Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Retrontario Kicks Out the Jams!: Toronto Mike'd #236

Episode Date: May 8, 2017

Mike and Ed "Retrontario" Conroy kick out the jams with Delores Clamen, Guido Basso, Roland Parliament, Harry Forbes, Terry Bush, Tommy Ambrose and more.

Welcome to episode 236 of Toronto M's, 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 Ed Conroy, better known to you and me as Retro Ontario. Welcome back, Ed. Thanks for having me, Mike. Could I call you Mr. Retro Ontario or would that be offensive to you? No, you can call me whatever you want.

Call me whatever you want. Just don't call me late for dinner. I heard you... How many times have you been here now? I think this is my fourth. Fourth time. You're right after Mark Weisblot and Elvis. You're my most frequent contributor. Sweet. I've been trying to get you back in here forever. Remember I had

this fantasy of top 10 Toronto jingles or whatever and we've changed it a little bit, but it was tough to book you. It's tough to get, Mr. Retro Ontario. Yeah, you know, there's a big market out there for these retro things. Well, you joke.

I know you're joking, but there is because News Talk 1010 on the Jerry Agar show, I've heard you at least twice now. So tell me, how did that come about and are you going to be a regular contributor? Of the Jerry Agar Whack Pack? Yeah.

You're the Beetlejuice, right? It was kind of a funny thing. I wrote this piece for BlogTO about that infamous video of the Skydome opening in 1989 that sort of totally... Oh, with Alan Thicke. With Alan Thicke that went off the rails. And I guess he was looking at the videos

and he was getting a real kick out of it. So he did a little segment on the Jay's Home Opener Day. And I called in and I guess I made him laugh a bit. So he invited me down to be a panelist on a few shows. And it's kind of surreal because, yeah, usually when I go on these programs, it's to talk about retro stuff. But of course, when you're on Talk 1010,

it's current affairs. Which is boring. Well, people might not know this, but I'm a news junkie and I have some pretty strong, I guess you would say libertarian leanings. So I did all right on those conservative shows. I just realized, and this is a nice segue,

it's like I went to school for this or something, but AM640, the rumors have been around forever. They're going to re- What do you call that when you reposition themselves? Change their format. How's that? And I joked with Lou Skizis just earlier, like last week, I joked with Lou Skizis just earlier, like last

week, I joked with Lou Skizis about all traffic all the time. Like, that's what's in store. I realize now it needs to become a retro station where

it just talks about stuff like the Skydome opening. Like, that's what the station should be. I hear you, man. For old parts like

this, because we're the only ones listening to radio anyways. The young people don't care about radio. Exactly.

And if the young people do listen to it, they'll learn some cool Exactly. And if the young people do listen to it, they'll learn some cool stuff. Yeah, the young people will listen because they're interested in that. And I'm not even kidding. I'm going to... I don't know who to pitch this to. Somebody at Chorus. I'm going to get a meeting

at that Chorus Key by Sugar Beach. I'm going to get a meeting, and I'm going to pitch my idea. Retro Station. Love it. And you're going to be a key part of this station. Don't worry. I'm all to get a meeting and I'm going to pitch my idea. Retro Station. Love it. And you're going to be a key part of this station. Don't worry.

You'll be my afternoon drive guy. I'll do the morning show. But I'm not leaving my house to do it. I'll do it from my basement. That's how it works. Okay, I mentioned Lou Skies. After he appeared

on Toronto Mic'd, was that last episode? No, because last episode was Stormin' Norman Rumak and his hammerhead alerts. So episode 234 was Lou Skeez's. The next day, the next morning, he appeared on Mike Stafford's show

on AM640 Toronto. Stafford's show is appropriately called The Stafford Show. That's what they call it. I have a clip. Listen with me, Ed, as we hear Lou and Mike Stafford Show. That's what they call it. I have a clip. Listen with me, Ed, as we hear Lou and Mike Stafford talk about Toronto Mic'd. And you were mentioning the Toronto Mic'd podcast.

Yeah, you were down in his basement yesterday. Have you been there? Yeah, a couple of years ago. Did you hit your head? Me? All five foot seven of me, no. Hey, by the way, you look great. yesterday. Have you been there? Yeah, a couple of years ago. Did you hit your head? Me? Five, all five foot seven on me, no. Hey, by the way, you look great. You've lost some weight. Yeah, my doctor sent me to see another doctor who specializes in weight loss. Yeah, you looked,

your picture with Mike on his website looked good. Yeah, well, you know, took off some beef, so, you know, feeling all right, looking all right, you know. So, yeah, I'm healthy with that and happy with it. Are you Joe Cocker feeling all right? Well, you know what, Mike? When people see you lose weight quickly, they think you're sick. Exactly. And I was out with David Onley, the former lieutenant governor, and he said, no, I saw your eyebrows.

You're okay. the former lieutenant governor and he he said no i saw your eyebrows you're okay so i said hey good intelligence i hadn't had that in uh on my radar but anyway the reason i uh went to uh do the podcast with mike was i was number one curious about the means of production yeah and you know like for very little money, right, he's out there producing his own interview series and that sort of thing, and the sound quality is pretty good. It's excellent.

And he's, you know, yourself, he's had Ron McLean in there. You know, he's got a few gets that he still wants to get, but you're right. His setup is, my God, we spend as media companies a fortune to, you know, achieve the same kind of sound and distribution. Well, the distribution, I think, is different in that you can't tune them in, right? You've got to download the product.

Yeah. Now, I think that there's probably some of the stuff I'm not really aware of that could get it on your smartphone as it's happening. But I don't know if that's the case, right? Like I know for myself, the way I use radio, you know, it's usually in the car, right? Yeah. And if it's not available to me in the car or I don't have the technology to get it in the car, it's less useful to me. But I thought it was pretty interesting from a technology acquisition point of view.

Did you get a little six pack of the Great Lakes? Yeah. Nice. Yeah, it was. acquisition point of view. Did you get a little six-pack of the Great Lakes? Yeah. Nice? Yeah, of course. I didn't. Was that because he didn't have the sponsorship at that time? Yeah, I guess. No, it was a good time. It was good to listen to. I want to listen to the rest when I get home.

Okay, well, any pointers, send them my way. Back with you tomorrow. Happy capitalism. So there you go. Lou Skies is on Stafford Show. Big ups. Nice one. Sad thing is I'm changing their format now. I'm going to make sure I keep a show for Stafford, though.

He's great. We've got to find a show for Stafford. He'd be great in the retro format. Oh, yeah. I want to... Because he's big on Simpsons trivia and stuff. I'm going to have a whole show about it. Okay. Did you hear the episode I did with Elliot Cowan about his father, Bernard Cowan?

