Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rob Del Mundo Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd #911

Episode Date: September 7, 2021

Mike chats with sports writer Rob Del Mundo who kicks out his 10 favourite songs of all-time.

Yo! Yo! Hey, yo! Yo! Check it out. Here it comes. Something ain't right, yo. Watch out, man.

Look at that fool. He's packing. Here he comes. Yo. Yo, son, come on. Your Omar's coming, man. Boom. Yeah.

The cheese stands alone. What up, Miami? Toronto. VK on the beat. Welcome to episode 911 of Toronto Mic'd, a 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. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. home delivery in the GTA. ChefDrop. Access top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the G-T-H-A. Save 20% right now with the promo code F-O-T-M-20. McKay CEO Forums. The highest impact and least time intensive peer group for over 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. StickerU.com.

Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majewski. He's the real estate agent who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com.

And joining me this week is Rob Del Mundo. Welcome, Rob. Thanks, Mike. Thanks for having me. Dude, we've met a couple times now. A few times. I'm going to see if I got this right. The first time I met you was at Mark Hebbshire's book launch.

Yep, that's right. Happy anniversary to Mark Hebbshire's parents. Happy anniversary, Hebbshire's parents. 69 years. That's incredible. I know. The math is breaking my head. Just what a wonderful story.

Apparently, they're still in love. They're a huge sports fanatics and their honeymoon was spent at like Ebbetsfield and all the, uh, the polo grounds, all the old New York, uh, uh, diamonds there that's 69 years ago. So much love to, uh, Mr. And Mrs. Hebbshire, Mark's parents. So how did you get the invite to Mark Hebbshire's book launch? Have you known Mark Hebbshire a long time? Yeah, we don't go out for beers or anything. However, I've known him for quite a number of years in my capacity as a sports writer. For those who don't know, I'm an author and a sports writer. And the first time I actually met him in person was, I think, around 05 or 06, when there was a course at Seneca College offered by Kevin Shea and Phil Pritchard at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

And one of the classes was on sports media. So they invited myself, Mark Hebbshire, and Christine Simpson to serve as panelists for the event. All three of you are FOTMs. Yes, here we are. And Kevin Shea's an FOTM, but Mr. Pritchard's got to get his shit together. He's got to get over here. Keeper of the Cup. Well, I guess he's kind of been kind of busy, you know, carrying that.

Look, we're all busy. This is what I'm telling you. We're all busy. Hey, I'm going to hold these up. And again, we're live at live.torontomike.com, which know, carrying that. Look, we're all busy. This is what I'm telling you. We're all busy. Hey, I'm going to hold these up. And again, we're live at live.torontomic.com, which is not actually recorded, but just so people who are actually, you know, the eager beavers watching the recording,

the great FOTMs there. Hockey's Enforcers, A Dying Breed. You wrote that. I did. You didn't have help. You just sat at your computer and wrote this book. Yes, that was my fourth book. I compiled that together.

I wrote it in collaboration with Andrew Podniks from the IAEA. Very prolific. He's prolific. Andrew is my co-author slash editor on four of the books I've written. The one you're holding in your hand is my fourth book. That was released in 2016 with John Scott on the cover. Right. Yeah. So I'm just going to read you a little bio on the back. Rob Del Mundo is a Toronto-based freelance writer who is entering his 16th season covering the Maple Leafs for the Fishler Report, which we're going to talk about.

Most recently, he has authored or co-authored Out of Control, Football's Worst Offenders, and NHL 100 Years of Hockey Glory. You can follow Rob at rob__delmundo, and you can read his Leafs articles at tmlfans.ca. And the other book I'm holding up, Hockey Addicts Guide. Very cool. Where to Eat, Drink, and play the only game that matters. This one you wrote.

Yes, I co-authored that with Evan Gubernick, who is a fan of Stan Fischler, my boss, which we'll get to in a few minutes. Evan is a contact of Stan, and there's three editions of that book, the Toronto one being the middle one. The first one was The Hockey Add to new york city so essentially evan compiled a list of hockey hot spots in new york and talked to a few new york personalities with a few rangers and islanders twists and when he was putty one of them i feel he's more of a devil's guy i think it was a devil's i remember

the face painting and everything. So Evan approached me to do the Toronto version. Right. His name's on the cover of the book. However, I did Q&As with a few FOTMs. Name them. I like the name drops. Name drops, okay.

And correct me if I'm wrong. If they're not all FOTMs, I'm just going to have to toughen my head. Well, listen, if they aren't, I'm going to make them one. All right. Let's go. So there was Dave Bedini. Yep. FOTM.

Tim Thompson. Yep. We had Christine Simpson, as I mentioned earlier. Three for three. I don't know if Paul Hendricks has been on the show. Yeah. Oh, Paul? Yeah, of course.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. He was wonderful, by the way. I just wonder if he's listening at home. What a gentleman. Like, what a great experience. And any tweets was my seat neighbor at the Air Canada Center slash Scotiabank press box

for a number of years. Oh, you couldn't have had a better neighbor. What a sweetheart. Henny's the guy with the Jolly Ranchers. So if you talk to a couple more of your FOTMs, David Alter, Terry Koshan, everybody knew everybody would come up to Henny. Are you allergic to wasps, by the way? I am not.

You're not? Okay, Okay good because they seem to really like you. They really like me. Did you put cocoa butter on this morning? No. You're just a sweetheart. Just ignore him if you don't mind. Well I have been working out. But no Henny's the best and it's too bad

that he's no longer with the Leafs Nation Network but he was an FOTM that was a part of that book. And if I may, one of my favorite Q&As that I did for the Hockey Addicts book with Henny was, as a fan, I just wanted to ask him, back when he had the midweek games on Global, and every game would be introduced with what was called a teaser or a rhyme, and he'd rhyme a bunch of jingles together. And I asked him when doing the interview for that particular book did you write those and absolutely he had a lot of fun

writing those like for example when they would play colorado but uh they were missing uh paul korea and uh team muslany but they were still scoring. And then so he teased the game with no lack of quack in the duck attack. And he'd do that for all the Molestar games before Leaf TV was born and the executive producer, John Shannon, just put an end to the teasers. He's not an FOTM.

He said no. Like straight out no. He goes, I don't do podcasts. And like two months later, he was co-hosting a podcast with Bobcat. Like the whole notion that I don't do podcasts and then like two months later, he was co-hosting a podcast with Bobcat. Like the whole notion that I don't do podcasts and then he'd actually start one up, I find to be a little disingenuous.

Perhaps. I'm not here to disrespect. You're not here to trash him. I'm not here to disrespect John. Hey, I have a question. I was reading the Boar Salming. Yeah. No comment on his prowess in the dressing room.

I've had multiple sports media people from Ann Romer and so on tell me that he's gifted. There's no talk about that. He's gifted. He was known as the king, and everybody who assumes that because of his six all-star selections, a couple of North Trophy nominations, that, oh, he's the Swedish king because he came over from Sweden,

was a pioneer, full credit to his Hockey Hall of Fame career, yes, but that's not why he was called the king. And we'll just go ellipsis, dot, dot, dot. Right. And it didn't make the, the editor must have removed that from the book before it got published, but we all know the deal there with the king, and we all salute the king here. Rob, so many things I want to talk about before we kick out the jams, and I really am excited about your jams, because 70% of your jams are by Canadian artists. I love music. I love the

music in this country. When you sent me that list, that's all I could think of at the time. If you were to send me a similar request one week or two weeks or six months from now, I could have 10 completely different artists. Maybe one's Canadian, but there's just so much music. How much music do you cram in 10 songs? I mean, I don't have any Beatles in that list. I don't have any U2, Pink Floyd, or The Police, but when the request came in, I'm just thinking

Canucks, Canucks all over the place, and I couldn't stop. And you did well. I mean, 70% is fantastic. Well done. Now, we lost Michael K. Williams. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen The Wire. Have you ever seen the show The Wire? I have not.

You should do it. I should lend you my DVD collection right now. So, I've watched it a few times because it's my favorite show of all time, but it's not even close. Like, the chasm between first and second on my personal, and I realize how subjective this is, but my love and fondness for The Wire as a series, I liked it far more than I liked The Sopranos,

which I loved very much. Six Feet Under, a lot of great shows I've enjoyed. Breaking Bad, etc. Mad Men, loved Mad Men. But The Wire is number one with a bullet. And my favorite character, and there's so many great characters in The Wire, like there's like a hundred great characters on The Wire.

