Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - That Night at Massey Hall: Toronto Mike'd #1015

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

In this 1015th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by David Binks who put together That Night at Massey Hall, a compilation of pictures and stories about great performances at Massey Hall. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and RYOBI Tools.

Welcome to episode 1015 of Toronto Mic'd. 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. for free local home delivery in the GTA. 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. Canna Cabana. The lowest prices on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country.

Learn more at cannacabana.com. And Ryobi. Join the cordless revolution with Ryobi's 18 volt one plus system there's over 260 tools in the system and it's available at home depot joining me this week is the author behind that night at massey Hall, David Binks. Welcome, David. Great to be here, Mike, and thank you for the chance to come along and have a chat. Well, thank you for coming by.

As you might know, we Canadians deem anyone with an accent like yours to be intelligent. So no matter what you spit into these microphones, it's going to sound like you know what you're talking about. So that's half the battle right there. That's not the way people normally describe my accent. Well, tell me, so, okay, so we're going to get into this book. I've got a copy here that night at Massey Hall, and

just so the FOTMs know, I've loaded up ten songs from ten artists who are featured in your book, but can we start by, maybe if you tell us a little bit about who the hell you are and what makes you an authority on such things? Oh, I don't think I ever claimed to be an authority on such things. So I'm a semi-retired CEO who moved to Toronto for the first time in the year 2000. I was a music addict. I

love going to live shows. And so of course I was drawn to Massey Hall. Went there for the first time, which wasn't a great experience. Who did you see the first time? I saw Paul Weller and I'm a big Paul Weller fan. I've seen him many times. But it was a cold evening and the show was flat and the place was half empty. It wasn't the best opening night of your Massey career, so to speak. But I was immediately hooked. There was something about the vibe. There was the history.

There was something kind of quaint about the place as well unique and uh and i loved it and so i kept going back how many times have you uh seen a show at massey hall if you had to guess or do you know oh no idea no idea i mean too many to count too too many hundreds i don't know so wait okay so two so you you move you uh you moved to toronto in 2000 did i hear that right yeah i've sort of been back and forth i was in toronto uh from 2000 to 2003 and then i went back and uh lived and worked in europe and then i came back again and then i went back again and so but what brought you here i flipped around purely work business gotcha um so i worked for a u.s corporation who wanted somebody to uh work in there or run their canadian office and i came over and did that back in 2000 i keep wanting to do my uh conan o'bBrien in the year 2000.

And if you get that reference, good for you. But actually probably many people listening actually probably do get that reference. But okay, so I'm just trying to figure out how you become a subject matter expert. You're just a fan of the venue?

Like before 2000, you were just like an executive? Like you're just doing executive things, nothing to do with music? No, I'm just a music fan. From my very first live concert back in the 70s, when I saw the sensational Alex Harvey band. I don't even know this band. Well, you probably, that may be a good decision,

maybe a bad decision. We all have our tastes. But ever since then, I love going to gigs. I love what concerts were about. And so as I went to school and then traveled and worked in different places, music was just always a part of life and going to see shows. And so I'm no authority.

I'm a fan. And then when I came to Massey Hall, I thought, I would bump into people and talk about how great the concert venue was. And everybody would say, oh, I've got a story about Massey Hall. And everybody does seem to. And so one night I was in the hall on my own. I was looking at some old posters. I came up with the idea of the book.

