Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Retrontario's Christmas Crackers, Vol. 4: Toronto Mike'd #972

Episode Date: December 21, 2021

Mike catches up with Ed Conroy before Ed gifts FOTMs a collection of festive audio nuggets.

That's a Christmas present from a very dear friend of mine. Look, Daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. That's right. That's right. Thatta boy, Clive. And I For old And time My dear For old And time We'll drink

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Pillars of the community since 1921. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week to gift us christmas crackers volume four is retro ontario's own ed conroy merry christmas ed merry christmas mr miked thank you oh that's my formal name. I love it, buddy. Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. And last time you were on Toronto Miked, which, by the way, you should do every week. If I were in charge, you'd be on every freaking week. But last time you mentioned you were leaving the city.

Can you give us FOTMs and update on how it's going now that the retro Ontario family has left the big smoke? Yeah. So I've been out in God's country for almost half a year now. I moved out to Port Perry, which is a little bit east of Toronto, about an hour east of where I used to live in Scarborough. And I got to tell you, I just love it. It's remarkable. I have two acres of land. I'm surrounded by farmer's fields. I have this lovely converted barn now that doubles as a studio and I have

an archive in here. So yeah, man, it's amazing. I love it. Well, I'm happy for you. I mean, when Ed Conroy is happy, then Toronto Mike is happy. But I couldn't help but notice on social media that the great Ziggy Lawrence, is she like your neighbor? Did she leave the city for Port Perry as well? I'm not sure if she went to Port Perry, but it's certainly, there's something in the air. There's a lot of people that are, I think, probably because of the events of the last few years,

that's kind of looked around and said, look, if we're just going to stay inside of our houses all the time, we might as well go somewhere where you can, you know, your money goes a little bit further for land. So yeah, I know a lot of people actually, a lot of people have gone to Prince Edward County. A lot of people moved out to Durham. And yeah, it's going to be interesting, you know, if this ever ends to see the new ecosystem. Like the family across the street

just moved to Peterborough. Like that to me, that's wow. But it's happening all over the place. And I don't currently have a real estate sponsor. So if you're a real estate agent and you want in for 2022, let's talk. But I feel like you're maybe you did this, but this is that if you're going real estate agent and you want in for 2022, let's talk. But I feel like you're, maybe

you did this, but this is the, if you're going to cash out and leave the, you know, the center of the universe, then this is the time to, it sounds like a good time to do it. Well, that's right. I think the, the real estate market is, is no sign of slowing down. So you can, you can upsell and get something that is the kind of house, like the kind of house I live in is sort of the kind of house when I was a kid, I thought I would have in Toronto, never knowing things were going to be the way they were. So yeah, it's, you know, the other thing too, Mike, as a, as a pretty nostalgic guy, I think you'll appreciate this. When you're out in these kind of smaller towns, it's kind of like being in the past. It's a little bit of that Norman Rockwell,

you know, kind of 80s vibe. And I dig it. You know, I really, you know, Toronto has still got my heart. I'm always going to be a Toronto guy. And I go into the city all the time. That hasn't changed. But yeah, I mean, in terms of where we live, where we choose to live now, it's a weird time. You know, I don't yet live outside the city. I'm still in the city. But I have to tell you, this just happened. So I went on a bike ride and I went through High Park

and I was coming back on the waterfront trail, like heading west. And I guess, I don't know what they call it, one of the Humber Bay parks, the things between the bridge and when you come out of the trail at Norris Crescent. And they got all these names and I get them all confused. But I'm biking along and there's, I swear to you,

there's a beaver. Like there's a beaver with like a big piece of a tree in its mouth. And it's just waddling along the trail. And I stopped and took a little video but i can't remember in my 40 something years of biking this or walking this city i don't know if i've ever come across a beaver before that might be a first wow did you hear the hinterland song when you saw it of course it's kind of funny i think you know there's coyotes all over the place before i

left scarborough there was foxes all over the place right you know i think a lot of that is obviously to do with uh again the events of the last few years people just aren't really going out and so the animals the wildlife is sort of reclaiming its spot so that's kind of cool so i don't know if you have beavers in port perry but uh you know if you yeah what i actually tweeted was uh nice beaver just to see how many people would reply to tell me they just got it stuffed so um anyway i uh i got a couple of uh notes from fotms and then there's something very special about to happen so uh brace yourself ed conroy but uh people like mal furious jerry the garbage man so i love these handles and you marry it there's so many fotms excited about your return

christian ruiz says uh putting a bow on this foo bar of a year with the christmas crackers is podcast gold of course jerry gold when i say jerry you know what i mean right mike of course that's a seinfeld reference who the hell doesn't know what that means come on christian we know what we're doing here andrew marriott says he's been looking forward to this all year i got some notes about i think it was um maybe it was malafurious but i got a few notes about uh the doctor who theme and how traumatizing that was and they remember us reminiscing but a lot of people very very excited about your return but none more excited than me. This is like the highlight of my calendar. So thanks for doing this. My pleasure, mate. And you know, it really

seems like five minutes ago since we last did this, but I guess it was half a year ago. And my goodness, it's two years since we did the last Christmas Crackers. So long overdue. So this is volume four. And I said, brace yourself. Here it is, my friend. I have a special recording that somebody whose voice you'll recognize has done for me. And this is a big deal. So I'm going to play it.

Then we're going to get your reaction. And then I'm going to kind of bang home what just happened. Because people are going to be like, what just happened? Are you ready? I'm ready. Hi, I'm Peter Gross. home what just happened because people are going to be like what just happened are you ready i'm ready hi i'm peter gross you may remember me from the film ripoff as if or such programs as the world according to gross and gallagher and gross saved the world and getting the scores right some of the time on 680 news today it's my esteemed pleasure to open the friends of toronto mike hall of fame by announcing the inaugural member,

the first guy in, the very first inductee of the FOTM Hall of Fame isn't Peter Gross, although it should be, but it's Ed Conroy, better known to you as Retro Ontario. Congratulations, Ed. I hope to join you soon. Well, I hope it won't be a posthumous induction.

We'll leave that distinction to John Gallagher. Oh, wow. Congratulations, Ed Conroy. My friend, I'm very emotional right now. That's an unbelievable honor. I cannot thank you enough. Well, here, let me toast you because this is a big deal. I've been working on this for a while and let's crack open. What are you cracking open there? I have a Great Lakes Canuck Pale Ale that I found out here in the countryside. Okay, you crack yours first. Cheers, buddy. Cheers to you.

I'm going to crack open an IPA that I enjoy called Burst. Woo! Thank you, Great Lakes. but just to make sure we don't bury the lead here this is a real thing and there's a webpage and I'll be making noise about this on TorontoMike.com shortly and on social media but there is

an FOTM Hall of Fame and you my friend are the inaugural inductee you are the first member of the FOTM hall of fame wow i uh i'm incredibly honored and it's a privilege to just be on your program uh mike not never mind be be a hall of famer so where do we go from here it's all it's all downhill it's all downhill from here um but again good to see you uh now you are here for christmas crackers volume four which means you've brought some uh some tasty treats some uh little

gifts for our stockings this holiday season uh what do we start with here my friend well you know it's funny mike because obviously i think this is the sixth or seventh appearance on the program. And I was listening back to some of our earlier episodes and you start to notice there are certain themes and characters that pop up in all of our shows. And so I figured there was a funny thing that happened to me a few weeks back, and I'm hoping we can recreate it here. I know that certainly some of the people listening like when we talk about this character. About a month ago, I posted a clip of Uncle Bobby, our good friend Uncle Bobby, on the Facebook page for Retro Ontario. for Retro Ontario. And, you know, as is such, whenever Uncle Bobby material is posted, there's always just a litany of comments that are amusing underneath the post. And it just so happened that as I was reading the people's comments, there was this totally, you know, old school Christmas song,

old school Christmas song, instrumental song playing in the background. And it was such a contrast to what I was reading. And it just cracked me up. So I don't know. I'll try and recreate it. So I did send you over a track. It's called the Holly Ridge Strings version of Jingle Bells. And I'm just going to read these comments. Do a little bit of the mix there. All right.

Love it. Okay, let's go. Uncle Bobby, he was not a very nice man to children. A huge boozer. I loved Uncle Bobby when I was little. I'm 52 now, and I still remember him clearly. Uncle Bobby and that trailer of his parked in the CFTO parking lot is the tell-all book I need. My mom's friend worked with him and he was known to get handsy in the elevators. I never allowed my children to watch Uncle Bobby.

He always gave me the creeps for some reason. Alex Laurier, who was also on Polka Dot Door, played the guitar and sang on Uncle Bobby. He also did children's parties, but was later convicted

of sexually assaulting children. He reverted to his real name and disappeared after that. Uncle Bobby liked his booze. Always thought everything and everyone on this show was creepy. I met

him driving a school bus in the 80s. He drove us to Roy Thompson Hall from Scarborough. Same here, man. Eglinton Square Mall in a double-decker bus. My mom told me years later he's reeked of booze. Uncle Bobby was a creep, not just creepy. He used his job to gain contact with children's mothers and behaved inappropriately with them. had a family member who lived in the same building he lived in in Scarborough and the cousins talk often about him inviting up any old bag lady to his apartment to play games. Apparently he was

quite the drinker and pretty touchy-feely with the ladies but my kid self adored him regardless. Uncle Bobby was a dirty old man and a drunk too Remember seeing Uncle Bobby as a kid A few times at the Brewers retail At Markham and Ellesmere in Scarborough He was our bus driver In 1982 He was a complete asshole Not nice at all

And the final comment This guy was hammered 95% Of the time There we go Uncle Bobby Christmas Tales this guy was hammered 95% of the time. There we go. I love it. The Uncle Bobby Christmas Tales. You know, when I do look back at the history of retro Ontario on Toronto Mic,

that is definitely a highlight, like the Uncle Bobby talk. And we've been blowing minds forever about the shagging wagon that was parked in aging court for not for the kids, for the moms. I always feel i need to make sure i'm clear about this yeah that to me is a significant detail oh no absolutely and we're like i don't think there's many outlets if any that even remember uncle bobby never mind give him

airtime so cheers to that buddy and you, every birthday that comes around, every rotation around the sun there, I think about, remind me, Bimbo the birthday clown? Yes. Yes. And son of happy. Right. It was those little puppets that came down from the ceiling as well. And, you know, there's a pirate stream for Toronto Mic'd,

which is particularly utilized for Pandemic Fridays, which are returning in January as Toast. It's coming back. But whenever Cam Gordon comments on the Pirate Stream, which is live.torontomic.com, he uses the alias Uncle Bobby Cox. Excellent reference there. Double reference.

