Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sean Jones: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1569

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

In this 1569th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Sean Jones about his time with In Essence, going solo, his Casa Loma performances and what's new. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1569 of Toronto Miked, 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. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Advantage Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Learn how to plan, invest and live smarter. Season 7 of Yes We Are Open, an award winning podcast from Monaris, hosted by FOTM

Al Greggo. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is Sean Jones. Welcome, Sean. Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me, Toronto Mike.

Well, what a pleasure. Did they say Toronto or Toronto? No, Toronto's my first name. Okay, my surname is Mike. So you can call me by my title, Toronto Mike. I love it. All right, love it. Toronto Mike.

Are you Toronto Sean? Where are you from? I'm living in Hamilton now, but I spent most of my formative years in Mississauga actually. So that's not Toronto. Like that's close. Like I can bike to Mississauga, but how are you enjoying the hammer? I know a lot of good people living in the hammer these days. I love the hammer. Like, honestly, I kid you not. We were in Burlington, me and my honey, and of course, you know, 12 years ago, we were looking for a place, couldn't afford anything further east.

And so went to Hamilton, found a nice little spot. And it's just been, it's been absolutely amazing. Okay, because I was just chatting with Ralph Ben-Murgy, who tells me Hamilton is now Toronto's Brooklyn. Do you agree or disagree? Yeah, kind of. You know what? Yeah, it's really turning into something. I mean, it was something before, but I mean, in the 12 years I've been there, it's just been so incredible to see the downtown transformations, the new restaurants that are coming in, the new

lights. You're selling me on the hammer. I'm going gonna talk to my real estate agent, Mike Majeski, and see if I can get myself into Hamilton. I'm telling you, I think the place next to me actually is about to be sold, so hey, there we go. Well, listen, I gotta talk to the honorary mayor of Hamilton, Tom Wilson, from Junkhouse. Do you ever bump into him at coffee shops or whatever? Is he just hanging around there?

I don't bump into him, but I believe, if I'm correct, I actually did some work with with Mr. Wilson there years and years ago when I was signed to a another record label. Well listen so we're going back now I don't know is if I hit uncomfortable ground you just let me know but we're gonna have a chat okay? Okay. Because I told my wife that Shawn Jones was she's actually two floors up but she's working remotely today and I told her I said listen I got Shawn Jones coming over and she started playing this song and told me how much she loved this song.

So I'm going to go back and then we're going to get to, you know, solo material. And then we're going to talk about what's new with Shawn Jones, but we only have an hour. It's going to be all killer. No filler. Let's begin with this jam. Oh man. So my wife.

Simmer. Ready to go. Wow. Okay, so let's just go back. If you don't mind, can we talk a little, uh, in essence off the top? Absolutely. Okay. So maybe if you wouldn't mind, I'm digging this by the way. So I kind of, it wasn't really my jam. I was like a grunge rock guy. But I like hip hop. But I missed, in essence, my wife had to educate me. And I missed a lot. And we'll cover a bit of it now. But can you give me the, in essence, origin story? Woo! Okay. For the record. Okay, this is important, Sean.

For the record. Okay. So I was at a school called Clarkson Secondary in high school. There was a gentleman named Michael Pope who was at Father Gates Secondary. And then there was three other gentlemen who were at Xavier Secondary, all in Mississauga. Now, I had just kind of gotten into a singing phase and it wasn't because I loved singing, it was just simply because I found out I could get girls from it.

And there's a story around that as well. This is for the honeys. This is for the honeys. And so somehow I met up with Michael who had heard about me. We started singing together. The three other gentlemen had a five man group, but they had just broken up. But three of them stuck together and they were looking for two other guys. Yeah.

They knew Michael from playing basketball. Michael told them about me. We all met up in Michael's basement one night and we started battling. So me and Michael would sing a song, those three would sing a song, and we just started like having fun. And that literally is how in essence came together.

One of the guys saw the name in essence in a dream. And that's why we call ourselves in essence. Okay. Now I can hear influences in this, this music, but can you just, who were your influences at that time? And we're talking like, are we talking, what are we talking, 90s? Where are we at? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is like late 90s. So we were the first R&B group literally in the world to actually be singing over hip hop beats. So we would take hip hop beats and we would actually like create songs, craft songs over top of them. And there was nobody else doing that.

And so, but our influences before that were like New Edition, obviously like The Temptation, anything from Motown, but anything in that 90s R&B era, whether it was, you know, Key Swed or who else was, I can't even, Bobby Brown, oh my gosh. You know what I mean? Like all of that stuff really influenced who we were and who we came to be. Wow. Okay. So as I was digging in, I learned this is a fun fact and I'm going to ask you

the question I ask all my guests who have a Juno, but in essence wins a Juno 2004. Yep. Where is that Juno today, Sean? It is in my, uh, my music studio office. Yeah. Where is that Juno today, Sean? It is in my music studio office. Yeah, right on the piano. Good for you. I sometimes ask that question and I find out it's in a box in some warehouse or in some attic and they're, oh, my mom's got it in the bathroom or something like that.

Okay. Good for you, man. You're a Juno award winner. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah, man. You know, it's bittersweet to a certain extent because as you get older,

and I've been in the industry for a while, you really do realize that the differences in Canada and the United States, you know, when you win a Grammy in the United States, you're bumping up your pay around, you know what I mean? Like, considerably, you're pretty much set for the next couple years. In Canada. You went to Juno and yeah, you're still asking people, Hey, can I play on your stage?

Well, the biggest reason to win a Juno is that one day you'll be on Toronto Mike and he's going to drop it as a fun fact. Okay. But so let's go back to the 2004 Juno warrants. Okay. I apologize in advance for the potato quality of my audio, but you understand, my archeologists were digging through the rubble trying to dig this up. So let's see if this rings a bell. These five gentlemen from Toronto blend R&B,

hip hop and tribal rhythms together to create one soul. That's a Linus Morissette, right? Yep, yep. Here to perform Friend of Mine, please welcome, In Essence. I We are alone just you and me again You're suffering Because it's on me I know that you And I can bring your pain to Come on. A time used to be. To be. A friend. A friend.

A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend.

A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend.