I even decided on the name of the book, you know, to tell people's stories of that night at Massey Hall. And fortunately, my wife, she pushed me along. She bought the domains for a 10-year license, so I sort of had plenty of time to decide when I was actually going to do the project. And eventually I set out and started collecting people's stories and photos and then assembled them into the book. How long, like how long from start to finish would you say it took you oh well i had the idea uh probably

about 10 years ago now um and then you know i i talked to various people um there's a guy called lawrence kirsch who's a great rock photographer from montreal who's done a lot of springsteen shots and lawrence had done a similar book, a fan book about Springsteen. And so I contacted Lawrence and I got some help and some advice from him. And so, you know, that's how it sort of evolved. But I didn't really start doing the project properly until 2018. I went into semi-retirement and I had some time and you know I could I could dedicate you know parts of my day and parts of my evenings which I thought was going to be really

nice and small and part-time but then eventually takes over totally to actually working on the project and gathering the stories um and in a funny sort of way and there aren't many good things you would say about uh the the pandemic situation but in in my particular case people had time to reminisce people were missing live shows people participated they responded on facebook. They wrote stories. They got those old photographs out. And the book material came forward. And that was really just a case of putting it together. Okay, I'm going to read a quote from a fellow.

You are now an FOTM, okay, David, your friend of Toronto Mic'd. And fellow FOTM, Rob Bowman, who sat in that same seat a couple of years ago. I'm going to read a quote from him. It says, There are literally thousands of stories that music fans tell about one or another night at Massey Hall. This book captures many of those stories. Some of them are personal, while others are about transcendent, transformative performances. Many of these stories focus on how a night at Massey Hall literally changed the very essence of their lives. Okay, so that's amazing. That's a great quote from Rob. He knows his stuff too.

But this book, I'll just say again, I'm not, you know, you're not paying me to say I love the book. This is a gorgeous book. It's got some serious heft to it. So unless you're strong, you know, it's a heavy book. It's so beautiful. Like where do these photos come from? Like these are gorgeous photos and there's great, you know, pictures of like ticket stubs and then you have the stories and it's just laid out. So who stylized this book? How did it come out looking so damn pretty? Well, I was very lucky. I managed to hook up. First of all, the photos themselves are a real mixture. They're from people who were lucky enough to have passes at certain shows.

There are some fan photos in there. There's some material that has been taken and has sat in shoeboxes or the negatives have sat in shoeboxes for many years. So it's a real combination. And then I was very lucky to be introduced to a design agency, a boutique agency called Underline Studios, who've done some fantastic work in the past with books as well. A lot of the book work associated with galleries to support exhibitions.

And I hooked up with those guys, and the team down there run by Claire and Fidel were absolutely immense and came up with some great ideas. And then I also had the help of a great print organisation to work on getting the balance of the print perfect and did a tremendous job and also found the people who did the binding. I have to say, actually, everything is Canadian as well. Everything but you?

Everything but, well, my wife is Canadian. Oh, good. Is she from Toronto? Well, she's originally from the UK, but since then she's been in Toronto a long time. Okay, well, we're glad to have you. And I've got to say, we're about to kick out these jams here, but I love it when somebody has, has like passion in the belly for a subject and then just takes that passion and makes something

like a project like this where like when you draw this on the board it's like what an enormous undertaking and then you just do it man like love it love it I love that you did this and it's a it's a great book and if somebody listening that we're going to talk more about, you know, Massey Hall and these artists I picked and the book. But like if somebody right now wants to pick up a copy of That Night at Massey Hall, like where would you direct them? Two or three places where we have our own website. And it's very simple because it's the title of the book,

thatnightatmasseyhall.ca.com and the book's available there. We're also in Sonic Boom and we're in Ben McNally's bookshop on King Street and we're also in the Amazon establishment as well. So any of those four places. Love it so much. Okay, now, by the way, when I heard the title the first time, So any of those four places. Love it so much. Okay.

Now, by the way, when I heard the title the first time, my thought went to that line in Bob Cajun by the Tragically Hip that night in Toronto. But that's about the Horseshoe Tavern. So you don't get to take that for Massey Hall, but it's great. And by the way, even like some of the stories, family stories, like there's so many FOTMs I see in here. Like Rob Cowan is speaking here on behalf of the Cowan family.