So shout out to you, FOTM, Cam Gordon. Okay, we're off to an awesome start what's next ed okay well you had said to me you gave me a list of things and said these were the things i guess that we're currently you're currently obsessing over right and i know you're you're a big fan of tears are not enough and uh not that i can add to to your epic episode about tears are not enough, but there was this quite amazing television commercial that aired at Christmas time in the early eighties. And again, this is sort of a double reference.

It was for the Simpsons department store. So I don't know if you can cue that up. The Simpsons spirit. Simpsons. Share the Christmas spirit. Give your best to everyone. The spirit of the city. Filled with splendor, filled with fun. Give the Simpsons spirit. Simpsons.

Shimmering, glittering, sparkling, glimmering. The spirit of today. Give the Simpsons spirit. Simpsons. So, of course, it was a banger. And Simpsons, you know, had kind of a mythic quality back then because of today's special. Right. And so also, I don't know if you remember going there at Christmas, but they had this thing called Toyland. And it was the most magnificent display at the time of, you know, He-Man toys and Star Wars toys and G.I. Joe and all that stuff. And, you know, as a six year old, it was incredibly mind blowing. It's stayed with me forever um but this commercial was really funny

because when i kind of rediscovered it when i started doing a retro ontario there's this lady in it that obviously you don't see her when we're here in the tune but she's just so hyperactive and bouncing around and got the most 80s perm and she's wearing this really ludicrous sweater And I'm like, where do I recognize her from? She was just so familiar And she was in a bunch of Simpsons commercials from this era And always doing the same routine Just bringing it up to 11 from the get-go

And as it turns out She was this Quebecois pop singer by the name of Veronique. She was kind of like the original Mitsu. Wow. She sort of had a crossover, I think I sent it to you, called Make a Move.

You want to hear that right now? We could throw that on. Okay, then I'll bring it down. Yeah. Okay, I'll keep it low in the mix. Tell me about Veronique. She was this clearly very popular singer in Quebec. She was one of the people that was a singer in Tears Are Not Enough. Apparently, because she did these Simpsons commercials,

which were all very Toronto-centric, she sort of got a bit blacklisted because they thought she was like a sellout for doing these English language commercials in Toronto. I haven't seen Tears Are Not Enough in a while, but I certainly remember her being In the background Big black hair

I totally Kind of looks a bit like Natalie Richard Maybe like a little bit I guess maybe after a couple of beers She She was you know she had an incredible Career and you can look her up She's got a lot of Obviously French, French-language songs that charted.

And her crossover, unfortunately, didn't go anywhere. But she is kind of known as sort of setting the stage for Mitsu, who a few years later, Bye Bye Mon Cowboy, obviously, became the big song that it did. I thought you were going to say a few years later was spotted coming out of Steve Anthony's bedroom when he was sharing that spot with John Gallagher. Yeah, I'm sure that happened too. That would have been a good webcam if we had a time machine.

But no, she's a fascinating person. Not the most interesting story, but it was a peripheral thing. I love it. Tears are not enough. I Not the most interesting story, but it was a peripheral thing. I love it. Tears are not enough. You know, I love the Quebec content, too, because this is a mind blow, but we had TMLX 8 on August 27th. You might have been in the crowd. I was looking for you, but it was a big, big crowd at Great Lakes Brewery.

And I know you weren't there, but we'll get you to another TMLX for sure. But there were a couple of gentlemen who made the drive from Quebec to come to TMLX 8. So I want to shout out. That's amazing. I know. Quebec Irish boy. And Double D, also known as David Drolet. So they're fans of the podcast.

I'm sure they're listening right now. And I want them to know that here we are kicking out some Veronique Bellevaux. Any relation to Jean Bellevaux? Is that... Possibly. I didn't go that far in my research. I just, it was such a great moment

when I, you know, put it all together that that's who the Simpsons lady was. I love it. I love it. And you know, Ed, there's some, some episodes of Toronto Mike still to this day, and I'm almost a thousand episodes deep, my friend, but I'll be doing an episode and this will happen. And I'll be thinking to myself, Oh, Ed would like this. Like, you know, it happened with the, uh, the just like mom deep dive of Paul Burford. I'm like, Oh, this is a retro on Terrio episode. And even like, yeah,

when I was doing the deep dive, the 2.5 hour Tears Are Not Enough deep dive with the aforementioned Cam Gordon, I was thinking, you know, I bet you Retro Ontario's own Ed Conroy would dig this. So I thank you for the Tears Are Not Enough reference in the old Simpsons commercials. Yeah, and you know, any excuse to talk about Simpsons, because again, it was,

it was a very big part of being a kid. I thought, you know, growing up in Toronto and, you know, all of it is gone. And, you know, people of a certain age would, they think you're talking about the cartoon, of course, even the, even the Simpsons logo, like the department store logo is a little bit, looks like the cartoon logo. So it creates all kinds of confusion, keywords and whatnot. Right. Now, if we go back to 2004, and that's well after, I guess, Simpsons, I guess, was no more. But the old Simpsons building there that's beside the Eden Center,

I was driving home very late. And I've told this story a hundred times. I'm going to tell it again. But my first daughter was born that night at like three in the morning or something. And that was at Women's College Hospital. And I was driving on Bay, like heading South on Bay after this.

And I was stopped, like cops stopped me because they were filming a scene from Cinderella Man outside that Simpsons. And the Simpsons was dressed up as Madison Square Gardens and it was quite the quite the surreal uh it's quite the surreal moment that's great well and I know you were a fan of today's special so you know there's there's that part of the history as well so and who isn't really like uh who isn't well you know Mike that's another thing i i i feel like i talk about this a lot on your

program that uh what we do is so important in just keeping that flame burning because you would think that uh today's special would have nothing to worry about in terms of its legacy for those who saw it they'll never forget it but you know tv ontario for all these reasons we don't need to get into but you know they can't do anything with it they can't show it again they can't put it on youtube and nobody's ever gonna put it on netflix or or any of the streaming services so really it's it's in immediate danger of of being for you know being forgotten about or being lost. Can you remind me, succinctly in your elevator pitch, why exactly TVO can't do anything with these great old shows we reference? So because TVO Ontario was unlike the commercial broadcasters,

it was a wing of the provincial government. It fell under the Department of Education, right? I mean, it still does. It operates very differently. And so the contracts that existed between the performers and the writers and the directors with ACTRA and the various unions in Canada were all very different than, say, the CBC or CTV or any of those kinds of things. And they just didn't ever think there would be an age of DVDs or streaming or internet. So there was no provisions ever put in. And so if, let's say, Netflix, some dude at Netflix loves today's special and wants to put it on Netflix Canada, when you do the math, the amount of money they

would have to pay to even show one episode, it's literally like millions of dollars to clear all the rights. And all kinds of people have tried it. I worked for, this is like 20 years ago for a entertainment company in Toronto that was trying to release it on DVD. And even then, you know, in 2001, it was basically financially impossible to do it. So, you know, I try, obviously a lot of people post pictures of today's special and clips and there's the Christmas special. It's the most incredible Christmas episode. And I will be showing it on my YouTube channel on a live stream on Christmas Eve. It'll run all night on a loop. Hopefully TVO won't send their lawyers after me, but it's sort of become a tradition on my YouTube channel because it's just keeping that wonderful show alive.

Yeah. Let me know if you get any trouble because, you know, a fotm is steve pagans so i'll uh i'll make some phone calls i appreciate that i mean i i'm good friends with steve and we talk a lot and and you know he if it was up to him you know he'd take a chainsaw to the red tape because he he understands that yeah he gets it he gets it the tvo brand is fucking paganaken and Pokeroo and Elwee and, you know, today's special. But there's only so much he can do, right? Right. How come we were able, is it because the province owns this character? But Pokeroo had a bit of a comeback lately with the vaccinations.

And when the kids were getting vaccinated, there was Pokeroo. And, you know, we're all explaining to our kids who the hell Pokeroo is. vaccinated, there was Pokeroo. And I'm, you know, we're all explaining to our kids who the hell Pokeroo is. Why was that? Why did that happen? Simply because, hey, the province owns this, this, this Intel, this intellectual property. This IP. Yeah. It's funny. I was, I was on the Jerry Agar show talking about this. And I hadn't been on the Jerry Agar show pretty much since COVID started. So that was surreal. But yeah, I mean, Pokeroo is owned by the government of Ontario. And I made the analogy that he's kind of, for lack of a better character, he's our Big Bird, right?

And in America, they did this whole thing where Big Bird went and got vaccinated. Right. Right. And so, you know, I'm not accusing them of copying that no no i get what you're saying i get what you're saying 100 but you know kids today uh we both have kids our kids know big bird because big bird never went away but is there tell me maybe i'm being ignorant here so is pokaroos still rocking he he is and it is it is and right i think um i said this to jerry because that was the the knee-jerk reaction on twitter and everything was oh this is an old thing from the 90s nobody knows what it is blah blah but you know i have two young

kids who religiously watch tv and still good and there's no polka dot door. Unfortunately, there's no polka dot shorts even, but they do have these little interstitials that run between other shows where poker is like CGI flying around the universe. And yeah, he's kind of become just a cheerleader for TVO kids, right? He, they can put him on posters and things.

He goes, you know, there was this wonderful event i don't know it probably hasn't happened in years but it's called word on the street you might remember of course a celebration of local publishers you know and tvo was always there and they always had pokaroo there and i remember in like 2010 just being absolutely hammered and walking through queen's park seeing Pokeroo there. And it was like, oh my goodness. So, I mean, to their credit,

they haven't like completely abandoned him. Right. But it's certainly not like the glory days, right? Right. I mean, there's no new show. He's just sort of, yeah, this cheerleader. Love it. Oh, by the the way while i'm promoting you know we talked about pagan you know a new fotm and her episode is fantastic is nam because not only is

nam got the tvo chops now but we can do a whole bunch of uh much music chat so that that was recorded last week sweet sweet well i gotta say i i say, I loved your episode with Rob Pruse. Oh, yeah. That was a great one. And I saw you were sort of bigging him up as being part of the Mount Rushmore of pop culture, Gen X nerds, you know? Yeah, he's one of us, as I like to say. He's one of us. And what a great segue, because I hope uh one of your christmas crackers treats

uh involves the spoons well it's not so much a treat as it is a question for you because i was like hanging on that interview because i you know i'm obsessed with the spoons like you grew up with them and and you know follow them and follow Rob on, on, on social media. And this, the one song of theirs that is my favorite. I know everybody is obviously different, but I felt like a couple of times he wanted to talk about it or he brought it up and you were like waking out still about Nova heart or, or, you know, romantic traffic. And so unfortunately he didn't really get into it, but the song tell no lie, right. And so, unfortunately, he didn't really get into it, but the song Tell No Lies,

which, again, from the sounds of it, was almost like a bastard stepchild. It wasn't on the big album, and it ended up being on the soundtrack, and the soundtrack album, Listen to the City. And so I have all these questions about that song, primarily because it was also used, I don't know if you remember this,

but it was used in a Maxell VHS commercial. See, this was covered in depth when Gord Depp made his Toronto mic debut. I just, I was loaded with, there was, I remember we talked about Maxell and we talked about Stitches and all these different campaigns around the city for the spoons.