Of course. See, I'm glad you said that because when I was setting this up, which was different for me than my typical like, hey, Storm and Norman, let's talk about the good old days and what you're up to now, whatever. I thought about like, what would Retro Ontario do? Like, this was my like, hey, Storm and Norman, let's talk about the good old days and what you're up to now, whatever. I thought about, like, what would Retro Ontario do?

Like, this was my, like, what would Retro Ontario do? And that episode seemed Bernard Cowan, who I didn't know anything about until I talked to his son, and then I had to catch up. I realized, like, I should do this. This is important. People should learn about Bernard Cowan and hear these clips. Ed would want it that way.

Yeah, I mean, you know, that's what keeps me going in this game is there's a million cool stories out there and you think you get a handle on one thing and you realize it's, that's just the tip of the iceberg. And you, uh, who, and I should point off the top, you have, uh, archived so many tremendous clips, uh, on your, on YouTube, but you have your website, retroontario.com. That's right. But you use YouTube to share a lot of your video clips. Yeah, I mean, YouTube is the greatest television channel

in the world. But you recently got your first cease and desist. Is that right? Are you allowed to talk about this? Yeah, I will talk about it because, frankly, it was... No pun intended? It took me by surprise because, you know, I'm out there trying to curate this material not for financial gain, for educational reasons. And, you know, I've uploaded stuff from McDonald's

or from Coca-Cola or from Mercedes-Benz. These are major corporations that have no issue with what I do because they see it as a celebration of their history. And I've been on YouTube now for a decade and never had any issues. And I got a full-on cease and desist, which in the YouTube world, you're basically allowed to get three of these things. They're called strikes. And on the third strike, they actually delete your whole channel. Wow. So it's kind of a terrifying prospect that you would get three of these things and then all of this work, 10 years of work, would just go down the toilet.

And yeah, I got one. And it was from our friend frank d'angelo frank d'angelo it was because i uploaded a commercial for his orange juice apple juice apple juice that had wendell clark and it was from i think 1997 so it wasn't even that old and there was no derogatory comments it was just here, here's a... Well, not from you. Not from me. No, but I don't even think, you know, on the comments section, nobody said anything. Well, it's gone now. It's been wiped from the channel.

But what's funny is, you know, YouTube does tell the uploader, this is the person who filed the claim. Right. And here's their email if you want to try and take it offline and work it out. And what's so funny is that it was his personal email address, which I won't repeat. Frank D'Angelo at Hotmail.com. It was obviously his. It was not from a law firm or from his counsel or anything. It was clearly his personal email. Disappointing.

So I went on Twitter and I said, you know, can you believe this? This is ridiculous. I tweeted at him. I said, come on, man. You know, cut me some slack. And he, clearly other people jumped on this. And he replied, oh, it's my lawyers. You know, they'll sue a ham sandwich

or something like this. Hotmail lawyer. Wasn't that Rob Ford's lawyer? Hotmail lawyer. So yeah, you know, I'm just very upset about that. There was no need. I would have taken it down if he was so upset about it. Do you know how many Retro Ontario YouTube clips

are embedded on TorontoMike.com? If that thing gets deleted, I'm going to have all those dead postings. Yeah, let's not think that way. I don't think that will ever happen, but if it does, you know who to blame. We got to know somebody. Do I know anybody at Google,

this little company, Google? That's one strike. Obviously, let me know if you get a second strike. If I get a second one, you might not see me again. I don't know. I hope the good people at Hammy Hamster Incorporated have a good sense of humor. Okay, so last time you were here,

maybe not last time, maybe two times ago, like we're going back maybe two years or something. I don't know, but I gave you a bunch of old VHS video cassettes. Do you remember this? Yes. And I had recorded the last game at Exhibition Stadium. Yeah, and the first Raptors game. Was the first Raptors game on there?

That sounds like something I'd record. Last game of Wayne Gretzky's career. Yeah, like, yeah, all that kind of stuff. Iretzky's career um trying to yeah like yeah all that kind of stuff i had recorded the vhs and you were gonna digitize it is there any uh update on this important project this is many moons ago ed yeah i mean you got to understand my studio is is like uh it looks like uh an episode of hoarders. There's just videotapes and betatapes and vinyl and just shit piled mile high. And everything's totally categorized.

I know exactly where your stuff is. I actually went through it so I knew what it was. But I have not pulled the trigger. I can do that. Were there any surprises? Because I would sometimes record weird shit. You didn't find a bad copy of Porky's or anything. No, I wish. The one note I think i took was that he was meticulous in editing out

all of the commercials oh no i regret it so much i know and it's one of those things like okay my car is 18 years old the year before so it's a 99 protege the 98 protege had a cassette deck a standard okay and then they changed it to cd and i bought the car and the cd was there and i was like oh i dodged a bullet there like i got a cd player instead of a cassette player and then it wasn't long where i realized like my life would be so much better if i had a cassette player in the car instead of a cd player because i had the adapter for the cassette player like the fm transmitter sucks uh but i could use the the adapter and play it from my smartphone. Anyway, same thing. I was meticulous in not having ads in those recordings because I just wanted to watch the game.

And now I wish I had the ads so badly. Yeah, I mean, hindsight is 20-20. I think we all tried to edit out the commercials back in the day. Did you see any recordings of 2020? I used to record with Hugh Downs. No, really? No, there's none. All right, man. You ready for Retro Ontario Kicks. Oh, really? No, there's not. Alright, man.

You ready for Retro Ontario Kicks Out the Jams? Let's do it. First, I'm telling everyone listening, I'm not even asking. I used to be nice and ask, and now I'm ordering. Anyone listening, if you want to hear more of this important retro activity,

please go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and pledge a couple of bucks a month. Don't even, don't be a cheap ass of one dollar a month. Let's go for two. Keep this going because the Bernard Cowans and the Dolores Claymans and all these important people need to be remembered and acknowledged and we need to talk about them. So please give what you can to keep this passion project going. Patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. You got beer in front of you. Stafford didn't get beer because the beer sponsorship began in January 2015. Stafford was too early. But if Stafford wants beer, I've got the guys at Great Lakes Beer. They've given me a six pack for Mike Stafford. He doesn't even have to stop his car.

He drives along Lakeshore to go to Port Credit. I'll run over to Lakeshore with the six-pack. He just has to... Well, my car, you have to wind down the windows. I bet you he just has to press a button. He's got to press that button. I'm going to throw the cans of beer in. Stafford, if you're listening, I've got beer for you.

So there's beer for you there. That's why you come, right? That's why I come. And I just want to take a moment again to give the biggest of big ups to this one, the Octopus. That's my favorite. It's like really one of the best beers in the world. And of course, they make it a limited edition. I think it's only available in the warm months. I've been hoarding.