And I saw Eric Alper in here. Anyway, a lot of great submissions. There's a lot of familiar names throughout the book. There's some artists. Am I in here? I think one of your photos might be in them. I think it's on the website. Like I definitely think of Barenaked Ladies. But alert so let's let's do this so i uh

you don't know what order i'm gonna do it but i've picked 10 jams and i decided to pick all canadian jams so i have 10 canadian artists because originally i had a different list like i had a pixies in there and i had i had just a completely different list. And then I said, no, let's go. Let's just do it. This is Toronto Mike. Let's go all Canadians. So just so you know, no pressure, but these are cold. So I have some Great Lakes.

If you wanted to partake, it's right there. Otherwise, you can bring them home with you, some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And before you leave here today, I do have a frozen lasagna for you in my freezer upstairs from Palma Pasta. Oh, wow. So you're being taken care of. Dinner sorted then.

Yeah, well, I always thaw it in the fridge for 24 hours, but your dinner tomorrow is definitely taken care of. Oh, and I know you got your laptop on it, but there's a Toronto Mike sticker there from stickeru.com that you can also put on the back of your car before you drive away because, oh, Oh,

and while I'm giving you stuff here, measuring tape from Ridley funeral home. So shout out to Ridley funeral home. And because you're here in cold Toronto, a toque from can of cabana, go to can of cabana for all your cannabis and cannabis accessory needs. They won't be beat on price. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Okay, awesome. I picked the order. I'm going to kick these out and we're going to talk. In fact, sometimes I even took live versions of these songs that were recorded at Massey Hall. That's the kind of detail I paid attention to. So this first jam, I'm going to start with this one.

Great local band, and this was recorded at Massey Hall. Strange and beautiful Are the stars tonight That dance around your head And in your eyes I see that perfect world I hope that doesn't sound too weird I want all the world to know That your love's all I need All that I need

All that I am And it will all And we are lost together And it will all And if we're lost And we are lost together I'll stand before this Gorgeous. Is there anything better than Blue Rodeo at Massey Hall? My goodness. Okay.

So that was actually recorded live at Massey Hall too, which is a nice little touch. But I'm not even sure how you want to approach this. Do you want to talk about Blue Rodeo and Massey Hall? Yeah, we can. Why don't I approach it? I'll tell you a little bit about some of the content in the book to do with Blue Rodeo. And maybe the story behind. Because by the time we finished, there were something like 700 stories and 800 images.

And the job was then really how do you put that together. And I was really keen that we would tell the diversity of experiences that people have at Massey. And so sometimes it's a famous night, We would tell the diversity of experiences that people have at Massey. And so sometimes it's a famous night, sometimes it's a personal night, sometimes it's a big star, sometimes you have different accounts of the same night and they're totally different. And I wanted to capture all those different things that people talk about. different and I wanted to capture all those different things that people talk about and yet when we came to Blue Rodeo and there had to be a Blue Rodeo section and it's a I think it's a great

one and they played there so many times and they played so many years and the thing that really grabbed me was that it wasn't about any one show. All the stories were totally personal. And they weren't really about because they did that that particular night. They were stories about people who returned to Blue Rodeo because they knew what to expect. And then when they went, they got something out of it that was very personal. And so there are three stories and there are three photos, and they're all of different years, and they all have similarities,

and yet they're all different. Now, I've been lucky enough to see Blue Rodeo at Massey Hall, and they really do have a loyal fan base. Like, do they have a nickname? What are they called, Rodeo heads? Do you have any? Blue Rodeo fans. And I saw them as recently,

I saw them during the pandemic at the Amphitheater. I think they play the Amphitheater more than any other artist. I know it's Budweiser's stage, I realize, but yeah. But Massey Hall is still Massey Hall, right? Right. I would, is it possible Blue Rodeo, like who's, I mean, i don't know if you have this

stat but they always say okay gordon life it's played at the most times who's played at the second most times you have any idea um that's a tough one right i'm putting on the spot it could be these guys i feel like it could be these guys well these guys have played over 30 times wow um Wow. But it's the children's show, I think. Oh. Sharon. Sharon, Lois, and Brom. Sharon, Lois, and Brom. I didn't even think of the children's shows, right?

