Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rick Hodge: Toronto Mike'd #590

Episode Date: February 26, 2020

Mike catches up with Rick Hodge before Rick kicks out the jams.

Welcome to episode 590 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville stickeru.com create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and

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country bluegrass bands in Canadian music history. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is legendary broadcaster and now a teacher apparently. Yeah, I just do a semester a year. Rick Hodge. As if you don't recognize that, boys. Rick, good to see you, buddy.

Nice to see you too, pal. You made it in the snowstorm. How was the drive? The snow wasn't too bad. Yeah, I didn't think... It only takes about one hour for me to get from my place to your place if the traffic is light and the roads are good. So it's not a bad drive. And I drive to Niagara at least two times a week. me to get from my place to your place if the traffic is light and the roads are good so uh

it's it's not a bad drive and i drive to niagara at least two times a week and that's a little bit more difficult okay i'm going because just to let people know uh this was always scheduled for today and then we actually postponed it like this morning we thought okay there's a big storm coming why risk it or why not just postpone it? But then I guess you did some digging. You analyzed the meteorological models and you decided you could do this. Yeah, I listened to 680 nonstop. That's what you have to do.

And no, I just had to zip out to the store because if we get bombed and I can't get out, I've got five cats I have to feed. Is it only five? Yeah, just five now. Okay. You know, they pass on along the years. And remind us, for those who don't know,

how far out of the city do you live? Like whereabouts are you? When people ask me where I live, and I've had this asked several times on... Oh, you forgot already? No, well, I'm dancing here, okay? It's north of Toronto, south of Orillia. Okay. Actually, it's

on a straight line. It's off Highway 9, if you know where that is. I'm going to pretend I do. I kind of do. If you go one way, you end up in Newmarket. If you go the other way, you end up in Orangeville. Okay, I know those two places. I'm about right in the middle. Okay, you and your five cats, and do you know the names of your five cats?

I sure do. What are the names? What would you like to start? The new one is Baby Chloe. She's just a little girl I found. She was hanging out for a while, and I brought her in and started feeding her. And she wants out all the time, but she's good. And I got Chester. He's the boss of the group.

Named after the weight, right? That's the band? Don't they have Chester? Isn't that in the weight? Crazy Chester followed me, yeah. Is that the, I Don't they have Chester? Isn't that in the weight? Crazy Chester followed me. Is that the, I don't know. Okay. And who else we have?

We have Mandy, which is short for Cat Mandu. Okay. I thought it was Mandy. You came and you gave me the, yeah. And I have OC. That's the other cat. Because when I took him to the vet a long time ago, I couldn't think of a name. And I just said, call him the other cat.

So the vet put him down as OC. OC's got a, now has like a complex, I think, being named other cat. Well, I call him Big Booty, because his rear end's getting a little large. I hear you. Big Fat Bottom Girls, they make the rockin' world go round. And Faye the Stray. Faye, I love these names. Yeah, she was just hanging out one day.

She was living under my front porch. So I thought, you know, come on in. She came in one day and never left. Do you have a cap? Like, for example, I stop at nine cats. Like, do you have a limit? Well, the tough one, I had 16 cats at one time. I remember this yeah when i when i first

moved moved from um a little bit north of where i am down to where i am now because of certain marital difficulties i know that's uh and uh so uh but they came and went and uh but so it's down to five now but uh if if there's a cat in need that's outside, I'll take them in. And sometimes, you know, like if they run away back in the wild, that's fine. Because I'm just surrounded by farmland and trees. The word's getting out, I think, amongst the felines that Rick Hodge will take you in. They know me. They're starting to figure it out.

Just hang around Rick Hodge's place. Hey, the tall goofball that lives in that house go uh how many am i allowed to ask how many marriages have you uh burned through only two only two okay oh you just just two lightweight okay i i don't know i was thinking like uh you're like elizabeth taylor or something eight or nine or something. No, no, no, no, no. You have to, you have to get to a point where you say, stop. No more marriages. Okay. I'm trying to be in that place right now.

I think I'm done. Okay. So I'm going to just remind everyone, including you, Rick, cause it's been a while, uh, that you've been on before.

So this is not the, uh, A to Z deep dive ongoing history of Rick Hodge. Uh, we're going to catch up and kick out the jams. But if people go back to the 116th episode of Toronto Mike,

Mike chats with Rick Hodge about the Sunday Funnies. Dude, I told you this before. I loved the Sunday Funnies. I got the two things in radio that I absolutely, they were my babies and I loved doing them, were Sports Narts and the Sunday Funnies.

And it was a lot of work to put the Sunday Funnies together, to find the material, edit the material, and get it on the air. I had some great producers to get it on the air. And that was one of those things where you just, oh, and you find new comics. And like Jerry D., for example, you know Jerry D.? Of course, yeah.

Yeah, well, I went to see Jerry at his concert down in St. Catharines. And, you know, he thanked me. And Rogers, too. I ran into him at Rogers' Going Away Day. And he came up and he said, hey, Haji, you know, no you, no me, no you. You know, it was that simple. Like, I helped to get him where he was. I'm not taking credit for it, but if I could be a small...

But you shone a light on this talented performer. Yeah, and he was just great and a good guy, just a really decent, nice guy, former teacher. Yeah, maybe that's why he's so humble, because he was just a teacher, and then he kind of followed his dream, and it's all worked out. Yeah, it has.

I'm really happy for him. Good. Put in a word. Tell him to get his butt down here to the Toronto Mike basement here. You want me to? Yeah. Seriously. Jerry D would be a great guest.

Oh, he would be. Yeah. I'm a, that's right. That's what I'm looking for. A good conversation with an interesting Toronto guy. He is that. Now. Okay.

So Sunday funnies, uh, why he left Roger, Rick and Marilyn and Shum FM. We talked, we talked, well, don't worry. We won't tear open those wounds here, those scabs. Oh, yeah, they've pretty well healed over now. And what happened at Easy Rock and CFRB. And then we, oh, we discussed the time I torpedoed him.

So that was your word because I put it in quotes. Well, yeah, but it just felt, you know, like I didn't think I did anything wrong. No, those are more other wounds we're not going to reopen here. But let's just say,

I know a lot. I'm a lot wiser now. Like, you know, I'm not from your industry. So I had to, I didn't know how things work. Big egos in this industry, man. Are you a big ego like would you uh do

you feel you've got your your feet on the ground i think it's been deflated over the years um uh i'll give you an example when uh when i was living in uh in midtown toronto uh off eglinton ave eglinton and uh uh just go going to the uh going to to the east a bit. One day, I mean, I love doing radio, and I love the anonymity of radio because you could go anywhere you wanted and no one knew who you were. Once in a while, they'd pick up,

hey, I know that voice. Definitely your voice, yes. But one day, I'm driving up Yonge Street and I have to make the turn onto Eglinton, and on the corner,'s this monster Roger, Rick, and Marilyn. Billboard. Yeah, Billboard. And it was like, oh, my God.

And that was my route home every day. So I went up three or four more times, three or four more mornings, and then one day I had to go over to Mount Pleasant and go up because I didn't want to see it anymore. But those billboards were everywhere. And at that point, you couldn't go anywhere. And it made life difficult. People were starting to recognize a radio voice.

