think he's retired now playing golf and driving motorcycles

and stuff and we still reminisce about some of the old great days of fun radio that we had together. So before we find out how you ended up on CFNY, let's find out if you knew, or maybe you know, John Gallagher. Because sort of famously on Toronto Mic'd, we learned that John Gallagher ended up on Q107 here in Toronto because he was playing softball with Brother Jake, who mentioned there was an opening and he should apply. And Brother Jake was on his way to Q107. But are you familiar with the John Gallagher?

Yes, John Gallagher just moved back to Halifax a little while ago. But here's the story. They actually offered me the sports guy's job. Wow. And I said, thanks a lot, but I'm not your guy. John Gallagher is your guy. He was knocking them dead on the morning show here at C100 in Halifax. And so he took it and went with it.

And the rest is history. I've got to process this information. This is quite the mind blow. So you, Hal Har harbour you're the reason john gallagher entered our lives here in toronto that's right gary i'm trying to think gary slate was the uh the big guy there at the queue and uh he said hal you know you got to come down here and work with jake and i was like love to but like i said john's your guy and so john john took it up and and uh yeah he's he's quite the character.

He's back here now. And he's been bugging me to get out and party and stuff with him. Well, that man can party. You sure can. I got to know him pretty well because Peter Gross and John Gallagher had a show called Gallagher and Gross Saved the World that I was producing. And they would. So John and Peter would end up in my basement for like extended periods of time as we recorded these these are great episodes by the way yeah uh kind of the pandemic kind of killed that show because

John was pretty he didn't want to go anywhere and uh next thing you know he sold his Toronto home and ended up back home in Nova Scotia where you are. But yeah, quite a character in this city. I mean, you know, he's kind of polarizing, I suppose. But I got a lot of time for John Gallagher. Yeah, he's bigger than life. That's for sure. He's got that big booming voice. And if you look at his social media pages, he's got selfies with just about everybody.

He was the selfie man before we all had phones in our pockets. Exactly. He was. Okay. So here's how we're going to do this, Hal. I got to get you to CFNY, but I want to understand who the hell were you before you moved to Toronto to be on our airwaves? Give me a little background. Yeah. I'll give you a brief history. I went to Humber College radio broadcasting. I graduated in 72 or something like that. Moved to Simcoe, Ontario, worked there for a spell, then moved back to Toronto, worked a little bit in advertising and did some overnight stuff at the country station up in Richmond Hill.

I can't recall the call letters. stuff at the country station up in Richmond Hill. I can't recall the call letters. And then I moved back to Halifax and worked, you know, at CJCH C100. And it kind of dried up, things kind of dried up for me here. So I moved back to Toronto and bugged Don Burns to give me a break, let me in the door. That's all I need. And so he found a weekend spot for me and a spot doing a little bit of writing on his music history thing. And once I got my foot in the door there, then I was away. What year was it when you arrived here and showed up on 102.1 CFNY? Well, I'm not good on years, but I think it's 1988.

That's the year I came down and Liz Janik was just being appointed the Canadian talent director or whatever as such, and was there from 88 to 92. Okay, now, as you can imagine, I have some questions, but first I got a couple of comments for you when I tweeted that Hal Harbour was finally making his Toronto Mike debut.

The first, well, a couple, but the first one's from Danny Elwell. Okay, yeah, Danny. I know you know Danny well, but she tweets, yes, lots of S's in that yes, by the way, and even exclamation marks. I think of at least three of them.

And she writes, wonderful human being. So maybe right off the top here, tell me about your relationship with relationship with danny uh then and now well we had a i was doing uh live in toronto at six o'clock which was the live music show we talked about what was going on in the clubs and played interviews had guests and then danny and i would make that transition into her evening show so we'd always have we always had this fun little turnover uh you know you know, carrying on and joking and such.

And, uh, and eventually I had a band too called Funky Bummer and I used Danny to do some vocal work in that. It was kind of a trippy trip hoppy thing. And she did some poetry with that on that. And we've just remained good friends over the years. She just was down here this summer, uh, with her, with her husband and, uh, took them around and we had a little fun. And, uh, I saw And I saw the photos, firstly.

That was amazing to see you and Danny together. There's another gentleman. Sorry, not that Danny's a gentleman, but there is a gentleman. Yeah, there's another gentleman. Scott Turner. Here's the comment from Scott Turner. First of all, he says hi. So hi, Hal.

Hi. Hi, Scott. Your voice reminds me of Scott's, by the all, he says hi. So, hi, Hal. Hi. Hi, Scott. Your voice reminds me of Scott's, by the way. I do a lot of chat with Scott often, and you have a very similar timbre to your voice than Scott Turner. Yeah, that's interesting. Never heard that before. Just an observation. But here's what Scott writes.

Still have that old station wagon? Or what was it? The Halmobile. Not sure why I remember that. What's Scott talking about? It was probably one of my old Volvo, or I had a Peugeot at one time too, which was pretty vintage, and it took me around to various events. That way he took part in CFNY.

That's probably what he's referring to. So to kind of whet our appetite, I have a few clips of you on CFNY. So I'll kind of liberally sprinkle them throughout our 102.1 discussion here. But let me get the first one going here just to hear a bit of Hal Harbour on CFNY. From Don Burns' afternoon drive, we shift gears and go straight to Live in Toronto, an hour-long look at Toronto's club and concert scene. The program is hosted by Hal Harbour and is followed at 8 p.m. by Danny Elwell. Live in Toronto from CFNY FM 102. How you doing? Welcome to the Thursday edition of Live in Toronto. We are going to review some of

the concert announcements we made last night in case you missed it. We'll also take a look ahead at the Rockabilly weekend we are presenting this weekend at Harborfront. Off the top here we have a cancellation. The Box will not be performing tonight at the Diamond Club. They've cancelled. Apparently they're going to be doing some dates with Sinead O'Connor. The Box not performing at the Diamond tonight but the Saddle Tramps will be there along with the Paul Myers Band. We'll start the show off tonight with the Saddle

Tramps live in Toronto. Saddle Tramps. Okay, so are you the original host of Live in Toronto? No, I'm not, and I'm trying to think of who preceded me on that show. I can't remember who was doing it before me, but what a delightful show to do that. There was so much music going on at that time and just to meet and bring

people into the studio and interview bands and, and dig up new music from some of the Canadian indie bands was just fantastic. Even listening to that clip. So that's actually, i got a shout out uh brother bill and we're gonna we're gonna talk about a bunch of personalities you came across but brother bill uh at some point he digitized this scope i think it's from 1990 but that's what you heard there like the cfny scope and i shared it on the toronto mic feed so if anybody you know

you can actually hear the entire thing it starts with like humble and fred and then there's some deadly headly and i think chris shepherd's in there but i mean you know, you can actually hear the entire thing. It starts with like Humble and Fred, and then there's Deadly Headly and I think Chris Shepard's in there. But I mean, you know, it's just listening to that, like it kind of sets it up. So you had Don Burns and hold on and the Duffer. Yep. He did the afternoon thing with, with Burns for a while. They're the Duffer.