My favorite character on The Wire. There's like 100 great characters on The Wire. My favorite character on The Wire, like many, was Omar. Played so brilliantly by Michael K. Williams. I can't believe the news I learned yesterday that he passed away at the age of 54.

So I wanted to open this episode with Omar coming and just say that way too soon for what a talent. And I know he was great on Community. I never saw Boardwalk Empire, but I read he was fantastic in Boardwalk Empire. In fact, everything he appeared in, he was great. What a loss. So I just want to recognize.

We lost him way too soon. Brilliant actor. Loved him as Omar in The Wire, but he was great in everything. Sad news, man. Sad news. When you watch The Wire, you'll know. You'll know. You'll say, wow, who is this guy? Fantastic. And again, on the heels of that sad news, I just want to shout out Ridley Funeral Home because they're easy to talk to when you're dealing with loss in your own circle of friends and family. And great FOTM Brad Jones like yourself. So RidleyFuneralHome.com to reach out to Brad and the team at Ridley Funeral Home.

Leona Boyd was on the show yesterday. And I was warned by Mark Weisblot last week that he thought there might be an appearance by Future Mike because Future Mike shows up when an episode goes a little sideways and I need to frame it a bit so I'll record like Future Mike here like I'll just I'll jump in I won't need Future Mike for this episode with you you're fantastic but he's only appeared a couple of times as far as I know no need for future Mike with Leona Boyd because she was excellent. Like she was really engaged and she wanted to talk. And I think I kept her for at least 90 minutes and I loved it. And we've been corresponding ever since solving mysteries, like who escorted her

into the studio to record Tears Are Not Enough. And we're working on finding some of her old videos that have vanished and somebody's got to help her with TikTok. I need an FOTM to help her with her TikTok. But what a great experience. And if anybody has slept on Leona Boyd because she's a classical guitarist, rectify that immediately. Like, we talk about everything, you know, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Rod Stewart's in there, Robert Redford.

It is quite the episode. So go listen to Leona Boyd as soon as you finish hearing Rob Del Mundo kick out the jams. Tell me a bit about how you got hooked up with Stan Fischler. What's the origin story there? Sure. So Stan Fischler, for those who might not know, is a longtime New York City hockey author and historian. He also did MSG Network's broadcasts, and he retired a couple of years ago after 40 years as a broadcaster. And he has a newsletter called The Fischler Report.

It's a subscriber only, however. You can check it out at fistlereport.com. And he has writers working for him in several of the NHL cities, including Toronto. So how I got hooked up with Stan was, I'm dating myself a little bit back here, but back at the conclusion of the 1998-99 season, the last year of Maple Leaf Gardens, 1998-99 season, the last year of Maple Leaf Gardens, my friend Rick Kuchman, who founded the tmlfans.ca website that you referenced earlier, he had credentials at Maple Leaf Gardens and he was stepping back, not completely, but needed a second-in-command person to serve as his backup.

So he introduced me to Stan stan stan and i did a quick phone call and i was brought on to start covering games at the beginning of the 1999 2000 season and it uh i contribute to his newsletter i it's a weekly publication i get uh just you know q and a's with players whenever i can, write opinion pieces. Well, dude, that's 22 years. I just did the math. Yes. Wow.

It's been a while. Maybe 21 if you don't count the 0405 lockouts. Still impressed. It's been 22 years, but thank you very much. That's a good run, though. And you now, I read you're now co-owner of tmlfans.ca. Is that a misprint? No, it's not.

Rick and I, we formed a partnership where we had split the ownership of the website. So we don't update it as frequently as we did in the past. There's a lot of proliferation of Leafs websites that have come after us, and the proliferation of Twitter and news feeds. For the younger members of the audience, yes, there was a time where you covered games and not everything was tweeted 24-7 and instantaneously.

So we're just kind of in a rebranding right now to figure out what we're going to do with the website. So we post occasional content, and in the meantime, I still write for Stan's newsletter. I freelance when I can. As I said, I put four books together. And you're writing these books?

Yes. So you're a busy guy. I'm a busy guy. But you make time to listen to Toronto Mike. Absolutely. But do you cherry pick the episodes? Be honest with me. This is real talk.

Absolutely, I cherry pick the episodes. I mean, I see your... But were you going to... Until I told you to, were you going to skip the Leona Boyd episode? I'm legit concerned some FOTMs will skip it because they cherry pick and they're going to skip Leona Boyd. Were you going to skip Leona Boyd?

I was not going to skip Leona Boyd. That's not just because she was on before me. I just remember when I was a kid, she did all those commercials and the classic guitar, as you were saying. I don't even remember what she was endorsing. You had a crush on her. Come on. You're human. I'm human, yes. But I don't even remember what she was endorsing. You had a crush on her. Well, come on. You're human.

I'm human, yes. But I don't even remember what she was endorsing. I just remember the commercials and her, you know, a little fling with Justin's dad there. But anyway. Well, she had an eight year, that's eight years. Yeah. She was Pierre Elliott Trudeau's lover for eight years.

That's a long time. And it's funny because, not funny, but Pierre wouldn't commit. Like he wasn't going to be monogamous. And Karen Kane, I think, was the straw that broke the camel's back. It sounds like. And she doesn't even know, like definitively, that Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sleeping with Karen Kane. But there was enough there that essentially Leona knew she had to she had it wasn't gonna satisfy her to be you know one of many leona wants to be one of one so but it's all so fascinating so good on you for not skipping leona boyd uh your t-shirt today and we're gonna take a photo after this

episode is a toronto mic t-shirt so thanks for uh like supporting the show and I mentioned we met a few times. We met at a couple of TMLXs, including the most recent one, TMLX8, which was only a couple of weeks ago. Less than a couple of weeks ago at Great Lakes Brewery. What did you think? Great Lakes Brewery, how were they as hosts

and did you enjoy your free pour of fresh craft beer over there? Fantastic. Who wouldn enjoy your uh free pour of fresh craft beer over there fantastic i mean how who wouldn't enjoy uh a free pour of beer but not just because it's free it's great beer great lakes i i wish i could get out uh to etobicoke more often but i am in the east end so i the only scarborough yes uh and and eastern scarborough the zoo we're not talking the border like victoria park avenue we have to go 12 kilometers east. However, shout out to Great Lakes Brew. Thanks for the pour.

And for the second pour, Mike Majewski. Majewski. Yeah, I just had him up. No, it's okay. Mike Majewski, who is a real estate agent. And as you reminded me, I've been calling him like Mimico Mike, but he sells so many homes that are in the GTA and not in Mimico. So I've been kind of tweaking the messaging a bit that he's a GTA real estate agent. He's excellent. He bought 40 beers for everybody at TMLX8. So above and beyond. So already, I guess I was told Monica said about 75 different people showed up

during that event. And that means 75 pours of fresh craft beer that Great Lakes bought you. And then 40 more from Mike Majeski. Honestly, thank you, Mike Majeski. Realestatelove.ca to reach out to Mike and talk to him about your real estate requirements. Great lakes, great hosts, great beer. There's some beer on the table for you, Rob, that you're taking home with you. Did you get yourself some Palma pasta at TMLX8? Absolutely. I love the Palma pasta as well. So a shout out to your sponsors over there as well. Again, because I'm an East End guy, I don't get to frequent these establishments, but the pasta was fantastic.

What did you get? Did you get the lasagna or the penne with meatballs? I think I got the penne with meatballs. I was looking for the lasagna. I think I got there 15 minutes after it started, so Robbie, that's too late. But shout out to Palma pasta because they brought food for 100 people, and's too late. But shout out to Palma Pasta because they brought food for 100 people. And again, 75. So Peter Gross, for example, was able to load up his car and he was able to eat that week.