Right. Yeah, we've lost one of them, sadly. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. But I love them, man. Skinnymerinky Dink. Is Sharon, Lois, and Brom, are they no one outside of Canada? Like kids in the UK singing the... I love them, man. Shimmer, Skinner, Rinky Dink. Is Sharon, Lois and Brom, are they known outside of Canada? Like, are kids in the UK singing the... I have to tell you, I had not heard of them until I came to Canada.

It's like, you never know, like, what's a Canadian phenomenon and what's a global... What's known outside... Are they... Did they spin any Raffi in the UK? Or no, you got your own Raffi. You don't need our Raffi. Raffi's ours, I guess. Corner grocery store.

They have, yeah. Baby Beluga. But beluga but yeah blue rodeo great band and that venue is great um the release of your book i thought was uh smart because with the uh the renovations at massey hall like i kind of can't i'm gonna turn off my phone but the massey Hall renovations kind of just you know just were just completed like we literally there was a lot of talk of Massey Hall when Gordon Lightfoot came back to play and it's smart to get this great book out at that time yeah and the timing was was fortunate I have to say because it was really around the May time of that year that we started to close the book down in terms of gathering stories and started to put it together and then just went as quickly as we could. And there was no, I don't think, certainty on when the hall would open,

for sure, given the pandemic situation. And then all of a sudden, you know, the book was about ready and the opening was just about to happen. So it's great timing. Great timing for you because that beautiful loss together, which is quite the closer for Blue Rodeo. Love it. We're going to roll right into jam number two. I'm thinking about eternity. Some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me.

I had another dream about lions at the door. They weren't as frightening as they were before. But I'm thinking about eternity. Some kind of ecstasy Gotta hold on me Walls, windows, trees Waves coming through You being me And I'll be you

Together in eternity Some kind of ecstasy Gotta hold on me Up among the firs where it smells so sweet Or down in the valley where the river used to be I got my mind on eternity Some kind of ecstasy gotta hold on me And I'm wondering where the lions And I'm wondering where the lions are. I'm wondering where the lions are.

I'm wondering where the lions are. I'm wondering where the lions are. I'm wondering where the lions are. I'm wondering where the lions are. I'm wondering where the lions are. Shout out to FOTM, Bernie Finkelstein. This is, of course, Bruce Colburn. Talk to me about this.

Great song. Love Bruce. One day he will be on this program. Bernie says so. At some point he's going to get Bruce to do Toronto Mic'd. But tell me about what you say about Bruce Colburn in your book that night at Massey Hall.

First of all, there's a wonderful photo in the book of Bruce. I need to check which year, but it's fairly recent. But it's a stunning shot and I don't think it had been seen

anywhere else previously. So where did you get it from? Top secret? Not top secret, no. We actually, on Bruce, we had a couple of other photos, and at the last minute we put a call out to the photographers who'd already contributed and said, does anybody have a photo?

Does anybody have an image? And one of the photographers, I know, I want to make sure I get the name right. So I'll check the credit if you'll let me. There's nothing worse than giving the wrong credit to the photo. But it's a great photo. And then there's a wonderful story in there about a guy who buys two tickets to see Bruce with the intention

of taking a lady friend that he is that he's keen on but the girl's not interested and so he's stuck with two tickets, which he goes down to Massey Hall and he sells the two tickets. And then he's walking away from Massey, and somebody offers him eight throw seats and a single, and he goes, well, you know, what the hell. Right. Goes back in, and it's his first Massey experience, his first Bruce Coburn experience

and then he becomes a lifelong fan of both. It's a lovely story. He falls in love. That's a great story. Love it. And yeah, I mean, lately I've been revisiting Going Down the Road, which is like a great Toronto movie.