It's been a long drought, but it's back. So that's wonderful. Yeah. And maybe before you go, I might actually get you another Octopus, I've been hoarding it's been a long drought but it's back so that's wonderful yeah and maybe before you go I might actually get you another octopus actually just because I like you you're going to drink

that octopus wants to fight in your brand new beer pint glass courtesy it's the yeah that one right there wow that's yours

that's courtesy of Brian Gerstein he's at propertyinthesix.com. And I don't know if this is too personal, but do you own property in Toronto? Scarborough. That's Toronto.

Yeah. That's as much Toronto as this is. I still want to classify that it's Scarborough, not Toronto. Call your mayor John Tory. Is it the 416? Come on, that's Toronto. This is a mega city now. Okay, that's amazing because that means you're rich.

I'm sitting beside a rich person because you own property in Toronto. I urge anyone, if you're looking to buy a condo or property in the GTA or you're looking to sell, contact Brian. You're doing the show a favor. You're doing yourself a favor. Just have a conversation with the man.

He's not going to charge you for the chat. Brian has a tip for you. Brian says that he is always asked, is it better to buy or sell first? His advice to his clients has always been to buy first, but now with the market changing, that strategy may not be the right one depending on your neighborhood.

For example, in Scarborough, that might be a bad idea. So Brian says, smart sellers are adjusting to the dip in the market and to sell successfully, you need the best pricing and condition related to your competition. The market is changing daily right now. So call Brian at 416-873-0292. 92, you can't forget that because that's the first year the Blue Jays won the World Series. 9-2, you can't forget that because that's the first year the Blue Jays won the World Series. For the latest data here, and then you can find out what your home is now worth,

you may be surprised by the results. So contact Brian, even if you want to just call him and say, you heard him mentioned on torontomike.com and you want one of those pint glasses, give him a call. Brian is a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. And now it's time for Retro Ontario Kicks Out the Jams. I need like music for that. Kick out the jam, mother. All right. So let's talk about what we're going to do today. Yeah. So, I mean, I've brought a bunch of records.

We've got some MP3s queued up. I think, you know, we talk, you and I, a lot about television and movies. And it's time to play some music. Because I think, honestly, music is the greatest nostalgic trigger. And there's so much cool stuff, music-wise, that happened in Toronto, obviously. And these are some people that I've come across in my travels who I love to talk about.

I think they deserve a lot more recognition. And ultimately, these are dope cuts. So let's play them out. Did you hear me talk up the Laurie Bower singers in my episode with Bernard Cowan's son? Yeah. I just saw... Just so people...

Because we're not... People can't see us. Do you know that?. I just saw people, because we're not, you know, people can't see us. Do you know that? So I just picked up an album, like an actual vinyl album called Toronto. What Other City Calls Its Main Street Young. That's a heavy title. It's a crazy piece

of vinyl right there. That was given out free with an edition of the Saturday Toronto Star back in 1968 or 69. But that's the kind of stuff they used to do. They should do more of that, frankly.

Make sure I get a photo of all that before you disappear into the night. Do you want to begin with some children's kids' show themes? Yeah, because we were talking about triggering nostalgia. Children's television in general is sort of the greatest, most evocative stuff. So the last time I was here, we talked a lot about Hammy and Hammy's Genesis in Etobicoke. And I think we went to play the song and it wasn't loaded up.

It haunts me to this day. So let's fix that. Let's hear Hammy the Hamster. So yeah, that's just a tiny little piece. It's actually a Mozart track. And anybody that watched Hammy growing up would remember that. And it was a very serene little piece of music. And you hear the water flowing in the background. And it just reminds us of a cozier time. I loved Hammy the Hamster. And I realized at the time I thought, like, this is amazing, like, that they got the animals to do all these things.

And then I, like, got older. And then I'm like, you know, they just film these animals and write the script to match what happens. Like, you can't get a hamster to act no they just ran the camera and they fixed it in post it's like oh now hammy is going to boat to the the mouse guy what was the mouse i can't remember the name of the mouse but uh i loved hammy the hamster they was it global television it aired on global but you know the story behind hammy of course was classic that these guys that used to work at the b emigrated to Canada. They were living in Etobicoke.

They were shooting this stuff in a garage in Etobicoke. And they pitched it to the CBC who turned it down and said, kids don't want to watch this shit. And then they sold it to the BBC who then sold it back to Global. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, yeah. So the narrator would be like a British guy in the BBC, but they'd change it? That's right.

It was a Canadian guy who did the Global version. Wow, that's cool. Yeah. Now tell me about this next, I don't remember Professor, is it Professor Kitzel? Oh, yes, Professor Kitzel. You must.

Am I missing out? Tell me. Oh, come on. This was a thing that came on, this is for the kids who got up a little bit too early. You know, Saturday morning cartoons came on. I think they started at like eight and you'd get, you know, the big guns like the Smurfs or Scooby-Doo. But there was always like weird, weird stuff that would like Hilarious House of Frightenstein is a classic example.

Somebody would come on at like 5 a.m. And this show, Professor Kitzel, was like a historical education show. And this show, Professor Kitzel, was like a historical education show. And it was basically just animated stills of moments in history with a very boring narration. Is this like, you're talking like this is at like 5.30 in the morning? That's why I don't know this. Who the kid is up at 5.30? Oh, come on. Back in the day. I don't know if I was allowed to turn on the TV at 5.30 in the morning.

But let me play this. but let me play this. So yeah, just a little sting but of course, anybody that remembers that program, it aired during Uncle Bobby and I know... I watched a lot of Uncle Bobby. I think you were mentioning recently

on Twitter about... Your clip from the Santa Claus Parade where we hear Blinky talk. Is that the one you have on? Because Uncle Bobby is there, but you can't hear him because the audio is just Blinky. That's right, because that was a raw feed. No, you were talking about Simon

in the Land of Chalk Drums. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just watched that on TVO. Yeah, so there was these little they call them interstitials, these short five-minute programs. And we remember the TVO version, but it also would run on Captain Kangaroo and Commander Tom out of Buffalo and

Uncle Bobby. So Professor Kitzel, he was around a lot. But again, that was a Canadian show, a weird show, and those who remember it, I think, still remember it. It's not an Etobicoke show by any chance, is it? Because this would be great, but Hammy and Hamster? These are all Etobicoke

shows, didn't I tell you? Hyper local. Now, Sesame Street. I grew up, I was raised on Sesame Street. This was a big deal for me growing up. They slapped me in front of the TV and put on Sesame Street. It was just a huge deal. What is this clip, Sesame Street Funk? So, yeah, I mean,

obviously, Sesame Street is not local, yeah, I mean, obviously Sesame Street is not local, but this one, this is kind of my personal favorite bit of nostalgia, audio-wise, from children's television from that era, because this sums up, you know, the funk, the street-wise attitude of old Sesame Street. So turn it up. Nostalgia warning, though, because, of course, I played all these clips

when you sent them to me. And the nostalgia that oozed out of me when I heard this, like it took me right back. This might be one of my all-time favorite sounds that came out of Sesame Street in the late 70s. Well, for me, it was late 70s.