I thought it would come up with Rob because Rob has this. There's a moment in the Maxell commercial where he lifts up a VHS tape or somebody takes up a VHS tape and a sandwich is in it. They pull like it's like they're going to pull the tape out, but it's a it's a sandwich. And then it cuts to Rob and he holds up this blank tape and he and he smells it he's like oh it smells great it's like the weirdest thing i've ever seen well i have good news for you ed this is good news uh i was chatting with rob pruse uh earlier this week i'm guessing that was yesterday the week is not very old right now but uh and he he's confirmed to return to Toronto, Mike, with brother Bill and Cam Gordon. We're going to do a very deep

exploration into the history of New Wave in Canada. Rob's our special guest because he was there. I will totally revisit this with him when he returns. That's super cool that's great news i'll definitely uh look forward to that one but i think too you know he did mention on your show that um tell no lies was modeled after the new york sound of the early 80s that that he was obsessed with and i you know i got to think about things like, excuse me, of the time, like Pig Bag, you know, that kind of that heavy drum sound. And I think that's what I love, the horn section in Tell No Lies.

And it's just it's a very aggressive song. And I think, too, I have a soft spot for it because I had a babysitter around that time who was super hot and she was super into the spoons and i remember when she got i don't know if she bought the tape or she recorded it off the radio or something but i remember one time she was babysitting me and my brother and she just kept playing tell no lies on a loop and it made an impression so i figured we'd play a little bit of it i mean i don't think you know you know what this is an opportunity for me to drink some more of my burst, and let's listen to Tell No Lies. Tell No Lies Like a bonfire I know, I know

It's the tragedy that I knew at this game of trust Tell no lies Tell no lies I know, I know Take it for a ride And I wouldn't I know You'd take it for a ride And I wouldn't ever know it I know, I know

I'm vulnerable, but what can I do? I'm new at this game of strides Tell no lies Tell no lies Tell no lies Tell no lies It's like a time machine, Ed. It brings you right back, my friend. It really does, eh? And I don't know if you remember the music video for that one

was heavy rotation, you know, on Much back in the day. And it's kind of creepy, too, because it's like they're all on an airplane The music video for that one was heavy rotation, you know, on Munch back in the day. And it's kind of creepy, too, because it's like they're all on an airplane. And the pilot of the airplane grows a big, long Pinocchio nose. And it's this quite frightening image. And so this Max L VHS commercial, it looked like it was kind of composed of parts of the music video so maybe when they were shooting the music video they also said well you know we'll sub in a couple other bits for this this max l ad so i would love i don't know you don't have to ever ask him about it i could ask him on twitter but it would be cool to hear what he remembers about that because it was weird

i'm literally gonna pull that clip and play it for him. Hey, I'm wearing, as you can see on the Zoom here, I'm wearing my Toronto tee. Got an update on what's going on? Like if people listening want to rock the Toronto tee, which I think my Gen X fan base would, like how the heck can somebody in 2021, almost 2022, rock a Toronto tee? Well, they'll need to find a DeLorean and go back to May

because they're sold out, unfortunately. That's why we should have a pre-interview. I never do a pre-interview. No, that's okay. No, I actually did two lines this year with Retro Kid. Amazing, amazing local local guys um is that the eric bowser uh consortium yeah so it's it's eric bowser and his buddy steve gaskin and uh they're you know a couple of guys a little bit younger than us but totally in the the gen x pop culture oh yeah you

know yeah and uh you know they grew up in scarborough and and they're exactly the same why aren't these things more revered what can we do to keep the flame burning and you know they've they've developed this cool company where they go out and license you know things like the raccoons and and mr dress up and they do these lines. And so we did the Toronto Tea for the summer and a couple other cool ones. And then we just finished a very exclusive line. I'm wearing the great movies. I see that, yeah.

But we did like an electric circus. We did Laurentian color pencils hoodie. We did a Hostess potato chips hoodie. So yeah, it's super fun. So this is on the up and up. These aren't bootleg things. You're actually licensing this IP? You know, you license

when you can. Some of these things are kind of in a gray area. Does Rogers own what I'm wearing right now? The whole Toronto T? Well, they own the logo that's on the T. They own City TV, obviously. Do you need me to hook you up?

My lawyer, you might know him. His name is Lorne Honickman. I can hook you up. Oh, yes. I might need to call Lorne or his son to get me out of trouble. Shout out to Asher Honickman. Asher. Asher's awesome.

But, yeah, you know, the thing is, this isn't really, this isn't an exercise in making money. It's about the good times and sharing that love. Right. And I think, you know, when we got to, you know, it seems like a million years ago now, but when we got to the summer, you know, May of 2021, we had just been through all this bullshit that is happening again. And people wanted to get outside and have fun. And we, you know, Steve and I were talking, what could we remember from that, those fun summers in the 80s?

And it was this whole idea that, you know, you wore the Toronto tee, you went to Stitches or Thrifty's, got the Toronto tee, and then you went out and Ziggy would see you. Well, I was going to say, if Ziggy did, yeah, if she did move to Port Perry, like she could be doing a walk and see you in your Toronto Tea. That would blow my freaking mind. And I could get tickets for Honeymoon Suite

at Canada's Wonderland or something. I mean, you know, that's the vibe we were going for. And I think it was successful because a lot of people were really interested in it. And, you know, I showed them to Moses and he got a chuckle about it. And, you know, it's a feel good, you know, thing. So shout out to Moses. I want to thank you, though, for this T-shirt, because one day it was in my mailbox and I'm happily wearing it today.

I wear it with pride. This is a sore spot. When you brought up the whole retro kid thing, I had this moment of like, oh yeah, because Eric, when Eric was on my program, and he was fantastic, by the way, he's also one of us, like Rob Prues. You know, he's one of us.

And he promised to send me a Byway t-shirt. And I felt like a kid in some kind of like, almost like a Christmas story or something. Like I'm checking the mailbox every day. Like I'm so excited. Has the mail come? Has the mail come? And no Byway t-shirt ever arrived. So I just want to thank you, Mr. Conroy, for this Toronto tea.

Well, you're not alone there. I can let you know that I think this is something that happens a lot. Eric lives in LA, right? So he's used to rolling with Entertainment Tonight and places like that. So when he comes to Toronto, he goes on CP24 or Breakfast Television and he's like, oh yeah, you want to Mr. Dress Up? You want to Byway? And then Steve gets an email six months later like oh where's where's the buyway shirts at like dude they fucking sold out in like 24 hours oh yeah you know it's funny you mentioned it's like yeah

when lisa gibbons is interviewing eric bows and i realize i date myself of that reference but that's what it's all about here lisa gibbons knows that this is like a shtick for the program she's not really going to get a buyway t-shirt. It's all part of the content. Whereas Toronto Mike is not from the industry so when somebody looks him in the eye via Zoom and says I'm going to send you a Byway shirt, stupid

gullible Toronto Mike starts checking that mailbox for his Byway shirt. No, I think John Tesh was promised a Byway shirt and he didn't get one either. Now I feel better. Okay, thank you for that. What's next? This is awesome.

And at some point before you, and we have several more nuggets here. I love it. You're making my Christmas here. I actually, there's a listener who sent over a nugget for you. Not quite as dusty as what we're used to, meaning that this is from the past 20 years as opposed to the stuff we typically go back to.

But I will play you something shortly. But what do you got for us next? Okay. Well, we were talking about kids' shows, so I think that's probably a good one to continue on with. I know you are a huge fan of The Friendly Giant. Thank you. And I have some cool stuff to talk about with you about the Friendly Giant.

So I think we could probably play Early One Morning. As I say. So chill. so chill i absolutely love this and just the thought he's gonna put out a chair for me like i'm like legit like jazzed about that like there's gonna be a chair from a rocking chair is going to be there for me as well and you know mike uh i've been researching him a lot i'm i'm working on a project right now i'm not quite sure how it's going to manifest itself if it's going to be a a book or perhaps it might be a documentary but i'm getting doing a lot of work on this one and finding out all kinds of amazing stuff about him, about Bob Holm and the Friendly Giant.

And this is why you're the inaugural inductee into the FOTM Hall of Fame, because how many people out there would commit the energy to dive deep into this gentleman that made such a big difference in our lives? Well, God bless. I think what really struck out to me about him is when he, you know, I dug up some of these interviews he did. And when he talked about the friendly giant and what the point of the friendly giant was, it makes sense that he is so important to you, Mike, because his philosophy was very similar to yours.

very similar to yours. He says that the whole reason, the Friendly Giant, the whole thought process behind the Friendly Giant was to teach kids how to listen, how to have conversations and listen. And if you watch those shows now, you know, 30, 40 years later, you might say, oh, it's so boring. But really what it was fostering was this idea of conversation, of real talk. That's what Friendly Giant was OG real talk. Wow. Wow. And what I love about the theme song was that he did that live every show. Like, that's not a tape that they just rolled.