And then yourself live in Toronto. And then like you said, Danny Elwell after you. Yeah. The alternative bedtime hour was her late night thing which was pretty fun absolutely and even sleep in a good way I mean Danny's been on and I told her that was amazing okay so many questions

oh my goodness overload here but even that little clip I played it mentions the Paul Myers band another FOTM but I didn't even know like he had a band post gravel berries I guess is that I'm like he had a band post gravel berries, I guess is that I'm trying to think, is that post gravel berries, pre gravel berries? Anyways, he's Mike Myers brothers. So there's, yeah, I don't know if that was poster. Yeah. It's a good question. We'll have to look at that. I was, I wasn't aware of the Paul Myers band, but why not?

And then I love the shout outs to the diamond. Of course it hasn't been the diamond in a while, but, uh, very cool. Okay. So where will I begin? Let's talk with Don Burns, talk about Don Burns off the top. So Don's sounds like Don is the reason you got the gig at CFNY and he's no longer with us. And sadly, I'll never get to have him on Toronto Mike gone far too soon. But what can you say to us about the late great Don Burns? He was, well, he was an enigma for sure. And it was, I just had this obsession with, if I'm coming to Toronto, I want to work at CFNY. So I started, Marsden was still there. David Marsden was still there, just about to leave. And I kept calling him every two weeks. And finally he said, talk to Don Burns because Don was the new guy. So I pulled over into a pay phone somewhere near the 401

and called up Don and he said, look, I can offer you weekends and a writing gig, writing for my music history thing. And so the day I went in to meet with him, I went into his office and he was sitting there and he put his feet up on the desk and he had these giant furry moose slippers on. And I'm like, this is the guy for me. You know, what a character. And he just, yeah, he was great. He just, you know, he'd been through a lot of different radio experiences

and brought all that crazy energy to CFNY and knew how to pick talent and let talent take it their own way. You know what I mean? He didn't step on people. And he was like the imaging voice before that, right? I mean, his voice, I hear, I have all these old CFNY programs and ads, and he's all over the place with his voice. Yeah, I think he was doing the, yeah, was it the history or sports or something?

Yeah, he had the regular gig. Great set of pipes, yeah, just energy. And then he, of course, he really got into dance music in a big way when that storm rolled through Ontario. The trance thing and everything. Yeah, the raves. I mean, it's funny that I played, I mean, I read that clip,

that note from Scott Turner because he was at Energy 108 during this rave era. Like, he was the guy there. So it all comes full circle. And I think DJ, I think he was at Energy 108 during this rave era. He was the guy there. It all comes full circle. I think he was DJ Trance. That's right, he was. Yeah, with that big giant Dr. Funny Hat that he used to wear. Right.

Yeah. All right, who do I pick on next? Essentially, I want to talk about everybody that you encountered at CFNY. Let's talk now about Liz Janik, future FOTM. We've discussed this. She did appear on episode 1021. We had Liz Janik.

And while we're talking about Liz, at the time Liz was on Toronto Mic'd, her husband, Peter Goodwin, who you knew well, also was very, very sick. He was very ill. And he has subsequently passed away. So rest in peace

peter goodwin but what can you say about liz janik and peter goodwin well i think the thing for me was um i was always into like what you know and i appreciate the fact that radio stations play music from away from the west coast of the states or england or, but I could never quite get my hand on why we didn't play more local music. And that's what Liz championed was local new music. And so I think when she left, I kind of inherited that position and CFNY became the director of Canadian talent development, if that's not too redundant. I became the director of Canadian talent development,

if that's not too redundant. And it was my job to like, I stack of cassettes came in every morning, listen to them. That was great. Cause I'd lived in Western part of Toronto and I drove in my Volvo to the station and I got a chance to just like pop in cassettes and listen to that. And I'd be like, that's the song.

You know what I mean? It was great. Well, can you, do you have a memories of any particular band or song that you brought to the airwaves and sort of helped break that uh we might be familiar with well i guess i mean the biggest one is of course the bare naked ladies they i got their first cassette and uh yoko ono and all those tunes jumped out at me or uh if i had a million

dollars and i was like this is this is too cool. It's fun. And people are going to get it. And I played it for Jive, Live Earl Jive. And he was a music director at the point. He heard it too. He knew it was going to be huge. And we put it into heavy rotation. Phones went nuts.

We got a chance to give them $100,000 what they what they could with it and it was you know it was it was a great era for for breaking new music and and they were just they had all the charisma and the charm and everything to take it all the way well i was listening to you and your station at the time the uh yellow tape came out and with i, my memories are all those jams and high rotation, including the cover of McDonald's Girl. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. We got that from a live show.

I had a chance to commission the CFNY 24-track mobile unit every week. Go down to the River Lee and do the rheostatics. Go here and do the saddle tramps and we got that that track that live mcdonald's girl track which i don't think they ever put it on a record no never uh i mean they did they didn't write that song but uh no it's not theirs but but no it never did no because uh when i i've had a i've had a few members of that band on and uh you have to go to youtube and find like a potato-quality recording of it off of your 102.1 and absolutely no official release of McDonald's Girl, which is too bad.