So thank you, Palma Pasta, wonderful partners of the program. Lots of ground to cover. But before we kick out that first jam, which is one of my personal favorites, although I'm so partial to the live version, I have trouble with the studio version now, but we're going to talk about that. The latest sponsor of Toronto Mic has the most amazing gift for you, Rob. I'm so excited to tell you about this. ChefDrop. So if you go to ChefDrop.ca, so C-H-E-F-D-R-O-P.ca,

and you order, again, I say it in the intro. It's so well said that it's top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits. And they'll ship it to you if you live in the greater Toronto Hamilton area. So G-T-H-A. I know you live in Scarborough, so you're in the perfect location for it. You get, you ready for this? I'm glad you're sitting down. A $75 digital gift card to use at chefdrops.ca. 75 bucks.

That's incredible. It's going to be delicious. There's so many fantastic restaurants and chefs that are associated with chefdrop.ca. Well, thank you. Thank you to them. Thanks to chefdrop.ca. And, of course, your sponsors, Palma Pasta and the two, back to your first question, Great Lakes Brewery. I had an amazing time and if i could take just 10 seconds to shout out the friends that i'm ready new friends and uh new friends and old friends that i uh connected with over that year

event so a bingo bob willett who i know from uh from days covering the leafs i didn't get a chance to talk to hebsey but i did see a rush mike there so rush mike if you're listening and i think he introduced me to two friends, Becky and Janet, if I recall correctly. Yeah, I don't think Janet's a listener. I think that was like Becky's plus one, and I think that was her introduction to our little community. Well, after your event, Becky started following me on

Twitter, so I gave her a follow back. So hey, it's all about networking, right? And Kevin McGrann was there. Did you get a chance to say hi to him? Yes, Kevin McGrann. You know, he's like the only guy I missed. He left before I got him on the microphone. So Kevin McGrann never got on that episode, but he got there in time to get a chance to say hi to him? Yes, Kevin McGrann. You know, he's like the only guy I missed. He left before I got him on the microphone. So Kevin McGrann never got on that episode, but he got there in time to get a nice patio seat. He did, yeah.

I got caught up with him very briefly and a little useless information, but he's actually my birthday twin. We had the same birthday in mid-November. Nothing useless about that. When FOTM share birthday, I need to document it. Shout out to Kevin. Shout out to Kevin. Shout out to Kevin McGrann from the Toronto Star.

Now, listeners are wondering, okay, Rob Del Mundo just got himself 75 bucks at chefdrop.ca, but if listeners want to support Toronto Mic'd and want delicious food delivered to them in the GTH-A, they can get 20% off. So this is for all FOTMs. 20% off your first order of $50 or more for the month of September. This is a fantastic deal. Please try ChefDrop at ChefDrop.ca with the promo code FOTM20.

Do it. Let me know how it goes. I had a fantastic experience with ChefDrop.ca. Again, you know how it works. You support the sponsors. They support the program. And we can keep producing this fantastic content for you

Rob we're going to get into your jams because as we kick out the jams we're going to talk more about this that and the other and you're again your first jam is a personal favorite it's not a live version but you know sadly I'll never see a live version again actually and I'm getting sad.

But I'm going to kick out the jam and we're going to talk about it. You ready, buddy? Of course. Let's do this. Meet a bunk an American myth Take my life in my hands Where the great plains begin At the hundredth meridian At the hundredth meridian

Where the great plains begin. Driving down a corduroy road, weeds standing shoulder high. Ferris wheel is rusting, off in the distance. At the 100th Meridian, at the 100th Meridian, at the 100th Meridian, I'm not even sure where to fade down on this jam, but let's hear you tell us why you chose the jam, and then we'll talk a little more about 100th Meridian by the Tragically Hipically hip well where to start but the hip absolutely one of my all-time favorite bands i've seen them about uh 15 16 times in concert i didn't get a chance to go to the august 2016

national celebration show in kingston so I did the next best thing. I drove to Kingston to meet up with a friend. She was covering the event for Metro News, and while she was in the K-Rock Center, I met up with a friend of hers, and we watched it from Springer Market Square on the big screen with 20,000 other fans. Now, I'm a huge hip fan.

I saw their first concert at... on the big screen with 20,000 other fans. Now, I'm a huge hip fan. I saw their first concert at, well, the first concert that was played at ACC, or first ticketed concert. I know there's some debate about who was first and who wasn't, but the first ticketed concert was February 22, 1999. Well, who takes credit other than the hip? I thought it was always the hip.

I think there was some band that had a free show, kind of like a test run to test the acoustics. All right, Ron, I'm going to pause you, though. I love this part. Although it's a little slow here. I'm glad you ceased the dialogue so that we could hear that part. At the Haunted Marine Gord would do this song, of course. He would sing that part like he's on steroids. Yeah, yeah, so let's talk about that because you and I, I've seen them a little less than you, I think 12 times, I think I've seen them, but around the same ballpark.

And every time they play at the 100 Meridian Live, it's double speed, would you say? I would. I mean, think about dating ourselves with vinyl. But I mean, if it's at 45, then the way he would do it would be at 7, 8 speed. For the eye of vanity, vanity, promise. But it does ruin you for the studio version.

It feels like it's slow motion when I hear ruin you for the studio version. Like, I can't, it feels like it's slow motion when I hear that part in the studio version. Agreed. And when I sing along, I like to do it the Gord way, right?

Who doesn't? And I like to play the guitar. As you can see on my jams, a lot of them are guitar, a guitar bass. So to be clear, I'm not a professional, but I'm a campfire guitarist

who can do a little bit of lead. Wow, better than me, buddy. So, I mean, when, yeah, when doing this 100th Meridian song, I'm just like you. It's like'm not a professional, but I'm a campfire guitarist who can do a little bit of lead. Better than me, buddy. So, I mean, when doing this 100th Meridian song, I'm just like you. It's like, wait a minute. If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me, wait a minute, this is too slow. Yeah, yeah, that's why.

And it's a great song, and that's on Fully Completely, right? Yes. I mean, it's a hit late and released by the Tragically Hip. But I love the hip. I miss the the hip i'm glad you picked that jam uh it's i wish i wish i had a studio version with him doing it at double speed right where's that where's jj gold if you're listening yeah maybe it's somewhere but buried on saskadelphia which came before that one but part of the double ep who knows well that was yeah the the original name of road apples and then now we have a saskadelphia's just to confuse things but uh yeah much love to uh to to the tragically hip and uh yeah we miss gourd of course we miss gourd but dude there you go

canadian jam one for one thank you for kicking out some hip you ready for some more canCon. Sounds good. We'll be right back. Ready in geometric order An insulated order Between the bright lights And the far running unknown I got a question for you on this, Jan, but let's hear you tell us first. Why Rush Subdivisions? So many songs I could pick from rush and again rush the the triumvirate you know geddy lee uh neil peart alex blythe you don't need any intro especially if you're from toronto uh so many songs i could

have picked actually i i thought of limelight first and then i did that last minute switch yes you did uh subdivisions i mean with all its complexity, with the keyboardist, you know, with the guitar, the drums, and I've seen Rush probably around the same amount of times I saw the hip. And it's interesting because back in September 2016,

they finally opened Lee Lifeson Park up in Willowdale. For those of you who don't know where that is, that would be just the northeast of Yonge and Shepherd near the Toronto Centre for the Arts. You have to go a bit further east, but there's a park over there. So when they opened that park in September of 2016, I didn't know what in terms of the availability for like autographs or photos. I just wanted to see them cut the ribbon. I just wanted to see John Tory cut the ribbon there. And the ceremony itself kicked off with

an acoustic guitar cover version by an artist named Jacob Moon. So if any YouTubers out there want to do yourselves a favor, just whenever you get a chance, Google Jacob Moon subdivisions. It's a great acoustic cover of the song.

And as Neil, rest in peace, of course, any Rush fans know the story. He didn't like the spotlight. He didn't like the media, the fans, which is cool. I mean, he was a very private person. I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend, as per Limelight. So when Geddy and Alex are starting to leave, then fans are lined up alongside the barriers. And I just saw an opening when Alex came over.

So I said, Alex, can we take a photo? So I just, I got a photo with Alex. I didn't quite get one with Geddy. It's one of those, they were just moving so quickly and there was a swarm of people. You just pretty much had to choose one or the other. But, and Alex was the one closest to me. But so I've, that's one of my prized memories of Rush, that and, of course, their shows.