Back in the day, I'm guessing nobody knew what John Donabee looked like. No, no. Yeah, and now that they were heavily, I mean, Roger, Rick, and Marilyn, even if I never heard a minute of the show, I could recognize you three people. Real quick question since we're talking

about Roger, Rick and Marilyn. Somebody, I hope, did I write it down? Linda wanted to know when you did that ad campaign where you're naked, she wants to be reassured that you weren't actually naked for the filming. So can you, for the record, were you wearing a Speedo? What was the deal there he's trying to remember but you were roger and i were comparing notes so you two are in the buff

but maybe maryland had on uh yeah strategically placed pasties yeah we we left our underwear on for that one but you know the funny thing was when we're sitting there with the and you couldn't you we look naked obviously right right and you know and the part of town we were in we're sitting there with the, and you couldn't, we looked naked, obviously, right? Right. And, you know, and the part of town we were in, we were over in Leaside and by a park, and we're on a park bench, and these little old ladies would go by from doing their shopping, and they'd stop, look at that, look at that. And we'd go, you can't do that. People still talk about that ad. Like, that's one of the memorable Roger, Rick, and Marilyn ads.

Yeah, and it was funny. It was embarrassing at the time, but you just get used to it, you know, over the years. I would imagine that because they marketed that show so heavily that people still think you're on that show. Like, do people ever ask you like, how's Marilyn doing or whatever? Yeah. Because you're just so tightly tied together, like for all eternity. And it was an interesting session with them. They're both very talented.

I had the ability, because I was still doing sports then, to leave the room for a while and get a breather. You had an office. Do you have an office? We had the sports office with Brian Henderson for 20 years with Brian. We lost Brian.

I tell you, that guy's a legend. Take a moment, if you will, because sadly, he will never be on Trottle Mike. He's no longer with us. No, he's not. Talk about Henny. Yeah, and he passed on. I was at the funeral or the goodbye for him. And 20 years with the guy, and we laughed together.

We cried together. We went on road trips together. Henny was great uh one of the best was um he phones me one day and he says haji i can't make it in this morning and i said henny where are you and he said you're not going to believe this where are you henny florida on a work day oh in the good old days and this is back in the day you know an era where it's almost hard to believe when you look back, but like every station, every morning show had like a sports person. Yeah. Like that's long gone.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Any radio now, you don't need it anymore with, you know, you've got two, you know, all sports stations. Well, that helps the Bell people and the Rogers people, but the rest just sort of do without, I guess. Well, yeah, like a lot of people lost their jobs. Some didn't, some went on to do TV.

But yeah, a lot of people just were out of work at that point. Luckily, they kept me on for a long time doing that third person thing where I'd come in with the goofy stuff and, you know, we'd have some fun with it. Now, do you remember all i mean can you name off some of the other sports guys like you just mentioned brian henderson which of course that's us he's on 10 50 and you're on 104.5 that's correct so you're uh and that's the young street uh yeah the old young street building yeah the old building now do you remember it only because

i think i'm working with half of them like when look back. So Fred Patterson, for example. Yeah, Freddie was with Chum for just a little while, and then he left because he got a good offer from somewhere else. But he was always going to be the third. Are you sure Fred was at Chum? Because I feel like he was like a CFNY lifer. I thought he worked for,

or maybe we pitched him to come to work for us. Maybe that was it. We pitched him to come to work for us, and he didn't want to do it. That's my recollection. Scott Ferguson, if you remember him. Of course. Yeah, Scotty went on again to

I think he ended up at the fan. Okay, I can tell you that story real quick. He was the, yeah, after Tom and Jerry do a Blue Jays game, he'd come in and do out of town scoreboard and stuff, but then the team opened up at 10.50. So do you remember the team? The team was like a short it was before it was TSN radio.

They tried to be the team and they brought in people like Jim Van Horn, Paul Romanuk, people like that. And they Scott Ferguson left the fan to be the baseball guy on the team. 10.50. And then that didn't work out with the team. And then they replaced Scott Ferguson on 590

with Mike Wilner, who's now the play-by-play guy for the Blue Jays. So Scott, I think he came back to TSN. I'm not sure exactly. Yeah, he did. And he was at Henny's going-away thing, too. And yeah, he has not been well. But I could never figure out,

and I talked to Ross Davies, who was my programmer at the time, about why do you want to flip AM 1050 to all sports when you've already got one sports station that's got, I think they had a three share of the market. What do you think? You can only steal from them, so what are you going to get? At best, you're going to get a one share.

Right, like a subset of a subset. Yeah. But I'm sure it's for the brand, right? Like it's for the greater TSN brand. Yeah. But that's okay. But the team, you mean. Yeah, at the time we just didn't get it.

Like, what are you guys doing? But, you know, they went ahead with it. And then finally that folded in. I think Mr. Waters, Alan Waters says, I want my radio station back, you know. Right. And then they, yeah, they go back. I think Little Less Conversation was the Elvis song that they came back with.

I don't remember that. Little Less Conversation, which is sort of a nod to Gaines, because they were going talk, sports talk, and then they're back to the music. Although then, next thing you know, just to loop this out, is that it's a simulcasting CP24. And now, of course, it's been TSN radio for at least 10 years now. Which I like that station too. I listened to a lot of sports.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they, you know, it is a subset of a subset, but they have caught more or less.

They've caught. They have. Yeah. They've done a good job. This is episode 590. So it's appropriate that they have that. That overdrive show I really like. Yeah.

That one seems to be doing very well. All right, so other sports guys real quick. John Gallagher, for example, he's doing sports on Q107, right? Is he now? Not now, no. But he did, yeah. Back in the day when Freddie P was on 102.1 and you were on 104.5 and Henny was on 1050.

Just thinking of all these sports guys that are, yeah, now working with me. That's how far they've plummeted, Rick, is they're now working with me. Will Menzies is a big fan of yours and he writes in and he says, he'd love to hear about how it felt doing the reunion show with Roger in Maryland towards the end of Ashby's run.

That day I was filling in on the morning show on Chime? Is that how you say it in the kitchen? Yeah, Chime, yeah. Okay. And between our talk breaks, we would listen in. He said it was a very special moment. So I'm just going to play the first few seconds of this, and I'm going to ask you about it.

But this is your kind of Roger, Rick, and Marilyn reunion. Now, I want to introduce you to somebody who a lot of you will know, and I'll start by doing this and now what is it and now I mean you just you just yeah oh yeah yeah yeah I got it I got it I got it and now the man who we call Rick because the p is silent Rick Hodge come on up Rick Hodge ladies and gentlemen Rick Hodge. Come on up, Rick Hodge. Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Hodge. Have you met Rick Hodge, Jamar McNeil?

Briefly, earlier. Great to meet the man, the myth, the legend. What up, Rick? Nice to meet you. Rick, give me a hug there, bud. Hodge. Hodge. H gee rick himself just retired you couldn't do the intro could you no i forgot it i could have said and now a man who just got back from ottawa he received the odor of canada i thought the other one was better all right rick uh How was that day? That was nice to be back.

I mean, there were a lot of people there and a lot of, you know, high-enders came in to wish him well. But there was one before that, and I'd like to mention, that was the one that I really enjoyed doing. Marilyn was in Vancouver. And my former program director, who is now the programmer at Chum now, she said, well, you come in and sit in with Roger, and we're not going to tell anybody until you get there.