Yeah, it's a perfect song for them. It sounds like it could be their song, their sensibilities. So that's a big one, Hal. I don't want to advance too quickly, but let's face it, that band had a number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. There's not a lot of... Although now I was going to say

there's not a lot of Canadian bands that can make that claim. But in the era of streaming with Drake and Weeknd and Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber, there actually are a lot of Canadians topping that chart. But prior to streaming,

it was super rare to get a Canadian artist that was topping the chart that wasn't like a Celine Dion or, you know, Shania Twain or whatever. But yeah, we used to, I mean, we played the early Tragically Hip records, stuff like that. They would call me, their manager would call me weekly.

Head with Brendan Canning and went on with social, broken social scene. He used to call me their manager would call me weekly uh head with brendan canning and went on with social broken social scene that he used to call me all and i became friends with these people because they call me all the time to urge me to play their records and of course after ending the saddle trance wasn't was sarah harm like i love i absolutely love talking about this time in music and all these artists uh that were kind that you were shining a light on. Did you have anything to do with the frequency we heard songs from Shakespeare My Butt?

Shakespeare My Butt. Well, we'd play them when they... I mean, the thing is, if you were gigging, then you got a good shot at getting a spin on Live in Toronto or on The Weekend Show. That was kind of the way to do it. Now that manager who's calling you every week for the Tragically Hip, that's Jake Gold, right? Jake. Yeah. Shout out to FOTM Jake Gold. And okay. So I'm trying to remember, I don't,

I don't remember and you will correct me cause you were there, but I don't remember CFLY playing any songs prior to the uh up to here album but did cfy play anything from that uh first ep the last american act whatever it was called i can't remember what it's called uh but the ep before up to here you played yes it was an ep yeah we did yeah that's the kind of the thing that broke it yeah i remember having that on my on my desk looking at it and giving it a spin yeah so i'm wearing this t-shirt today because this is steve falls label and steve falls with acid test there you go my old buddy steve fall he's got his new project now called on right and they're going hard they're going to you know they got it back together and power trio right he's a he's a fellow Nova Scotia guy,

and he remembers Mr. Skin. I guess you were the advocate for Mr. Skin, getting that on the air at CFNY. Yes, yeah, that's right. He played the corpse in that first movie. Do you ever know that? Okay, I didn't know he played, maybe I did, and I forgot, maybe, but...

But yeah, Mr. Skin... Highway 61, is that it? Yes, yeah, that? Okay. I didn't know. Maybe I did. And I forgot maybe, but, uh, but yeah, Mr. Highway 61. Is that? Yes. Yeah, that's right. If you see the beginning of that movie,

there's a corpse in that Steve. Yeah, no, he's a, he's a, he's a hustler. He's a, he's moving and he's always got something on the go.

He was back here for quite a while and, uh, teaching guitar. And he's probably still does, but, uh, then he moved back and got back with Lucy and they resumed.

You got it exactly right. And he's a sweetheart. But him and Lucy, their one big issue is that they're sort of diehard Leafs fans. And I mean, I myself root for the Leafs, but I'm a realist where every year there's going to be a parade down Bay Street with those two. So, uh,

Yeah, no, they seem to be doing pretty, pretty well. They've got a real crunchy sound and, uh, you know, Lucy's a great front person in that band. Uh, did you know, absolutely. Did you know, uh, Peter Goodwin well, or did you, uh, I didn't know Peter that well, it was kind of a transition point, but when him and Liz were working on the show and then they left and then I Goodwin well or did you uh I didn't know Peter that well it was kind of a transition point but when him and Liz were working on the show and then they left and then I kind of fell into that

position so but I did I did certainly work with him for probably half a year or something yeah now uh shout out to Ridley Funeral Home but I'm gonna ask you about some people who are no longer with us uh we've lost recently um what can you tell me about James Baby Scott? I didn't know James very well, actually. Yeah, he was always a transition. Again, he was probably just on the way out when I came in. Yeah, but I heard great things about him. People loved him.

You know, people talked about him all the time. Well, then maybe you're right. Yeah, because you're 88. You're right. Maybe I'm off a few years here. But did you overlap at all with Brad McNally? Nope. Nope.

Nope, didn't work with Brad. Let's do it this way. Let's see how good your memory is. And you knew you were coming on, so I'm thinking you might have gone back to the notes or something. But can you name check who was on the air when you arrived at CFNY? Well, Live World Drive was certainly on there. Shep was on there on Saturday nights. I'm trying to think of who was doing the morning show because there was a stage where, well,

Humble was there for a while with Fred, Humble and Fred and Dan Duran. Right. And then Steve Anthony did mornings for a while too, which was crazy. Right. Before still doing much music as well too. So he was doing both gigs and just running it to, you know,

burning the candle at both ends. He'd, he'd nap on the floor underneath the control board after his shift. Before he headed home because he was so out of touch. And I'm trying to think of who was doing the afternoon show. Probably Duff, maybe? And Don? Yeah, the Duffer and Don Burns were afternoons.

And I know Alan Cross was at the station. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And it was so funny because almost the first week I was there, and I was supposed to do weekends, it was like, well, the afternoon show's open and we're doing a live show at the Hard Rock Cafe. We need you to host. And so I was thrown right into this live broadcast at the Hard Rock Cafe

on Yonge Street. And it was like, okay, Jane Serberry's coming in now. Now you're going to interview Blue Rodeo, and next you're going to talk to, and I was like thrown into all these terrific music personalities. So I kind of was trialed by fire. It was great, great fun. Sounds amazing. And May Potts was there.

And May, yes, of course, May Potts. Yeah, my memory's really bad but it's okay i remember the first party i went to when they uh when i first got there and i was all these lovely women you know may and danny and and and everybody was so friendly and welcoming it was it was great because you're you know at first you're kind of a little intimidated but everybody was so supportive and great. No, good to hear, good to hear. Now, just this past week, it was a busy week here on Toronto Mic, but a couple of people who paid a visit here to the studio were Dave Bedini from the Rio Statics and Stephen Stanley,

who was from Lowest of the Low and now the Stephen Stanley Band. But what those two have in common is that they were very close with Dave Bookman. Yeah. Now what I'm hoping I can get from you, and I think this, cause I know Bedini would be, you know,

helped Bookie get his first radio gig at CIUT. But how does, how do you play a role in Bookie transitioning from, you know, CIUT to being heard on the air at cfny yeah we i think we worked together on the live in toronto thing because he just had so much insight and he had such a great way of of uh of talking about the music that we just used him more and more and more and then after i left him he you know he really went on to the bigger and great things.