A great Toronto movie. And Bruce is all over that soundtrack. Like you hear Bruce, like very young Bruce Colburn all over that soundtrack, like just coming up. And it's great to hear him there. And it's great to hear him there. And I'm wondering where the Lions are. But one day, Bruce, one day, Bruce is going to be on Toronto Mic. That's a, that's a pledge. All right. Here's another, here's another band I got to see at Massey. I've never seen Bruce. And let me know, by the way, along the way,

if any of these acts you've seen at Massey Hall. Just let me know, because I know you've seen a bunch of shows there. But here's a band I've seen at Massey Hall. Broken to the old apartment Just as where we used to live Broken glass, broken hungry Broken hearts and broken bones This is where we used to live

Why did you paint the walls? Why did you paint the walls? Why did you clean the floor? Why did you plaster over The hole I punched in the door? This is where we used to live Why did you keep the mouse trap? Why did you keep the dish rack? These things used to be mine

I guess they still are I want them back Broken to the old apartment 42 stairs from the street Crooked landing, crooked landlord Narrow laneway filled with crooks This is where we used to live Why did they pay for it?

Lots of Toronto content so far as we're kicking out the Massey Hall jams, I suppose. But this, of course, is Bare Naked Ladies, the old apartment, which is on the Danforth. So there you go. But we're not talking about the Danforth Music Hall. We're talking about Massey Hall. Tell me about BNL at Massey Hall

in your fine book there. Well, you know, maybe you should do the telling about BNL because there are three photos in there of BNL that I think really capture the fun of seeing the band and the Christmas show feel as well on some of those photos. And one of those photos, I believe, belongs to yourself. Okay, so you know what? I guess I should know this.

I know I submitted a photo and I saw it online and I never, I should have checked whether my photo made the book. So you're saying a photo I took of the Barenaked Ladies at Massey Hall is in this book? That's right. Wow. Wow, what an honor. Okay, amazing.

So, BNL, again, FOTMs. You'll win a pizza if you get it, if you find the page. Yeah. During the next jam, I'm going to be hunting ferociously for that photo, just to see. So, do I get credit? Like, my name is in this book?

Yeah, all the photos. Okay, that's better than being in the Toronto Star. Are you kidding me? Holy smokes. There you go. Okay. So, of course, one of the great FOTMs of all time is Tyler Stewart. He's on drums in this jam. But I want to shout out a couple of other FOTMs on this song. Stephen Page, that's his vocals we hear.

And this is back, of course, when Stephen Page was in Barenaked Ladies. He sounds great on The Old Apartment, one of my favorite B&L jams. Page was in Barenaked Ladies. He sounds great on The Old Apartment, one of my favorite B&L jams. And Kevin Hearn, who had a two-part appearance on Toronto Mic in 2021, and he ties in with another act we're going to hear

later in this episode. But yeah, what a great band, because I like Barenaked Ladies, because yeah, you get the great songs, but you get fun. Like, without a doubt, they'll go into some kind of rap medley or you know it's just great fun you're never bored at a bare naked ladies show like you get full value from their live shows so shout out to the bare naked ladies and massey hall and again i don't know how full

of like knowledge you are matt like for example do you know offhand what year massey hall opens or is this more about the stories? Is that too much of a... I got to go to the wiki page for that one. Is that 1894? Okay, so you were just a young man at that point. Just kidding. Just having fun with my friend David here. Okay, so B&L, I'm in the book.

I'm going to be checking it out while I kick out another jam from FOTMs that are written about in this book. I know the only feeling you have is rage And I know I feel the same as you But I think you better take a good look around you Cause you're so pissed you can't even find your drink And sometimes it's wise To know which way the gun is pouring in

Before you yell I see the whites of their eyes Sometimes you'll find Your sense is all disjointed by The lines and wires Of salesmen, cheats and liars Well she left me Without one word of tenderness. And no one saw you cry for me.

Yeah, your friends used to say good riddance, I'm better without it. But face up, you thought about diving into the dawn. And sometimes it's wise to know which way the car is going Damn, I love this song. This song's from Shakespeare, My Butt. We're going to talk about Lois Lalo in a second, but I just want to let everybody know and let you know, David, I have found my photo in the book.