And I said, you know what? I said no for a couple of times, and finally I agreed to it. And then Roger and I got on the air, and after the third break, he looked up at me and he said, Haji, it's like you never left. Nice. Yeah, I always had a good rapport with him on the air. And then Marilyn walked in about halfway through the show. She actually flew back. Oh, wow. And yeah, it was neat the three of us

back together, like for a length of time. Okay, so in that little clip I played from, I guess that's Ashby's last show on 104.5? Yeah, but that was the one. So you were also on, yeah, like you're talking. The big one at the Sheraton Center where it was Roger's goodbye. That wasn't a goodbye, but

he was getting close. He alluded to the fact you were retired, so I have questions about this. I'm not sure if this started maybe after your visit, because it's been so long since you were here, episode 116, but you were on Easy Rock in Niagara? Yeah.

Okay. St. Catharines. St. Catharines, right. And with Lori Love? Yeah. Who I believe is like very close friends of Freddie P, who we just mentioned. Like I think her husband is like,

is one of his best friends. You're correct. Yeah. They are best friends and they have, I think they've got a place up on the course of somewhere. Yeah. Like he calls it the Tin Palace, a trailer park.

But they don't have a trailer. Oh, yeah, Fred might. But apparently Lori and her husband bought quite a nice... Oh, a real cottage. Yeah, they got the real deal. I think they travel together and everything. I think they're really tight. But why...

I mean, no BS. You know, my whole thing here is real talk so when we i get the press release and it says that suddenly rick decides he doesn't want to be on the radio anymore he's retiring and i always uh i'm skeptical to be honest with you like i'm always skeptical i always feel like it smells more like maybe they tapped rick on the shoulder and just said time's up and they're spinning it like you're retiring i Just tell us the truth because we know you'll be on for it. Actually, I had a long talk with this program director who was in St. Catharines. And a few times, you know, a really good person.

And we would talk once in a while. I said, you know what? The hours are killing me. And they were. And I'll give you an idea of what my day was like. because like, and I'll give you an idea of what my day was like. I would literally wake up at 10 p.m. and go to bed at 4.30 in the afternoon just to do the, to find material to go on the air with because it was so difficult. And I have like over 100 different sites that I go to just to look for.

And if I got six stories, I won. And some days you couldn't even find that much that pertained to the audience we were looking at. So if I'm hearing you correctly, you're waking up at 10 PM in order to prep for the morning show that you've got to get to in St. Catherine. Well, I was, no, I was living down there. Oh, you were living there. I had my mother's house and, um's house, and I lived down there. So the drive wasn't bad, but it was just actually doing that prep work.

Wow. And it just, you know, five days a week you're doing that, and it just sort of drags and drags and drags, and it's just like, I don't want to do this anymore. And it was time, too. I was in a format where, quite honestly like the music didn't didn't ring for me i mean and don't take offense by this but it was aimed primarily at a female audience um and so you weren't getting you know what you might hear you know years ago on on the old show mfm uh so and

then it just i thought you know and at my age right getting up with those hours yeah it's just time okay i'm actually happy to hear this because it sounds now you i believe you so of course i I thought, you know, and at my age, getting up with those hours, yeah, it's just time. Okay. I'm actually happy to hear this because it sounds now, I believe you. So of course I believe you. This wasn't, no one tapped you on the shoulder and said, time to go. You basically said you felt like it was time to go. Well, that program director kept asking me, are you sure?

Are you sure? And I said, it's going to happen soon, sooner or later, you know. sure are you sure are you and i said it's it's gonna have it's gotta happen soon sooner or later you know uh and uh you know finally one day we had a long talk and uh we did all the paperwork and i said yeah let's scoot out here but you know then she made me do the last show which i didn't want to do i just wanted to walk out the door and go home oh you didn't want to have the fanfare no i can all that no i know that's those kind of things uh i have trouble with And it's just like, time to go, goodbye. So you wanted what we call the Irish goodbye, where you just disappear. Yeah, basically, yeah.

Is it because, is there something about being lauded, like being praised that makes you uncomfortable? Like, is it just you're such a humble guy, you don't want to have people... Like, I called you legendary off the top. Did that bother you? Am I allowed to you don't want to have people like i called you legendary off the top that you did that bother you am i allowed to call you no but sitting here with you talking like like i'm fine like doing one-on-one with people or just a few people but you know i i have a real problem doing public speaking uh because you know i just i get gun shy

and uh and i i i think it was because when it started, you had all the privacy of what radio gave you because, you know, you, you just weren't, you were a voice. Right. And, but that as it went on and, you know, you, you know, it down in St. Catherine's, they put a, um, uh, um, billboard, billboard, billboard. Yes. I got a, um, uh, a call one day from a wonderful young lady, and she said, would you like to go for coffee? And I said, well, why not?

And so we went for coffee, had a talk, and I said, well, why of all the people, like you're very attractive, why would you pick me? And she said, I saw the billboard, you're tall with hair. It's working for you that's like your your tinder uh you mentioned coffee i need to say this that uh many moons ago like i'm gonna think in my head maybe 12 years ago at least you and i met for coffee and i actually uh ordered a double double and you told me quote unquote because i've never forgot you said that shit will kill you is what

you said to me. No joke. I thought about it. At some point, I could hear your voice in my head. That's a great voice, so that's all right. And I basically have been drinking black coffee for several years now. So have I. Black decaf, as a matter of fact.

Okay, you're even better than me, because I'm still caffeinated. Well, the doctor said, again, at my age. What age are we talking here? Is that private? Can I see your driver's license? No. Yeah.

Yeah. No, no, no. The doctor said, you know, it works on your heart and whatnot. So, you know, just slow it down. And I'm a total vegetarian now. So vegan or vegetarian? You said vegetarian. So can you have cheese?

Yeah. Well, I don't eat cheese often, but I think I eat eggs. So I don't know if that counts because that's not a real animal. I think you're a vegetarian then. Now, would you eat, and be honest with me because it sounds like you've got some dietary restrictions and stuff here, but would you eat a lasagna? If there's no meat in it, yeah. Okay.

I have a vegetarian lasagna. It's in my freezer upstairs for you. You drove through a snowstorm to get here. The least I can do. So I'm going to be, make sure before you leave, you get it from me. I won't forget.

I've never forgot. So vegetarian lasagna, you're going to tell me, you're going to be writing me a note, an email to say, Mike, that's the best lasagna I've ever to tell me, you're going to be writing me a note an email to say Mike that's the best lasagna I've ever had that came from a store it's from Palma Pasta in Mississauga in Oakville and this is an empty

box but yours is going to be full of delicious so take that home and make that up you'll love it, I don't know maybe the cats will love it too but yeah I do have one vegetarian in that freezer that you're taking home, no meat so thank you Palma Pasta for sending over lasagna for Rick Hodge. I'm also going to give you a six pack of fresh

craft beer courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. Very nice. You came on pretty early. I'm looking, 116? No, my eyes, I need to wear glasses because I'm seeing this and I see 116, but I'm not convinced it's not 118 and that's a bad sign, right? I need to be wearing glasses.

This is my, I'm now telling you, my doctor. I just got some new glasses, one for reading and one for distance. It's time now, it's time. I do have a prescription but I find I see better about it. But okay, I'm looking now, it's 116. So everybody, I'm okay.