And Bedini, I'm a big fan of Dave Bedini, too, not only for his music, but just his general, you know, intelligence and journalistic abilities and sensibilities, but all kinds of things. but all kinds of things so yeah i think and it happened to me here in halifax too i found another guy too who named less is more who was a just a character and we just he was just so brilliant on the air we just brought him forward because he was a natural dave bookman was a natural so yeah i guess we'd call that didn't the lowest of the low just do a some kind of a documentary they're working on a film just right lately. Yeah, yeah. So Ron Hawkins was here too with Stephen Stanley and they mentioned it but it's not available yet.

But yes, there is a Lowest of Low documentary coming. Absolutely. Are you in that doc by any chance? They asked me to contribute a little bit. I just did some text. Now, Bookie, so just to be clear because I think there's been a lot of

bookie talk they just um dedicated a plaque to him outside the horseshoe tavern and yeah very recently and uh steven stanley and dave bedini were there amongst other friends of bookie but bookie of course just before he passed away again far too soon like some others we've talked about but bookie uh was at uh indie 88 and he was at indie 88 because alan cross recommended indie 88 pick him up because he was no longer at cfny where he had been for so long and just to connect all the dots he basically ends up as the street reporter for live in toronto because like you said you he had the content and you'd put him on the air. But prior to that,

it was CIUT. And I just think it's a interesting to connect all these dots. So the bookie that we know and love really, you helped shine a light on him by putting him on your show live in Toronto on CFNY. Yeah. When you hear somebody that's got it, you know,

it's, and it's great that the management will let you do it too. Let's, let's work with this person, you know? Yeah., and it's great that the management will let you do it too. Let's, let's work with this person, you know? Yeah. Some people just have it. He had it.

He knew what he was talking about. He was down, he was on the street, he was in the clubs and he, yeah, he had the gift of gab too. I like to share like old, I call it like retro blue Jays music.

I don't know what else to call, but these these these compilation cds that were uh for the variety village charity and you know there'd be like toronto radio personalities would be like singing blue jay songs in the early 90s and this was very common as you know so one of them that i've shared is humble howard Glassman singing, let me get the right, let me get the, Jays to the Top, okay? Jays to the Top. So Captain Phil writes me that Humble did that song,

because I couldn't remember like whether he did that at CFY or if he had done it during that period. He's at the mix 99.9, because Humble leaves and comes back basically in like an 18-month span or whatever. But Humble did Jays at the Top..9 because Humble leaves and comes back basically in like an 18 month span or whatever. But Humble did J's at the top. This is according to Captain Phil. We can say hello to Captain Phil right now.

Captain Phil. What a great guy. He's at West too. He's a good guy. Good FOTM. Okay. So Humble did J's to the top at CFNY, not the mix. I know because I sang on the chorus with Hal Harbour.

because I sang on the chorus with Hal Harbour. So apparently, you know, we're going to get into some of your music in a moment, but your vocals can be heard on J's to the top. Fun fact. That's news to me. I don't remember this. Okay. You know, I never questioned Phil

because he's got a great memory and he seemed to be taking notes along the way. Is it possible? Oh, it's possible for sure because we did a lot of music in the studio, like just sort of cut and paste stuff, late night stuff. And one of the ones we did was Wild Wild West about the C&E. And, oh, there was an Earl Jive tune, a bunch of stuff.

I'll send them to you. Send them because I'll release them into the wild for the CFNY fans out there. Alright, I said I had a few clips of you on CFNY, so here's another Hal Harbour on CFNY. There's the Saddle Tramps live in Toronto. They're performing at the Diamond Club, not with the Box.

The Box have opted to open for Sinead O'Connor, and so it'll be the Saddle Tramps tonight at the Diamond, along with the Paul Myers Band. Also tonight, the C&E, it's Ronnie James Dio with guests Inge Malmsteen. Junior Gone Wild is in town for the weekend at Alberts Hall. At the Black Swan, the Kendall Wall Blues Band tonight. The Abrasives do the Cabana, the Nancy Sinatras of the Cameron.

And at Clinton's tonight, a show with Scott B. Sympathy and the Boneheads. And here's a track direct from cassette from the Boneheads. Their release is called Sex sex and this is my baby cried in toronto here my baby cried a little more of you on that day at uh cfny yeah oh yeah there was so much going like it was just a you know it was easy show to do because there was so much coming up and going on it was great you know i was working at the cne that day that i can tell when this is recorded because i was working at the x when ronnie james dio was playing at the the x i was working at a game booth and i remember you could you could tell the dio fans when they were coming before and after

the concert like they had a distinct look to them and oh yeah and i think i know i mispronounce every second word that's why i was never a professional broadcaster although some say i might be one now but uh how the heck did that happen but basically i think it's yngwie mamstein like it probably is i'm really bad at that stuff well you didn't have youtube to go confirm things before you that's right just let it roll off quickly and hope nobody was paying attention. All right, let's burn this third clip of you. This is the third clip and then we'll find out

why it ends for you at CFNY. Here's Hal Harbour, CFNY. There's the Boneheads. Yeah. Live in Toronto, my baby cried the Boneheads with Scott B. Sympathy at Clinton's tonight. Some concert announcements that we made

last night on the program we should tell you about again in case you missed them. CFNY presents Adamski at Lee's Palace Tuesday, September the 18th. Tickets are $10 at Ticketmaster, Peddler, Vortex, and The Club and they go on sale today. We present The Sundays at the Diamond

Wednesday, September 19th. Tickets are $11 for The Sundays plus service charge and they are available at Ticketmaster, The Peddler, Vortex, and The Club. Tickets are $11 for the Sundays, plus service charge. And they are available at Ticketmaster, The Peddler, Vortex, and The Club. That's the Diamond. They're on sale today. We also present An Evening with Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists. Wednesday, October 3rd at the Minkler Auditorium. That's at Seneca College.