I don't know when it started. But let's play it and let everybody else have the nostalgia trip that I enjoyed. Thank you. I'm debating with myself whether I can let it keep going. I'm digging it. It's dope, yeah. It's funny, though. Nobody actually knows the name of that song.

It's come to be known as the Funky Chimes. And it actually would come on after the credits of Sesame Street. And it would be the voiceover saying, Sesame Street has been brought to you by the Public Broadcasting Service of the United States and thanks to a grant from the Department of Education. And so, I mean, it was this really boring sort of information, but it was the funkiest tune. And it was kind of melancholy because it meant Sesame Street was over. Yeah. And it's, oh, my God, it is funky.

It's way too funky for a kid's show. And again, just to repeat, most of these have a Canadian connection, and we'll emphasize that. But this particular track does not actually have a Canadian connection. No. We wish. Straight up New York. But, you know, it was shown here. We all grew up with it.

You and I are nostalgia merchants and this is big business, this one. That was so funky. I can't believe I haven't heard a rap song borrow. You know what I mean? I know. Why hasn't that been sampled in some hit song? I don't know. It's inevitable. It was retired in 92.

That's when they stopped using the funky chimes. Shame. We got to bring that back. Yeah. Okay. Tell me about the start. Hey, you. The start.

Okay. So, you know, one of the shows that I actually don't remember because it was a little bit before my time, but I've learned a lot about over the years, was called The All Night Show in Toronto. And it aired on CFMT channel 47 cable 4 and it was you're watching 47 cable 4 before that era but yes that was the channel and it was this guy named chuck the security guard and the uh the conceit was that he took over the channel in the middle of the night and he just showed his favorite stuff so he would show like

episodes of twilight zone and weird old horror movies and they'd always go back to him and he'd be in the studio and it was just him in front of the monitors there was a scottish guy called ryerson who was a voice that you never saw the guy but he would talk to Chuck, the security guard. And it was kind of like, you know, the moment when I think Toronto embraced a real punk attitude about broadcast. Now, of course, Moses had been doing City TV, you know, in the 70s. That was all obviously very punk and very cool,

but he still signed off, you know? He would still shut his channel down at one in the morning and show color bars. So CFMT, first channel to run programming all through the night, and Chuck the security guard, it was only on for one year from 1979 to 1980, but it has a huge cult following.

In the name again, though, what's the name of the show? The All Night Show. The All Night Show. Hearing you describe the premise for this show, what's the name of the show? The All Night Show. The All Night Show. Hearing you describe the premise for this show, I don't remember it. I wasn't watching it at that time of night in 1979 or whatever. I don't remember, but it sounds too good to be true.

It sounds fantastic. It was absolutely amazing. And they would show experimental films, and they would have musicians come on and play live. And so this song, it was by a punk band from Toronto from the time called The Start, and this kind of became the unofficial theme song

for the all-night show, and it's just a killer track. Let's play... Hey You. And there's an exclamation mark at the end, so it's Hey You! Hey You! That kid quit school today, you know To join a rock and roll band

His parents gave him a boot, you know His dad even kicked him off his land It only goes to show You got to be a fool to like that rock and roll Hey, I hear the kids got a record out I think this is it playing on the radio Hey, you Crawl out of your hole

You're getting too old. You better stop rocking it and not knocking it. J.Q. What you trying to do? You're trying to play it cool. You better stop rocking it and not market it It's a good track, man. Oh yeah, these guys are amazing.

You don't hear this much anymore. I don't think I've ever heard this. It became the theme song of the show, and they made a music video using clips from the show, and it used to air on those music video programs that were on before Much Music, but it kind of went away in the early 80s. I never saw it on Toronto Rocks.

Well, awesome. That's cool. Yeah, no, it's a cool... And I invite the listeners to check out, I have quite a lot of clips of Chuck the Security Guard on my YouTube channel. I envision Chuck the Security Guard, does he at all look like Sam the Watchman from

today's special? Well, you know, he's got the same brown uniform that Night Watchman had in that era, but he was a stand-up comedian by the name of Chaz Lothar. And he's still around. And there's actually a Facebook page for the all-night show.

Yeah, so trying to bring it back, right? Well, it's mostly just people stopping by saying, wow, I remember watching this in 1979 and it's never left my thoughts. So, I mean, that's a cool Toronto thing. Doesn't get the props or respect I think that it deserves. I rib Moses. When I see him, I say, why didn't you Toronto thing. Doesn't get the props or respect I think that it deserves. I rib Moses.

When I see him, I say, why didn't you do the all-night show? I mean, that should have been a city TV thing. I'm so glad you brought that clip because I've never heard it. This story I've never heard. I didn't know the show existed. But that's precisely the kind of content I want on this show. Thank you, Ed. Thank you, Mr. Rich Montero.

More than happy to oblige. Now, here's a name I knew, Dolores Clayman. I know that name because she wrote the, I don't know what we call this, the hockey song? It's called the hockey song, yeah. I'm going to play a bit of it and see if you know

the hockey song. Have you heard this song before? Well, that's one version of it. That's the hockey song that was forever the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, but now is owned by Bell Media. So you hear it on TSN Hockey

and different products. I think they have the World Hockey Championships right now and they have the World Juniors and all that. So TSN plays it. But that's Dolores Klayman. That's probably her biggest hit, I would think, in this country, if you will.

Yeah. Tell me about other Dolores Klayman songs. So yeah, I mean, Dolores Clayman is another fascinating local character who, you know, she wrote all of these amazing compositions, a lot of jingles for commercials, a lot of theme songs.

That one got, you know, actually recently was, or recently, a few years ago, was in the news again when all that negotiation was going on about, you know, who could use Hockey Night Canada theme song. But the other song that people really remember her for

is called A Place to Stand, which was the music used in a film called A Place to Stand, which represented the province of Ontario at Expo 67, which is celebrating its 50th year. And, of course, Place to Stand, you know, it's kind of a cheesy song, but the production is immaculate. The Barenaked Ladies, actually,

in their early days, used to cover it, but they changed the word Ontario to Scarborough, which is amazing. I've never actually heard a recorded version of that. I'm having to find that. And Jim Carrey actually sang it when Conan O'Brien came to Toronto. I remember that vividly.

And I remember the song. So it must have leaked into the early 80s. Yeah, I mean, it's sort of one of those songs that they probably play it on Zoom or radio once in a while. And a lot of older people would remember it because it was a huge deal in 67. Let's play Dolores Klayman's A Place to Stand,

and then we'll talk about another Dolores Klayman track that I remember vividly as well. So here's A Place to Stand. Give us a place to stand and a place to grow And call this land a chariot A place to live for you and me With hopes as high as a tallest tree Wow. I actually now wish I had grabbed that clip of Jim Carrey doing it. I now regret not doing my appropriate hallmark.