When I covered the 2011 awards in Las Vegas, it was in June of 2011. It was the third year the event was held in Vegas, and the trip coincided with Rush's appearance at the MGM Grand. So after that event, the next day, I think, after the NHL awards that year, I went to see Rush at the MGM Grand, so that was a fantastic tour. Amazing. I'm waiting for the voice. Listen to that voice.

Hold on. We just missed it, but there's a voice you'll hear at this part of the jam just before I turned it up, which goes, subdivisions, okay? Rumor has it, and I've been working with Ed Conroy and trying to confirm this for many, many years.

I believe it to be true, but I cannot ask the man himself because sadly we lost him far too soon. Mark Daly, the voice. So what are your thoughts on that? Are we hearing the voice of Mark Daly saying subdivision? It wouldn't surprise me. I've never heard that

theory until just now, but now that I'm playing it inside my head... I thought you listened to Toronto Mike. We talk about that every day. Come on. I can't listen to every episode I'm just honored to be here for number nine nine one one I'm at 911th episode so thanks thanks again but that's uh that's a lot of episodes there you know Mike but it's an ominous number really uh I'm not sure you want 9-11 it is what it is maybe it's easy to remember it's like uh oh an emergency I

have a Toronto Mike withdrawal call 9-1-1 That's my plug. When in doubt, listen to episode 911 for some juicy jams. It's plausible. It's plausible. So plausible is correct. Difficult to confirm. I need to get a member of, I need Alex Lifeson to comment on this. Because there's, you know, others who say, oh, I think they say it's Neil. Like it's Neil Peart saying

subdivisions or whatever. I'm sticking with the theory. That's the voice. Mark Daly saying subdivisions. Another Canadian jam. Doesn't mean much. It doesn't mean much It doesn't mean anything at all The life I've left behind me

Is a cold room Across the last slide From where I can return Wherever step I took in faith Fade me And let me find my home Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet

Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sweet Sarah McLaughlin, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Sarah McLaughlin, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Sarah McLaughlin, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Sarah Mcachlan, sweet surrender. Three for three of the CanCon jams. Why this jam? Sarah McLachlan is an icon. She's got one of the most ethereal voices in music. She's, as you can tell, one of my all-time favorites.

She went from playing places like the Humanities Theater at the University of Waterloo, my alma mater. I was in Waterloo yesterday. There you go. All day. But my boy's at Laurier. But still, I was walking around and thinking. It's different than last year. It's only my second year having experiences because my boy's in year two.

But last year was like a ghost town because of COVID. But this year, you see all the students the parents dropping off like you can feel the student activity and it felt felt different and a great great town you got there yeah well good on good on your boy um yeah sarah no i mean i've seen her again about 10 or 12 times in concert and i guess my not i guess for sure my favorite would have been at the festival detain quebec city when she headlined in 2012 and that's because i got to do a meet and greet with I guess my, not I guess, for sure my favorite would have been at the Festival D'été in Quebec City when she headlined in 2012. And that's because I got to do a meet and greet with her.

Wow. So you met Sarah McLachlan. I splurged for the tickets. And as a bonus, because Quebec City, they don't know her as well, like a primarily francophone place. It was basically just myself and one other fan who drove up from Montreal. So I drove from Toronto. She was there from Montreal.

So the two of us fans, diehard fans, had Sarah to ourselves too. Whereas normally you'd have like 20 fans. Like, I mean, Sunday is one thing. But we got to chat with her, not for very long. But I mean, she got to autograph photos for myself and my friends. I got to photo with her.

And the reason I picked Sweet Surrender, I could have picked any song, but Sweet Surrender was in honor of her appearance on SNL in November of 97 when Rudy Giuliani was the host.

So the question, I didn't have time for a lot of questions with Sarah, but the one that I did ask was, Sarah, you were supposed, normally musical guests

on SNL play two songs, but I guess because of scheduling, her second song got bumped. Was the second song going to be Building a Mystery? It's kind of a no-brainer, but she confirmed that for me, the servicing album at the time. See, that's a fan question. That's good. I think the artists, and I feel like, I never met Sarah McLachlan, but I've talked to some stars or whatever.

They like it when a real question, like a fan instead of something like some journalist or somebody who like just, oh, I know Sarah McLachlan, but you're not a real fan. That's a real fan question, yes. Absolutely. Well done. Well done. I've liked her from the beginning. What was the video where she was nude in the mud?

That was Into the Fire. That was off the Solas album. Right. Like when much music Solace album. Right. Like when much music started playing her, and I think she was still like a Halifax artist back then, right? Because she's a Maritimer who moved out west, right? That's correct. With the network records, Terry McBride, the whole deal.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. And then when she broke with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, when suddenly it was like she was mainstream and everywhere, and that jam Hold On was a personal favorite. But I love Sarah. And she did this song with Tom Wilson, Junk House,

which, honestly, her voice with Tom's beautiful, it's a great burned-out car, I want to call it. I've got to dig up the correct title of that song. I think it's called Burned-Out Car. But you've got that Sarah, sweet Sarah voice, which, as you said is... What's the word you use? Ethereal? Ethereal. See, I wish I could pronounce words like you,

buddy. And then you add in a little Tom Wilson from Junk House. It's like, wow. Wow. And Tom, if you're listening, chefdrop.ca delivers to the greater Hamilton area, so we got you covered, big guy. And get your butt back here and I'll get you the $75 gift card

and your lasagna. I know you love your lasagna here from Palma Pasta too. So dude, I'm digging this. All CanCon all the time, but that streak's going to end here. You ready? Absolutely. Thank you. guitar solo Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick

The one that makes me scream, she said The one that makes me laugh, she said Through her arms around my neck Show me how you do it And I promise you, I promise that I'll run away with you I'll run away with you The Cure. So tell me, why Just Like Heaven? Just Like Heaven is just one of those purely simple songs. The Cure, this takes me back to the year 1987,

the double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. I was flipping burgers at Wonderland for a living. And I just remember the summer of 87 for so many reasons. I actually won tickets at the Toronto Sun to attend this particular show at the Exhibition Stadium. And this particular

song, I mean, if you ever listen to go to YouTube and listen to a Rick Bieto series, why is this song good? And then he breaks it down in a way that it's in my brain, but only Rick Vieto could articulate. I mean, just in its simplicity, it starts off with the drum and the bass line. Then the first guitar comes in.

Then the second guitar comes in. Then you've got the melancholy keyboards. It's a happy but sad type of song and it's under three minutes you know you gotta love when an efficient song that's under three minutes

kicks in but no Just Like Heaven just again takes me back to like I said three and a half maybe I'm just thinking

of In Between Days which is $2.55 but I mean I've heard it repeated like either by Alan Cross or anywhere on the internet

and 1987 was the best year ever for new music releases and it's kind of hard to argue because I think of the Joshua Tree I think of R.E.M.

Document I think of New Order Substance I mean I could go on even artists that I don't personally prefer 91 was a good year too if you were more

into the grunge scene sure the 87 the back when CFNY Alternative played Alternative, you had the Cure Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen.

Those were my jams back in the day. And that Joshua Tree was a juggernaut. So get out of the way. Artists that don't even listen to that much. Speaking of Hamilton, we have a co-producer of the Joshua Tree straight out of Hamilton. So shout out to Daniel Lanois.

He's great. And by the way, before I press record on the podcast I was live streaming at live.torontomic.com and of course some Brian Eno I throw on some music for you, you got the Brian Eno Daniel Lanois

the Joshua Tree was so big and I was a teenager but barely I just entered my teens or whatever when it hit and I bought it right away, of course. But it's one of those things where it's like, I wasn't,

you know, other than Michael Jackson and these pop stars, like I wasn't used to, I guess the closest maybe was born in the USA was really big, but Joshua Tree just felt like, like, Oh my God, this rock album is it's everywhere. It's giant.

It's hit laden. And I felt like, like, like you two were just like, like, you know, I was, I didn't, I didn't remember the Beatles or whatever. It was so giant in 1987, the Joshua Tree,

and it was really good, too. Like, I liked it. Yeah. I know we're talking about The Cure, but we're bouncing around here. Yeah, we can sure transition to U2 for a bit because, yeah, that album came out, and that's one of the several albums we played all that summer

and I remember I think the tour came to C&E in October and somewhere along the way Bono slipped and fell and hurt his arm and he had his arm

in a sling that happened in Washington D.C. if I'm not mistaken so by the time he got to Montreal Was that 87? Yes

Okay, okay because he's had a few accidents I remember he had a bike crash in Central Park or something later, many years later. But go on, sorry.