A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. A friend. IE or is it IE IE? IE IE. Two IEs in there, right? Okay, let's not screw that up, which I pulled as well.

But in your honest opinion, why didn't in essence become a bigger deal? That's a loaded question, right? Do we eat our young in this country? What is it about this country not embracing this great blend of R&B and hip hop? Yeah. blend of R&B and hip hop. Yeah it's just it's I don't know why but it continues to this day. For whatever reason they just continue to say it doesn't work here. R&B, soul R&B just doesn't work here. I mean and this is as far back as when I was going and further back because other musicians that I've spoken to said the exact same thing.

And I think it's really more of they don't know what to do. And so they say the easiest thing to say when you don't know what to do is that it just won't work. Right. They never brought in the right people. There was more than enough talent. I can tell you that we played Drake's big all-star thing that he did during Carabana. History.

At history. Absolutely. It was phenomenal. And I was up on the balcony after we performed and I'm listening to like, Chacler and Socrates and Cardinal and these songs are bumping so hard that they could go today. Like I really believe that they could,

and it's just, it's such a disappointment from the industry here that we didn't make these people bigger, including ourselves in essence. Like we should have been world, worldwide, 100%. And it just, there was just no support here, no infrastructure ever built. But did you ever consider just leaving this damn country? Like, heading to LA.

Oh, we tried. Right, so I'm brewing in the background here. Cause I was highly educated by my wife last night. I'm now a big fan of yours, Sean. Hey, hey. I haven't listened to this in so long. So you don't break this out in your solo shows? I don't. I don't even have a copy of this record.

You know, her first thing is, why can't I spin this record on Spotify? Play the bouncer's at the door Ask us who we be Everybody tell em who we are Hooray, hooray, ae, ae Comin', comin' for all to see We gonna rock this vibe We bout to tear shit up Hooray, hooray, ae, ae Comin', comin' for all to see We gonna rock this vibe Alright, I have some obvious mop up questions for you, Sean, which is why does Inessence

break up? Well, you know what? It's five young guys growing up into adulthood and we all have egos and just over time things started to build up. But what really was the kicker and the catalyst to it was we had been with BMG and they merged with Sony and we had a second record to put out and we really needed to put it out because people were tired of listening to that, right? And so we wanted to continue to make money, and they were like, yeah, yeah, we're gonna put it out.

And it was a phenomenal second album. And they kept on delaying, delaying, delaying. And finally we said, listen, if you're not gonna put us out, then please drop us, you know what I mean? And let us go. Become a free agent. Yeah, we got us out, then please drop us. You know what I mean? And let us go. Become a free agent. Yeah! Like we got the music, like it's all good.

So one day they finally said, yeah, we're going to drop you. But guess what? We're going to keep your music because we own it. And so we were left five guys, no label and no music all of a sudden. And yeah, it started a whole conversation amongst us. We weren't sure what we wanted to do. Everybody had kind of a different idea. And that's really kind of what started the infighting. Getting new management, this and that.

And it just kind of like exploded from there pretty much. You're not the first talented musician to sit in my basement and talk about how these record labels can really screw over an artist. Yeah, it was it was a thing. I will say though that Lisa's a bit new who was president of BMG Sony at the time. She really had our back and was trying to do everything she could to, you know what I mean, move us along. And really, I can honestly say that, you know, the reason why we even performed on the Junos, because there had never really been an R&B soul act that had performed on the Junos,

I don't think on that particular night. Like on the televised night before us, it was, yeah, like it was always on the Saturday night. Now I'm thinking, like to call you out, but I don't, I can't think of an... Yeah, I mean, there might've been one, maybe two, but it but it was just like it was not happening and she made sure that that happened. And so that really helped put us on. I heard that song. I played it in its entirety. They didn't give you a lot of time on the June. No, they say you gotta be 90 seconds through this thing. Oh, we have to cut it short, but we made it. We made

it work. We on that tiny little stage too. If you see us, there's five guys on this tiny little round stage and we killed it. We did. Well, they don't say that to like our lady piece. Okay. Our lady piece gets four and a half minutes. No, no, they don't. They never say anything like that to those kind of acts for sure. But do you think there's any racism at play? Yes. Yes. Okay. Cause I feel like we're dancing around this. Yeah, no, they're, they're 100% is and whether people want to admit it or not, they definitely don't. Um, it's been, it's been rampant, uh, for, for decades. Um, and like I said here, it's just easier for them to say, yeah, it doesn't work or to blame the artists

themselves, you know? Um, there are so many amazing artists and I've, I've literally been in rooms where they're just like, oh, she's a diva and da da da and she doesn't know what she needs and we know this and it's just like, no, you actually had no idea. You're the A&R person. It is your job to find the right material to make this person a star, put all the pieces together. Don't blame the artist because they're being creative and they're an artist. That's what we're supposed to do. You know what I mean? Lady Gaga, like how many different artists,

Lady Gaga was not a pop act when she first hit, you know, the record labels. They were like, no, no, no, no, I think this is where we need to go and they crafted and molded and then she's very creative. So she took it the rest of the way. You know, Clive Davis has tons of stories about whether it's Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, whoever it is that came in and were like, this is the song I want to sing

and he's like, okay, well you can try it your way, but promise me we're going to do this song afterwards and that ends up being the tune that Whitney Houston, like all of these people, So don't blame the artist for being an artist. Blame the label and the people who are working for the label for not doing their damn jobs. And that is what has been going on for years. Well said, well said. But do you find like a rock band, same, everything the same,

except a bunch of white guys in a rock band, they don't have the same struggles that you have in it in essence. No, they don't because there's people in the label that actually understand rock music. They actually understand that particular lane. Because they grew up with Trooper. Absolutely. They understand exactly what needs to happen. They understand the clubs that need that they need to play in. They understand the routing across Canada. There is no clubs for an R&B soul act to play in that you can go across Canada and do that. There just isn't because it's never been. The radio stations aren't there's one radio station, you know, maybe two or three across Canada that play actual R&B hip hop all day, every day. Can you name them?