Now, I have glasses upstairs. Why don't I wear them? It's not a vanity thing. I feel like I see better without them, which is a weird thing. I need to talk about that with my optometrist. So Great Lakes, fantastic family run, fiercely independent brewery,

and they sent over the beer for you. That's yours. I don't think you got one last time. You might be the last guest who didn't get that, but now you do. I have a Toronto Mike sticker for you right there. I saw that, yeah, cool. StickerU.com. Just get yeah, cool. StickerU.com.

Just get online, go to StickerU, StickerYOU.com, and you can order, you know, you upload the image, and you can order any quantity or any style of anything that sticks, and it gets sent to you, and it's a good price. It's quality stuff,

and there are fantastic people as well. I've kicked out the jams with Andrew Witkin from StickerU. He's the founder, and we're going to be kicking out the jams with Andrew Witkin from StickerU. He's the founder, and we're going to be kicking out the jams in a moment. Rick, but you're taking that sticker home with you. And there's a book there, too, for you, My Good Times with Stompin' Tom. Have you ever met Stompin' Tom Connors? I know it's too late now for me to meet him, but did you ever meet him?

Yeah, years ago I did run into him. Nice man. What a show he puts on, though. A lot of people thought he was corny but uh i he sang stuff um you know almost like i was almost like just he had a voice of of canada what canada was about and he understood it um i was the poor man's gordon lightfoot uh you. Not quite the writer that Lightfoot was, but the showman. And he knew how to put some humor into songs.

And I had a lot of time for Tom. Now I'm going to play a little bit of my buddy Banjo Dunk. He's the man who wrote that book I just gave you. His name is Duncan Fremlin. He wrote My Good Times of Stompin' Tom. And he's got a show this week. So what day is this? Is this, oh, I'm looking, the 26th. So this is coming up. So it's got a show this week. So what day is this? Is this? Oh, I'm looking.

26th. So this is coming up. So it's the last chance I'm going to get to play this. So here's Dunk. This is Banjo Dunk. And for the last few weeks, you've been hearing my ads on Toronto Mic'd about the big Stompin' Tom show coming up on April 16th, 2020. But there's another Banjo Dunk production that's happening very soon. My music buddy Douglas John Cameron and I, known internationally as Doogie and Dunn, are going to be performing in Oakville at the Moonshine Cafe on February 27th,

not too far from Toronto Mic Head Office. So, if you live in Toronto, Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Milton, and surrounding areas, you'll find all the information you need at themoonshinecafe.com. We look forward to seeing you on February 27th. That's tomorrow. Tomorrow! That's a shout out to all the Burlington people, the Mississauga people, the Oakville people. Heck, all those GTA people.

That's pretty much almost all of you. So get your butts to the Moonshine Cafe and check out whiskey. Check out Banjo Dunk. Yes, Rick? No, I just have a quick Stompin' Tom Conner story. Oh, yeah, I love it. Years and years ago when Mariposa was still out on the Toronto Islands, he was playing, and somebodyiposa was still out on the Toronto Islands, he was playing.

And somebody from the crowd yelled out, Hey, Stomping Tom, play some Dylan. And he says, I don't play no Bobby Dylan if he don't play no Stomping Tom. And he just put the crowd away. Take that, Bobby D. I love it. Love it. Okay, so what have you been up to?

People who miss hearing your voice on Easy Rock from St. Catharines. Where was it on the dial? 105, what was Easy Rock? Oh, I put Rick on the spot. 590? No, it was 590. It's an FM station, right? Easy Rock?

Yeah. 105.9? Is that possible? Yeah, I remember the first time. Lori wasn't there. And the first time they said, you've got to take over right and so like i back saw the song and go it's 104.5 oh wait a minute and i didn't realize i said it and our producer uh campy uh he looked at me and he said hodgie hodgie you gotta do that again that's funny uh at least you haven't forgotten the word

jam fm is on the dial So what have you been up to? You mentioned you do a little teaching, but so you've been just enjoying retirement? People know how you're doing. Yeah, and I kind of isolated myself up there. It's a long way from, you know, I haven't been able to make friends because I was back and forth so often

and I don't know my neighbors. But it's kind of a, not a hermit, but you know, you just sort of. Is this the first human interaction you've had in quite some time? Pretty much. Pretty much. Do you want to co-host Toronto Mic'd with me? You know, when you got internet up there, right? That's arrived in your neck.

I think so. You just get a dial up, right? You connect the modem. You could, you could, we could call you, you could call in, Skype in. I don't know, we could get your, get your voice on some Toronto Mic'd episodes.

People love hearing your voice, man. People, people miss you too. So if you ever need human interaction, you're welcome here at TMDS to come and chat. That's what I want you to know. And by the way, Jay Miller just wanted me to say hi to you. Jay Miller is also a huge fan and he misses you as well. All right. So you're a hermit now, but when, how often do you teach and where do you teach? Oh, it's just the, the fall, the fall semester where I get the

third years who are ready to go out and, you know, look for jobs and things like that. And I guess, you know, like I'm supposed to polish them up just before they get out of there. But I'd like getting that age group because, you know, they've been there for three years. This is Niagara College down in Welland. Okay, I was going to ask for it. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, they're ready to go. They're pretty well there. But, you know, you can do the little things like explain to them how to put a sentence together, be yourself when you're on the air, especially doing news. Don't try to be somebody else. Be who you are. Use your voice, use your writing style, and you'll be able to broadcast much better because you're not reading somebody else's words. And things like that. Good that tip i write all my own material i don't have any writers here well i can't afford them so how do i get one of those

but i know that's excellent uh excellent advice and i always i think what what's now in style and maybe this is when you started out oh yeah uh i just reminded myself i wanted to ask you about uh rick moranis right so rick mor Moranis, you worked with him, right? And he, you know, he's, you mentioned, I know that his wife passed away and he kind of stopped working for a long period of time, but I know Scorsese got him to come to the SCTV reunion. That is supposed to be a documentary at some point

when he gets around to finishing it. And I would, really quickly before i uh move on here but uh share any any memories of working with rick moranis yeah moranis was he was a unique i don't think he was a true radio person he had bigger plans and we were at a christmas party one one day and i'm sitting beside him we're shooting the breeze and he told me there what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it and years later, he did it all. He sure did.

He did stand-up comedy. He was on CBC for a while and then he got into movies and yeah, he's been a huge success. You're right though, after his wife passed away, he did become very, very solitaire. Right, and at some point, Mr. Scorsese, I know you're a listener of Toronto Mic'd.

I'm speaking to you directly right now. Got to finish that SCTV doc because I want to see it. And they filmed it. I want them to put it together so I can see it. Nice to see. For sure, for sure, for sure. You're comfortable up north. You have no plans to move anywhere closer to the city.

No, I like being out there. I like the green, the trees. I can get anywhere very quickly. All side roads, there are a lot of dirt roads you have to drive on, but it's nice and it's laid back. That's the kind of lifestyle.

In fact, one of these songs I can relate that to. One of the reasons why I moved up north of Toronto. So if anybody, obviously not you, Rick, but if anyone else is considering moving in the GTA or selling in the GTA, and if anyone listening has any Toronto real estate questions whatsoever, text Toronto Mike, that's one word, to 59559. The Keitner Group have partnered with Toronto Mike to fuel the real talk, and I sincerely believe Austin Keitner can help you out.