Yeah, no worries. And my life was out of irony. I'm not laughing at Bonner's misfortune, to be clear. But no, no. October 87, I just remember it was freezing cold, and we had tickets, myself and three friends. We were at the South Grandstand of Exhibition Stadium, and you know those bleachers, those field-level bleachers?

Of course. And we were in the last bleacher. And those were the only tickets we could get. It was either that or nothing. So the $25 ticket at the time cost us the exorbitant price of $35 each. Wow. Never forget that. A little Steven and lots of others.

It's funny how life works. It's the same with real estate, by the way. At the time, the $25 ticket sounds enormous. And then $35 sounds like, you know, and then as time goes on, like nowadays, and even with inflation, like let's calculate inflation into there. You know, oh, it's $150 for the ticket. Okay. Like that's, you know, it's like the goalposts move on you.

This happens with real estate. You can distinctly remember a time when a $300,000 house sounded, like $300,000 for a house. And then you fast forward, let's say only 10 years, okay? And you're like, oh my God, like a garage will cost,

like my shed is more than $300,000. The goalposts just move and your brain just sort of recalculates and recalibrates. Well, you have to kind of move the goalposts to your point for the contest, the million-dollar dream home. You have to get out of the mindset of,

okay, what's a million dollars? Back in the day, it would get you a mansion. Now what? A fixture upper at Papin O'Connor? I mean, come on. It's like a million dollars. No, you're totally right. And shout out to the Barenaked Ladies.

You can laugh now when you listen to If I Had a Million Dollars because the only thing you could probably get for that million dollars is you could probably still get a k car that's about it i think uh maybe that couch that green couch or whatever okay my friend this jam is essentially one of the toronto might anthems you're about to kick out here uh three of these four gentlemen are fotms i'm working on the fourth. This is my favorite song by this band, a band I love. I'm just going to kick it out. It's your jam. I feel like it's my jam, but it's

your jam. Love it so much. Nice slow build too, but thank you for picking this jam, Rob Delmon. You bet. guitar solo Lying in bed from season It's not like five's five years ago. Is that just the place that I want you to be? Look at the pictures you've gotten.

Like signals from oncoming cars. We're covered in a cake from the last time. I know it sounds weird, we collected in jars Is that just the place that I wanna be? Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up for me The way that I wanna be Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up for me No, we're not ready to talk yet, Rob.

We're going to give this another round. Not a problem. Hang in there, buddy. What a great day. By the way, beautiful weather. Thanks for being in my backyard. Thanks for having me. There's nothing better.

Here we go. Is that just the way that I wanna be? Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up on me The way that I wanna be Oh, can't you see it's a life I don't need? Please don't make this thing up on me Alright, here we go. Buckle me in on the highway to sin. Here we go, Robbie

That's just the way That's just the way That's just the way All I've got for you Is that's just the way All I've got is a chance to win. It's a pretty perfect song. It's one of my all-time faves, as you can attest to, but I'm not as huge a Watchmen fan as you,

but my gosh, I've seen them a couple times at the Horseshoe. I want to say they played one of the Edgefests at Ontario Place Forum, but it's just all a blur. Maybe, maybe not. I have to go back and check my Alan Cross list. They played a Humble and Fred cookout thing there. That was for York, I think, actually. But yeah, sorry, go on. But yeah, are we going to do the sing back over here?

Because the crescendo is coming here. Oh, yeah, oh, listen, sure. Sure. Is that just the way Is that just the way Our life covers Is that just the way Dude, I know you love music when there's a band that you like but you don't love and you go catch them a couple of times at the Horseshoe. That means you're a big fan of music. Sometimes you just got to break away from the great stadium shows

and just see them at an intimate venue. And speaking of which, at Danforth Music Hall, you mentioned TMLX7 and X8, so the number one B time, I saw if you can call it that, was when I ran into you at this show in November 2018, I believe it was. Grapes of Wrath opened at the Danforth Music Hall. And my apologies for not remembering I ran into you. No, that's all right. That was a fantastic night.

It was, and it was just, don't apologize. It was just all of, what, 10 seconds? And it goes back to what I was saying earlier was just all of, what, 10 seconds. And it goes back to what I was saying earlier with the 100th Meridian, the sing back. I mean, when I took video

at that show with my iPhone, it's like, you know, the band just stops and then the crowd in attendance goes, drive it in style

with a smile on and just sings it back to the band. And that Danny Graves, what a voice, right? For sure. Honestly. I can't do it as well

as him, obviously. Very few people can. If you could, I'd have you sing on TMLX9. You could be the band. And that Danny Graves, what a voice, right? For sure. Honestly. I can't do it as well as him, obviously. Very few people can. If you could, I'd have you sing on TMLX9. You could be the headliner. Yeah, let's discuss that in the future. But if I can just give a shout out to my friend Kristen, the person that she covered the Tragically Hip

show back in 2016. The reason that this story is relevant is I just came back actually from a week in Nova Scotia visiting her. Where in Nova Scotia? Halifax. She lives just outside of Halifax. And we spent a good part of the week just driving around Peggy's Cove, Lawrence Town,

all these places. Lunenburg? Lunenburg, yes. Lunenburg too. No, because I just did that road trip, so it's all still fresh to me. So anyway, we had a Spotify playlist on, and now Kristen's 10 and a half years younger than me. So if I had a Spotify playlist, I would have an 80s, but because, hey, who's ever driving, and she was driving, she has a Spotify playlist from the 90s. And so one of the ones that

comes on is all uncovered by the watchman and uh i i said are you familiar with these guys it's like yeah well she grew up in kingston and again she's a bit younger than us maybe not as familiar but she said no and i said this is uh to my earlier point right it's a great song listen to it for a while and we'll get to the part where the crowd at a watchman show sings it back to the band so as we're playing it's close to uh the end of the trip and we'll get to the part where the crowd at a Watchmen show sings it back to the band. It's close to the end of the trip, and we're pulling up in a driveway, and the kick-in that we just mentioned just now, I start belting out, drive in style

with a smile on, and then she and I, she's just the sweetest person. We just have this great camaraderie. We like to banter. We like to chirp. And then she's like, oh, please don't start the karaoke there, please. And it's like, oh yeah, well, how come you're allowed to start karaoke for keisha and tiktok but i'm not allowed to do it for all uncovered to watch me well it's like yeah who's ever driving it makes the rules so i guess but uh shout out to a lippy thank you for a great uh week in halifax she was

the yeah she was the former um media coordinator for the canadian national women's team and now she's a freelance writer and she she covered, like I said, the old hip show. She's from Kingston. But shout out to Lippy. Okay, ready for me to connect all these dots? Ask me where I was when that show you were in Kingston, Ontario, for the final hip show on August 20, 2016, I believe it was.

Where do you think I was? Okay, so I'm guessing it wouldn't be inside the K-Rock Center because that's the only place I would have wanted to have been. But I... I'm not going to get it. I was in

Nova Scotia. Inganish. Inganish. Nice. In Cape Breton there. So that's where I watched the final hip show. Great. So just to bring it back to beautiful, beautiful Nova Scotia. And much love to all the Maritimes.

There's a Pandemic Friday episode of Toronto Mic'd where we kick out Canadian jams from east of Ontario. And Ben Rayner was in the backyard with Cam Gordon. But Ben Rayner's a Maritimer. And we had on the phone the great Jay Ferguson from Sloan. Nice. Or on the Zoom, anyway. And there was a lot of good Maritime music chatter in that. Did you ever listen to any Pandemic Friday episodes of Toronto Mic'd?

It's okay. Mike, I have to tell you, honestly, I did not. 76, except for the finale, which you attended live. Yes, yes. You missed those 75 episodes you love. Thematic jam kicking. You would love the Pandemic Fridays. Oh, and I'm sure I was.

I would, excuse me. And like I said, you asked me at the beginning of the show, do I cherry pick the episode? Well, obviously I do because the sports media page, because they're my colleagues. Right. And with the Pandemic Fridays, I can't remember. I just, Fridays, like I am working from home,

but I'm usually doing, I don't know. I'm not going to make an excuse. Too much content. Something had to give. It's okay. You're not alone. But I will say that if you, you did sample the finale, but that's different than all the others because we didn't kick out the jams in the finale. But there's 75 waiting for you when you have some time to dive in there.