No, I can't. I can't. I cannot. I feel like I'm going to shut out Farley Flex. I can see my Maestro Fresh. Absolutely. Farley was... But they had a station, we had a station as you know, and today it's playing country music. Yes, absolutely. I mean, we still have G 98.7, I suppose. But terrible signal. Yeah, well, this is what happens, right? So we've got no way to support this music.

There's no infrastructure. So of course it's going to, they say fail. However, Drake does very well. The Weeknd does very well. Justin Bieber, who is,, yeah maybe he's pop but he definitely leans on that R&B side does very well here. Bruno Mars, any act that comes through Canada can fill up the Air Canada Center or history or are these other places but yet it doesn't work in this country. Tell me how that

makes any sort of sense especially since the guys that I mentioned are literally the top five people in entertainment, in music right now. Explain that to me. It doesn't make any sense, man. It's all just a cop out is an excuse. I could go on for days and vent about it. We're up to a rolling start. Look, we're doing great because obviously there's lots of solo material we're going to cover and I'm going to tell you how we're connected. And we got new material from Sean Jones and I got questions about Casaloma to

put a bow on the in essence segment here. Okay. So you guys reunited for that Drake showcase there at the history. Yeah. And what was the name of it again? Roots of the sixth or I don't know. I don't even know. I thought it was like all star or something. I don't even, I can't know. I don't even know. I thought it was like all star or something.

I don't even, I can't remember. I was at a, I was at Nate. I think it was 2015. I went to Nathan Phillips square and there was this roots of the six show I was going to because I am just in love with Michigan. Oh yes. Okay. She knows it because she's been over several times.

Okay. I am in love with Michigan. I named my first daughter, Michelle. Oh, I am in love with Michigan. I named my first daughter Michelle. Oh, wow. And I call her Michigan. OK, that's where we're at. And of course, Maestro Fresh West was there and the Dream Warriors.

And these were all artists I loved in real time at the time. And were they all at this event at History for Drake? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody was there. It was a love fest. Like backstage, it was like one of the greatest. It was really, I wasn't sure what to expect.

And you know what I mean? Even getting the group back together again, one of the guys like lives in Dubai. So- Well, that's where I'm going. Like, so you're all friendly, obviously. No, not really. I mean, too.

But did all the OG members collect for that history before? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were- At least you can be in the same room together. Oh, for sure. Absolutely. And it was a, you know what I mean? I mean, there was even talk of, oh, maybe we should rekindle this. That's where I'm going, Sean. That's where I'm going. Did you consider, you know, when Beard Naked Ladies, you know, Stephen Page left the band and then they all

got together for the Junos. I can't tell you how many people wrote me notes like, Hey, do you think they're going to get back together or whatever? And I'm like, I know, I'm pretty sure just talking to the band members, that was a one off. Okay. This they're not getting back. It was a one off. Was this a one off for in essence? Yes. Yeah. It's, um, yeah, just, you know, there's some issues that just still have not been resolved. And, you know, some, some members, some members just don't even really care about music and the entertainment industry anymore, to be honest with you. So yeah, I don't think that'll unless there's a lot of money involved, which that will probably

get us back together again, maybe for like a show, but I don't see us creating another record or anything like that now. All right, so let me know if you want to throw money at in essence. Yeah, exactly. And then I'll reach out. I'll take my cut and I'll reach out, I'll take my cut and I'll reach out to Sean Jones here. Okay, so now that's disappointing to hear but it's not surprising. I mean, you're all adults now with your own lives

and someone's in Dubai for goodness sake. So that's quite a commute to come to. You'd have to get paid a little money for that. Okay, so in essence, we, and just to put a bow on this, getting screwed over by the record label. Why can't my wife listen to the first album on Spotify? I really don't care. Don't you? Yeah, I would. I would love for that record to be on Spotify, but we don't.

I don't think that we actually own that record. And so there's nothing we can't. We're not supposed to be the ones that's putting it up. It's supposed to be. And they just never dealt with that. And so they don't think there's nothing we can't we're not supposed to be the ones that's putting it up it's supposed to be and they just never dealt with that and so they don't think there's enough spins in it I don't I don't know they really just need to second album so you had finished an album you just needed Sony BMG whatever to do it yeah and we're like is that is that in some vault somewhere like where are the masters for that second well it never it never even got to the mastering point. Like it was it was mixed. I believe we had everything mixed, but I don't think we had got it mastered yet.

That was the last like little piece and we were waiting to see, OK, well, when is this coming out? And yeah, just did you ever rework any of those songs into? No, Sean Jones solo. Oh, well, interesting. Interesting. You say that because there's actually one song. Actually, it was never recorded though. Like we never recorded it.

It was just an idea. And so I have actually taken that idea and now made it a full song. And next year, you'll hear that probably you're going to come back and would you sing it live here? Like, I don't know. Would you sing live down here? I would sing live down here for sure. Like we're going to do that next time because this is like the one hour deep dive. You're getting your one on one here, but it's wild to me though that you could have an album and you were proud of that album. Right. It was a good album

right. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, it was for the yes. It was a fantastic album and it was stuff that we were mixing a lot of like, like we were mixing some folky type stuff. We were doing R and B. We were, we were mashing up a little bit of rock when there, like it was going to be an album that was going to like really appeal to everybody and show the strengths and the creativity that we had. Um, and the beats on there were incredible and the music and the vocals

like it was going to be a fantastic release and it never got released. That's that's lost media right there. I but you're saying it was some of it was not even recorded like there is no cassette tape somewhere with this stuff. Oh no, there's there's we've got we've got CDs. Yeah, well, get me a CD and I'll drop it in the feed. In essence, fans can come on. I bet you those damn bots that are screwing me over on Spotify, because I

mean, those songs I played from this in essence, I'm hoping I'll get away with it. But like lately, I've been having a lot of trouble with Spotify because they'll detect like if I play 15 seconds of something and fade it down, the bots just starting in October, twenty, twenty four, there'll be like, no no you don't have the rights Oh, there is no like so can will sell you it's funny. I just had this discussion with someone on my blog That's right. I still have a blog just like in essence in 2004. Okay, but I just had this chat So can will sell you a license for podcasting but Spotify and YouTube

It doesn't mean anything to them like it doesn't stop them from removing your episodes. Like, so basically, so can we'll take your money, which is maybe ethically makes you feel better that, you know, artists are getting money from you using it on a podcast. So I get that, but it doesn't stop your episode from being removed by Spotify because there is no, you know, unless you go directly to the artist and spend a fortune, a small fortune, there is no legal way to play copyrighted material on your podcast. Yeah. Spotify. That's a whole other nasty discussion in your career. Now we're going to, now we got you solo because in

essence breaks up in 2006. Have you made enough on Spotify to buy a Starbucks coffee? Yeah, I don't. Good question. I don't think so. Possibly those coffees are expensive. Exactly. This is very true. This is very that's why French press it. OK, pro tip everybody.