Pizza's on its way. And you know what? It's a good-looking photo. I'm like, what a great photo. I'm like, oh yeah, I took that thing. So that was the night TFC won the MLS Cup. That's how I remember that night. Because I biked to this show, and I remember looking for, like,

people on Yonge Street celebrating, and I didn't find anybody. And I realized, oh, yeah, they don't, I guess this isn't like when the Jays won the World Series or, you know. But exciting nonetheless. Okay, so my photo's in the book. Even more reason for people to buy it that night at Massey Hall. What can you tell me about Lowest of the Low at Massey Hall? You know, we had stories from Stephen Stanley, but we also had stories from his brother Rob as well.

And they were both ushers at Massey Hall. And then Stephen went on to headline there. I didn't know Stephen Stanley was an usher at Massey Hall. Yeah, Stephen was the original usher. Really? Who got his brother the job. And they both tell some, they tell great stories about being an usher there. And you get the, when you read through the description

when you read through Rob's description you almost can imagine what doing that job was like there and the environment in the dressing room for the ushers and the atmosphere and the the the ribbon and the banter that went on is beautifully described and rob's story finishes with him going to see his brother play at massey hall and then steven's story did pretty much the same but but he obviously finishes with the actually appearing on the stage at massey hall with lowest of the low amazing okay so let me ask you this you often often hear about, you know, in New York, you'll hear about, you know, Carnegie Hall. This is where you want to go.

Is Massey Hall the closest we have in the city to, like, our, you know, that'll be it, well, at least the top of the pyramid when I play Massey Hall? Oh, absolutely. And I think that's the story for so many Canadian bands and artists as well, is that they aspire to get to Massey Hall. Some of them would start there by being a support band

or maybe a backing musician. And then hopefully you go on from there and you make that headline act at Massey Hall. And for Canadian bands, I guess at that stage, you've made it. And then you break from there to the arenas because you become so big. But I think that the career pinnacle is, I think Geddy Lee has described many times, and Ron Sexsmith describes in the book,

is reaching that pinnacle of playing Massey is so important. Okay, shout out to FOTM Ron Sexsmith, who I've been following him on social media. He's in Europe right now playing shows that were much delayed, I guess, due to COVID, but he seems to be doing well there. Good for him. I think Barenaked Ladies are on their way to Europe as well

because I saw something from Tyler Stewart thanking Ron Smith for warming up Europe for them, and they're on their way too. So here we are. Everything's coming back to normal. You mentioned another fellow who's in the book, but first we're going to listen to this jam before we talk about Geddy Lee. And the men who hold high places Must be the men who hold high places must be the ones who start to mold a new reality closer to the heart, closer to the heart.

And the artist, reflected in their art They forge their creativity, closer to the heart Yes, closer to the heart Philosophers and plowmen, each must know his part Rush. Rush How are you portraying Rush in your book there? I had two major pieces I had so many Rush submissions Did Rush have the most submissions?

Or maybe at the end of this episode you can tell me if it's not Rush, but I can imagine there's a lot of Rush fanatics. There's a lot of, and great stories as well, and some great images that we got of Rush. But I felt that the All the Worlds of Stage needed to be featured. And the six stories that are in the book from that stand of three nights, they're all different in their own way. But the other thing I think you get when you read the stories is there's a vibe.

And you get this feeling of an early summer weekend and this buzz of anticipation and excitement and the whole buzz around the fact that the audience knew the shows were being recorded it just has a

there's a consistency in the stories but there's just this vibe that runs through it that I thought was really nice. So we dedicated a group of pages to those three nights. And then I also was desperate to get another image. I think Rush have played Massey six times, and I wanted to get something from one of the other three shows.

six times and I wanted to get something from one of the other three shows and managed to find a guy who had some images some black and white images a guy called Bill Horashuk and Bill's a professor and he'd taken these photos you know years earlier and he didn't you know he then we had technical problems and we couldn't get them off his hard drive and one thing or another went wrong right up until the last minute almost before we went to print when it

just all came together and so there is a photo as well from the January 76 show which is a black and white which is a double spread at the front of the book, which I think is just a, it just captures the band where they were at that moment on the Massey stage, on a carpeted Massey stage, no less.