Tickets $23 reserved, plus service charge. Available at all Ticketmaster outlets. They're on sale today. We also present Marian Faithful. Saturday, October 13th. This is live in Toronto, coming up, some rockabilly. What a different time in Toronto Radio. Like, the fact that, okay, here's some rockabilly. What a different time in Toronto Radio. The fact that, okay, here's some rockabilly. You know what I mean? What were the rules? I know in the Marsden era, Marsden's been on this show many times,

and basically, he let the DJs play what they want within these parameters. They had a system. There had to be a certain can-con. But pretty much, you could pick an album off the shelf and play like a cut whatever but what were the rules like in your era fcfy which is a little post marsden um when i yeah when i first got there we were still picking our own records we had to wreck albums and you could just go in and just pick your show uh you know you know you knew what time of

day it was. And, you know, at night, Saturday night, you want to be playing something a little more upbeat or danceable or whatever. But with live in Toronto, it was, there was nothing. It was wide open, you know, like you could play the Razorbacks and then go to, you know, Depeche Mode or whatever, you know, you could go all over the place.

If you were supporting a show or talking about something that was coming up. So it was great. That was the beauty of that show. Yeah. And even on the weekends, we would do requests. And I loved, you know, putting on a long track and then pre-recording the interview and then mixing it with the track when the time came. So it sounded like I had the record right in my hand. You know that one? Hi, can I hear this?

You got it. Boom, there's the track. Well, how do you do that? You know, it's pre-taped. Smoke and mirrors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm a producer, so I love sound effects. I mean, I was sampling just stuff off CDs

and playing them during dance tracks or whatever back before we had samplers or digital punch out. You know what I mean? So that was a great fun. And people really, you could tell people got off on that stuff. All right. Let me tell you a little story, Hal. Okay. This is, again, I never worked in radio, so I'm not from radio.

So I would just listen to radio. And I still remember, I think we're going back now 15 years, but Humble Howard, who I produced the Humble and Fred show today, so I'm still close with these guys, but Humble Howard was on Easy Rock, okay? This is post Humble and Fred, before the podcast. He was on Easy Rock with Colleen Rusholm. And I think I was in there to see how the sausage gets made because I'd never really been in a studio or whatever.

And I remember they said, okay, like I'm trying to remember now, caller 90, what is the call letters for easy? It's boom 97. Okay. Caller 97 wins something. Okay. And then he picks up the phone. He's like, sorry, your caller one or something.

And he picks it up again and he goes, sorry, your caller 15. And then he picks it up the third time and he says, congratulations, your caller 97. Okay. Like I'm witnessing this.

And I remember thinking, wow, like how gullible was I as a kid? Like you're hearing all this and you just like buying it. And how much of that is smoke and mirrors? It is so much of it. That's the beauty of radio. It's all smoke and mirrors. Yeah. We used to do that, but actually count them down to higher one, higher two, higher three, you know, and then finally get the fourth call was higher caller. One hundred and two. And then I should have, like I was so naive that like how quickly you got 102 calls or whatever.

Like I should have like had, there's like, there's probably not 102 people who are going to call in if you gave them like a week or whatever. Like that's, like I should have used some common sense. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's all, I used to, when I was in radio broadcasting at Humber, I would sit in my bed at night and listen to David Marston reaching into his brown paper bag and mixing all this music and Fireside Theater comedy bits and just take you someplace, take you away. Okay, so I'm a little mildly confused about one thing. So you're a Maritimer by birth, right? Born and raised in the Maritimes.

No, I was born in kitchener waterloo and i worked in southern ontario radio for a spell then i moved down here in 76 to work at the chum group station cjch which was like the top 40 number one station it's all crystallizing for me now and this is why you targeted essentially and alan cross did the same thing in manitoba apparently like he wanted to work for this station which was cfny yeah so you you were a fan of cfny this i was a fan yeah i actually worked a spell at chick which was the am station just down the road i did a morning show there for like four months before you know they were a little wacko there and they moved on to somebody else but he hired me as the morning guy yeah and uh so so that that's Fred Patterson was there.

No, I don't think Fred was there at that time. Like I say, I was only there for like four months. The Allen brothers, I think ran it at that time and they were. Okay. So everyone listening, he wants the full, this is quite a gory story actually, but you want, if there's a, there's, you know, jail involved, all this very exciting story. Well, yeah. Later days. Yeah. When I, when there's a, there's, you know, jail involved all this very exciting story. Well, yeah. Later days. Yeah. When I, when I started there, I mean,

he brought me into the studio to watch the morning show guy. I don't recall who it was do the show. And I could tell he was looking over his shoulder going, uh, what's going on here. There's another guy sitting there watching me do this show. And the next day, can you start tomorrow? And then I went, um, I'm going on holidays for a week down to see my folks and whatever.

I'll come back. Well, we've decided to let you go. Oh, thanks a lot. Wow. Okay. So this story is told in great gory detail in episode 102.1. So if anyone here is like, oh, I want to hear more of this CFY, we cover it from like day one to modern day. We even had at the time the current morning show host

on what is now the uh 102.1 the edge but it's all there in 102.1 well sorry episode 102.1 which is 10 20 21 so when i here let me ignore that when well so i'm almost gonna call you doug but i'm gonna try to call you how this entire episode so So the overall, when you look back at, you know, working for CFNY, what was your overall, like, were you happy with the experience? Was it a little underwhelming considering how big a fan you were? They say never meet your heroes, but what was it like working at CFNY? Oh, no. I mean, it was terrific because I got to work with all these great personalities, the Live Earl Jive and Shep. I mean, we had Martin Short.

We did the video Roadshow going out. Well, you mean Martin Streak. Martin Streak, I'm sorry. Did I say short? Martin Streak. That's all right. And doing all that and then being involved in the Caspian Music Awards too. I mean, we had license to just party and bring in all these great bands.

I remember we hired the Reostatics as the house band. We got Stompin' Tom to come out of his sort of retirement. Wow. And, yeah, it was just great because, I mean, the station had this obligation to financially support Canadian content. So we had a budget to do all this crazy stuff. And then when I came back to the Maritimes and, you know, Sloan was just 18 years old and we played there, took their record back and played it. And it took off.