So you'll do the show a favor. You'll do yourself a favor. Text Toronto Mike to 59559. We're about to kick out the jams, but I'm going to play a little bit of a bonus jam because I want to talk to you about this one, and it's the only Christmas song that I can enjoy in February. And this is,

uh, for Tyler who's listening and keeps the, uh, the canon of, uh, everyone's jams. This is not one of Rick's 10 jams officially, but Rick,

tell us why you love the Pogues fairy tale of New York. Well, primarily because I'm not good at relationships. And this is very honest about this. My second marriage, we just, every Christmas we fought for the last several years of the marriage. And it was just like, and it just, so I lost,

I lost the fun of Christmas. I just, I didn't want to be around. You know, I just, I didn't like it. And the first time I heard this song, I said, you know what, that's my Christmas day. That's what Christmas day felt like to me. First, I'm sorry to hear that. They say families fight more at these holidays

because of expectations. Like there's an expectation, like a false expectation of it being a great celebratory day or something. And then of course, it's just really just another of the 365 days in the year. One of the problems I had though, is I've got, I had two kids living with their mom, my first wife, in London, Ontario. And I had to go there. And she wanted to go see her parents and her brother and sister. And so we didn't spend Christmas Eve together. But Christmas Day, that's when all hell broke loose.

And it just seemed to be every year for about seven or eight years. Was this Christmas better? Was it better with you and the cats this Christmas? Yeah, pretty much. Actually, I went down, my mother's in long-term care in St. Catharines, and I went down and had Christmas Day with her, which was really nice.

It had been a long time since I was able to do that, so yeah, I enjoyed that. Well, as your Christmases start to improve, I hope you don't stop loving this fantastic jam here, the Pogues. And, yeah, I love it too. It really is by far. It's like the only Christmas song I can stomach 12 months a year. So good taste, Mr. Hodge.

All right, one question now. This is the big moment. Rick Hodge, are you ready to kick out the jams? You got it. Yeah, I dig, brother. It's really out of sight here. Denny and Rain, No Buttons to Push. Right now I'd like to dedicate this song to everybody here with hearts,

any kind of hearts and ears. Something like this here. Yeah. Just here. Yeah. Yeah, what I say now. Hey! Yes, as I said before, it's really groovy. I had to bore you for about six or seven minutes to do a little thing. Yeah.

Excuse me for a minute. This is me playing my guitar, right? Excuse me for a minute, this is me playing my guitar, right? Right now we're doing a thing by Bob Dylan. That's his grandma over there. It's a little thing called like a Rolling Stone. Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bombs and diamonds in your prime Didn't you? People call, save a weather

You're bound to fall, you thought they all Well, couldn't you? You used to laugh about Everybody that was hanging out Look at you, but now you don't talk so loud And now you don't, baby, seem so proud By having to be scrounged Yeah, you're next to me Yeah, I'm just a thief

Oh, out of the field baby To be on your own Out of the field, baby To beyond your world No direction, oh Look at you, I'm complete undone Yeah, like a rolling stone Normally I don't play so much off the top before we hear your voice, but that was brilliant. You know, I had Hendrix's albums and I liked them, but when I saw that video from Monterey Pop and I had never seen him play live before I mean obviously it wasn't live but but when I

saw him do it and he takes who I consider Bob Dylan the greatest lyricist of my generation and the greatest guitar player of my generation and I see him like doing it I went oh my god I just it just blew me blew me away I love that you requested a specific live version like I love that that you want the you want Jimmy doing this at the

Monterey Pop Festival and I think 67 yeah that's when I fell in love with him that was a year before Woodstock yeah that's when I just said you know yeah like I didn't really appreciate what he was doing. You watch it, and you go, and apparently Peter Townsend, the Who We're On Next, he wasn't happy about this. He got shown up.

That's guitar virtuoso, yeah. And, yeah, took a Dylan, a fantastic Dylan song, and made it his own. Quick story about this. Absolutely. Hendrix goes over to England. He's playing in England. And he's at one of the big halls over there.

And so the story goes. All the heavyweights of British musicians went to see him. And, you know, like you named it. Eric Clapton, was he there? Yeah, Clapton was there. And they were all there. Okay, Brian May was there. You name it, they were there.

And apparently at one point, and I think it was Clapton, clapton this is a story he leans over looks down the row and he goes you know we're screwed that's murderers row and this these are you know some of the greatest guitar players you're ever going to hear and uh they're looking at henry's going wow man it's it's now i was impressed with the recording so i found like you know this is such a Hold on. Now, I was impressed with the recording, so I found, like, you know, this is such a great live recording of that performance.

And, you know, Hendrix, he was dead before I was born, so everything I know of Hendrix is sort of from the history books, but to truly appreciate him, yeah, watch this set. I'm so amused at the pulling and the rest and the sweet talk that he used.

Go to him now, he calls you. You can't refuse. When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. You're invisible now, you got no secrets To conceal How does it feel? How does it feel, baby? To be on your own

No direction, no I'm a clean underdog Look at you Like a rolling stone I'll be back in a minute. Go out yonder, peace in the valley Come downtown, have to rumble in the alley Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in Anybody seen my lady Just let her alone

It'll drive me crazy Oh, you don't know The shape I'm in Well, I just went down by the water But I ain't gonna jump in on the I just be looking for my maker And I hear that's what you're going for Out of night life

I realize we already talked about Scorsese, but here are the last waltz. Yeah. Tell us why you chose The Shape I'm In by the band from specifically again and i love this the version from the last waltz out of nine lives i spent seven how in the world am i gonna get to heaven and i think about myself honestly when i heard that line, I thought, wow, that just blew me away. You've made so many mistakes in your life.

You screwed up, and how are you going to get into heaven? Do you have an answer to that question? Not for me, maybe for you. You screwed up. You're a human being. You screwed up. But you learn from your mistakes, right? Yeah, you do. And you take them with you, and sometimes you go back and you go,

well, if I had have done this different, but it's too late for that. You've done it, you made your bed, and you've got to sleep in it. But I'll tell you, the band is my favorite band ever. And I would have an argument, oh, they're better than the Beatles. Well, no, they don't have the...

The hits. Yeah, the hits that they did no, they don't have the, you know. The hits. Yeah, the hits that they did. But I don't know, there was something about like four guys from southern Ontario and one guy from, you know, the Bible Belt down in the U.S. And, you know, they started out as Levon and the Hawks. They had been backing up Ronnie Hawkins in the Toronto area. And it was just, and I've got the Last Waltz PVR, and I probably watch it maybe once a week.