He had the recorder. not a tape that they just rolled he had the recorder and so every opening is slightly different uh you know of how many thousands of episodes 3 000 episodes or something um absolutely remarkable guy and i don't know i it's it's a it's a huge story i guess i'll i'll rewind a little bit i'll tell you what got me very excited about it was, you know, I work with Moses a lot. And Moses Zneimer is very much invested in the history of the medium of television, not just what he did. Obviously, he doesn't think that he did anything that great. He's a very modest man. He's a very modest man But he's interested in like the pioneers of television That invented the technology

And that did, you know, the people in the United Kingdom And in America that did all the early stuff And so I've always, you know, looked up to him And been interested in that as well And so I've been doing a lot of research about children's television And, you know, we think about it now it's so obvious and it's such a huge industry. You have kids, you know, how much money and how much prestige there is with children's entertainers and

all of that. But there was a time when it really wasn't like that at all. It was in fact, you know, television was thought of as really satanic and it was something that you wanted to keep away from your children because it was going to make them stupid. That's what a lot of people thought. It was going to make them dumb. They called television the idiot box, you know, in the first sort of 20 years of its existence and canada you know this is another thing that we don't really celebrate enough uh canada was on the cutting edge of children's

celebration pioneering children's television back in the day the united kingdom obviously were the the first uh if you look at america you look at things like Howdy Doody, which was kind of this cowboy guy. And he had a puppet or not a puppet, but a little guy that hung out with him. And it was very, very simplistic stuff, right? But what happened was at some point, the CBC, probably after visiting their counterparts at the BBC in London, came back to Toronto and they said, look, nobody is doing children's television right now. I mean, we're showing Howdy Doody, which is from America, but we need to do something that we can own, like that will be ours and that will, you know, move the needle. like that will be ours and that will you know move the needle and so they you know back then the CBC was actually an incredibly progressive outfit and I mean progressive in that they weren't just copying what other people were doing they were like on the forefront of creating new and exciting

things and so they hired this guy who was from Enniskillen, Ontario. He was a school teacher and his name was Dr. Fred Rainsbury. And Fred Rainsbury had written these articles about how he thought the television could be used as a force of good to educate kids. educate kids. And he got a little bit of media out of that. This was around the time of Marshall McLuhan. And, you know, a lot of there was a lot of philosophy about television. And so Rainsbury was considered sort of the Marshall McLuhan of children's television. So the CBC said, get this guy over here. Like, we need to hire this guy. And they did. They, you know, got him out of the schoolhouse in Enniskillen, brought him to Toronto, basically said, you have unlimited funds, like no expense spared. You create a viable industry for us and we will give you, you know, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday to Friday. And so Rainsbury said, okay, well, first I'm going to go on a little trip. I'm going to go and travel around North America and see what's going on. You know, this guy was kind of a hippie too. And this is like in the late fifties. So as hippie as you can be. Anyways, he went all across America. He went all across Canada. And he assembled basically an A-team of performers and writers and directors and brought them all back to Toronto.

And in that A-team, this is the part that initially got me so excited about the story because I was like, how come I never knew this before? He found Bob Holm, Mr. Friendly Giant in Wisconsin. He found Mr. Dress Up and Mr. Rogers, both in Pittsburgh. He found El Weost in Vancouver. Wow. And he brought them all to Toronto. Like the Avengers. Yeah, it was totally the Avengers.

Wow. And they were given all they needed. They were given the money and the resources and everything and the freedom to come up with all these ideas. And, you know, a couple of years ago when there was the Mr. Rogers movie, the documentary, and then the film with Tom Hanks, they kind of touched on it a little bit that he had started at cbc and then it didn't work out and he went back to america and he he did

the whole thing with pbs but really when he was in toronto and he said it's not working out i gotta i gotta go back to america they said well what are we gonna do because you're kind of the linchpin of all this and he said well look at Ernie Coombs, who was just his puppeteer at that time. He said, give that guy his own show and he'll make magic. And of course, you know, the rest is history. And it was a remarkable time. And I'm like, why isn't, where's our movie about that?

Like, where's our fucking Hollywood movie about that? You're so fucking right ed because i can visualize that in my head these people at that time coming together and i mean i always talk about the friendly giant but i mean mr dress up was a big fucking deal to me as well like that one those two guys like that was that was so key to me and then uh of course watching the uh the american show i'd watch would be uh Bird. I'm going to say Big Bird. Sesame Street. Sesame Street raises me, but I'm watching that probably on,

I guess it was whatever it was, TVO or CBC, whoever had it. But where is that movie? Can you make that movie? I'd like to make that movie. I think I've got some interest to do it as a documentary anyways to start because, again, it's just all this nexus of characters, all of whom are just fast. And even, I mean, that's, I, I rhymed off the talent, but there's also the, these, he, he, you know,

right. Rainsbury found these writers that were from Chicago that came up and they were all about this philosophy of talking to children like you were talking to an adult. Because back then the whole thing was very condescending. Oh, hey, kids, today we're going to learn the alphabet. And it was very patronizing and very antiquated. And in fact, you still see that nonsense today. Right. Never mind in 1960. Well, when did Mr. Hooper die? I feel like I was pretty young when he died.

But I remember Mr. Hooper, of course, on Sesame Street. Of course. Well, Sesame Street, I mean, obviously, you know, we all grew up with Sesame Street. But Sesame Street is important in this story because it was kind of, it kind of fucked everything up. Okay. To be honest with you. Right. Because the dress- up friendly giant world

was all about chill. Right. It was all about, if it takes 15 minutes to talk about going to get your haircut. Right. It takes 15 minutes. And then Sesame Street's like the Pointer Sisters.

There's no edits. They're like, one, two, three, four, five. Then you're like, on speed. Sesame Street was edited like a Madison Avenue advertising commercials. Right. sisters are like one two three four fives and you're like on Sesame Street was edited like uh like uh Madison Avenue advertising commercials right so it was fast cuts and music and funk

and look it was amazing but it really created a big problem right for what the CBC guys were doing and to to sort of put a sad spall on the end of the giant thing, you've had on your show before another amazing Canadian entertainer. Can I guess? Can I guess? Fred Penner. Fred Penner, also known as the giant killer, because they fired the friendly giant and put Fred Penner in his time slot. And it wasn't any, like like Penner's a genius too.

It wasn't anything to do. It's not like he woke up and said, I want to go kill the friendly giant. It's what happened. But what was so sad about it was this was the, the late seventies, early eighties. And you started to see all this merchandise and you know sesame street was

making a mint with books and you know big bird would go to a mall in seattle and there'd be like a million kids and all this shit and so cbc was like we need to get in on this and they started sending mr dress up out to malls and fairs and schools right and the problem was they wanted friendly giant to go with him but bob home was like no man i'm a fucking giant if i go out kids are gonna see right and i'm like a normal dude and i will destroy the illusion so he just said no like i'm not gonna do that and and so they're like okay well here's a dude with a guitar that will so later wow wow okay this is a lot here i just want to throw down that uh there's a top secret fotm uh dm group on twitter ed you'd love

it in there actually let me know let me know if you want me to add you. But somebody, I think it was Brian Dunn. So Brian Dunn, who's a fantastic member of the community. He just said, hey, I still have my Camping in Canada vinyl. And my mind was like, whoa, because I also have the Camping in Canada vinyl because I was so in love with that Sesame Street album that came out in the early 80s because it was the Sesame Street drop

and like they talk about the CN Tower and they're flying to this camp in Canada and everything. Anyway, shout out to camping in Canada. I still know every word on that album. But I love what you're talking here and I can't believe early one morning might be like the oldest song we play on this podcast because that's a very old jam, right? That song. The oldest, you know, one of the oldest song we play on this podcast because that's a very old jam, right?

That song. The oldest, you know, one of the oldest. It's like in the Canterbury Tales, I think. Right, shout out to Geoffrey Chaucer. Yes, big ups Chaucer. You know, since I live out in the country now, Mike, I sit out on the porch at night, I drink cider and read my Chaucer.

It's lovely. It's very retro. Oh man, I still remember I took a chaucer class at u of t because i was getting a major in english and uh the textbook they made me buy i first of all weighed 200 pounds and i used to throw it in my backpack and bike it downtown but secondly i still i think it was like 130 bucks or something but you might as well this is going back in the you know mid mid 90s if you uh you might as well, this is going back in the mid-90s, you might as well have told me it was $10,000. That's what that price tag, I was working at the Price Chopper, or was it Food City, I can't remember at that time.

But I remember that $120 or whatever it was for that Chaucer book just seemed like an extraordinary amount of money for paper. I couldn't believe it. This is a good segue because I'll tell you something, it might be a little bit weird, a little bit off the grid here, but do you ever have dreams about being back either at university or high school and having to do a test that you had? You know what? I have a recurring dream where I forgot to drop a class and I meant to drop it and I didn't drop it. And the exam is like Monday and I'm in this class and I haven't done any attended any of the classes. I have that often.

Okay. So, yeah, it's a it's a common thing that people have that is is an anxiety dream. Basically, it's something else. And it manifests itself as as this weird memory to do with academia. to do with academia and when i moved this summer i was getting these shits like every night and they were getting like more and more and more intense and long and i would wake up and i would be like sick to my stomach and then i'd be like oh my god this you know i'm like you i went to u of t in the mid 90s like this was 25 years ago and then you're shaking you have to tell yourself right you're like wait a minute you're not actually You have to tell yourself, right? You're like, wait a minute. You're not actually in. Yeah, this is bullshit. And so, but it was actually like affecting my life in a scary way.

And so my wife said, you know, have you read about this online? Like, why don't you go and, you know, see if there's some suggestions. Of course, on the internet, there's YouTube videos that tell you what to do. So I went down this rabbit hole because this is, again, a very common thing with people. And one of the suggestions of how to get over this, and it worked for me, I actually did it, it worked, was to, if you can, find your old syllabus from any of those classes that you're dreaming about. Yeah. And reread some of those books because part of it is guilt. Supposedly it's this residual guilt that you have that you maybe didn't finish reading. Oh yeah. You know, like Tom Jones or whatever the movie or whatever

the book was. You got the cold notes instead, right right? Exactly. You didn't have time. Guilty as charged. Right. And I had that too. So I was like, okay, so I did a whole bunch, you know, went down this rabbit hole on U of T, University of Victoria College, figuring out what some of those books were. And then I got them and I read them. And I mean, they were great books. And then the dreams went away. It was like, okay, I don't have to feel guilty anymore. So I don't know if you still have that million dollar Chaucer. You know, the original co-host of this program, a fantastic young woman named Rosie was in that Chaucer class with me because I used to have her fill in like my, she would actually pick

my classes for me. This is, I know, like, I'd be like, just, I need to major in this, pick my classes and I'll show up or whatever. That's anyway, that's a, that makes me seem pathetic, but it's true. Love it. Just one more quick about recurring dreams. In the late 80s, I would wake up in the middle of the night having a nightmare that I was piloting the space shuttle, and it was going to crash, and there were people on board, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was, and I would have these terrible dreams that I was, I was piloting this space shuttle. So terrifying. I know. And that's, of course, that's because I was so fucked up. I don't know if other are in our age group can relate, but that challenger disaster so fundamentally fucked me up. Uh, I would have

nightmares about piloting the space shuttle. Wow. I need another sip of my Great Lakes beer. I don't know how you fix that one. You have to go back to Tour of the Universe or something. Exactly. Tour of the Universe.