All that stuff was just, it was extraordinary. I mean, really, it was just, it was extraordinary. I mean, really. It was just on a daily basis. And then Reiner Schwartz. And again, I was a super big fan of Reiner's from his days in FM radio. And to finally work with him. And actually, we played music together as well, too, in a band called Funky Bummer. And so, yeah, every day was an adventure.

It was great fun. Just great fun. Couldn't get there early enough in the morning to the station to start another adventure with those people. Now, because you said Casby, that's a Canadian artist selected by you. But of course, prior to that, they were known as the You Knows. Yeah, the You Knows. That's right.

So this is before you're at CFNY, but maybe this isn't the era when you're listening to CFNY, but I'm going to play this because I don't know when else I can drop this, but I got a great UNO bit here from 84. So let's just listen to this promo for the 1984 UNOs. Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the CFNY-FM UNO Awards 82. The CFNY-FM UNO Awards 82. Tonight, Long John Baldry, Martha Johnson, Carol Pope and Kevin Staples, The Spoons, B.B. Gabor, Bruce Colbert, Mick Karn of Japan.

Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the CFNY-FM UNO Awards 83. Jonathan Gross, Ivan from Men Without Hats, Murray McLaughlin, Carol Pope and Kevin Staples, Robert Priest, Vladimir Rogoff, The Spoons, The Tenants, and of course, Lenya Lovitch. All appearing at the You Know Awards. Monday, April 2nd, Royal York Hotel. CFNYFM presents the You Know Awards 84. The listener's choice.

A night with the stars. In honor of the Canadian music industry. UNO Awards 84. The listener's choice. A night with the stars. In honor of the Canadian music industry. UNO Awards 84. Register your votes now. You'll find the ballot every Thursday in NOW Magazine. UNO Awards 84. Tickets go on sale March 1st at all Bass outlets. A night with the stars.

The listener's choice. The UNO Awards 84. April 2nd at the Royal York Hotel. A presentation of CFNY-FM. 102, The Spirit. There you go. A little flashback for you. Yeah, and it just goes to show the amount of names,

musicians and bands in there that were recognized by CFNY. And a lot of those bands didn't get airplay anywhere else. You know, we broke a lot of music. Why does it end for you at CFNY? I guess it was the old story of management change. You know, the new management crew came in and said, we no longer require your services. And I remember driving. It was one of those days where

I was like, oh, great. I don't have a job. And I went out to my old Peugeot, which was parked out in front of the strip mall there in Brampton. And one of the big signs over my car had shorted and melted plastic down onto my car. And I and i'm like nice and so i started driving back into town and um the the engine block cracked and all this water got into the and i was driving down the highway in this big black billow of smoke and my car was just was you know disintegrating and i'm like i don't care i'm not stopping i'm gonna get home and then i got, and I'm like, I don't care. I'm not stopping. I'm going to get home. And then I got home, and it's like, it's my wife. I don't have a job.

The car is destroyed. And then within a week, they called me back and said, well, could you do weekends? We don't have a weekend, guys. So they brought me back for a few months on contract or whatever while they figured out that they didn't have enough people. They had to let too many people go. Is that the same wave of, you know, that,

that took Scott Turner off the air at CFNY? I think so. Yeah. And is that before or after Danny Elwell quits on the air? It's probably, I don't, I don't know if it's before or after, but it's in that general timeframe.

Yeah. A lot of, yeah. So they were coming down on us for playing what we wanted. And then it became modern music as well. Like CFM1, modern rock, I think, or modern music. Yeah, it was a whole different vibe in there. A lot of us who just can't work unless you're happy had to leave. who just can't work unless you're happy, had to leave.

Well, you know, happiness is everything, as I look back at my almost five decades of life. And it's tough, yeah. I mean, people do it all the time. They put their head down and do the job, but sometimes radio people are very, you know, it's their life. And if they're not doing what they think represents where their head's at, then, ah, sure, got to go. think represents where their head's at then uh sure gotta go i'm gonna read a uh comment from a gentleman named javid jaffrey this will kind of segue us into the next chapter here but uh

he writes i remember driving up to the cottage in the early 90s and hearing a cover his group did of the beach boys do It Again on CFNY. Must have been just a demo as I've never heard or found it again. But a nice cover that I wish I could hear again. Do we know what Javid's referring to here? No. The Steely Dan to Do It Again? Beach Boys Do It

Again. Yeah. So this is not you. Is it possible it's you? It is possible because I had that Beach Boy record they put out that was just instrumentals. And I probably did a send up on that. So let's talk about you and music here. You've alerted a couple of times to, what do you call them?

The funky drummers? What was the name? Funky Bummer. Okay. Guru Workshop. Yeah, I had a band with Steven Elphitt, who I met doing music with Bruce Murphy. We had a group called the Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. And we were like high tech.

And we actually opened for Digital Poodle and MC 900 Foot Jesus at the Rivoli. And it got a great crowd. And we had a song called Claves, which was a pretty. Well here, let's hear a bit of that. And then we'll talk more about Stunt Chimps. Cause I I've been getting comments about another Stunt Chimps song as well that people remember. So let's, let's, let's hear a bit of this. And then we'll get back.

And I'd love to hear the song Claves by the Stunt Chimps. I love it. Thank you. Transcription by CastingWords Pretty techno. Yeah, that's my friend Dr. Bruce Murphy. He's the guy who put together most of that sound. A little bit of vocal and lyrics and stuff and some samples. I met Dr. Bruce Murphy in Halifax. He was in a group called Steps Around the House. I was working at Q104 here in Halifax and they were one of our bands that we featured on an indie album. And then we got along famously and started doing music together. And then when I moved to Toronto, we hooked up there.

He was technically a dentist. He had a dental office on the top floor of the Much Music building. And he was a dentist to the stars during the day and had all the toys. And he had his room with all his dental stuff. And then he had a room with all his samplers and keyboards and stuff. So we'd go up there late at night and compose this stuff. Yeah, it was very fun.

That's a mind blow there in itself. Are we talking 99 Queen Street East? Yes. Yeah, the big building. Up on the top there. There were several much music personalities that went to him for dental work. Okay.