I'll throw it on late at night. I watch it regularly too, and I'm in love with the staple singers doing the wait. Yeah, yeah. And pop comes in, when pop comes in, I said I got to kick out the jams of that version, but in fact, that's the only version when I'm home and I'm playing music, and I want to hear the bands, the wait, one of the jams of that version. But in fact, that's the only version when I'm home and I'm playing music

and I want to hear the bands, The Weight, one of the greatest songs of all time. Hold on. We started with a guy you might have heard of. Oh, okay. They're setting up the next song. Okay. I was going to say that's the version I go to. And Hebsey, speaking of sports guys, I spent a lot of time with mark hemshire

and he loves the band and he loves the last walls and he told me the take was bad so they did the weight with the staples singers live on the floor and something a buzzing sound or there was a problem with the recording so they actually did it again on a sound stage and apparently that's the version we all love was this uh this second did, like, just to make sure they got a good recording of it. Yeah, they did a few things like that, which, you know, like, you'd like to see them out front with, you know, with everybody else in front of

a big audience, but yeah, they chose to do it that way. But good choice there, and yeah, I love the story of the band, I love the Bob Dylan connection too, and I love the Toronto connection, and I love the story of the band i love i love the bob dylan connection too and i love the toronto connection and i love the uh ron ron hawkins uh because a different ron hawkins is going to play the song that we go out on but that ron hawkins of course from arkansas yeah right uh did he ever sell his place uh that place that i don't know i got to know uh the partland brothers

pretty good i don't know if you remember them, but they were big fans of Ronnie and they knew some of the guys that were in the band and whatnot. Did you ever meet like, have you ever met Robbie Robertson, for example? Have you ever met anybody? No, I've never met any of them, which, you know, it's kind of disappointing. I've seen them. Not too late.

I saw them, well, it's getting there. Well, Robbie's doing like a press tour. Robbie's okay, yeah, yeah. He'll be around forever. But I lost my shit. Oh, you said you were, you almost met them maybe? Is that the? No, no, I've seen them twice in concert.

Yeah. Once with Robbie, once without Robbie when I had the Kale brothers with them. Gotcha. And, but you couldn't tell the difference because Robbie couldn't sing, right? Like, if you always notice, he was way back from the mic. But I liked his solo album, like in the late 80s when he put out that.

I quite liked the solo. Yeah, but he had three guys in the band that could really sing well. Right. You know, so. He was, yeah. Yeah, stay away from the mic. You know, and not to bring it back to Donabee, who came up earlier, but I know he was really tight with Levon.

Like, used to visit him when he was sick and everything. Yeah. And he, I believe Donabee was at the last waltz. Like I believe. He may have been. I believe he was there. Yeah.

He was just crazy about, about that band. Oh man. Here's, here's a, here's an artist who's been kicked out many, many times. And I can't wait to hear you talk about him,

but let's kick out your third jam the screen door salams Mary's dress waves Like a vision she dances Across the porch as the radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely Hey, that's me and I want you only Don't turn me home again I just can't face myself alone again

Don't run back inside, darling You know just what I'm here for So you're scared and you're thinking That maybe we ain't that young anymore Show a little faith, there's magic in the night You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright Oh, and that's alright with me You can hide with your covers and study your pain

Any cross you love or a stone, there's nothing around Waste your summer praying and praying for a savior to rise from these dreams But I'm no hero that's understood Or a dungeon I'm an awful girl that's beneath this dirty hood With a chance I'll make it somehow Hey, what else can we do now? Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your ear Well, the night's busted open, these two lanes will take us anywhere

We got one last chance to make it real To trade in these wings on some wheels Climbing back, it was written down on the chest Oh, come take my hand We're running out tonight to the case that promised land Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road Flying out there like a killer in the sun I know it's late, we can make it away Oh, Thunder Road, stay tight, take off

Thunder Road Well, I got this guitar The boss. Talk to me, Rick. When I first heard Springsteen, I got this guitar The Boss. Talk to me, Rick. When I first heard Springsteen, I thought, you know what? That's where music belongs. That's the music that I, the kind of music I wanted to hear.

And he just, he just blew my socks off. He was doing stuff that I had, you know, boom. That's where rock and roll music should be. I have seen the future of rock and roll, and his name is Bruce Springsteen. Yeah, and look what he's done with his career. I mean, he amazes me to this day.

I've got a lot of his material. I listen to it all the time. I've got it in my car. You know, I crank this song up all the time. I really like it. This song is epic. I was thinking, where do I fade down? It's sort of just, you just go on the ride. It's like there's no real natural like, okay, you can bring it down and talk the rest of the time. And this song just goes. I think too, you're a Toronto guy all your life, right? Yeah, I was born here.

Yeah, I wasn't born here, right? And there was a point in my life when I got to do something different. You know, you got to get out of where you are because you're going to get stuck there for the rest of your life. Right. Right. And that's one of those things that, you know, hey, yeah, you know what? Remind us where you're from again. St. Catharines.

St. Catharines. Okay, great. A little place in St. Catharines called Merton and all the Merton people listening, hey. Shout out. place in St. Catharine called Merton and all the Merton people listening hey shout out but yeah it's the kind of thing that it and it sounds corny I know but it speaks to me that song you know I listen in fact all these songs are going to play spoke to me in some fashion and you think about it and you think you know what they could be. And that's why I love having people like yourself back the second time to do this.

Because I think I learn more about you from hearing your songs and hearing why they resonate with you than I would just doing the original deep dive, if you will. This is where the real Rick comes to shine. Let's find out. Are you enjoying yourself? Oh, yes.

You're going to hear your songs? Right, yeah. There's not a song on here I don't love. If you put a song on here you didn't love, I'd be telling you you did it wrong because these are your 10 songs. You should be a program director. And I was thinking, you were stuck.

No offense to you. It was a great gig for you there, of course. But you were stuck on a station that when you got there, because when do you get to 104.5? What year? Is this mid-80s? 70s. Okay, so you did get to play Bruce on,

okay, okay, because when did they switch to like pop, like 86 or something? I started out with Peter Griffin. Of course. I don't know if you remember him. Well, Geetz has been on the show. Yeah. Geetz Romo.

Yeah, well, Geetz had left, and Peter was doing the show by himself and tim lang and i we'd sit in the news booth doing news of sports 20 minute news and sportscasts in those days i know amazing it was ridiculous so one day peter says to us you know why don't you guys come in and do the newscast from here and 20 minutes is too much time we'll talk about the news and the sports as we go along and so he came up with that idea of put three men together three people together right and we'll do it that way and so that's where the three-person situation came gotcha and it was just and peter was brilliant

about it and he was the kind of guy and i've talked about this before that um we were doing a bit one day and i was just a young kid then, you know, I didn't know what I was doing, but you know, we're talking and I said something and he and Tim started laughing and he went right to spot. And I said, Peter, like it's your show. Why, why did you go to spot? And he said, well, you got the laugh. And I said, yeah, but shouldn't you get the laugh? And he said, it doesn't matter who gets to laugh. It doesn't matter. And so you knew you were in good hands with a guy like him. Oh, man. Do you think Pete Griffin belongs in our Broadcasting Hall of Fame?

100%. Yes, absolutely. He and Roger Ashby are two people who love music, and they understood radio, how to do radio, and how to bring other people in because they weren't going to be they were going to be the star but you've got co-stars and use them and they know they both of them knew how to use them okay shout out to roger who just launched a oldies uh yeah program on uh that i know in this in this market where we're talking now, The Jewel picked it up from the Evanoff.

Yeah, I understand that, yeah. So it's only a matter of time before, from the comfort of your own home, you can bring back the Sunday funnies as a podcast or some kind of a streaming show, Rick. So I want to put that in your head there. All right, let's kick out another artist. I think I love hearing your songs

because you're a titch older than you're a titch older than me. These songs I hear from lots of people of similar vintage. These artists, anyways. Let's kick out the next jam. Who's gonna ride that chrome three-wheel? Who's gonna make that first mistake? Who's gonna make that first mistake?