After Leona Boyd, of course. After Leona. Do Leona Boyd while it's fresh. You've got to get that while it's fresh. By the way, you're wearing a Toronto Mike t-shirt, which I love. I'm actually wearing a StickerU.com t-shirt, and there is, on top of the red box, the

Palma Pasta box, there is a the other one's the more exciting one. That is a nice one, but there is a Toronto Mike sticker for you, Rob. Thanks, Mike. You've got that courtesy of StickerU.com. And I want to thank StickerU.com for being such tremendous partners of this program and helping to fuel the real talk. Couldn't do it without StickerU.com.

Quality stickers too, man. I've got Toronto Mike stickers around the city that are still in great condition many, many, many years later after they were affixed. Whoever did that. Beautiful bird in this tree too, a little tiny beautiful bird. Lots of nice wildlife out here tonight. But I want to thank McKay's CEO Forums. Nancy McKay at CEO Forums, McKay's CEO Forums,

she hosts a podcast called the CEO Edge Podcast, and she has fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and executives. I post a new episode on TorontoMike.com every Wednesday. I urge FOTMs to subscribe and listen to the CEO Edge from McKay CEO

Forums. Okay, that was another Canadian jam to watch, man, but we're going to leave that. In fact, now we're going back to the 70s. I think this is one of the... Oh, there's some more coming up. Another 70s jam is coming up. Are you ready here for your sixth jam? Yes.

Shout out to Alan Cross. This is one of his favorite songs. Shout out to Alan Cross. This is one of his favorite songs of all time. Shout out, Alan. We'll be fighting in the streets With our children at our feet In the morrows that day worship will be gone And the men who spur the song Sit in judgment of all wrong They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution It's not angry with the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again A change had to come Woo! Like it loud.

Like it loud. It's the perfection with, you know, Roger with the piping vocals, you know, Pete Townsend on the guitar, Keith Moon, Relentless Drumming, John Entwistle, just The Who, just the consummate band for me. It's like all four parts

just at the top of their craft. And in terms of this particular song, which I would hope needs no introduction, but it's a classic. It's iconic. The Leafs sometimes use it as their, not their warm-up song, but when they go to the ice

to take the opening face-off. I'll joke with some of the writers in the press box. It's like they'll start to dim the lights and they'll start off with some nonsense like, I got a feeling by the Black Eyed Peas. Yeah, sorry, I'm not a fan. But then when Won't Get Fooled Again comes out and they jam

and the players get out to this, I mean, it's the perfect way to start a game. No doubt. And it nicely used in a Simpsons episode too, I believe. Yes. Who played Springfield. Yep, that was when they had the wall to divide the two cities. Springfield Divided, I believe, was the title of the episode.

Right. And, yeah, at the time, three surviving members. I think End Whistle was still with us at the time of that filming. Yes. My favorite line from that episode was Roger Daltrey saying, but we promised the desk clerk we'd be nice at the hotel. Otherwise, we're going to lose our pool privileges. Which goes into that anecdotal, apocryphal story of Keith Moon

driving his car into the Holiday Inn, which has been told from time to time. So that's not true? That story is not true? I believe it was enhanced. So, I mean, I believe they did some damage to the Holiday Inn, but the part about driving an automobile into the pool was a bit of a stretch. But some Robbie trivia over here.

I have been asked to turn down this song on my stereo more often than any other song. This goes back to my university days because I actually didn't have a copy of Who's Next at the time, but I had a CD of Who's Greatest Tix, and I believe this was track number seven or eight. And for whatever reason,

the volume level on this song was at a higher one than all the other songs on the CD. So that even at normal speed, it's still loud. So then when I want to crank it, it's really loud. And it's like, can you turn that down, please? So, and it's just, what's really interesting I find about The Who is like, for classic rock Toronto fans, their quote unquote farewell tour in 1982 was supposed to end at Maple Leaf Gardens in December of that year.

So that was 18 years after they formed in 64. So put that into context. Their first farewell tour was in 1982 that ended at Maple Leaf Gardens, 18 years after they formed. The current year now is 2021. And so if somebody wanted to check my math, 39 years after their first farewell tour,

they're still touring. I've seen them all. I actually, the furthest I've traveled to a concert just to see the band is Vegas. When they played at Caesars Palace,

they did their residency there in 2017. So I know I said I saw Rush in Vegas, but I was already there for the NHL Awards. I can't say I saw, I flew to Vegas

just to see Rush, but I did in August of 2017 fly to Vegas just to see the Who at Caesars Palace. Dude, love it. love it, love it. Here, I'm going to change the channels on you briefly here because I know you were at TMLX8, so I have a question.

I was asking Mark Weisblatt last week. He was not at TMLX8, Mark Weisblatt, but he listened to TMLX8, the episode, and I wanted to ask him, were you there for the Liz, when Liz went on the microphone? Do you have any memories of this? I can't remember if you were you there for the uh the the liz when liz went on the microphone do you have any memories of this uh i can't remember if you were still there you you couldn't stay for the whole thing where you remember liz on the microphone uh i don't remember you might have left there because i was one of these third last or fourth last guests and then i caught up with a rush mike

and and becky but uh no no it's just uh if you remember the liz speech i was gonna ask you for your perspective on it uh but since you don't recall uh it's moot i suppose but uh i i'm just curious of people who were there like yourself i'm just wondering what they thought of that speech because it was talked about quite a bit after tmlx8 and i listened back a couple of times, and I was just literally just curious for your perspective on it. Well, now it's... Was that the one with some kind of innuendo towards... Now, I'm starting to piece fragments together in my brain,

but I would need more context, so I think I know the one you're talking about. She sort of was not a Stu Stone fan, and she was going to let Stu know what she thought of him, his persona on Pandemic Fridays. Without adequate context or recollection, I'm just going to decline comment. Decline comment on that.

It's safest here. I love this in the headphones too. It's a headphone jam. It's a headphone jam. It's a headphone jam. It's a non-headphone jam. It's an air drum jam. It's an air guitar jam. It's an air bass jam.

And then Roger comes in with the scream. I think I mentioned to you in an email, if I was ever a pro ball player, this would be my walk-up song. That's a great question. What would be your walk-up music? Fantastic. I think Alan did something on his blog,

the greatest ending songs to an album ever. And I think the three-way tie between A Day in the Life by The Beatles off Sgt. Pepper, You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Stones off Let It Bleed, and of course this song. How do you want by the Stones off Let It Bleed. And of course, this song. How do you choose between the three, right? Yeah! Meet the new boss Same as the old boss guitar solo How many times have you been pushed around?

Is anybody there? Does anybody care? And how many times have your friends let you down? Is anybody there? Did anybody stare? How many times have your friends let you down? Just open up your heart Just open up your heart. Just open up your mind. And how many times has your face slipped away?

Well, is anybody safe? Does anybody pray? Oh, life is waiting for you. It's all messed up But we're alive Oh life Is waiting For you

It's all messed up But we'll Survive Our lady peace life Our Lady P's life OLP Can't say enough about Rain Can't say enough about This particular song

This is more of a personal level for me I don't know if it's whether or not My favorite all times OLP song musically But this song came out in 2001 off the Spiritual Machines album. And 2001 was not a good year for me. And I'm not going to itemize all the details why it wasn't. But just off the top, I mean, we lost our dog. We lost one of my uncles.

And I was going through some relationship-y nonsense that no one needs to know about. But I have to say, 2001, I played this song back, and the lyrics, it's kind of cheesy, but in a way, it was my solace. It's all messed up, but we're alive. It's all messed up, but we'll survive. But again, that's why this song resonates with me so much. But on a lighter note, if you've ever seen the video why this song resonates with me so much but you know on a lighter note

I mean if you've ever seen the video for this song it's like you have the pregnant teenager you have the cancer patient

and dude falling off a skateboard and you've got Ed the Sock going wait a minute wait wait wait one of those three things is not like the other

I mean I can understand going through some tough times with like the first two things I mentioned a guy falling off a skateboard really just get back up but in all seriousness other. I mean, I can understand going through some tough times with the first two things I mentioned. A guy falling off a skateboard, really, just get back up. But in all seriousness, love this song. If I had to

do a favorite, maybe it would be Clumsy or even Sing Back Song, 4AM is another one. I was going to say, 4AM is one of those where Rain takes the mic and just aims it at the crowd. I have the DVD where they don't even they were in Edmonton, I think, on the DVD, and they don't play a chord until the third verse.