Yeah, we had some great parties up there, too. Okay, so since this will be like the definitive deep dive into Stunt Chimps, and I did receive notes here. Wow. A couple of people remember hearing the song on the radio. They remember hearing She Wild. She Wild, yeah. And that was a tune that, well, Bruce was always into sound.

He would spend hours just coming up with MIDI sounds for drums and for keys and whatever. And so he just flopped a CD into the CD player and spit on on spin so it kind of jerked and kept starting and stopping and wow I love that sound that became she wild and then I wrote the lyrics and we recorded it at his home studio yeah Wow and it kind of sounds like as I hear it in the headphones now it would fit right alongside like a mr. skin or something from Acid Test. Yeah, they had a great sampled kind of techno, just a modern sound for the time with utilizing voice samples and MIDI sound

as well as great live guitars and vocals and whatever. And this is you on vocals? On claves, that's Bruce singing on that one. I sang on Chihuahua. Okay. Okay. It's funny, hearing the vocals on this claves here, sounds like it could be Chris Shepard.

Now, there's a song that I did. I've got to send you, too. I did a song with a sample of Shep talking to the lead singer in the cult. Ian Ashbury. Ian. They were good buds. So I put together a sample track of that. I'll send you that.

That's fun to check. So She Wild sounds like She Wild is the one people seem to remember the most. I mean, based on my very small sample size of like, hey, Hal Harper's coming on. Outro Music I know they're not. A real wild princess Torn past her hose Got them heart at your bottom And funny people dancing The 7-Eleven gets held up She keep on dancing You're listening to Hal Harbour on CFNY.

This song is She Wild. And it is by Hal's band. They're the Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. That's the full name. Stunt Chimps for Burgess Meredith. Quite a name. I'd shorten it to Stunt Chimps, but who the heck am I? I also did pull Working for Slash.

Anything you can share about Working for Slash? That's another one that Bruce primarily wrote and put together. And I just did a little bit of background stuff on it. But yeah, that was one of his first tracks that he played for me that got me interested in working with him. And that's all about working for nothing. You know what musicians do. They often are asked to do benefits or whatever and that's what working for Slash is.

Not about Nash the Slash. No, not about Nash the Slash. All right, so what's next for you? Because I do want to hear about, you're in Trailer Park Boys, for goodness sakes. I do want to hear all this, but help me out. So after CFNY, I know you did a few months where you did some weekend stuff and everything but what was next for hal harbour well eventually then my wife and i decided to head back east and

come back here and i came back and worked at a couple of commercial radio stations just weekend stuff and and i started a studio with uh stevenit who had played with the Stunt Chimps. And we both decided to move our families back together. And we started a studio called, well, Deep Nine Recording. But before that, I worked with Kerry Pulliam, the guy who did the Sloan recordings. And we set up a studio called Sound Market down in the Goddard Street area of Halifax. So we started that studio.

Then I started semi-managing some of the local bands or working with bands producing Cool Blue Halo, Bye Bye Skull. It was all there was this the new sub pop scene was happening here in Halifax. They were calling it the new, you know, the new music scene. So we kind of helped bands do live shows and stuff and had that, had Sound Market. And then Stephen and I eventually set up Deep Nine Recording where we recorded. Oh, well, Bubbles had his group Sandbox and we produced their record. And they got signed to a label and all that stuff

so there was yeah there was a lot going on we had a great studio and a rehearsal space so we had bands in there drinking beer and smashing walls you know every every morning we had to come in and clean up all the mess because there were you you know, bands who tend to need a rehearsal space are the ones that are very loud and like to party. So that was a tough business to be in. Well, that Sandbox mind blow, because, I mean, we talked about Much Music briefly there, but they played the mess out of Curious.

Curious, that was the big one, yeah. Yeah, yeah, and of course, and the fun fact, of course, is old Mike Smith is Bubbles. Bubbles, yeah. Is that how you end up in Trailer Park Boys? Kind of, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And of course, the fun fact, of course, is old Mike Smith is Bubbles. Bubbles, yeah. Is that how you end up in Trailer Park Boys? Kind of. Yeah, Mike, I actually work with an artist named Ellen Regan Devine. And we came down to Toronto, back to Toronto for New Music Week.

And I hired Mike and his drummer to be in the band. And I was playing a sampler and she was singing. to be in the band and I was playing a sampler and she was singing. And yeah, I think I got a shot on Trailer Park Boys. I knew Mike Klatenberg, you know, the director and the producer of that show. He was in a band I think called Spawning Runyons or something. Again, he was a 19-year-old kid who used to send me cassettes at Q104. And then he did a comedy show on cable tv and i was a big fan of that and so we were friends and i met him in a club one night and

he said i gotta i gotta i gotta roll for you you know i got this news guy this thick news guy named steve rogers channel 10 and i was like i'm in and so the in the early season it was just mike shooting it just wild he just had a 16 millimeter camera. And I was just like, okay, so you're talking to Bubbles. And Bubbles is, you know, loves cats. And you're going to be doing a documentary on cats. He just would give you the, you know, the general gist of the shot. And so then every season, I tended to get a role.

A new role as Steve, where they'd write me in. And I had a great one. I don't know if you saw the one where I was getting married and I had a stag party and I met Snoop, did a scene with Snoop Dogg. Wow. And some other people like that. It was great. Friendly with a fellow Nova Scotian, Jonathan Torrance.

Yeah. Well, Jonathan and Mike shot, they had a collective little company, and we got a loan to do a video for Ellen Regan Devine. And Jonathan was kind of the production manager on the set that day, and Mike shot it. And, yeah, I've known him over the years. We kind of spun off each other here and there. And with, I mean, and I, I don't think I had any direct scenes with, uh, with his character on, on Trailer Park Boys, but, um, I know him pretty well when I see him.