Who wants to wear some gypsy leather? All the way to Fire Lake Who wants to break the news about Uncle Joe? You remember Uncle Joe? He was the one afraid to cut the cake Who wants to tell poor Aunt Sarah? Who wants to tell poor Aunt Sarah Joes run off to Fire Lake Joes run off to Fire Lake

Who wants to brave those bronze beauties Lying in the sun With their long soft hair falling Flying as they run Oh, they smile so shy and they flirt so well And they lay you down so fast Till you look straight up and say Oh Lord Am I really here in this?

Who wants to play those eights and eights? Bob Seger's Fire Lake. I listened to that song for a long time and I never quite understood what Fire Lake. I listened to that song for a long time, and I never quite understood what Fire Lake was. And so I went through, you know, I got in the internet one day, I went through, and I saw a critique of Fire Lake, about, you know, what he was talking about, because it was different from a lot of his other music.

And the person, it's, what he's doing here, he's talking about getting old and going back. Fire Lake is where they went when they were kids. And I started thinking, you know, we used to go to, I don't know if you know where Shurston is, or Crystal Beach? Yes, Crystal Beach, yes. Yeah, down on Lake Erie. And that's where we would go when we were teenagers, right? And we'd get into trouble and have a lot of fun.

And that was about the age we're taking chances you know like uh you know you get pulled over by the police and you know things we never ended up in jail but but it's and and there's you get to a point and and i'm past i'm at that age now we're past that age where you're thinking well i'd love to do that stuff again and that's to me that's what this song is all about is just going back and doing what you remember that you had fun with wow you know i love this so much i would be uh sold on a sequel if you wanted to kick out 10 other jams another day i could bring you 20 all right well i might have to call you down hopefully it won't be a snowstorm that day but let's kick out your next jam. Well, I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head

And it didn't hurt And the beer I had for breakfast Wasn't bad So I had for breakfast wasn't bad So I had one more for dessert Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes And found my cleanest dirty shirt And I shaved my face and combed my hair

and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day I'd smoke my brain the night before on cigarettes and songs that I'd been picking. But I lit my first and watched a small kid cussing at a can that he was kicking. Then I crossed the empty street And caught the Sunday smell

Of someone frying chicken And it took me back to something That I'd lost somehow Somewhere along the way On the Sunday morning sidewalks Wishing Lord that I was stoned Cause there's something in a Sunday Makes a body feel alone.

And there's nothing short of dying. Half as lonesome as the sound. All the sleep in the city side walls Sunday morning coming down Gorgeous again, man. That's Chris Christopherson. I think he's one of the great writers. And he's a legend in country circles and out in Austin, Texas and in Nashville.

That song's important to me because for a period of time I was that person. And you look back at it and you say, my God, what am I doing to myself? But when he sings that, I understand what he means, what he's talking about. I think a lot of people do, and I think there are a lot probably in the music industry. But yeah, and you've got to get to a point where you say, hey, I can't do this anymore.

It's over. When did you reach that point? Like when? What, in my life? Yeah. I think it was between the two marriages I had. It was just, I didn't know what to do. I had two kids, but, you know, they had gone to,

they had moved with their mother to London by then, and I just felt so alone, so desperately alone. So what you do, you walk into the local bar and you make new friends, who to this day are not my friends, but it helps. And then you've got nothing else to do but either go home and watch TV or sit in the bar and drink. And you've got to wake up from that. Well, congrats on waking up from that.

That's great news that you did. You're right, he's a great songwriter. And you've got to wake up from that. Well, congrats on waking up from that. That's great news that you did. You're right, he's a great songwriter. I'm glad you picked the Chris Christopherson version because typically they ask for the Johnny Cash. It's not his song. No, it's Chris Christopherson's song. Yeah, if you ever see The Outlaws, the four of them together, have you ever seen the four of them together?

I probably have. The Outlaws or the four of them together. Have you ever seen the four of them together? I probably have. The Outlaws or the, it's the Highwaymen. Oh, I'm sorry, the Highwaymen. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. It's okay. But you're right. That's Waylon and Johnny.

Oh, yes. Yeah. Waylon and Johnny. And Willie's in there too, right? Willie's in there, yeah. Yeah, they're great. Yeah, and I have a real soft spot for country music, especially the lyrics in country music.

On that note, let's kick out this one. Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold. They'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold Long star belt buckles and old faded Levi's And each night begins a new day If you don't understand him, he don't die young He'll probably just ride away You'll probably just ride away.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Don't let them pick guitars or drive them old trucks. Let them be doctors and lawyers and such. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys They never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Good advice. Yeah, it is.

And that makes me think about the line, let them be doctors and lawyers and such. And I wish there was a point in my life where I was a terrible student if I had been a better student and gone to university. And I wanted to be a teacher.

That's what I really wanted to be. I love sports and I love the radio industry, but I became, you know, like an urban cowboy type of person. You know, like, hey, let's go out, let's have a good time. You know, let's stay up late. And rather than, you know, say, hey, you know study and and you know like get a get a good i hadn't had a good future i mean i really did i had a good career i'm not knocking that but i just look back and you think you know like how many people have sort of tossed away uh to be something

they think they should be instead of you know something they had ought to be do you record have any regrets oh all sorts of them. Yeah. All sorts of regrets. Uh, can you, but you can't, you know, like it's not paving a road again. You can't, you know, you know, redo your life and you make mistakes and you'll learn from them. Uh, and, uh, you know, you try, you know, I'm sure it's, there were some points in my life where I probably wasn't a very good person, never very good at relationships. Um, and, uh, you know, you, you, but you have to learn from those and, uh, you know, hopefully it makes you, it turns you into along the road, a better person. And, uh, you know, hopefully I'm still trying to get there, but, um, yeah, it's,

sometimes it's the road. it's a long road applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause

applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause

applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause

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applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause applause They say everything can be replaced They say the distance is not near So I remember every faith Of every man who put me here I see my light of shine From the west down to the east

Anything now Anything now I shall be released They say every man needs protection They say that every man must fall They say that every man must fall But I swear I see my reflection Somewhere so high above this wall

I see my light go shining Speaking of The Last Waltz, this is from the final song from The Last Waltz, I Shall Be Released. You see all those people on stage together, and it's like, wow, that's a who's who of music. And Dylan's the kind of guy that could pull those people in. And the band, of course. Right. Good little modeling with the music, isn't it?

No, man, that's real talk. That's real substance. Sometimes that's life. Listen, I was looking back in February on this show and I was thinking, okay, literally, I was playing a song last song and my guest started to tear up. I had Aaron

Davis on here a few weeks ago now, but earlier in February and I started breaking down and talking with her about her story. And that's what I love about this show. It's no BS. Just if you want to be modeling,

that's what we're going to be. Well, a lot of times, I wouldn't talk about a lot of these things with very many people. But we're here and you agree to do it, but the songs bring it back out. And those songs are so important. Every song has been important to me

in my life. I can listen to them over and over again and never get old. And I'm glad you're here being so honest. You could have brought in 10 happy-go-lucky songs and talked about how blue the sky is. I do have a Weird Al

collection. I love, because we talked about the Sunday Funnies I love the Sunday Funnies and I loved Dr. Demento Dr. Demento yeah that was a great show Weird Al would do like

he did like the polka stuff and he would take regular songs and put them into polka music and what I would do is I got them all put together. When I took my kids on trips, I'd put it in, and they'd sing these songs. Like Weird Al songs. They loved it.

Biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. They loved that too. I'm going to take you to Minnesota one day and see the biggest ball. Now, speaking of fatherhood, let's kick out another jam. It's not time to make a change Just relax, take it easy You're still young, that's your fault There's so much you have to know

Find a girl, settle down If you want, you can marry Look at me. I am old, but I'm happy. I was once like you are now. And I know that it's not easy to be calm when you found something going on. But take your time, think a lot

Why think of everything you've got For you will still be here tomorrow But your dreams may not How can I try to explain When I do he turns away again It's always been the same Same old story From the moment I could talk

I was ordered to listen Now there's a way. And I know that I have to go away. I know I have to go. Talk to me, Rick. One of my favorite voices in music ever. And again, I'm a great writer. This one, when my kids moved to London,

my son moved to London with his mother, I used to go see them every weekend and have a great time. You know, we did a lot of stuff together. And then I would, my drive back to Toronto, I would play this song and literally I would tear up. It would just, it broke my heart because, you know, there he is. And the great part of it is he turned into be a wonderful boy he has two children two girls um a great a great marriage uh lovely house good job and i'm so proud of him that he uh turned out the way he did but in those days when he was small and you had to you know you

had to go you just the time had come in the day when it was time to go back to Toronto. And this song was a killer on the way home, I'll tell you. It's a killer right now, man. I could ball right now. Rick, what are you doing to me here, man? Because I have two kids from my first marriage too, and I think divorced dads everywhere listening to us talk right now totally hear that in this song.

Everywhere listening to us talk right now, totally hear that in this song. The hardest thing I've ever done in my life was, you know, the distance too. Now, you know, I went to see them at Christmas, and, you know, they're wonderful. And I just, I'm so, you get proud of them, you know. And when you're proud of your kids, they would never do anything to embarrass you. But, yeah yeah this song just on that ride back was it's by far the most

difficult thing about divorce is that you don't tuck your kids into bed every night you got it i stuck my kids but i don't know if my 18 year old wants me tucking him in anymore but it still breaks me up that uh like every night I tuck in two of my kids, but not every night do I tuck. It breaks my heart even if I think any further. I might have to go to the next jam or I'll be crying again on this show, Rick. But let's kick out another jam. And you may find yourself Living in a shotgun shack

And you may find yourself In another part of the world And you may find yourself Behind another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house With a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself Well, how did I get here? Letting the days go by

Let the water hold me down Letting the days go by Let the water hold me down Letting the days go by Water flowing underground Into the blue again After the money's gone Once in a lifetime Water flowing underground And you may ask yourself

How do I work this? And you may ask yourself Where is that large automobile? And you may tell yourself Where is that large automobile? And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful house And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful wife Letting the days go by

Let the water hold me down Letting the days go by Water flowing underground Into the blue again After the blood is gone Once in a lifetime Water flowing underground Same as it ever was. Once in a lifetime talking house. I don't know if that's so much about myself and my life,

but I think it is a comment on how a lot of us live today. A lot of people live that their, you know, their expectations suddenly, you know, fall apart. Like it's not quite what it's supposed to be. You know, that dream that you grew up with and you see in the movies. That large automobile. It's not in your driveway. Yeah, exactly.

You know, like the things that, you know, well, oh, sure. You know, I'm going to have all these things when I'm, by the time I'm 25. And then all of a sudden you're 40, and what the hell happened? How do you think the millennials feel? They can't afford to own a house in this damn marketplace. Yeah, and it must be difficult for millennials when they look at, especially if their parents have been very successful,

and like I can't attain that, I can't get there. And it's the way of the world. I just think that speaks well, very well into when reality slaps you in the face and you say, hey, wow, it ain't supposed to be this way. And it's a great jam too. Oh yeah, I love it. The way it's put together, it's wonderful.

Same as it ever was. Absolutely. What was the Nick Nolte movie where this was used in? This is, yeah. I don't think it was Nick Nolte. I feel like it was a Nick Nolte movie. Here, you know what? I'll play it, turn it up, and I'll Google it really quick.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills is the movie I'm thinking of. Was Nolte in that? Yeah. McNolte and Bette Midler. Yeah, okay. And Richard Dreyfuss is in it. Dreyfuss, that's who I was thinking of, yeah. Right.

Inspired choice, Rick. Same as it ever was Same as it ever was Same as it ever was Same as it ever was Gone to the grave no more Same as it ever was And here a twister comes Here comes the crystal Same as it ever was Same as it ever was

Same as it ever was Same as it ever was Once in a while was This land today Shall draw its last breath And take it to its ancient depths This frail reminder Thank you. The sweeping curve of life Stand on the single In our time You want wheels

Spin round and round While the clock Keeps the pace You want wheels Spin round and round Human wheels. John, don't call me Cougar Mellencamp. He's Mellencamp now. Yeah, I got a lot of time for him too. I think he's a wonderful writer if you listen to his stuff.

I've seen him in concert a couple of times. Puts on a great show. But this is, you know, this is the wheel of life, you know, the great Mandela. It's, you know, what our life is going to be. Like John Lennon said, I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. Yeah, I mean, that's the story isn't it I mean you you're born you go around the round the clock and boom one day you're all gone it's uh I just it's another very good song that just speaks to me just you know hey

that's that's life get used to it well your songs and your stories have me thinking of it all the bigger you know the big blue marble, if you will. And I'm thinking, I guess the goal sort of is to see if you can figure it all out before it all comes to an end. Do you really want to? Would that be no fun? Maybe like the day before. Because what if you actually do come back?

Do you think we'd come back? Rick, this is a whole different conversation. Let's not get into that. Okay. Tell me what happens after we die. Rick, I can't tell you how enjoyable this was. And I think that we almost pushed this off because of snow. Although we have no idea.

We don't know what's going on outside. Maybe you'll be having to spend the night. Who the hell knows what's going on here? We're going to find out together. But I want to thank you so much for doing this. What day is this? What day is today?

Wednesday. Okay, so if I stay here tonight, you know what tomorrow's going to be? Thursday. When I woke up Thursday morning, no way to hold my head that didn't hurt. No, I'm going home.

Rick, I can't tell you how enjoyable that was. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I really am serious. At some point I'm going to prod you and see if you'll come back and kick out more jams with me, just as an excuse to share more stories with me. That would be fantastic. But thanks for coming, man.

My pleasure. I really enjoyed it. And that brings us to the end of our 590th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Rick, you're at Rick Hodgie Hodge. Do you ever tweet? Like, do you sometimes tweet?

Rarely. No, I see some of the, let's say, peeing contests that people get into when they start tweeting back and forth. I don't want to get into that, but I read a lot of them. You're a lurker, but that's fine. Everybody can tag Rick on your tweets to just tell him how enjoyable this episode was. I don't want to get into that, but I read a lot of them. You're a lurker, but that's fine. Everybody can tag Rick on your tweets to just tell him how enjoyable this episode was. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.

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