So what happens when in essence breaks up? What happens for Sean Jones? Sean Jones isn't sure exactly what he's going to do. We're going to talk about you in the third person. Exactly. Sean Jones isn't sure exactly what he's going to do. We're going to talk about you in the third person exactly Sean Jones wasn't sure in essence is going to get back together again, but in the meantime, Sean Jones had been writing songs like just getting very creative and enjoying that process and so Sean Jones went and bought some pro tools gear, a little little thing and a new computer and a keyboard, Triton,

and a guitar and sat up in his room and started creating demos that he was like, okay, well, you know what? If the group doesn't get back together again, I'm just gonna bide my time and I'm just gonna get a publishing deal. Right. So I was creating all these-

Because you're a songwriter. I am, I am. And so I was creating all of these tunes and trying to put demos together. And I just, I never got it to actually work the whole publishing thing. But then just out of luck, a lady named Jennifer Highland, who used to work at BMG Sony, she started working with a company called Wide Awake Entertainment, and they were a record label that was funded by a very rich guy,

and who just wanted to dabble in... Those are the best guys. Those are the best guys, you just wanted to dabble in music, you know what I mean? It was the time, it was that time, like there was a point in time where a bunch of rich guys just were like, you know what, music could make money or it could be a great write off for me.

So I ended up meeting with these folks and they signed me to a deal to create an album and other things because they were actually working on a Marvin Gaye movie as well. And they were looking at me and being like, oh, well, do you do any acting as well? Cause you might just-

Cause you're a handsome mofo. You look good. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, then they were like, That's why I'm not letting my wife meet you. They were like, yeah, you could, let, let's, let's get you singing. Let's get a dialect coach in and we're going to film some scenes and like, try and sell this thing to like a major producer and get this movie done.

Cause that would be an interesting story. Absolutely. Um, so it never, that never ended up happening. And the record label actually ended up being run by someone who didn't know what they were doing. They're actually kind of a, what do they call them? Charlatans? Yeah. Is this a snake oil salesman? What's going on here? It's a, I don't even want, I generally don't, don't say her name too often. Um,

but let's just say at some point, uh, she managed to get the very rich guy to take $18 million of his money and buy death row records out of bankruptcy. Wow. So now wide awake owns death row. It's wide awake death row. Okay. Oh my God. I didn't know where the story was going. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, but it gets better. It gets better. Okay. At some point, um, said rich guy realizes that there is actually no real plan to like make money back off of this death row records thing, the numbers don't like are panning out. Lady who convinced rich guy to buy thing goes to, I think it was Connecticut or wherever, or Rhode Island, wherever their company was actually formed, and says to the judge, listen, yes, they bought Death Row Records for $18 million, but they sold it to me for

$1. So I actually own it. Oh my God. And they're trying to steal it from me. And so I don't want this to happen. And the judge says, I don't know what's going on here. So everyone stop what you're doing and literally shut down any sort of business. That was happening.

Honestly, you're snake bidden. Forget the snake oil salesman. Okay. You're snake bidden. You might need that. Oh my gosh. And so they shut down all operations with death row. I mean, wide awake was still functioning, but at least death row was making some money from the royalties cause they were like sinking stuff. You know what I mean? With, with movies and TV shows, they were still making money off of that. But even that, like everything got shut down because the judge was like, until we can figure this out, done.

In the meantime, I'm stuck in the middle of this because I'm like, yo, I've got I've got a record. I've got new music like I want to do this. I want to do that. I want to do this. And there's nothing happening. And they ended up settling that whole situation. I'm still not sure exactly who got what. And we're not naming lady. No, we're not. We're not naming rich guy. You can't even

name rich guy. Do I know rich guy? I don't think you know rich guy. I just can't remember his name. It was Ron and he was a really nice guy. Like he had 18 million to throw. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's a, it was one of those those you know, I want to hit him up to sponsor Toronto Mike. I need to know who yet it was one of those hedge fund type things and it was yeah, yeah like he was a extremely nice guy. He came to bat. He was that bad for me for like a bunch of different things. He could own you for eighteen million dollars. Oh man, absolutely he could. You wouldn't be a Hamilton today if that happened. No, no, I definitely wouldn't be.

So at some point I had to make a decision because my contract with them was up and they offered me, you know, they were like, oh, well, we'll keep on giving you a nice little advance if you just stay. And I was like, you know what? This isn't good for me. This just doesn't feel right. And I ended up leaving. So that was that.

Do you feel like I'm just thinking about the timelines here? So if we were a little further along with tech and, you know, self production and everything, in essence, maybe produces that second album independently. Maybe if because that's oh,, I feel like if we just, if it was like 10 years later. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like you were just sort of a little early, like you still needed the label in 2004,

but by 2010, maybe you don't need a label to get your music out there to your fans. Well, you know what, you can, you can get the late, you can get the music out there to your fans, but at the end of the day, if you're trying to be a Taylor Swift or a Bruno Mars to your fans? Well, you know what, you can get the music out there to your fans, but at the end of the day, if you're trying to be a Taylor Swift or a Bruno Mars or one of the, you know, a Drake, you need the machine. Like the machine is still important in that sense. But yeah, there's definitely ways. I know, it does make me curious. So what happens next?

Wide awake entertainment. You put you, you put wide awake to sleep. Okay. Sleep of the fishes, wide awake entertainment. What's next for Sean Jones? Um, I, uh, end up meeting, uh, Lisa's a bit new for lunch one day, uh, because I wanted to actually ask her about a food product that I was actually trying to like put together. I'm a man of many times. You never played Marvin Gaye, right? Like I didn't miss that. I never played Marvin Gaye.