Love it. Okay. So early one morning, are there any more recent covers of that great jam? Oh, well, I did throw your way the Nanima Sakuri version because I think, you know, that one, again, I remember my parents had a bunch of her records, you know, as a really young kid. And I remember when I first realized that the Friendly Giant song was not an original composition. It was another cover and

hers of course has the lyrics so well i think i think i found out like i don't know your first appearance like eight years ago or something so i can't even i had i had no idea but here let's this is a good chance for me to regroup after remembering the challenger disaster i need a moment so i'm gonna have a sip of my beer here. But here is some Anonymous Curry. Long may she run. She's still with us. But we used to play Le Tournesol. I think Wise Blot sent it over when he heard we had Camp Tournesol as a sponsor. And we would play it every episode.

So we used to play a lot of Anonymous Curry. So shout out to Wise Blot and shout out to Nana Mascuri. Early one morning Just as the sun was rising I heard a young maid sing In the valley below Oh, don't deceive me Oh, never leave me How could you use a poor maiden's soul?

Remember the vows that you made to me truly Remember how tenderly you nestled close to me Gay is the garland, fresh are the roses I've called from the garden to bind over thee It's kind of a mindfuck, too, to think that Geoffrey Chaucer, maybe between writing, I don't know, the Canterbury Tales or whatever, that he might be listening to the same song that we're listening to right now. It might not be Nana Muscuri, but still, the whole idea that we could listen to the same song that we're listening to right now. It might not be Nana Muscuri, but still the whole idea that we could listen to the same song

is kind of a mindfuck. It is. And I think too, it's heavy. It's heavy that Bob Holm was like, this is what I want to open this 15 minutes of Zen. You know, it's a beautiful piece and he could play it on his recorder and it's set the stage,

right? With Nana in the background here. Uh, let me just let you know, Ed, next time I get you back to the studio, hopefully it's next summer. Uh,

I will give you some Palma pasta lasagna. I know you love your lasagna. So I do, I do. And I miss it dearly, my friend. So not just, uh,

of course, more Great not just, of course, more Great Lakes beer, of course, you're a big fan and more fresh craft beer, some Palma Pasta. You need some more Toronto Mike stickers

courtesy of StickerU. Everybody should go to StickerU.com for their stickers and decals and such. I got some cool swag from Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars

of this community since 1921. So I've got you some, what do I got, like a flashlight? And I've got like a measuring tape. I think Tish Eyston told me she keeps her measuring tape in her purse. So it's on her at all times.

You never know if there's a, I don't know. But I do want to give a special thank you to Moneris. They have a podcast called Yes, We Are Open. It is hosted by FOTM Al Grego. I remember, I think it was the first TMLX, Ed, that you and Joel Goldberg, shout out to Jay Gold,

you guys attended at Great Lakes Brewery. Do you remember the band that played? Of course. No, I remember Al. I remember talking with him. Yeah, he's a great guy. So Al, not only is he a great singer, great musician musician but he's been traveling the country interviewing small Canadian businesses and then he tells the story of their origin their struggles their future outlook and if you're a small business

owner or entrepreneur like me and you uh you'll find this podcast both helpful and motivational so I just want to urge all FOTMs listening to go to yesweareopenpodcast.com. And Ed, because I can't get you the lasagna today, I will send you via email a $75 gift card for chefdrop.ca. So you can go to chefdrop.ca, pick a nice meal for the Conroy family. There's great restaurants and uh and uh uh chefs involved and then this will be shipped directly to your door uh even in port perry so uh you're

gonna get that buddy amazing thank you well you're amazing what's uh what's up next on christmas crackers volume four well you know it's funny you mentioned uhOTM earlier, Mr. Dunn, who I know, I think he's a huge fan of Barenaked Ladies. The biggest. The biggest. And recently I found one of the many Retro Ontario Holy Grails. shocked that it sort of was a bit of a wet firecracker in terms of how it was received because it was something that for a long time I thought, not that it was going to be breaking news on CP24, but it was kind of a crazy thing.

And that was the Barenaked Lady's first television appearance. Okay, wait, time out, time out. Stop the truck. We're talking after Speaker's Corner, right? No. Whoa. There's the rub. We're talking pre-Speaker's Corner. Whoa.

And maybe it's because this, the existence of this is a little bit different than the accepted lore of the ladies, of their origin story. And I don't want to, I mean, I love that band. I don't want to give them headaches where they don't need them, but this is something that I knew about from a long time ago. And it sort of never surfaced. And I thought that's so weird because there's such a big band, international band, and this was such a big band, international band.

And this was such a crucial part of their origin story, but it's like kind of been erased from history. Okay. Cause you do know, we talk about these guys like be it Eric Bauza. And we talk about, you know, Rob Proust.

And another one, by the way, is Mike Myers, brother, Paul Myers. And there's these guys are, yeah, there are,

there are, they're, they're basically, they're us. And, you know, you can throw Brian Dunn in there. He's a good FOTM. But, of course, Tyler Stewart is on that list. Like, he is one of us, Tyler Stewart. So he's going to hear what you say next here.

So just, I mean, just to add some extra pressure to you here. But what's going on here with PNL and YTV? It precedes Tyler even, right? It's the earliest of early appearances. It was basically YTV, you know, when YTV started in 1988, the very first night they were on the air, John Candy, you know, he inaugurated the first broadcast. But they were looking for something that they could do, you know, to get some media attention.

Because obviously they were struggling in the early days. And the guy who was sort of the programming director at the time, really amazing guy, Dale Taylor, he came up with this idea of the Achievement Awards, which was to do like an Oscars sort of show once a year. And you'd have all these different categories for kids across Canada. And you'd give them awards. So there'd be like an environmental award and there'd be a sports award and there'd be a writing award. And so the very first one they did was in 89. And that one, they filmed it in advance. They sort of did was in 89 and that one,

they filmed it in advance. They sort of did it in a studio and that was hosted by a young, um, up and coming standup comedian at the time by the name of Jim Carrey. Wow. That one still is lost. Like that's never surfaced again. We got to find that that but the second year

obviously the first one did quite well and they had a bit more budget and a bit more buzz and they decided let's actually do it live and they had this massive theater and i think it's in ottawa and they promoted the hell out of it and And that was the year that Barenaked Ladies won the award as the Breakthrough Canadian Artist of the Year. And they performed Bima Yokohama. And then they accepted their award. And then, so this is the fall of 90. I think the Speaker's Corner thing and theune rollins and all that was not long after this but if you read the accounts of the origin obviously most people are like oh yeah

they went on speaker's corner right you know and and that's sort of how they you know that and the the publicity from the new year's eve party that's what got them sort of noticed right well you know it's a yellow tape right because that yellow tape was in my circles is particularly but it was so massive and cfny was playing the mess cfny was playing them so they were definitely being played on cfny and that helped them win this YTV award. But I always thought it was really strange because I, like, I remember, I remembered seeing them on that in 1990. And so I had years and years and years,

and it was kind of one of those things where I, you know, I worked at Chorus. I looked in the archive. It was not there. Like it was like gone. And so i just sort of gave up and thought i guess this thing is lost to time and lo and behold it i won't reveal how but it did make its way to me on a betamax tape earlier this year and i was able to transfer it and i put i didn't put the performance of Yoko Ono on YouTube, but I did put the acceptance speech because I thought it was actually better than the performance.

And it just kind of, it was kind of DOA. Like it's still sitting there. I think it's got like 2000 views, but like tumbleweeds. But I know Mr. Dunn did big it up. So thanks for that that because at least a few people saw it but it is just weird to me that there wasn't more interest in it you know yeah that's interesting how that works out where something this has happened to me in the past too

something you think is just fucking enormous maybe the the 12-inch single summertime summertime by cowboy uh k pompeii okay and this is back when his son is a Toronto Blue Jay, for goodness sakes, Dalton Pompei. And you're like, this is the biggest fucking thing. Like CP24 will, there will be breaking news at CP24 when they realize that there's a single from 1990 called Summertime, Summertime. Anyway, can I play this now?

I'm dying to hear it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I hope it's, I do now looking at it, it looks like it might be a little low in the volume there. I should have boosted it. Yeah, it's from an old tape. 30-year-old tape. Let's listen closely.

Run! Run! I got something for you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. We'd like to thank Nigel and Mary Ann and Hal from CFNY and Howard Druckmann. We'd also like to thank Colin James for opening up for us tonight. And his brother Andy who's out in Quebec watching tonight. Hi Andy. Love you. Hi Andy.

Well, you know, thanks a lot for this award. It really, really is a pleasure to accept something like this. Well, you just can't measure how happy we were

when we heard the results. We knew our friends really liked us but these were adults saying, hey, Barenaked ladies, you're a serious act. You won the award.

Really? Yes, it's a fact. Ladies, you're a serious act. You won the award. Really? Yes, it's a fact. You see, we toured across the country. It was a serious thing. Thanks to Corky and the Juice Pigs, James and John King. Word to Mitch Potter, he's a serious lad.

And, of course, lots of thanks to our moms and our dads. Thanks to all our friends for coming out to the shows. How many times have those guys seen us, Ed? Who knows, man. Well, thank you, everybody. Now we're leaving the stage from Eddie Robertson, the Cregan Brothers. I'm Steve Page. Thanks a lot. I think, you know, that's from the hip-hop covers era.

Oh, yeah, they did Fight the Power. Because Fight the Power was on the yellow tape. That's right. And I miss that. I know. It was 30 years ago. And they still in concert. They still break out the hip-hop.

I mean, I've seen Ed End, I think, for sure. Oh, I see somebody, whoever. Who was the host that year? Do you remember? Yeah. It was the dad from My Secret Identity. Jeff Coat. No, that's the dad.

No, no, no. Oh, goodness. Ubiquitous guy. Oh, my God. His name is escaping me. He was the math makers. Shopper Strugmert. Shit.

I can't remember his name. Well, during the next jam I play, you can Google it to remind yourself. Sure, sure, sure. But yeah, so, you know, Retro Ontario HQ is always out there digging for the gold. And that was a big one.

It's on YouTube. If anyone wants to go look at it it's it's cool i think it's really cool i love to see early appearances by obviously canadian bands that ended up breaking through and to the best of our knowledge as we speak here now that is the very first television broadcast of bernie kid ladies that is correct. Wow. I mean, it's possible they would have been on Trillium Community 10, like one of those Channel 10, McLean Hunter channels, like local access cable. But in terms of a national broad, it was YTD.