That's great. Yeah, it's a feel-good, you know, it's from a time when there really was this, like, huge pride in the province. It's very sad for a number of reasons that we don't really celebrate the province like we used to. But this province is the capital of the universe. But you're right.

How old is Dolores Klayman? If this was 50 years ago, how old is she? Because she's still with us. Oh, yeah. She's still around. I've got to guess she's probably in her 70s now. Wow. And there's another track.

This is very local here. But tell me about the other general that she's responsible for. Well, I mean, one of the things I find so awesome, going into thrift stores and garage sales and looking for old tapes for Retro Ontario, I do come across a lot of vinyl. And it became obvious to me that there was a time when anything

that was opening required a theme and they would release a vinyl so it's like uh you know the eaton center is opening up let's have a theme and let's actually physically release a record of the theme song of ontario place or eaton center so uh this dolores Clayman piece is the theme song of Ontario Place. And of course she would have been hired off the back of Expo 67 to do this because Ontario Place really was a continuation of that ideology of Expo 67, which was a celebration of

science and culture and art. Another lost dream. I saw Pulp Fiction at the IMAX. Cool. In 94, I think it was. Awesome. It was my favorite movie. I bought tickets. It was just great.

All right, let's hear Ontario Place. This is the place to start. This is the place to start This is the place to grow Come on and be a part of Ontario This is where we began Here where the free will go So many dreams to win in Ontario

And this is our place Ontario place And this is your place A once in a lifetime never before place This is the place for all And what year did you say this is from? Ontario Place was 70, I believe. Yeah, they all did.

You're right. 71. 71. But the drums. 71. 71. But the drums on that are insane. I'm going to do a remix with the Sesame Street funk song in this. Oh, there should be a remix of that. I mean, it's funny, though. Expo.

I'm not sure it's working, but hey, I'm no DJ. Talk to me, bud. The thing about Expo 67, there's going to be a lot of think pieces about that because it's the 50th anniversary. But reading about it and hearing about it from people that were there, I always think of it, it was kind of like Canada's Woodstock.

Everybody that went came out of it with visions and big plans, and they were so excited to go back to their province and start a band or make a film. And, you know, God, if we ever needed something like that again, it's now. It is now.

Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, what about... Is Guido Basso next? Guido Basso. Let's talk about Guido Basso. Let's talk about Guido. Is Guido Basso next? Guido Basso. Let's talk about Guido Basso. Talk about Guido. So Guido Basso, another one of these just classic guys

who has been involved in millions of things, a trumpeteer. Most famously, I think people would remember his work on a series called Night Ride, which was this program that came on, on Global, in the middle of the night, and it was just a POV of a car driving, or there was Night Walk,

which was a camera walking around, or Night Moves. I just posted on torontomike.com, embedded the YouTube, it's continuously playing Night Ride. Right, there's this fellow who just did a stream, which is awesome. And it's amazing, yeah.

Yeah, because it's, you know, people want to relive that feeling of being an insomniac or coming home from a night out and seeing that and obviously there's this great interest because it was filmed in 1986 and you see all of these you know young street in 1986 and all this stuff but the music was a big part of why i think it it stayed with us because it was just this kind of low-key but really classy jazz. And this track is actually from that Toronto record that came in the Toronto Star. And I just think it sums up sort of the Guido Basso sound. Let's hear some Guido Basso. Thank you. ¶¶ Awesome.

Some good driving in the rain music right there. No, it's great. Seriously, I'm just too mellow to continue, man. Take over. Guido Basso. Guido Basso. I have this fantastic public service announcement that's on my YouTube channel that's called We Are Ontario.

And it's basically a bunch of musicians, including Guido Basso, who do this sort of scat song. And it's all about how Ontario is made up of all of these different cultures. And when they all come together, it sounds great. And it's a beautiful message. It's a beautiful little piece. Man, we had so much hope. And what happened to us as a people?

Dude, I know. This is my nostalgia. Because I sometimes have my buddy Elvis over. And he's adamant. He's just against all nostalgia. And I'm like, what the heck is wrong with you? Like, this is the most potent drug on the planet. And it will not shorten your life.

And we are the dealers. That's right, man. The first one's free. Come back when you want more. Hit that Patreon. Guido Basso is a great name. You know what else is a great name? Roland Parliament. And there's no way that's

a real name. That's like Jarvis Church, right? I think my son's name is Jarvis and they're like, oh man, Jarvis Church. I'm like, that that's a real name. That's a fake name. That's like Jarvis Church, right? It's not a stage name. I think my son's name is Jarvis, and they're like, oh man, like Jarvis Church. I'm like, that's not a real name. Think about the name Jarvis Church for a moment. Roland Parliament is a real name? You've got confirmation?

I'm pretty sure that's the guy's real name. I also thought Jim Van Horn was a Jim Van Horn forever. That's a fake name. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. So you never know anymore. It's a fake name. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. So you never know anymore.

It's possible. Okay. Tell me about Roland Parliament. So, you know, I got to say, Roland Parliament is a little bit of an enigma. I have been in contact with him and trying to set up an interview for years, much like, you know, you with some of your guests. Now I'm going to just leapfrog you. I'm going straight to Roland.

Get Roland on here if you can, because he's a fascinating guy. Obviously, the piece we're about to play, Ontario Yours to Discover, was this hugely successful campaign in the late 70s, early 80s that most people remember. It was on the license plates forever.

What is now on our license plate? Geez, I don't even know. Because it was yours to discover, and then it was Keep It Beautiful or something like that? Yeah, I mean, I feel like there might have been variants, and they were all around at the same time. Yours to discover, and the PSA, yours to discover ad or whatever you call that for Ontario,

played all the time. That song is entrenched in my head. It played in America. Americans saw those commercials that had that song in it. So a lot of people know that song. And there was a million different versions of it. But the one we have here is actually the OG. The original gangster?

Is that what you're saying? All right, Roland, this is Ontario, yours to discover. Start at the dawn of a new day Discover. on the water and feel the sun shining strong you'll find the smile of a friendly face that says this is where you belong in Ontario see Ontario

cause it's yours to discover and you're gonna love it so so come on everybody Get up and discover Your Ontario That's perfect. Beautiful. Goosebumps even.

Goosebumps and I refused to stomp on it. I was gonna... Somebody's gonna want to edit this and have a clean cut cause that's gonna be somebody's ringtone tomorrow that's great it's lovely and another interesting thing about roland parliament that i would love to hear more about is that he did all the music for sailor moon which i don't know if you know that i know of sailor moon but you know a japanese a little old for it i think yeah i Yeah. I mean, it was early 90s YTV when they brought it over to North America and did the English dub. He did all the music for that.

So how cool is that? It's super cool. And I'm glad to hear he's still with us. Is Guido Basso still with us? I need to know. I believe he is. I think he's retired, but he's still around. Okay, good.