That never happened. The movie never got made. And there's plenty of Marvin Gaye projects that are out are trying to get made. But the problem is they can't license the music. Barry Gordy and Moe, like they're just not licensing any of his stuff before I think. What, what was he signed to capital or something like that? And then they would want some kind of editorial privilege on the, Oh, I'm sure they're asking for all kinds of stuff and to make, you know,

they probably have like, yeah, like I don't even know, but yeah, that's the reason why you haven't seen a Marvin Gaye biopic as a business side of music ruins the art form for us. Yes, it does. I'm as angry about that as I am about the fact I read this morning, uh, Doug Ford's getting his jackhammer to dig up some of the bike lanes I enjoy. Oh, that's another episode. I won't bog you down with that one.

That's what I'm going to have Amber Morley on to talk further about that one. Our local city counselor here. Okay. So back to Sean Jones, then I'm curious about soul in the city, right? Cause that's 2015. That is just to get, you know, you know, you don't want to pump your, well, you can pump your tires, but I'm going to pump them for you. You're the first artist to secure a solo summer residency at Casa Loma. I mean Casa Loma, the only castle I know of in the GTA here. Okay. So how does that

come to be? And tell me a little bit about soul in the city and the righteous echo and, and that what that meant here. Okay. Um, so yeah, I guess it's like, if I'm skipping steps, you can say, no, no, no, no, no, it's like watching the clock. It's like 2014, 2015. My manager speaks with Nick DiDonato, who runs that castle. They have a deal with the city. The city, I think, still owns the castle, but Nick runs it.

And he had already had something called Symphony in the Gardens at the castle, which was, you know, the Toronto Concert Orchestra would play on Monday nights, on Tuesday nights in the gardens, and people would come and listen to that. And he was like, well, we should have a different night, like something else that's a little more peppy. And so he approached my manager and asked if I would like to do this.

And I was like, oh, sounds like an interesting thing, you know, get some guest artists, blah, blah, blah. And so yeah, that's how that came to be. I had been working with a bunch of musicians. So I think it was a seven piece band at that point that we had, it was horns and a rhythm section and a background singer. And we put together this show and we invited, you know, 200 of our closest friends, right, for free, to come and see the first show.

And it was just supposed to be four shows, because Nick was like, let's just do a trial thing, we'll do four, and we started in the summer on Monday nights, and the first show was beautiful. Everybody loved it. And then all of a sudden, four shows turned into eight shows. So then we did eight shows that summer. The next summer, of course, we came back

and all of a sudden it wasn't 200 people there anymore. Now there was like 500, 600 people paying to come and see Soul in the City. This is a huge success, Soul in the City. Absolutely, and by the time we stopped, because I didn't do it this year, but by the time we stopped, it was like a thousand people that were showing up on a Monday or Tuesday night

to see Shawn Jones and the Righteous Echo and the special guests that I would have. And that was also extremely important to me to give other artists like a platform. You know, the crowd that was coming out probably wouldn't have seen these people or heard some of these people that came to play.

But they did. You want to shout out some of those people? Oh my gosh, who was it? I mean, we had Story and- Burton Cummings. Burton, I mean, actually no, Burton Cummings I interviewed in Winnipeg. Of course. Moosejaw. Moosejaw job, humble, how are glass from

moose? I produced their podcast. I interviewed Burton Cummings in Moose jaw. It was minus forty six at on that day, but I'm not saying it was colder anything. I'm just saying it was minus forty six. I don't even know what that feels exactly story. Actually, she's the first one that comes to mind because she is actually on The Voice UK right now as a finalist working with Will.i.am. So I mean from humble beginnings at Seoul in the City to now all of a sudden about to be Crush It as a mega superstar. I am so happy to see that. Um, oh my gosh, I'm just, there's so many, maybe I'll take you to a different direction. Claire Davis. Okay. The other direction I take

this in. And so you never received a cease and desist from Michael Williams for much music saying, Hey, soul in the city is my thing. No, I didn't receive a cease and desist legally, but I did receive a message from Michael, absolutely, and some of Michael's friends. Because he texted me yesterday, Michael Williams. He said, I want you to tell this son of a gun that Sone the City is mine. Yeah. And you know, here's-

I think I'm joking. I'm actually just keep talking, but I'm not actually, I'm going to just show you. Let's see here. Where? Here, this is all happening in real time. There, I'm going to just show you. Let's see here. We're here. This is all happening real time there. I'm pointing to it there. What name do you see above the name Mark? Michael Williams.

That's not a lie. Michael does text me often. Okay. So the funny thing about that entire situation is that we had, it wasn't anything to do with like Michael Williams and the Soul in the City show, which was absolutely phenomenal and so, you know, groundbreaking at the time, okay? It had nothing to do with that.

We were literally looking for a name for the show and it was like, oh, we're doing Soul and we're doing it in the city. Okay, let's call it Soul in the City. It was never any, we were never trying to take it as a TV show, nothing like that. And, and to be completely, 100% honest, the crowd that came was more of a white affluent crowd that probably had never even watched soul in the city when it was on TV. Cause they were watching the Pepsi power, and you know it, right?

They were watching anything but that. And so, you know, to try and make it sound like we were trying to piggyback off of that success, and bring it, the people there had no, probably had never watched So in the City. Well, let me channel my inner Lauren Honigman for a moment and tell you that Michael Williams doesn't own that anyways. Bell Media owns it.

Yes, I know. And if you didn't hear from Bell Media, and you know, they probably forgot that they own much music, okay? So it's probably like a pimple in an elephant's back at that point. But I want to shout out WestJet. Because WestJet stepped up, right? And they were helping to fund some of this, right? Well, yes, absolutely. They were definitely a wonderful sponsor throughout the years. In fact, even when I was recording my record, something after midnight or whatever the heck it's called,

shows how much I- You don't even know the name of your own record. Of my own records. I know, you're like, Mike, why are you playing music over my... Ah! Oh. Woo! This was called the WestJet boarding session, yes.