It was on from British Columbia to Newfoundland. Yeah, Sorry. Well, no. And, and, and I think not to take anything away, obviously from Speaker's Corner, but that is a very different, uh, trajectory. I think being on YTV, winning the YTV Achievement Award, you know, then being some dudes that stumbled into Speaker's Corner and got a record deal. Right. Right. Love it. Honestly, you're bringing the heat today. This is amazing. some dudes that stumbled into speaker's corner and got a record deal right right love it honestly you're bringing the heat today this is amazing uh i think now might be i might just take over for a moment here because uh i got a lovely note here let me check my i want to get this gentleman's

name right this is important uh let's see here okay this gentleman is and maybe you've heard this name before his name name is Tyler Schwartz. So Tyler Schwartz, not Tyler Stewart, but Tyler Schwartz, he says he owns retrofestive.ca and he says he's an FOTM, but a relatively new FOTM. He started listening in the summer and he absolutely loves my stuff. So I'm patting myself on the back as I read that.

He found a CD the other day. This is from 2007. And he's wanting me to play it for you because he loves how you bring the old nostalgia on the program. So I'm going to play a little track from this and then I'll explain what we're listening to. This is a 2007 recording. Let's listen. and recording. Let's listen. Two live-by trucks And a pair of red suspenders On the third day of BT A viewer sent to me Three cups of coffee Two live-by trucks And a pair of red suspenders

On the fourth day of BT A viewer sent to me Four BT blocks Three cups of coffee Two live-by trucks And a pair of red suspenders On the fifth day of BT I don't know if you can handle any more here, but this is 12 Days of BT, written by viewers of BT,

but performed by the on-air hosts of Breakfast Television back in 2007. Very cool. No, it's funny because this is a debate that currently is happening on a lot of my social channels because you know it's 2021 i i've started to post content from 2005 2006 2007 because that is almost 20 years ago. This happens all the time with classic rock. When you're listening to your classic rock station and they play Alive by Pearl Jam and you're like, back up the fucking truck.

This is for oldies. And you're like, oh shit, that was 1991. Yeah. And at first it was harmless, but it's kind of starting to piss me off a little bit. Smart Alex on my YouTube channel saying like, No, it's 2005. That's not retro.

Because look, time waits for no man. And much music video awards from 2005 is fucking retro now. And it's cool. So shout outs to that. Tyler Schwartz. Tyler schwartz nice one that's exactly and and the other thing is all the the millennials um like that's the kind of stuff now that is going to hit them in the spot like you and i getting weepy about friendly giant is the people that were kids watching bt in 2007 you know what I will say one thing about the whole like retro nostalgia vibe that we're

into is that I find if you're just off a little, just off enough, it can kind of completely miss everything. Like I've noticed this. If I listened to a podcast and let's say, let's say somebody in their mid to late thirties is hosting and chatting with someone of the similar age and their nostalgia and the stuff they're into. And it's like,

Oh man, like playing with Beyblades. I mean, I never played with a fucking Beyblade. When did these Beyblades show up? Uh, anyways, um,

both my sons are really into Beyblades and one is about to turn 20, believe it or not. Speaking of, uh, retro, but I just find it interesting that it's, there's that sweet spot and it might be like five to seven years and i find if you just miss it i'm like i'm tapping out because it's not

it's not working but if you if you hit the sweet spot and geographical uh presence matters too right because there's this whole tvo city tv like uh cfny cTR, like this whole like geography at play. Like if you hit the right time and the right geography, and that's why you're the inaugural member of the FOTM Hall of Fame because you hit it, I'm in it, and I always hit it because I host this fucking show. So it's like I had to start a show to have it hyper laser focused where I need it.

No, man, I know exactly what you're talking about. And I'll give you my example recently of that, which is funny was Retro Kid. Back to Retro Kid. They have this license with CBC, right? They can plunder whatever they want from the CBC archive and do merchandise. Right. And so I was like oh my god you gotta do something uh beach come yes that's my first thought i have to that's my first thought and they're a little bit younger right than us so they're like beach like dude we might as well do like a mash t-shirt king of kensington that was his exact reference was he compared it to mash

that's hilarious in a negative way. But it's no fault of theirs. It's just, like you said, it's that five-year, three-year gap. That's a great example. If you missed it, you missed it. And then there are things, and you mentioned YTV. I have to be very, very honest with you. I remember when YTV arrived, and I distinctly remember thinking,

I'm too old for something called YTV. Like I distinctly really didn't. And a lot of the references and like in hindsight, I've gone back and kind of caught up on the video and arcade top 10 and all these things I completely ignored. Shout out to Cam Gordon. He's got a blog called completely ignored,

but I completely ignored it because I'm like in my teens, I'm a cool cat and I'm not watching this kids station. Yeah, man. A hundred percent. And I think I was in the same boat of, I was watching YTV, but I was thinking I shouldn't be watching this. But I'll tell you this,

this might interest you. The very first time that I heard the Tragically Hip was on YTV. Wow. The video for Blow It High Dough was shown on their video show called YTV Rocks, you know, in 1988 or 1989. I still remember that moment because that music video is all stock footage from a Godzilla movie with the band kind of superimposed over top. And it hit me like a haymaker, right? Like, who are these guys? What is this all about? And I went out and bought the cassette.

And so, I mean, yeah, I shouldn't have been watching YTV, but thank God I was. You know, my little mindfuck here is that I host another show called Hebsey on sports with the great Mark Hebsey of sports line. You ever heard of them? Of course you have, but a couple of times, but our special guests, we've started adding guests. So on Friday, our special guest is Mr. Rob Baker of the tragically hip. Wow. I know. I know. And I know the last time I was on, we talked a little bit about road apples and they, they just re-released it. Wow. I know. I know. Well, and I know the last time I was on, we talked a little bit about

Road Apples, and they just re-released it, right? I haven't bought the record yet. Oh, Saskadelphia. Okay, well, the Saskadelphia was from the sessions for Road Apples. Right, but they re-released a new version of Road Apples last month on vinyl, and it's like a red

vinyl or something, but I really want to get it, because it's probably my favorite album. You know what? I think that's my favorite album too. And when I got married to Monica in the distillery district, our long time running was our first dance song. That's, yeah, I love Road Apples.

Yeah, man. Big ups. Dude, I love these appearances. Like I feel like I forgot we were recording. Like it felt like we were just having a phone call. Like it's like I'm just shooting the shit with my buddy Ed and that's what I love these appearances. I feel like I forgot we were recording. It felt like we were just having a phone call. It's like I'm just shooting the shit with my buddy Ed, and that's what I love about this. Cheers, man.

Cheers to you, man. What's next in the stalking? I mean, I'm starting to feel like we're etching towards the obituary section, which that's Mr. Weisblatt's specialty, but I will say he did send me a note and said, the obituary section, which, you know, that's Mr. Weisblot's specialty. But I will say he did send me a note and said, make sure you talk about some of the big ones. Because it was like any other year, a lot of very important people passed on.

And we'd like to remember them and some of their work. Absolutely. We could go there. I will just shout out. Yeah, no, let's do it, man. And it's funny because Weisblatt was just here last week. And of course, there's the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment. And, you know, we dive deep into some of those.

We lost in the past month. And I will shout out Mark Weisblatt and the whole Much City universe because next week, he's returning for Fromage 2021. This is a new tradition. It'll be the second time. But he basically, he doesn't like what Ed the Sock did to Fromage. He's a big fan of the Christopher Ward vision of Fromage. The original, yes.

Right. In that spirit, the Christopher Ward spirit. Oh, God. Now, see, I just said Christopher Ward, and I remember that you hosted that event. Where was that event? That was at the Royal Theater. So I met a lot of great people there, one of whom is going to be my special guest next week as well, if his voice will allow it. But the legend that is clark champness is making his toronto mic debut next week okay that

is the best news i've heard uh in a long time he he is a legend and he's an unsung hero but you gotta i mean i'm sure you have a million things you're gonna ask him but for me if you get a chance one of his shows that gets no love but I think was super important at the time was, um, are you receiving? I don't know if you remember that. That was sort of, uh,

mid nineties, but it was the much music electronica electronic music show. And it came on sort of after midnight, I think on a Friday night. And I remember being, you know, at university and I'm smoking pot for the first time. And there's Kim Clark champness and they're playing, you know, at university and I'm smoking pot for the first time. And there's Kim Clark Chapman and they're playing, you know, like Chemical Brothers videos.

And it was really it felt like the future in 1995. I just took a note in my notes because as thoughts come in my head through the week, I stick it in a Google Doc. And I just stuck in a note about are you receiving from the great Ed Conroy? Yeah, it never it never caught on. It was no new music or anything like that. in a Google Doc and I just stuck in a note about are you receiving from the great Ed Conroy. Yeah, it never caught on. It was no new music or anything like that, but it was very much ahead of its time and it was cool.

But yeah, I mean where should we start with legends that we lost? Alright, I'll help you because could we start? Because when I learned this person passed away, I thought of you and all we start? Because when I learned this person passed away, I thought of you and all the others. I have said, watch it, buddy.

Like that's something I've been saying forever because of this man. And I felt I should do something. So I phoned my friends. I phoned Lauren Honickman. I phoned Peter Gross. And then I got Christina Tenaglia on the phone because she was mentored by this individual at City News.

But can we open up and can we speak about the great Peter Silverman? The absolute legend that is Peter Silverman. Yeah, that one. I mean, it's it's of course, he lived an amazing long life. it's of course he lived an amazing long life. It's not like he, he died at a young age, but it's still, I think that one really stung because he was this like larger than life Superman,

right? Like Silverman helps was the Superman logo. Right. And even though he'd been off the air for a really long time, it was just comforting to know that he was out there somewhere, right. Writing the wrong K Coburg or something. Yeah, he was in Coburg and he was fighting for the assholes in Coburg that were overcharging.

Oh, you know how close he came to being on Toronto, Mike, didn't it? Looking back, it was, it almost happened. It almost happened. Well, I mean, we do have a lot of his work, thankfully, is still there. And I think when he passed on, a lot of other stuff came to light that maybe a lot of people weren't aware of. I mean, everybody remembers Silverman Helps, but I think a lot less remember his, you know, his business reporting for the City Pulse segment Biz Facts. But also, you know, he would go to other countries and do these shows for what used to be called the City Pulse news serial

when they would strip it from Monday to Friday and they would go down to Columbia and do a story about cocaine drug runners or drug mules and nobody would ever do this now. It's so far gone from the way news operates and nobody would ever do this now. It would, it's so like, you know,

far gone from the way news operates, but City Pulse did stuff like that. And Silverman would often be the guy that would go fly around the world and do these stories. Had nothing to do with like, you know, crooked jewelry dealers. It was like real like international intrigue stuff.

And of course he was, you know, in the Israeli army and, you know, he's an absolute soldier when it came down to it. But yeah, I mean, I brought along the biz facts beat as we call it, because it's, it's just had that urgency that was always really cool. Okay. Let's listen to listen to the beat here. Our news test answer is Massey Ferguson will lay off 5,000 Ontario workers for three months.