I can track him down too. Harry Forbes. Harry Forbes. Well, I got to give track him down too. Harry Forbes. Harry Forbes. Well, I got to give a big shout out to one of your listeners. And unfortunately, I didn't write down his name. But the last time I was here,

we talked a lot about Elwios as we do. And we talked about Magic Shadows. And I had been on this quest to figure out who did the song because I figured out who had done the animation. And it's such an evocative piece of music and one of your listeners you know jumped on twitter and said oh it's Harry Forbes

look him up he's still around and I did and he was an absolutely gracious guy and you know I spoke to him on the phone for about an hour and he sent me a cd with some of these pieces of music that we that's. That's unbelievable. I mean, it was like the coolest thing. And that listener of mine, I remember this Twitter exchange. He just did some good Googling. Oh, it wasn't even that he knew him, right?

I hope I'm not, I don't want to, well, you don't remember the guy's name. Very helpful guy, got you that CD essentially, but I'm pretty sure he just had strong Google foo. No, you know what? He didn't because he, what got me was sure he just had strong Google foo. No, you know what? He didn't, because what got me was that he said when he spoke to Harry,

Harry was always upset with how it sounded when it was broadcast. And he said, you have to hear the actual original recording. If this person is listening to us now, because this person might just be waiting for the next Retro Ontario episode of John and Mike, please drop me a note

so we can give you some, on the next episode, I'll give you a proper shout out. But am I playing, so I got two magic shadows, right? There's like an intro and an outro? Yeah, and this was the greatest thing, was I obviously knew the intro very well, but the outro, which had no singing, it was just the instrumental, was very, very rare.

Like I had never actually heard it clean before. So, I mean, I think never actually heard it clean before. I think we played the intro the last time, so maybe play the outro now. No, I'm playing both. Screw you, Ed. This is my show. I'm playing both.

Of course, we talked about this last time, but this was Beatles-esque, right? Okay, so maybe... I don't know if we should talk about this before or after we play. Let's play it. I'll play intro, and then I'll fade out intro and get us the outro. Because I found out a lot about the making of this song. Magic Shadows.

Actually, that's the outro. Here we go. of flying like an agent through the air shadows moving faster than the eye passing faces places never ever seen before they'll take you

to the sky right upon a silver screen where pictures seem to flow Like magic, magic shadows So lovely. That takes me back. And, you know, it's great to have that recording because there's so many nuances in there So lovely. That takes me back. And, you know, it's great to have that recording because there's so many nuances in there

that I never, you couldn't really hear. Because you're like ripping from a VHS cassette. A 35-year-old VHS cassette. Right, right, right, right. And this is the very rare outro. outro That's my new ringtone. So trippy. So yeah, I mean, you know, the obvious influence was the Beatles across the universe. And I mentioned that to him that as a young boy, I thought the Beatles had actually made that song because it sounded like them.

And he said, of course, that was an influence. He said, but the bigger influence for that particular track was a song by the Beach Boys called Veal Flows, which is an absolutely dynamite song. It's on the Surf's Up album. You couldn't give me a heads up. I'd be pressing play on it right now. The reason I didn't is it's a beautiful song.

It's a little long, so I think listeners that are interested should go. It's on YouTube. And listen to it. It's a gorgeous Beach Boys song. It's actually one of the few that is written and sung by Carl Wilson. Obviously, Brian Wilson had a hand in production, but it's a Carl song. And it is just as magical as Magic Shadows. And you can totally see why

that and Across the Universe merged into Magic Shadows. The last episode with Storm and Norman Rumack, right off the top, he requested a Beach Boys song. So two episodes in a row. Something's happening. Beach Boys are so underrated. Everybody thinks it's about the goofy surf songs. They don't realize that there's this whole deeper

catalog. But we talked about Pet Sounds last episode, and we played some good vibrations, and we talked about God Only Knows knows and you're right that's that's without that you have no sergeant pepper oh my god i mean they were the american beatles absolutely absolutely uh and there's another uh so yeah forbes right so this other harry forbes track is kind of funny because another show everybody remembers bits and bytes was the first show about how to use a computer in 1983 and it was hosted by Billy Vann. And you can play it.

It's pretty obvious what he's going for, who he's referencing in this intro. Okay. I'll play it, but first, because you mentioned Billy Vann, and earlier we talked about the Laurie Bower singers. It was the Laurie Bower singers with the Billy Vann singers that performed the Spider-Man theme song from the 60s cartoon. So it all comes together here. Here's some Harry Forbes bits and bytes.

Bits and Bytes images bright flowing an endless stream bits of information logic black and white bits and bytes of information turning darkness Bits and bytes of information Turning darkness to light Turning darkness into light. No trigger warning, because I started having my Doctor Who flashbacks, okay?

Because there's a part... And that, you know, that came on after... Was it Polka Dot Door or whatever? Magic Shadows, yeah. I mean, that whole era of TV Ontario is absolutely amazing. But yeah, I mean, you know what that song is, right? Did it jump out again? No, tell me.

Is this Kraftwerk? It's Kraftwerk. It's Neon Lights by Kraftwerk, by any other name. I only know the Calculator song, okay? He was like, straight up, we were all listening. I mean, you can imagine these guys in the 70s listening to Kraftwerk, the first of heavy electronic music. And my discussion with Harry was so awesome

because I didn't realize that he was kind of like a session musician at TVO. So not only did he do these wonderful theme songs, but if they had a science documentary and they had a scene where they were showing refrigerators being made on an assembly line and they needed 30 seconds of music, he would do it. And he did all this crazy industrial electronic music,

which was actually compiled onto an album a few years ago by a company in the UK called Tomorrow's Achievements by Harry Forbes. You know, now I'm having a flashback that maybe the listener who told you about Harry Forbes is the same guy who just gave me his old 1976 Montreal Olympics CBC shirt. Whoa. And I went to his house to pick it up and we chatted for a long time

because he worked for years at TV Ontario. And so he might be that guy. He could well be that guy. It just occurred to me. Like, I literally was in this man's kitchen. Yeah, he made me a latte from his, like, very expensive latte machine. And he got the beans from the guy, Mr. Canoe Head from the Frantics. Oh, my goodness.

That's crazy. new head from the frantics oh my goodness and crazy blind derrick uh derrick wellsman uh is producing the um podcast for the frantics and i was giving him this fun fact like crazy man that's crazy connections but yeah i mean that uh i interviewed the producer of magic shadows years ago and he didn't even know he had no idea who did the song. Well, that's funny. You know, it was a kind of remarkable thing. That is remarkable. I'm glad that you've got that disc. We've sorted that out now.

Yeah. Terry Bush. Terry Bush. My goodness. So, obviously, one of the greatest television theme songs, period. Never mind from Toronto, period. The Littlest Hobo. Absolutely.