I feel like having a character in the, um, Trailer Park Boys universe means you could probably like appear at Comic-Cons throughout the continent. I probably could. And it was so funny because I just flew back to Toronto this summer and this young guy, I could tell he was looking at me like, are you an actor? Like, yeah, kinda. Are you Steve Rogers? And I was like, it's been three years since somebody's done that. You know, you go to a Tim Hortons or McDonald's like, can I have a,

can I get a selfie? And I hadn't had that for a while. So I was like, oh, Steve still lives, you know. That's great. Love it. Tell me about one of your, you know, hobbies, if you will, or pastimes, surfing. Yeah, well, I mean, I grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo. When the Beach Boys broke and we used to make our own early skateboards, always broke and we we used to make our own early skateboards so I was kind of always into that kind of surfing lifestyle or that idea so when I moved here in 76 somebody said yeah you

can surf out at Lawrence Town and I you know I went out and bought a in those days you had to buy an old diving wetsuit it wasn't the equipment wasn't what it is today. And so there was like 12 guys who lived out there, you know, transplanted South Africans and just the people who decided to move out there and surf. Now there's hundreds and hundreds of people surfing, but yeah. So I've been surfing since 76 or whatever. And, uh, I love it. Yeah. It's just such a great sport, great way to relax and get out on the water. And I don't take on big waves anymore like I did when I was younger because, you know, you can get some big, powerful, humbling waves that'll beat the crap out of you. Oh, the big kahunas.

The big kahunas, that's right. But yeah, I just love playing in, you know, medium-sized surf. And I found a couple spots that are semi-secret. Wow. There's not a lot of people. Well, we won't dox those spots here and keep them secret. No, no, please don't. But I will say, to me, when I think of what's the coolest activity

somebody could say they do that I've actually never done and I think is so damn cool, it is surfing. When I hear, oh, I'll hear Eddie Vedder's taking a break from Pearl Jam to surf in Hawaii or whatever. I'm thinking that guy's got it going on, man. He's surfing. Yeah, when you watch it it's such a natural thing.

You're working with the wave and the wave is doing something different every time. The water can be cold or warm. You're seeing seals out there while you're surfing. Yeah, and the joy for me is going south. I'm going to Costa Rica again in November for probably three weeks where you don't have to wear a wetsuit.

And you can get in the warm water and watch the sunset. Amazing. That's the joy. It's kind of tough out here when it's cold, having to slop on all that rubber. When you think it's tough out there, try it here, man. Once in a while, if we get a windy day, I notice are surfers in there's a park called marie curtis park which is in the southwest corner of toronto and then it bleeds into mississauga and i do see surfers there but yeah that's your that's your only surfer sighting at least in my uh my toronto experience no it's yeah it's crazywhere where there's water, it doesn't matter if it's Great Lakes

or the ocean, people are surfing. Yeah, I hear more and more sightings all the time in Lake Ontario. I want to ask you, before we say goodbye, I want to ask you about the CFL, but you mentioned Costa Rica,

so I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you the big question that we're all wondering on Toronto Mike. So I'm a big fan of Chris Shepard show on CFNY. I used to record that thing, the cassette, the overnights. And I love those live to airs from Chris Shepard. Chris Shepard was on Humble and Fred show in 2014. So let me do some quick math.

That's eight years ago. I've had people, mutual friends, be it Scott Turner, for example, and all these mutual friends. I simply, and I'm fine if the answer's no, I simply want to ask Chris Shepard if he'd come on Toronto Mic'd and talk about his legacy and everything.

But nobody I know can find him. Do you, Hal slash Doug, know where Chris Shepard is? I'm the same as you. I was like, where's Chris? And I think somebody said, I think he's moved to Costa Rica. So that's all I know. And I was like, when I get down there, what am I going to do? I've got to find him or something.

Making a documentary, like searching for Shep. Yeah, searching for Shep. Waiting for Shep. Waiting for Godot, waiting for Shep. But it is remarkable. I feel like I should make a doc because I get three different theories floating around. One is that, yes, I've heard this. He's in Costa Rica.

But then I've also heard he's in King City, which is much less glamorous than Costa Rica. But he's in King City, which is much less glamorous than Costa Rica, but he's in King City here in Ontario. The third one, which I get periodically, is that he's gone like a hermit style, but he's hiding in plain sight here in downtown Toronto, which would be interesting. But anyway,

if you do find out, if you do find Chris Shepard in Costa Rica, let him know. Toronto Mike would love to talk to him. I will do that when I find him. I'm going to be wading through all your great podcast items here because it sounds like I'm missing out on some good stuff here. It's just great to talk with you, and it brings back a lot for me and all the people that I bounced off of.

I'm pretty lucky to do that. And it's good to talk about it again. Well, if nothing else, Hal, you've got to listen to episode 1021. It is literally like I just zoomed with, I mean, you name it. Like Mae Potts is on there, Scott Turner, Alan Cross, David Marsden. A lot of people you know are on that episode. Danny Elwell's on that thing. So shout out to Danny again.

And Humble and Fred are there. All these cats. And we just talked about the history of CFNY for like, I don't know, we went for like three hours maybe. But I think you would dig it. Your voice was missing, I realize, in retrospect. But when I do a sequel, you're going to be my first call. Cool.

And I will send you some of that rare, fun audio that I have of various tunes and outtakes and such. Love it. Thanks so much for this, Hal Harbour. Thank you. Andy, pick up the phone, it's Cliff. Andy? You got the phone! Gotcha!

Andy, pick up the phone, it's Cliff. Andy? You got the phone! All right! He stands transfixed, his eyes on a steaming cup of coffee. It's been growing cold for eight long years. He drags himself from behind his desk as he listens to his calls. We hear his breathing as he wrestles with his fear.

The nightmare. Get in here. Down. Die. Why? Andy, pick up the phone and click. Bye. Hello? Am I okay? He picks up the phone, begins the day Hello? Am I okay? It's Cliff, get your butt in here right away Okay Cliff, okay Get in here, now

Okay Get in here now. Bye. Bye. Makes you dance, you know. That's a new feeling. God, this is something. Let me surface this. There's only one option. Cliff, we're letting you go. I can't get in here now. You're out of here, pal.

Bye. You're history, pal. Andy, pick up the phone. It's Cliff. Andy. We got the phone. Andy, pick up the phone, it's clear. Andy. Pick up the phone. Andy, pick up the phone, it's clear. Andy.

Pick up the phone. Here you break. We got two things you have to do with ASAP. Thank you. Go call ASAP if you're in the shower. Get your butt in here as soon as you can. God, this is something new. That's a new feeling.