The song is all singing it. And I think the last non-arena show they played in Toronto, I think it was at, well, I know it was at the Phoenix Concert Theatre because I was there in, I want to say 2012, but a story about that show, if I may, it was, so here's the respective groups and there's some drunken idiots like in front of us just like i mean bumping around it's like uh we're groupie we i love you man i love you man type of thing and then you know it just wasn't

our group but i mean the group in front of us like the buddy and are bumping into her and it's like we're just going like dude what are you doing seriously like mean, I get we're here to have a good time, but I mean, there's no need to get all drunk and start plowing into people, right? And so they're coming back to do the encore, which of course is going to be 4 a.m. in Starseed. But they start off with 4 a.m. And just before the encore starts,

we start kind of chirping at each other a bit. I'm just there, dude, what are you doing? And all of a sudden, like, I mean, this guy's drunk out of his mind. He's just going, oh, I'm sorry. You got all caught up in our groupie, whatever. And we're just going to, I'm not going to say come to blows, but we're just like, I mean, just getting into it a little bit. And all of a sudden, Rain and the boys come on. And all of a sudden, the sing back, you know, if I don't make it known that, Like the whole crowd is going over here.

And all of a sudden, after that, I mean, and we're all singing in harmony, right? This group that was just about to kick each other's light. Oh, I like this story. The house lights come on, and it's like we're all, Hey, dude, what were we fighting about again? I don't know. It's kind of like one of those things.

I actually tweeted it to Our Lady Peace when they said, What's your favorite live song? So I shared that story in 255 characters or less, or is it 260, whatever the number is. And then somebody responds to my tweet saying, yeah, the same thing happened to me in Cleveland, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And whoever is managing the OLP Twitter account says, I don't know how we feel about these stories about drunk guys at our concerts, but thanks for the support, guys. Dude, I love that story. It's so true, man. Music brings us together

here. And I was telling people on the live stream before I pressed record that I like your jams. All these jams are in my collection. I love these jams, too. But this particular jam I'm about to play right now, I did not have in my collection. Like I love these jams too. But this particular jam I'm about to play right now, I did not have in my collection.

So I'm excited to kick this one out. But again, and I'm doing the math here. You've only kicked out two non-Canadian jams so far. The Cure and the Who. So back to Canada. Here we go. We'll see you next time. cities from the streets of our hometown. Basement bars we played from the heart in the company of our friends. If I write down these memories that I have saved away, photographs of the years that

passed inside my little brain You're cool and cray like Fulverdeen I'm Elvis Presley in the 70s You're Chateau Navarro, yellow label You're the buffet, I'm just the table I'm a Ford Temple, you're a Maserati. You're the great one, I'm Marty McSorley. You're the Concorde, I'm a Kennedy.

I make the dough, but you get the glory. I make the dough, you get the glory. Kathleen Edwards. Kathleen Edwards, in my opinion, is a national treasure. And she should be, she's pretty huge, but she should be bigger than she should be. I mean, in 2003, Rolling Stones named her as one of the 10 best up-and-comers of all time. You know, she's been on Leno, she's been on Letterman. She played the Toronto Rocks concert with Rush and the Rolling Stones and ACDC a few years ago.

She was Sursa's dog. Yeah. And yeah, she, for whatever reason, hasn't broken into that next wave commercial. You just said so yourself. You have all my jams except for this one. But she's, in my mind, she's a star. And the story why I picked this particular song was... Can I guess?

The Marty McSorley, Wayne Gretzky line. The Marty McSorley reference. And of course, for anyone who's interested in the book that you were holding in your hand a few minutes ago, Hockey Eats Enforcers, A Dying Breed. So when I wrote the Marty McSorley chapter, I made a reference to Kathleen Edwards' song. chapter I made a reference to Kathleen Edwards song and I actually sent her a copy of my book in the mail and then so she posted on Facebook wow they made this was so cool so it was a great

pleasure for me to make the day of one of my favorite artists and if you go on YouTube and check out the video for this song it's hilarious it was filmed at St. Mike's Arena so basically the premise is Kathleen Edwards is playing pickup hockey with the musicians and a bunch of NHL alumni. And it's like Jim Cuddy's guest star in the video chirps at her. And then Jim Cuddy's team picks Paul Coffey, who makes a cameo. And so it gets to the line, I'm Marty McSorley. Then Marty McSorley comes on Kathleen Edwards' team. Marty McSorley then Marty McSorley

comes on Kathleen Edwards' team and then there's also cameos by Dave Hodge and NHL alumnus Brad Delgarno

is also in that video but Dave Hodge love it love it shout out to Dave Bedini and the boys

for the ballad of Wendell Clark which has the great Dave Hodge line you know she loves these hockey songs because

one of the Kathleen Edwards songs I do have in my collection is Hockey Skates. Yep, that's off the Failure album, which just got released on vinyl. So you can start pre-ordering it now. If I'm shilling for Kathleen, it's because Dave, not a problem. I would shill for her any day. But yeah, Failure, like I said, that was back in 2003 at the start when she was just getting prominence through that article in Rolling Stone magazine.

And yeah, Hockey Skates is, of course, a personal favorite. And some of her songs have been featured as Hockey Night in Canada intros. I mean, maybe not all of them were done by Tim Thompson, but I know for sure. All the best ones. All the best ones.

For sure, Back to Me off her second album. And Change the Sheets off her Voyageur album in 2011, 2012. Those have been used as Hockey Night in Canada intros. Yeah, she's great. And like many talented, critically acclaimed artists in this country and other countries, it doesn't necessarily translate into massive commercial success for one reason or another. On that note,

it's coming soon to Toronto Mike, Ron Sexsmith, so I feel like he's the poster boy there for the cause here. Now, let's kick out your penultimate jam and I will just preface this by saying that I believe next week, Rick Emmett

makes his uh Toronto Mike debut looking forward to that oh me too I hope I don't screw that up I hope it goes as well as the uh Leona Boyd episode but uh I'll do my best all I can ever do Rob is my best you know that's all we can do Mike and we actually played this song last week and the Mark Weisblot episode of Toronto Mike this song was played because there's a big documentary coming out, but we'll talk about that on the other side. Here we go. Sounds good. Something's at the edge of your mind

You don't know what it is Something you will hopefully find You're not sure what it is Then you hear the music And it all comes crystal clear The music does the talking Says the things you ought to hear I'm young

I'm wild I'm free Got the magic power of music in me I'm young I'm wild I'm free Got the magic

power of music in me Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music

Music Music Music Music Music Music And she turns a little radio on She's had a rotten day So she hopes the DJ's got a game Her favorite song

Makes her feel much better Brings her closer to her dreams A little magic power Makes it better than it seems She's young now, she's wild now She wants to be free She gets the magic power And the music from me.

She's young now. She's wild now. She wants to be free. She gets the magic power of the music from me. Woo! Magic power. Talk to me, Robbie. For me the song as much as I can and this particular one resonates it's just it's got that like I said that at the top I'm a guitar player and then this starts song starts off on a 12 string and it's like I've been trying for years and years trying to emulate and can't I'm always off by one note or another but it's like it's a a d c g chord but there's so many parts to it to try and get it

right but and like as we get into this climax part over here, one second, I'll continue. It's got a bit of that Who energy going on there. Lots of Who energy, and it's just so structurally perfect. It starts off, like I said, with that 12-string intro, and then it's not until later where the drums and the energy and the guitar pick up. If you check out Behind the Vinyl on YouTube, that series by 97.3 where Rick and a lot of Canadian artists do their thing. So when he talks about this particular song, he talks about how this song was a poem that he wrote in school.