Maybe Tomorrow. Maybe Tomorrow. Maybe Tomorrow. A beautiful, haunting, sad, but happy, positive but negative song that still lives on, even though the show gets made fun of. Everybody loves that song. And poor Terry Bush never made a penny from that song, even though that show was sold around the world a million times. The song was even released in the UK in the early 2000s because it was used in an ad campaign for paint. That's crazy. And so he never made any money from Little Les Hobos,

but he was another one of these guys who did tons of jingles, and he did jingles for Canada Dry, and for beer, and all these things. But he also released all these other great singles along the way. And do you want to set up this particular track? Yeah, which one are we going to rock first? Do I have multiple? I think we have a few from Terry Bush. Okay, I want to go to the zoo.

I want to go to the zoo. Oh my God, Ed. Okay, well, go ahead. So yeah, I mean, the Metro Zoo opened up, and again, they needed a theme. want to go to the zoo i want to go oh my god ed okay well go ahead so yeah i mean the metro zoo opened up and again they needed a theme so they went to terry bush and he he composed this lovely song about wanting to go to the zoo and here it is i want to go to the zoo spend my time with some friends of mine See what an elephant do Say hello to a polar bear

Find me a kangaroo I want to go to the zoo, zoo, zoo I want to go to the zoo with you Walk hand in hand through animal land And laugh with a grinning baboon A hippopotamus and the two of us Under a sky of blue I want to go to the zoo with you.

I want to go to the zoo, zoo, zoo. I want to go to the zoo, zoo, zoo. And now I want to go to the zoo. And you might not be able to because they're about to go on strike. The Hyde Park Zoo. Come on, I'm not spending that kind of a crazy markup. Wow, man. Not that version.

I didn't even know there was a full version like that. I'm used to the ad version. The commercial version. I realize now I do have... My Terry Bushes were not grouped together. They're all over the place. I have Life in the City. Life in the City. So that was the theme song for the Eaton Center.

So again... Everything had to have a song. Everything had a theme. 1977, we need a theme in the City. So that was the theme song for the Eaton Center. So again, everything had to have a theme. 1977, we need a theme. Even Yonge Street had a song you played in the last episode? That was from the Toronto record. Yeah. That's a Laurie Bower song. We actually have another Yonge Street song coming up as well.

It's the longest street in the world. It needs multiple songs. Let's hear Life in the City from Terry Bush. Wipe the sleep from your eyes Feel the sun Wash your face Stretch to your height and size It's the right time and place

Feel your spirit lifting Soar like a bird On the wind The city has life once more Happy faces are reason to sing Life in the city Starts at the center Life in the city At the Eaton Center

Life in the city Starts at the center Life in the city At the Eaton Center Life in the city at the Eden Center. Life in the city. Timothy Eden would have loved that song. It's an ode to capitalism. That's right. And that's one of those slow stars,

you know, kind of cruising along and then it just kicks in right there. Let's go. That's great. Life in the city. Every mall needs its own song. I wonder what the cloverdale mall would uh sound song would sound like yeah oh my goodness i i actually didn't bring it but the pickering town center get out of here as a theme which is horrible but that's why i didn't bring it well that's why i want to hear it the worse the better uh what about tell me about this

third song by terry bush so you know it funny. We should have probably played this one earlier because this is part of that Ontario theme song genre. And I think he sort of jumped in on that when Dolores Klayman and all these songs were coming out. But I've always had a really soft spot for this one. Ontario, is there any place you would rather be? Again, it's a bit of a slow burner, but it kicks in and it's dope.

And we have time. Let's go for it. Yeah. Ontario, Ontario What a place for you and me To be what you want to be Golden sun on a clear sky day No need to ask, it's yours today Ontario, Ontario, is there any place you'd rather be? You need your place to stand, a golden booming land, a place that's building every day, every day Great highways long and wide

Thirty thousand miles to ride Our land of love in every way, every way Ontario Ontario Ontario Ontario It's a great place coming to And these dreams come true for you What a place for you and me

To be what you want to be Every time I was going to fade out, something cool would happen. Yeah, these guys didn't mess around. There was a lot of intricate production going on. Yeah, seriously. And making me really appreciate my home province. That's the goal, right? That's what we're intended to do, yeah. And Ontario as a word,

like it really does well in songs because it's kind of a singing, kind of, it's hard to say Ontario about singing, you know? It's great. Yo, yo, yo. It would be tougher with some other city names I know

you couldn't do that with like Oshawa but Ontario yeah Toronto too okay and by the way I realize now everything is Ontario

centric today except for that Sesame Street funk but it was so good it was so good we had to play that come on I mean that's a

kickstarter Tommy Ambrose Tommy Ambrose so we've been building up to this one because tommy ambrose is kind of like you know i wrote an article about him a few years ago i described him as the the original drake because he went around the world and he repped the six before that was a cool thing to do and he you know is kind of like Canada's Frank Sinatra.

Big band sound, jazz sound, absolutely velvet voice. And he did a lot of stuff, commercial stuff. So he did jingles like these other guys. He did theme songs. But he also put out albums. And I'm actually working with him right now on some legacy stuff and he's a fascinating guy and he has all this cool stuff you are working with our Frank Sinatra right I'm working with our I'm trying to make

sure that everybody appreciates that we have a Frank Sinatra just might have heard the only difference between Tommy Ambrose and Frank Sinatra is Frank had a better PR manager. Frank was on Magnum PI as well. But, you know, Tommy, classic guy. You know, I brought a lot of his pieces. The one, obviously, that a lot of people remember was People City, because that was the theme song for City TV. And when City TV was launching in 1972, Moses Neimer, he understood that he didn't want a jingle.

He actually wanted a proper song that they could release as an EP into stores. And so he got Tommy on it. Tommy came up with this song, which is about the fabric of Toronto and how Toronto is made up of all of these different cultures who all come together and produce this beautiful people city. So, Mr. DJ. Find yourself in people's city. Stay a while If you can With folks Who will be

Tomorrow's faces Kicking the Traces Showing you Places In Toronto That's People's City Showing you places in Toronto That's people's city Where love takes hold

Makes old dreams happen She makes you feel things So buried feelings take on old meaning. In Toronto, that's People's City. When did they stop airing that on the City TV? So it ran for about 10 years. When they switched over from Channel 79 to being Channel 57, they got rid of it.