So this is one of my favorite songs of all time by the band, and I heard your cover, and I loved it. So a little bit of the weight. Awesome! I heard your cover and I loved it. So a little bit of the weight. Awesome. He just grand shook his head, no, was all he said. Take a load off and eh, take a load for free. Take a load off and eh, and put your load, put your load, put your load right on me.

I don't even want to fade it down. It's really great and it gets even gets better So this of course is this and I know I was listening to your cover of these eyes by the guess who? Angel by Sarah McLaughlin. So that's all part of the WestJet boarding session, which you can still hear on the plane to this day Yes, and you can see the interviews that I did with Bird and coming with Burton Cummings and Sarah McLaughlin and Buffy st. Marie and Florence K. Yeah, you're not getting that Buffy St. Marie interview again. She's not talking anymore. Oh, really? She's done talking.

No, she you'll never I will say you'll never hear an objective, maybe you're maybe with you. He should be like, okay, here are the questions you're asking me. You're not asking me anything else, but you're not good. Like she she's not coming on Toronto Mite, let's put it that way. But you got a chat with her. I did, she's such a lovely person.

And the stories that she was telling me and the people that she's met, I'm just like, it blew my mind. Like we were driving back from the interview and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is unbelievable, like Muhammad Ali. And like, it's just unbelievable. Oh, it's unbelievable, right?

That's all I'm gonna say on that subject. Okay, so I mentioned we're kind of connected somehow because I wanna get to the new music and then I'm checking over my shoulder at the time here. We're gonna make this an all killer, no filler one hour. But maybe while the wait's in the background, I'm gonna give you a few gifts for making the trek here, Sean.

It's really honestly, we're not done yet, don't get me wrong, but I've loved the chat already. So unless you really screw it up in the backend, okay. You're doing great here. Okay. So I have in my freezer right now, a lasagna from Palma pasta. You can take that back to the hammer with you. Palma pasta lasagna. You're going to love it. Bro. Thank you. I love it. They don't give you that on the CBC. You know, what's funny is that my daughter actually was just asking for lasagna. She's like, dad, when are we going to have lasagna again?

I said, listen, that takes a while to make. It's going to have a lot of leftovers too. Woo hoo! Okay. How many kids you got? Oh, just one. That's enough. Okay. You don't even, don't get any ideas over here. Okay.

That lasagna is at Palma pasta. I just want to let everyone know, including you Sean, cause I'm hoping you can make it. But on November, I like this. Put your weight on, put your weight on me. Put your weight on me. Move over stable singers. Mavis, step aside. Sean's here. That was excellent.

Okay. So on November 30th, 2024 at noon, that's a Saturday, all the FOTMs, the Friends of Toronto Mic'd, all the listenership are going to collect at Palmer's Kitchen in Mississauga. Not that far a drive, okay? You, my friend, would be awesome to see you there. We'll put you on the mic to say hi. And just no pressure, but I'm just letting you know that's TMLX 17, the 17th Toronto Mike listener experience, November 30th at Palm is kitchen. Well, you know what?

What I might be able to make that okay, but only if all those people come over to my Christmas show that's going to be happening in Hamilton on November 30th. What time is that? That is at eight PM. So lots of time. Double header. Bam. Okay.

We already figured this out. Okay, we figured it out. Like we're a great team. And I'll remind people at the end of this where they can see you, of course. But I will tell you, to sweeten the pot, not only are you going to get fed by Palma's, by Palma pasta at Palma's kitchen on November 30th,

but I will bring you fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. I have beer for you to take back to the hammer from Great Lakes. Bro. You didn't know you were getting beer. I did not. And they hosted us, Great Lakes Brewery. I have beer for you to take back to the hammer from Great Lakes. You didn't know you were getting beer. And they hosted us, but not the brewery. There's two locations, okay?

The brewery is great. That's in Southern Etobicoke, but we were at the brew pub, which is Jarvis and Queens Quay. We all collected there Monday night for TMLX 16. And it was fantastic. And I want to thank Great Lakes for the food and the drink and we just it was unbelievable and man if you're gonna go somewhere downtown and grab a beer and a bite go to GLB Brew Pub at Jarvis in Queensky. So you're bringing

home the beer. Dude like you probably didn't even realize this it's my birthday today like these this is like this is like thank you like you could have not know that. This is like, thank you. Like you could have just said, yeah. You're here on your birthday. I'm here on my birthday. I traveled here. Oh my God.

For you, Toronto Mines. I'm honored that you're here and I'm about to blow your mind and happy birthday to you. So because it's your birthday, Monaris sent over a wireless speaker. Your daughter will probably steal that from you, but it is a high quality wireless speaker from Minera's,

but you gotta promise me something, Sean. You're going to listen to, Yes We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Minera's. Season seven episodes are dropping now. We mentioned Winnipeg earlier because you talked to Bert and Cummings. Al Grego went to Winnipeg and he spoke, I'll tell you about episode three which just dropped.

He visited Nikhil Dutt, owner of Spice Circle. His family opened the restaurant in 2019 despite having no prior business experience and we get his inspiring story thanks to Al Grego's visit to Winnipeg. So you got the speaker to listen to Yes We Are Open from Maneras and then you can listen to whatever the heck you want. I was done.

Done. Done deal. Okay. Done. And last but not least, a piece of advice, cause I know you're in Hamilton. You probably have a closet or a drawer with old electronics, old devices or old cables. Go to recycle my electronics.ca put in your postal code. You'll find out a place near you.

You can drop that off to be properly recycled. So the chemicals do not end up in our landfill. Oh, and I'm seeing now the music hall in Hamilton November 30th holiday soul. But I just want to let people know in Belleville, you're at the empire theater on December 6th. That's correct. Absolutely. I might have to attend both.