The news test winner receives a copy of both Goodbye L.A. and Gotta Have Pop, the latest albums by Segarini, tomorrow night's featured artist on the new music simulcast at 11pm. Oh, I think we got our beats mixed up. Oh, this is called Beats. Okay. That is cool.

Okay, talk about that first. It did reference Segarini, of course. He's waiting for the Edison Twins to be released so he can get some work done. Oh, Jesus. Well, he'll be waiting probably a really long time. And Stu Stone was also in the Edison twins. I just want to shout out the Edison twins. Okay.

Stu Stone, I keep forgetting. I have a great Stu Stone thing that I found that I got to send you because it's so crazy. Do it, man. Anyways, City Pulse news test. Okay. So crazy. Do it, man. Anyways, City Pulse News Beat or News Test. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, again, a very cool Moses innovation, which was prizes for paying attention to the news. So you'd watch City Pulse and then they would ask this question at the first commercial break. Right. And it would be something pertaining to, you know, one of the first stories that you saw.

And then you win concert tickets or you win a cd or something love it um so cool it's so easy to do and again it was a business decision because it attracted sponsors you know it's like that's what i love so much about moses is that all these decisions were not just artistic they were like good business but that voice that that wasn't Peter's voice. That was J.D. Roberts. Okay, because it's in the same, you know why? I guess it was in the same folder as the biz facts. Yes, and that's my bad because I said biz facts beat.

Right. And that was news test beat. All right, so let's get to this biz fact. That was a cool nugget though. Thank you. Here's the biz facts. Now, Peter Silverman, CityBiz.

Our top business story tonight, the annual convention and bash of the Retail Council of Canada. But it's looking a bit like eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow's sales could get worse. Very true in the fact they could. I think, you know, looking

at the end of this year, sometime next year, we probably are going to have Pentatus really there. And I think that I don't, have you ever had an artist who did Pentatus on your show? No.

But I did play that because I had the full version. I did play that for the memorial episode I released on the death of Peter Silverman. Yeah. I mean, it is defining of that era, totally. But again, I love that they carved it up because it changes tempo a bunch of times. And they use that a little bit for the biz beat. But yeah, man, I mean, I'll tell you something else funny.

There was an interesting guy, City Pulse. He was a tape editor and he worked sort of behind the scenes at City Pulse, but a good friend of mine now, Mr. Paul Fox, shout outs, and he still has tapes that he took from the station back in the

day and he floats them to me every once in a while and he said he just when uh silverman passed he gave me this amazing one i actually haven't transferred it yet but it's silverman and uh the environmental reporter hunter bob hunter uh going to antarctic uh for a week of early 90s. So, and it's a news serial. It sounds amazing. And I'll, you know, throw it up on the channel because that's sort of, that's why I do what I do

so that we can refer back to these classic people, right? Absolutely love it. Yeah, we lost a giant. Speaking earlier of the friendly giant, we lost a giant in peter silverman uh we also just lost uh the first mayor of the mega city yeah yeah that one uh again not uh not out of left field because he was an older gentleman right um and of course you know the inst there's so many things you, you know, the minute that you heard he had passed on, you're like, Oh,

they're going to lead with somebody. Every obituary is going to have some kind of pun about nobody from the, from the bad boy commercials or some kind of reference to calling in the army to cleaning up the snow and like all the things, you know, that marked his tenure because he was the og rob ford in that it was just weird shit and he was kind of an entertainment uh industry guy you know before he was mayor so his i look at his uh his era was almost trumpian not in terms of politics, but in terms of he knew how to work the camera like he was a TV guy. Right. And amazingly, a lot of the obituaries, in fact, all of them that I know of,

I haven't seen any that have referenced this clip that I brought. But he hosted a program for a year in the mid-70s on City TV called Free For All. And I don't know if I've ever spoken on Toronto Mic about Free For All, because it's another one of those things that is a very important piece of the puzzle, because it was the proto for Speaker's Corner. Free for all, the idea of free for all was that they let everybody in off the street on Queen East into the studio and then the host would stand up at the front and say, okay, what are we going to talk about tonight? And somebody would put up their hand and say, I want to talk about, you know, the Toronto police are racist.

And then they would pass the microphone around. The audience would basically argue with each other about topics. Wow. And it was a wild show. And there was like there would be fistfights and people would get thrown out and they had a live band. They would go to commercial and the funk band would start playing. Like, just a fucking amazing show. And of course, there's, like, most of the, almost all of the episodes are wiped.

They're gone. But I do have a few. And so, like, Mel Lastman was the host of Free For All. Wow. For a year. And the clip I brought is quite hilarious because it goes to show, even in the mid-70s, he really had a hard time keeping his mouth shut. So you see, there's part one and part two.

Okay. And you want me to play them back-to-back, or do you want to chime in between the two? Yeah, play them back-to-back, but the setup is that I think in this episode they were talking about the politics of the taxi cab industry in Toronto. And not much has changed. It's still the same bullshit.

But Mel basically slanders this guy. So you play them back to back. Here we go. Norm, you sent in a letter to the sun. And in that letter, there's no date on it. There should be. Well, I don't see a date on it. Yeah, October 6th.

October 6th, okay, this year. In fact, this month. You said at that time, July 1973, Mr. Sadov was reported to have said, most taxi cab drivers are arrogant, rude, scruffy, and generally garbage. He even went further to proclaim, I wish to heck I could be head of the Metro Licensing Commission, God forbid, for a year, and I'd take a machine gun and mow down 8,000 of them. Is that?

Well, it's true he said that. That's why I also refer to him as the beast of the metropolitan Toronto taxi industry. Hmm. The beast. Well, I'm not going to comment on that because, you know, I'm being sued now for a quarter of a million dollars by somebody he's put up to it. So I don't want to comment on that. Erase it. I didn't say it.

Not a subject. What's a quarter of a million here and there? Right. On this program on Sunday, October 10, 1976, I made certain comments about Al Sadoff. In the course of those comments, I said or inferred that Al Sadoff was the instigator of an action in the Supreme Court of Ontario taken against me. That was a serious allegation about a serious matter. That statement was wrong. Al Sadoff was not the instigator of that action, and he did not instigate anyone to start that action against me.

I now wish to publicly and sincerely apologize to Al Sadoff for the incorrect allegation which I made against him And for any embarrassment Which it has caused him Wow Like he was That was happening apparently quite Regularly on the program

He hated to do mea culpa's every episode Like last week I called this guy A murderer and I was actually wrong Right And so kind of crazy And a shame that we don't have Like last week I called this guy a murderer and I was actually wrong. Right. And so kind of crazy and a shame that we don't have more clips of it because I feel like that might've gotten some press when, when he passed, but there you go.

Free for all. Now, amazing. Now, Adam, I have a couple of clips. I'm not sure what category they belong to. You'll tell me,

but Burning Bridges and Sweet Gingerbread Man. Are those related to the Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment? Are they for afterwards? Those are for afterwards. Okay, okay. If we have time. All right. What about the,

now I know we want to speak about Dolores Clayman, of course. Of course, that's the theme from Ontario Place is in there. Okay, do you want to hear that first and then we'll come back and we'll play a bit of that and then fade it down and talk about Dolores. Can you play that? Because I got to actually just step out for two seconds. You go.

I'm going to play some wonderful Dolores Clayman. This is the place to start This is the place to grow Come on and be a part of Ontario This is the place to grow, come on and be a part of Ontario. This is where we began, here where the free winds blow, 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

This is the place to go This is the land we call Our Ontario Our Ontario I love it. I bike all the time to Ontario Place and just noodle around that part of the city. And this is the theme. Does this song play in your head when you're riding around there?

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Now, you pick this jam. Of course, a lot of people listening might remember, better remember the Hockey Night in Canada theme song which is of course now owned by Bell Media but Dolores Klayman, big

big fucking deal and you've in the past you've kind of dove deep into some of her jams but this is one of them, that's for sure. Yeah, I mean I think we might have played this before on a program but I think the reason this one resonates is again it's from that era that seems lost now when there was so much pride in the province I mean you look around now it's a very unfortunate time but there's no pride anymore there's just a litany of of negative uh comments and complaints

and there's no real vision anymore about what are we doing where are we going like what's the future look like but that song you know Ontario Place itself was built on the idea of being positive and being forward looking and having a place where everybody from Ontario could go and think about the future and live together in harmony. And I don't sound too hippie about it, but it was a lovely time. amazing you know artist of that era who captured all of that whether it was in uh the song she did for expo 67 or the antero place or any number of the uh songs that she did that were basically all in that mold um but you know i i spoke uh to some media outlets when she passed away because a lot of people don't i think think, appreciate the importance of Dolores in the advertising world, you know, in Canada. My good friend Tommy Ambrose, he was hired by

Dolores Clayman. I mean, he was basically a nobody out on his luck. And then she hired him to sing commercial jingles. And so even though all these other people get the props for the songs you know dolores and her husband were the ones in the background writing and composing the music for like coffee and orange juice and you know whether it was a a park or a product they brought that kind of classic classic musical training to it and elevated it as an art really. So yeah, there was a big loss and I was fortunate enough when she passed, I spoke about her a bit on the radio and her daughter wrote me this absolutely lovely email and just said, I heard you on the radio talking about my mom. And,

you know, thank you. And that was just, that was the best reward I ever could have gotten for the work I did. That is really, that is the best. When we were talking about James baby Scott passing away, he was on CFNY and the Spirit of Radio Days. Actually, he's Dave Marsden's brother. And I got the loveliest note from his daughter afterwards thanking, you know, and a lot of the praise, of course, belongs to Mr. 1236. But there's really nothing better than that, right, buddy? We just try to pay respect to these icons, you know, from the past or the now, maybe hopefully also the present. But when you hear from somebody who knew them that intimately and thank you for the words, it means a lot. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, I'm sure we're forgetting some big ones.

And Mr. Weisblot will be on the horn shortly to say, you didn't mention this person. But for me, I mean, those those were three very, very big ones whose body of work, if you will, you know, means a lot in the retro Ontario universe. For sure. Now just to make sure this doesn't belong in the Ridley funeral home segment, memorial segment, I have a boards of Canada here. Is that for, is that post a memorial? That's nothing to do with memorials, but it is.

Well, you want to do that one right now? Ghostly. Okay. Yeah. Let's do it right now. I mean, it's another one where I feel, I apologize if I've played this on the program before. I sometimes get like weird Groundhog Day vibes when you and I start yapping because have we already talked about this or not? Because like you said, it's like hanging out.