But it used to run every night when they would sign off, and it would come on again in the morning when they signed on. And like I said, it was released into stores, and I think I actually have the 45 here. It's a beautiful picture of Nathan Phillips Square. I'm taking pictures of all of these. They'll be attached to this entry somehow. And so, yeah, I'm working with him right now

with an organization you might have heard of called the Toronto Myseum. And the Toronto Myseum do these sort of pop-up events that celebrate Toronto history and culture. And we're doing an exhibit based around People City because the other thing was the video that would accompany that song that aired every night on City TV and in the morning,

it showed clips of Toronto, of the various different parts of the city where there was a multicultural community. So there was footage from Chinatown, footage from Greektown, and everybody was happy. And it was kind of the first time in Toronto that you saw the television reflecting the actual racial makeup of the city,

which it seems like, okay, well, that's been going on all of our lifetimes. But back then it was a huge deal. Yeah, I talk about this all the time. And people like Ann Roszkowski could stay Ann Roszkowski and not become Ann Malone or whatever. Yeah, I talk about this all the time. And people like Ann Roszkowski could stay Ann Roszkowski and not become Ann Malone or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And Joel Goldberg could be

Joel Goldberg, not Jake Old. And you could bring in a Jojo Cinto. Yeah, it's just fantastic. And it's been talked about a lot. Obviously, Moses understood all of this stuff. And so People City was kind of the first shot that was fired in this whole ongoing makeover that revolutionized local television. And so People City was kind of the first shot that was fired in this whole ongoing makeover that revolutionized local television. And that song is a big part of that.

Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. And there's more Tommy Ambrose. So Tommy, he was also well known for all of the work he did for Labatt Blue. And people got to remember, back then, beer commercials was a massive deal. I mean, you don't even see that stuff on television anymore. I guess there's probably laws that prohibit them from advertising on television. But beer commercials, it was like...

Is there? I'm trying to think. I think I've seen a lot of Budweiser ads. Yeah. It's weird because growing up, they were everywhere. You watched sports. It was wall-to-wall. You watched sports, you know, it was wall to wall. This song we're going to play, I was listening last night. I remember it in the ads. So vividly, yeah, all over the place.

Yeah, so, I mean, I think Tommy has been pretty open that, you know, the money that was flying around in that world at that time, it's like, well, do you want to go off and try and have a career and release albums? Or do you want to be a jingle guy and live in a mansion and never have to worry about money? And so these Labatt Blue spots, he came up with this idea, Labatt Blue, Smiles Along With You. And every year, they would do a different some of them were sort of jazzy, some of them were rock, some of them were more reggae. And he would bring in the team, and he would sing some of them. One of them he got Peggy Lee to fly up to Toronto, and Peggy Lee did one. But this one I brought is an actual Tommy one, and it was a ski theme. And it's really cool. Carve that powder into ribbons cool. And now we're smiling Yes, we're smiling These smiles along with you So sorry, but the sound quality is a bit potato on that

because it came from an old videotape. We're just lucky to have it at all. We're lucky it exists, yeah. So he did all of those. He did the eggs. You remember Get Crack and all that stuff? Have Eggs Instead? Is it Get Crack? Yeah, he did all of those. He did the eggs. You remember Get Crackin' and all that stuff? Have Eggs Instead? Is it Get Crackin'? Yeah, that was all Tommy.

Wow. What else? Yeah, he basically did everything. Then he opened up a bar in downtown Toronto, one of the more infamous bars in the 80s, and the bar was called Jingles. And on any given night, it's where all the sports people hung out and the music industry people and people would just go up and freestyle on the piano and sometimes tommy would come down and sing with them and various other luminaries and it just you know i i hear these stories and i lament that there isn't anything like that anymore because it sounds amazing that's crazy and uh we have the young street song Only because I see it's called Long Street. That can only mean one thing.

Long Street, winding through my mind. So Tommy was commissioned to do this song in the 70s. It was for an anniversary. I want to say it was the 180th anniversary of Young Street. Sort of a random marker to commission a song. No, 181

would be random. 180, at least it's a round number. It's a round song. No, 181 would be random. 180, at least it's a round number. It's a round number. But not 175. You're right. 180 is a strange number. 180 was weird, but there must have been a reason. Any excuse for a song. So he wrote the song about Yonge Street,

and it was actually, again, released primarily at Sam the Record Man. This was the only place you could buy the 45. And it's an absolutely gorgeous song. I mean, imagine Frank Sinatra singing a song about Yonge Street. That's what this is. So take it away, Mr. DJ. Long street winding through my mind You touched my life at different times

I've shared your days, walked your nights, been amused and angered by your sights. Young street, you touched my life. When friends were hard to find, you were there

And you were mine You're just a long street That's winding through my mind Long street Winding through my mind Just like a picture Recording time The rich and the poor

The old and new They built their lives And this city around you Oh, you're young street and you touched my life when friends were hard to find frank sinatra or maybe robert goulet yeah yeah you hear that in there yeah totally so later on this year um, Tommy's going to be releasing a compilation of his Toronto songs, which you'll be able to download off iTunes. Or if you're really hardcore, you could probably buy the vinyl.

Wow. It's going to be super exciting. Any remixes in store? Yes. So that's one of the things we're doing with Myseum is touch wood. It hasn't totally been signed and sealed yet, but we're looking to put together sort of a super group of various Toronto genres and do some cover versions of it. So, like, I would love to do a hip hop version.

My mixing volumes weren't ideal there. I'm a rookie. I'm learning. But that would be cool. Yeah. Maestro, yeah. And I think, you know, it lends, People City especially would lend itself to a reggae version.

Absolutely. That's cool. Yeah. You're involved in some very cool projects. I try to keep busy. How do I get myself involved in some of these cool projects?

I got some stuff. But there's one Toronto-centric original composition you didn't bring, but I'll play a bit of it and we can talk about it, okay? This was this song. Oh, this one. This is the Toronto Mike theme

song. Original composition by local rapper producer Ill Vibe. Tell me the truth. What do you think of this track i love this track not just because i'm sitting here and i play it before every time it's kind of funky right it's it's dope and it's not out of place in this episode no it's not it's it's perfectly at home here and i think you know you've had it uh you've had it commented upon by people like wes who gave it bigs. Yeah, he loved it.

And he's an honest guy. If he thought it was shite, he would have said that. He actually worked with Ill Vibe on some tracks. I think it's funny because I've heard this track, obviously, every time I listen to your show. Have you heard it 235 times? In the vicinity. And it never gets old, which is a sign of a great song. It never gets old you know which is a sign of a great song is that you know

it never gets old Ill Vibe might freshen it up but I don't want to risk losing it's like you know when you take a classic like that

and mess with it you don't want to have it lose what's made it special but we'll try to freshen that up hey man this episode

I'm thinking this is episode 236 I'm not sure I have enjoyed any episode as much as I enjoyed this one oh wow it's been awesome to be here talking about this stuff with you Mike always a pleasure

and that brings us to the end of our 236th show you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike and Ed is at Retro Ontario Retro Ontario the O in retro shares at Toronto Mike and Ed is at retro Ontario, retro Ontario.

The O and retro shares the same. Oh, is the O that starts Ontario. There's a little pro tip for you before you put it to those there. It is, it is retro Ontario and our friends at great lakes brewery or at great lakes beer and property in the six.com is at Brian Gerstein. See you all next week. I want to take a streetcar downtown