Okay. You want me to blow your mind for a moment before we get to the new material here? Let's blow your mind for a moment before we get to the new material here? Let's blow my mind Well, don't forget me when I'm gone Wow Just let my story linger on Like a good old-fashioned song Like a ripple in a pond

Don't forget me when I'm gone. Don't let my memory just fade. Here's the mind blow for you. And then I want to hear a little more about this song before I get to new stuff. But I had the pleasure and honor of producing a very important podcast series from the Woman's Brain Health Initiative. It happened in this basement, buddy. Okay. The host was Naomi Parnas. Shout out to Naomi. This was spearheaded by Lynn Poslums at the woman's brain health initiative. The intro was by Jeannie Becker and the theme song for mind over matter, which I, if you have a loved one or you yourself,

have Alzheimer's or dementia, women's brain disease, particularly if you're a woman, by the way, because this is an under-researched component of brain diseases. But I highly recommend Mind Over Matter. But this song I'm listening to right now was the opening and closing theme song. And you did this and I always thought at some point I got to get Sean in the basement. Tell me about this song. Yeah, you know, man, this is a, this is a very interesting story. So years ago, this is years and years ago, I'm talking like, I don't know, like 2010, 2012 or something like that.

I'm sitting in my room and I got my guitar and I'm strumming some things and I'm like, well, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, like literally that's what, and I'm like, well, don't forget me. Oh, that would be, that would be kind of cool. I get a call from my manager at the time, and he's like, yo, we've got this gig that they want you for. It's for the Alzheimer Society.

And I said, dude, that's crazy because I'm literally here writing this song, and the first words that came out of my mouth were, world, don't forget me when I'm gone per se and I was just like oh you know what this is a cool like I think I can turn this this song into like a tribute type of thing and he's like okay cool cool so I hang up the phone with him and I start writing the song from the perspective of someone that has Alzheimer's and dementia and is worried about the fact that they're losing their memories and they're worried that once those memories are gone,

everybody else's memories of them are gonna disappear as well. And will they ever, please don't forget me when I'm gone. You know, not even just dead, but just like, when all these memories are just gone, please don't forget who it is that I was, right? That's beautiful, man. And so I, what gets crazier is that

then I get a call from my mom. She's like, what are you doing? I'm like, oh, you know what? I got a new gig and I'm writing this song and it all works out. And she's like, you do know that your grandfather passed away from Alzheimer's, right? And I said, no, like he passed away

when I was like three or something. I even remember like the ambulance coming and taking it, but I don't remember. Like, I don't know anything like how he passed or why. And yeah, I found out literally on the same day I'm writing this song. I got this gig that my grandfather actually passed away. So it just became this like beautiful thing. And yeah, yeah, that's how that song came together. Do you know how it became the theme song for mind over matter from the woman's

brain health initiative? Yes. And I'm dying right now because there's a, there is a woman and I cannot remember her name and it's not Lynn. Um, this woman helps to fund actually the women women's brain health. Okay. And it's and it's not Lynn. This woman helps to fund actually the women's brain health. And it's just escaping me and if I could pull out my phone and like I'm surprised in you have these mind blows you didn't expect to hear don't forget me when I'm gone today. But she heard the song and she was just like oh my god like that's absolutely beautiful. I sang it at one of their at one of their events and so that's where she was like,

you know what, we're gonna be doing this podcast and you got Jeannie Becker and the whole nine. And she's like, we want that to be like the theme song. And I was like, okay, let's do it. And we recorded it. And it got introduced by Jeannie Becker every episode. And I'll say the great five that are involved in this, if you have a Mount Rushmore,

these are the five people on the Mount Rushmore, okay? You got Lynn Poslums, Naomi Parnas, Jeannie Becker, Toronto Mike and Sean Jones. That is your Mount Rushmore. Everyone involved in mind over matter. And it was so educational, so informative. And Naomi did a great job with the interviews. Great series. And I just want to say thank you for lending your music to it. Oh, it gave it the Joanne. Kortin Joe and I knew if we've amped a long enough, yes, she was absolutely instrumental. She's the reason why that song is recorded because it was not

recorded before this and that I literally went to my email when I received the master, okay, the wave file, which was like a couple of terabytes or something. And that's what I, you know, when I did my editing, that's what I weaved in. So, all right, you ready to get current? Let's get current, baby! I said my heart was too cold to ever catch a feeling Call me Picasso, I know the art of up and leaving But she told me this was a journey, so don't stop believing Why is our love so complicated? Break up, make up, drive myself crazy One minute we're flexed, the next elated

If this is love, is it worth saving? But we push on through the fog and the haze Are we really in love or just stuck in the maze? I guess some lessons are blessings and some lessons keep us stressin' Maybe this thing is a blessing or will it break our hearts? Yeah Been sittin' here all alone and I'm just tryin' to figure it out Why my heart keeps comin' back when you just fill me with doubt

Every time you leave my heart aches But when you're here with me my heart starts to break Yeah, yeah Oh, oh, oh, oh But when you're here with me, my heart starts to break Yeah, yeah Oh, oh, oh, oh You can't love what you can't hold Never thought I would let her in Now it's too late, maybe it's fate

This is somewhere I've never been If it is love, why do I feel this way? Why do you stay honest? My mind, if it is love Why does it burn so fast? Make me feel so sad If it is love If it is love Oh

Yeah, thank you, thank you Thank you I'm gonna be good I'm gonna be good I'm gonna be good I'm gonna be good I'm gonna be good Sean, this is amazing buddy. This sounds amazing in my headphones right now. Who's featured on this song, if it isn't Love? Spell Love, L-U-V, okay dammit? You damn right, Love. John Orpheus, man, who I just met right before we recorded this tune. Joel Josephs was the producer, amazing producer, keyboardist, instrumentalist, and he actually

put us together. And yeah, he's so good. Like his verse on this is just unbelievable. So yeah, it was just the perfect match. Are we really in love or just stuck in a maze? Okay, so where did this come from? This is like, it sounds great, but where does the inspiration for this particular jam come from? So I had a residency at Adele Macombo starting in October of last year.