Maybe I shouldn't spoil it for you. No, no, no. Spoil away. Spoil away. But then, it, so when he says, when he was a kid,

he'd have a transistor radio, sleep on the pillow, and it's like he'd go to bed and listen to like his favorite song. So then when he gets into the first verse, when he's, when in the lyrics, she climbs in the bed

pulls the covers overhead and turns her little radio on he's actually talking about himself but he made that about a girl and it resonated with the female audiences

so there you go so love it behind the vinyl yeah maybe maybe Rick can elaborate more on that story

better than I ever could but yeah no thanks for doing that. And Andrew Ward, by the way, just chimed in on the Kathleen Edwards jam. He's at live.torontomike.com and points out something. I was going to mention

it too, but I'm glad that he pointed out that Kathleen Edwards opened a gourmet coffee house in her hometown. She quit music and opened up a coffee shop. That was the big yeah yeah it's called the quitter's coffee that's in stittsville and uh she named it aptly because she went through uh a rounds of depression i think it was after the voyage your album in 2012 she she needed that

break from music and eventually in uh in stittsville ontario she's an ottawa girl she opened a quitter's coffee and actually she sells all her merchandise in Canada via Quitter's Coffee. Like vinyl records, like the ones I've been chilling for. And others as well. Like, you know, the shirts, the tumblers, etc. The whole nine yards. But, yeah, I've actually been to Ottawa a couple of times to see her. A couple of times the summer of 20, I want to say 2017 and 2018,

A couple times the summer of 2017 and 2018, she did concerts in support of animal charities in a backyard in Pakenham, Ontario, which is near Stittsville. So I got to chat with her a couple times because I drove from Toronto to Pakenham to see those shows. But I actually never got to visit Stittsville, but it's on my list. Okay, for sure. You got to do that on your bucket list there. Now, before I kick out your final jam your ultimate jam uh remind us what where can we go to pick up your books like if we want to pick up a rob del mundo uh hockey book where should we go yeah so go to

chapters.indigo.ca and search for my name as an author rob space del space mundo m-u-n-d-o uh you can follow it you can try and reach me on Twitter as well if you so choose. But my titles are available on Chapters Indigo and the Hockey Addict's Guide to Toronto. That's actually, because I didn't author that one, that's in Evan Gubernik's name. So, I mean, just feel free to reach out to Mike or myself and then we'll get you that information.

Yeah, hit up Rob on Twitter. He's Twitter friendly. He'll guide you the rest of the way. But tmlfans.ca is still active. Yes, it's transitioning. But you can also reach me. I believe my contact information still should be there. We haven't transitioned that part of the site.

And you can also find Rob at tmlx9 at a date and location to be determined. I'm not Nova Scotia. I'll be there, dude. All right, my friend. Here we go. Is my heart a reason? All has been tried A reason that I Can't shuffle in this sea

Is how I Try to put that on your sleeve Is how I How I This guy Great persuasion She's got Great persuasion She's got Pretty persuasion

Got damn Your confusion She's got Pretty persuasion This is my world R.E.M. Alright, here's some R.E.M. Here's some classic R.E.M. R.E.M. again.

Iconic band out of Athens, Georgia. And this song is from one of their earlier albums that goes back to their college roots, days type of thing, where R.E.M. is one of those bands, they've been around for so long, but they kind of reinvented themselves every five years. I mean, a lot of people maybe remember them most

from Losing My Religion, which vaulted them into commercial success, even on Netflix, if you go to the Song Exploder series, how they dissect that song. But for me, I have to tell you, vaulted them into commercial success even on Netflix if you go to the Song Exploder series there's the how they dissect that song but for me I have to tell you

my favorite R.E.M. is from their initial incarnations from the early 80s we're talking about albums like Murmur this one's off an album called Reckoning and my personal favorite

R.E.M. album of all time is Life's Rich Padgett and I'm not the only one in that category but you got Peter Buck's guitar it's all about the riffs and then they reinvented themselves like

five years later with The One I Love and Document It's the End of the World and then Green came out after that and then Out of Time and Losing My Religion

and they got into the commercial success well deserved but for myself I love the true grassroots R.E.M. How do you not like the riff? Are you one of those

R.E.M. fans who sort of resented their when the mainstream grassroots REM. How do you not like the riff? Are you one of those REM fans who sort of resented their, when the mainstream, when the regular folk discovered them, like when they were the college rock darlings, right? I know that feeling. It's almost like, oh, how dare everyone else start loving REM?

Like, this is my band, and it's like your little, yeah. That's one of the great examples of a band that had that indie you know East Coast College Radio whatever

success and then blew up did you ever watch the show Get a Life on Fox no I didn't Chris Elliott

so I used to watch the show I loved it very much and the theme song was Stand my heart was a theme song for Get a Life yeah that's off

the Green album. People would call that the Sesame Street song. It was kind of like hokey. But for the most part, these guys actually, a bit of trivia here, they retired 10 years ago this month. They came out in September of 2011. And why that's relevant,

it's because we had a slew of retirements in a three-day span in September of 2011. Is it because of 9-11? No, it has nothing to do with it. Unrelated to 9-11. I'm trying to guess. No, it's not even the same profession. It's one musical act and two athletes. R.E.M., speed skater Christina Groves from Team Canada,

and Mike Medano all announced their retirements within a 24-hour span in September of 2011. That resonates with me because I actually got to speed skate with Christina Groves for a Right to Play charity event just before she announced her retirement. So when I think of Christina retiring two days after, I think of that. And then I'll say, oh yeah, Madonna retired. Oh yeah, R.E.M. came out and said they're not touring anymore that same day. So yeah, that would be 10 years ago this month.

In a very short span of time, Canada lost three great bands, meaning three great bands retired, when you think about it. Because the Tragically Hip, Spirit of the West, and Rush all called it quits in the same, I don't know what the time span was, but it was all in a relatively short period of time

that those three bands called it quits, if you will. Yeah, so Rush, the R40 tour, the last time anyone in Toronto would have seen them would have been June of 2015, and that was at what was then called Air Canada Centre, but I remember 2015 the year, because that was in June of 2015, and that

game, that show pardon me was scheduled for what would have been game 7 of Chicago and Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup final and I just remember the couple days beforehand, okay Chicago please close this out in game 6, I don't have a horse in the race but I don't want to have to choose between the Russ concert and game

7 because I've had tickets for this show for x number of weeks now but uh and then uh so obviously 2016 would have been gourd and uh uh yeah I don't remember the exact

year of the sphere of the west but I just I just go to footage of the that show that the john john man yeah well he it was his farewell because he was he was

suffering from alzheimer's I believe and uh wow my friend uh not only can you talk hockey and you write about hockey, and I urge people to check that out, but you love your music and it shows, and I love kicking out the jams of a passionate music fan. This was great fun. Thanks for doing this, buddy. This was great, Mike. Thanks for having me. Thanks to all your listeners and your sponsors. I've had a great time. All right. Remember, everybody, this is important. The promo code at chefdrop.ca is FOTM20.

That's FOTM20. Let's show Chef Drop why they're wise to partner with the Toronto Mic program and the Real Talk here. Rob, thank you for listening, buddy. Thanks for your support. And thanks for buying that T-shirt. That means a lot to me, man. You bet.

I'll see you at TMLX 9 and it should be another great event and whenever that happens we're gonna figure out what covid's got in store for us uh but before we have our first indoor event but uh more on that later and see you at the next watchman show that's what i was trying to say at the top of my head but see you at tmlx9 and watchman show whenever that show may be. Absolutely. I met a couple of good... Chris Cooksey was there and I saw Michael Lang there, who's been at every TMLX event. Absolutely. Like I said, I'm going to

complete the collection. There's one more member of the Watchmen who needs to make his Toronto Mike debut, but we're going to make that happen shortly. And that... That brings us to the end of our 911th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike.

Rob, remind me where the underscore is. Is it at Rob underscore Del Mundo? It's between my first name and last name. So it's Rob underscore Del Mundo. Mundo, not Mundo. I've been butchering it this whole time. That's all right. Sometimes I butcher it.

Well, now I feel better. Now I feel better. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. this whole time. That's all right. Sometimes I butcher it. Well, okay, now I feel better. Now I feel better. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Chef Drop, again, they're at Get Chef Drop. Welcome to the family, Chef Drop. McKay's CEO Forums

are at McKay's CEO Forums. Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mike Majeski, he's not on Twitter, but he's on Instagram, at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week.

I wonder who, maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of green. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started.