But I'm not even sure it matters. Like I feel like the people who like this. Right. Like it over and over and over again. Like, this isn't the kind of thing where you don't want reruns on. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, no, hit that hit that chord. We like that song played early and often.

Absolutely. Well, I mean, this one I brought primarily because since I've become a bit more of a country person now, you know, I had, you know, it's, it's funny, but it is, it's just kind of weird. Like when you get out into the country, you're a biker, you know, this year you're out on the trails. Uh, when you start to get into that, I think it brings me back again, being a nostalgist to that time when we were young and we saw films in school, in class, about short documentaries about nature or about science, or you were watching CBC and during the commercials, they would show these NFB short films about kind of scary, weird things, right? Like Canadiana is what I, you know, sloppily refer to it as, but it is like, it's our past. And a lot of that is gone.

If you watch any kind of broadcast television now, they don't have those kind of filler NFB programs or, you know, nature programs because they don't have to do that anymore. Right. Everything is timed perfectly and they don't have, Oh shit, the hockey game ran 20 minutes short. So we got to show a hinterland who's who or what, any of those things. Now that's a long way of saying that this track from the nineties by boards of

Canada, a lot of people cite this as being a very important song that when they first heard it, it took them back to that era that I'm talking about. That kind of like CBC, Nature, NFB vibe. And it's a real thing. And there is a movement in the united kingdom that's kind of studying all this stuff it's called hauntology i don't know if you've if you come across it but it's ties into this idea of nostalgia and it's almost about ghosts of the past coming into the present um and this tune kind of is is the big one like it's the it's the the breaker of it all so yeah i figured throw it on for a second there yeah let me throw it on and

again i saw a beaver a couple of hours ago so i'm all set here we go Thank you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. I dig it, man. You didn't know you were getting a secret kick out of the jams here, did you, Mike? I never know what to expect, but when I see Retro Ontario on the schedule,

I just know it's going to be good. Cheers, buddy. Yeah, it's, you know, in Retro Ontario world, I guess I probably think about a lot of this stuff more than your average folk. But it's a different vibe when you're in the country and you're communing with nature and remembering, again, all those images and those sounds that sound that used to be on television all the time that you never really hear anymore so true it's so true uh i love it so much now uh you set this up but i got the just so you know internal meeting i have a jam here i think it's called burning bridges and then i have a sweet gingerbread man well it's funny because i think sweet gingerbread man, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I have brought that every single Christmas crackers and we always run out of time. Oh.

We always run out of time. Well, you mean I used to have a time? I feel like the way I operate now is like, fuck the time. Like, you know, as long as you don't have like a court appearance or something, we're going to just go. have like a court appearance or something. We're going to just go. Yeah, I mean you don't want to outstay your welcome, right? And I think certainly in the past we might have had a couple of tins and we're looking at, oh shit,

we've been talking for two hours. Have you ever heard a Mark Weisblot episode of Toronto Mic'd? You know, we hit three hour mark more often than we don't. Oh no, I know. I think it's, you guys have, it doesn't feel like three hours, though. Right, and this probably feels like five

minutes to the fans, but yeah, let's set them up and let's knock these down, my friend. Sure, well, you know, geez, it's a bit convoluted. This time of year, Christmas crackers, I felt like we always talk about Christmas, we don't talk about New Year's too often.

That's part of the holiday, so it doesn't get maybe as much love as Christmas does on these episodes. And I wanted to talk a little bit about New Year's as a tradition in my family. Growing up, my father was a World War II nut. Like he was super into World War II as only dads can be right. Boomers, you know, he had all these books about it and he had all, you know, his movies about it. And we always would watch World War II movies on New Year's Day. It was just in our household. And my favorite one, absolutely amazing. If you've not seen it or listeners haven't seen it, I highly recommend it is a movie called Kelly's heroes stars,

Clint Eastwood, but it really stars Donald Sutherland, who is another guy that bless he's still with us, but who knows how much longer He's quite old now And his body of work is Absolutely incredible And when the day comes that he's no longer With us I wouldn't even know where to start Talking about all the stuff

He's done right But he steals this movie And it's got an incredible Incredible soundtrack By Lalo Schifrin But it's also an incredible, incredible soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin. But it's also got some of these vocalists. And the Mike Curb congregation was this sort of religious pop group. And so this song, Burning Bridges, the reason I selected it is I think you might recognize it's been sampled by Big Daddy Kane and Wu-Tang Clan.

It's like one of those old funk songs that's been sampled by tons of Kane and Wu-Tang Clan. It's like one of those old funk songs that's been sampled by tons of hip hop artists. But it's just a really nice kind of, I think a new, I associate it with New Year's, but it's just a song to remind you not to burn any bridges, to be nice to people. So yeah, all of that to say, I think of it as a holiday song.

I'm going to kick play on this in a moment. But, you know, I've talked to you about how Paul Burford came over in the summer and we did a deep dive into Just Like Mom, which would be right up your alley. Paul Burford's son goes by the handle Broccoli. And he's got he's in like a splash and boots type combo where it's Broccoli and Sunshine. And he gave me a hoodie. I wear this hoodie all the time because it's so damn cozy and warm. It says, it's cool

to be kind. I'm often rocking the it's cool to be kind hoodie, but here is Burning Bridges by the Mike Kerb Congregation. Friends all tried to warn me but I held my head up high All the time they warned me but I only passed them by

They all tried to tell me but I guess I didn't care I turned my back and left them standing there All the burning bridges that are falling after me Thank you. I think I hear some Big Daddy Kane, maybe set it off, maybe in there. Yes. Yeah, yeah, totally. And another funny thing, you mentioned Paul Myers. Yes. Paul Myers. Yes. Of course, you know, his little known brother, you might remember

had a great cameo appearance in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Bastards. Of course. He played the British general or whatever it was. I read this great interview with Mike Myers about talking about that and he name checked Kelly's Heroes. He was like you know, growing up and again, being from that sort of British family that

watched these World War II movies because that was like a again, it's a thing from another era but it was very much like you watched those movies like Bridge Too Far and Where Eagles Dare and Kelly's Heroes and so I think I guess Mike Myers met

Quentin Tarantino at a party or something and started doing his impersonation of like a British general from a World War II movie and Tarantino's like I'm putting you in my World War II movie which is so cool. I love it. I love I fucking love Inglourious Bastards

love it and I love it when fucking love inglorious bastards. Love it. And, uh, I love it when you share like the personal Conroy retro vibe. Like, it's kind of nice to hear a story about, uh, what, you know,

what happened on a new year's day in the Conroy household. Yeah. So my curb congregation, they also did a song called sweet gingerbread man, which is a Christmas song, but their version is very cool. But the Jack Jones version is even better. Um, but it's also kind of an outro. So, I mean, if there's anything else we should talk about, but if not, we could play us out with uh jack jones is cool too okay so hey uh love it love it so let me just say thank you ed uh of course people should go to retroontario.com to find all your your goodies you've got online but just keep doing what you're doing man like uh when i started toronto mic i was already a fan of i i want say a YouTuber called WNED17 I hope I have the right handle that's right and then one of the first I would share things and be like oh there's this

YouTube user called WNED17 and look what he's sharing and it would be like whatever I don't know fables of the green forest or whatever I can't remember but it was like fucking remember this and I just want to say keep going man uh I again Uh, I, again, it was a no brainer when I said, okay, I'm going to start up this FOTM hall of fame. Who's my first inductee. I said, Ed Conroy, retro Ontario. Oh, brother, Mike, I cannot, uh, I cannot thank you enough. And I know I remember those days because when I started WNED 17 YouTube, I was like, does anybody give a shit about this? I don't know. Right.

And I saw this guy, this Toronto Mike, the blog thing, blogs were new. That's how long ago this was. Yeah. And you were, you were bigging it up and I, and I took, you know, a real, it was very nice of you to do that. And we sort of got to know each other through that. But I do remember too, Indie 88 had me on once, I forget to talk about commercial jingles or something. And it was like super edited and super fast. And I remember you sent me an email

afterwards, still remember it very clearly because I was a little bit like, well, that was a waste of time. Like I was on the air for like 15 seconds and you're like, uh, they didn't really get to the heart of the issue with you. Like, do you want to come on Toronto Mike and we'll, we can talk about this stuff for a little bit longer. And I was like, yes, man, man absolutely i would love to do that i didn't remember this origin story but uh it i knowing myself as well as i do and i've been living with myself for a very long time i would have heard that and i would have been frustrated because this happened with humble and fred okay so i would be frustrated hearing that this station has the ed conroy from retro ontario talking about i I don't know, fabric land,

fabric land, who the fuck knows, right? And they didn't do it justice. They went too fast. They cut out all the good stuff. And if anybody needs, you know, I don't know what I did at the time. Maybe it was 60 minutes, whatever. I said, if anyone needs a deep dive,

it's this guy. And I'm so glad we hooked up because this has become an annual tradition. I love, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to play some sweet gingerbread man. And then at the tail end of this, I'm probably going to play some lowest of the low and thank some sponsors, but Ed don't go anywhere. Cause we got to, you know,

take that photo afterwards and chat on the other side. So thanks again. One final, final thought before we go. Obviously it's an absolute honor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. And I look forward to buying a round for the next members of the Hall of Fame, whoever they may be. And I would love to see everybody, the Retro Ontario YouTube channel, starting our Christmas live stream tonight or tomorrow. And we're going to be live showing Christmas commercials today, special,

all that fun stuff right until Christmas. So we'll see you then. And Mike, we'll never miss another year. Christmas crackers for life, brother. Feel like I made out of gingerbread. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Crumpic and lip licking gingerbread. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Crumpic and lip-licking gingerbread. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Can't think about rainy weather now. I finally got myself together now. Fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man. Now, fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man. Fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man. Twirling the cane made of peppermint. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Nice, icky hand, sticky peppermint Sponge sugary cloud of coconut Sun spreading my suit of sugar coconut All tasty and tan, sweet gingerbread man. Fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man. Got a feeling wouldn't trade for anything. For all the beans. For all the beans, for all the greens, for all the worms.

Feel like I'm made out of gingerbread. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Crumb pickin', lickin-lick and gingerbread Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh Can't think about rain and weather now I finally got myself together now All tasty and tan, sweet gingerbread man All tasty and tan, sweet gingerbread man. Fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man.

Fresh out of the pan, sweet gingerbread man. Fresh out of the pan Sweet gingerbread man Fresh out of the pan And that brings us to the end of our 972nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Ed is at Retro Ontario. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Chef Drop is at Get Chef Drop. Mineris is at Mineris. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta Sticker U is at Sticker U and Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH See you all

next week I wanna take a streetcar downtown Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Oh, where you been?