This is John. Shout out to Michael Vackerley. Let's turn this up. So good. So I had a residency at the El Mac Combo and I wanted to create something different than I had been doing at Soul in the City at Casa Loma. And so I decided to like mash up R&B and hip hop once again, like way back in the day. And so I would take R&B songs and I would put them over top of hip hop beats. And I took If It Isn't Love by New Edition and I put it over top of hip hop beats. And I took, If It Isn't Love by New Edition, and I put it over top of Tribe Called Quest,

oh no, sorry, it wasn't even Tribe Called Quest, Vibrant Thing, Q-Tips. Q-Tip had a song called Vibrant Thing. And we put, mashed those two up, and people lost their minds at the show. Like, just lost their minds. And so Joelle was like, yo, we should do something like this,

but like create a new song. And I was like, I don't really know. Maybe we should just keep it the cover. I don't really get it. And he went and produced this song and then like sent it to me. And I was like, he's like, yeah, just try and write something. And all of a sudden, yeah, the floodgates opened up,

ended up writing the entire thing. That is the first song that I've ever rapped on, ever. And I was a little bit- Youed on ever. And I was a little bit, you wouldn't know it. You wouldn't. I was a little bit like, ah, should I be doing this? But you know, at the end of the day, I'm having fun. I'm being creative. I'm not trying to be Drake or any, I'm not, I'm not a rapper. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to bring back that nineties kind of sensibility where people, you know, used to like rap and just it'd be about love and fun as an, and about the flow more so than, you know what I mean?

Like trying to be cool about absolutely everything. Okay, but one of the problems we have is places to play, right? We still have this issue here. So the Elmo combo, we can add that to the list of like R&B friendly venues here. Absolutely. When are you going to be back at the Elmo?

I'm not sure. Like I said, I'm doing these Christmas shows and it'll probably be next year for sure. It's such an amazing venue and shout out to Mike Shalhou and Daniela. Michael was here like two weeks ago. I got to shout him out because you see there's a bag here that Elmo combo. Ah, see, I didn't get one of those. See, I'm going to see what I mean. This is this is the problem.

I'm going to I'm going to take a picture of that and you, and I'm gonna be like, yeah. You want one of those bags. I want a t-shirt. I know they sell them or whatever. I gotta get an Elma Combo since 1948. Okay, well we're both gonna hit them up for some swag. But I'm shutting down Mike because he was on a show called Feminine Warriors

and it just so happens the Feminine Warriors are after you. Once you say goodbye and we take our picture by the Toronto tree, Feminine Warriors are doing three episodes of their Fine podcast. And they introduced me to Mike and you mentioned Wecker Lee who I have never met, but I will say his mother was a teacher at my high school. Oh wow. So that's how I'm connected to Wecker. I don't know if that means anything in this world, but the small world story here, but

you'll be back at the Elmo. I will be, I will 100% be back at the Elmo. Love the Elmo. So like where are we at now? You got that new song, like give us the, uh, I know we, we spent like 55 minutes on in essence and now we have two minutes about what's going on right now. It's all good. But I'll remind people that holiday soul is at the music hall in Hamilton,

November 30th. So everybody goes to Paul miss kitchen at noon for TMLX 17. And then you got plenty of time for the evening, the night show at, uh, at the music hall in Hamilton. Right. I'll make sure Ben Mergu is there. And December 6th holiday soul is at the empire theater in Belleville. Like is there new new, like what else can we expect from Sean Jones? Um, I've got some more music that I have. Well, actually I've recorded, new, like what else can we expect from Sean Jones? Um, I've got some more music, uh, that I have. Well, actually I've recorded, uh, like two other songs that are still to come out.

They were supposed to come out this year, but things got backed up. Um, but I have more ideas to record like a bunch of stuff. And so yeah, next year, the flood gates are going to start to open and I'm just going to start releasing music. Um, and we're going to find another spot to do a to do a residency at outside in the summertime. That's the most important thing. Maybe I'll get you to play a TML X event at the brewery in June. You let me know man. Let me know it only we only pay in pasta and beer. I don't know if that's a deal breaker.

Well, you know what? Let's just do it. Let's do it. I need to get a speaker from an areas what I'm. Oh, I have one more thing for you. Oh more goodies. It's your birthday Ridley Funeral Home pillars of this community. So nine to twenty. I thought you're gonna give me a casket or something. You see how you play your cards here. It's your first appearance, but that is a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. Woo. Okay. You know what? I don't need to know what you measure with that thing. But I do have to know. You know, and you can lie to me, because what would I know?

But this is your birthday. How old are you now? 48. 48? You look great for 48. Thank you. Like, I thought I was talking to a guy 15 years younger than me. Oh, man.

I only have a couple on you. Jesus. OK, don't look at this photo I take. You're going to see who's this is. Sean with his dad. Sean of his dad. OK, dude, I enjoyed this very much. Was this okay for you?

Of course. Yeah, man. Thank you so much for having me. I would love to come back. Wink wink. Yes, absolutely. Sean, Sean Sean. Yeah, might be my new co-host. You kidding me? Oh, damn. This is Saga. Well, that's a request from my wife. Sean Jones visit every week. So I have to make her happy. You know how that's like. But dude, honestly loved it very much. We'll take a photo by the tree. I'll get your lasagna out of the freezer. Everything else here, of course, is yours. Thank you Great Lakes. Thank you to Menaris. Thank you Raymond James Canada. Thank you Recycle My Electronics. And that, got to go hard on that that's a two-stone request. Okay, and that Brings us to the end of our 1,000

569th show 69 that's a lucky number Remember, I don't need to know what you measure with that thing. Okay, you can follow me go to Toronto Mike comm Where would you send people for more about Sean Jones Sean Jones Jones music dot com or just Sean Jones music on my socials Instagram. Hit me up there. But Sean Jones music dot com. Yeah. And I'll let people know that Sean spelling is S E A N.

Because there's many ways to spell Sean. It is, but only one Sean Connery. So just think of Sean Connery. Now I'm going to speak of my Sean Connery bro for the rest of my extra. Much love again to all who made this possible. Okay, see you tomorrow. We mentioned a couple of times Winnipeg and we mentioned Bird and Cummings and returning to the program tomorrow is Robert Lawson who is the official Randy Backman fact checker and he wrote a book about the Guess Who but he's got a new book about little Stephen Vans Ant from the E Street band and sopranos and we're

gonna have a chat I got some fact-checking to do about Randy again sorry Zwei but I gotta do it but then we'll talk a little about little Stephen and it'll be a lot of fun so Robert Lawson's here tomorrow. See you all then!