It looks great. It does, it looks fantastic. Geddy's a big Blue Jays fan, so he's happy that his Blue Jays will be back in business here. Oh, boy. Seriously. Well, mainly because I think this team is playoff bound, so this is the year, playoff bound.

Yeah, cross your fingers. And we don't have to worry about playing home games in Dunedin or Buffalo this year, so no excuses there either. All right, my friend. I love that jam. I love that band. Love that story.

But we got more CanCon here. It's all CanCon here. Let me fire up another Massey Hall jam. guitar solo 12 men broke loose in 73 From Mill Havenven Maximum Security Drop pictures lined up Across the front page Seems the

Mounties had a summertime Long wait The cheap, dull people Had nothing to feed So the last thing They want to do Is hang around here Most of the camp

Down the long fringe name But one other dozen Was a hometown shame Same pattern on the table Same clock on the wall Been one seat empty Eight years in all Freezing slow time He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl. He's 38 years old, never kissed a girl.

Never kissed a girl Never kissed a girl it's excellent did they get the most space? did the hip get the most space? or is it Ty? there's a little bit of coverage sorry there's other coverage in the book of Gord Downie and so if you add the Gord material with the hip it probably is the hip but Neil Young and Rush

and Gordon Lightfoot are all pretty close as well and we had a couple of Neil Young and Rush and Gordon Lightfoot are all pretty close as well. And we had a couple of great stories. One of the Blue Rodeo show where Gord and the Sadies joined them on stage for the encores. And it's a beautifully told story with a great photo and we wanted to cover that. And it's a beautifully told story with a great photo and we wanted to cover that. And I was also lucky that Mike Downey, Gord's brother, contributed, I think it's 1,200 words. And it tells of some of Gord's favourite knights and famous knights at Massey Hall and is a great tribute. So we had the additional Gord material because of that.

And then I wanted to cover the six shows from 2009 that The Hip did there. And I was lucky enough. I had some great people submit photos of The Hip. And they're such a photogenic band and lead singer, obviously. But I chose some by a guy called Richard Belland, who a lot of the Toronto music scene would probably know Richard, or the photographers certainly would. And Richard had taken some great shots and

we picked ones that I thought just just captured what it was like seeing the hip on stage and that is I saw the hip on the Friday night of that stand and that is in my top five shows of all time it literally like I'm looking at Gord here in your book right now, and it literally hurts my heart. Yeah, me too. Unbelievable, actually. And then you mentioned the Sadies, and we lost Dallas Good.

Yeah. Well, after you published your book, of course. But yeah, man, just so sad to lose these great artists far too early. All right. I was going to close with a hit, by the way, and then when I was stretching out my order, I realized, no, I have to close with someone else.

But we are going to, again, these are all CanCon jams, but let's talk about another Canadian band. Virgil Kane is the name And I served on the Danville train Till Stoltman's cavalry came And tore up the tracks again In the winter of 65 We were hungry, just barely alive. By May the 10th, Richmond had fell.

It's a time I remember oh so well. The night they drove old Dixie no, this is not the weight. Back with my wife in Tennessee I almost said, I was about to say The Wait, but no, no, this is not The Wait. This is the band, though. Oh, my goodness. What can you tell us about the band at Massey Hall? A couple of places from the book, Mike, that are great to talk about. We had real problems finding photos of certain shows

the Dylan 65 doesn't have a lot of imagery the famous U2 concert in 83 when Bono climbed into the balcony, there aren't many shots, Miles Davis was difficult to photo and we got some great images

the Cream show in 68 Geddy Lee always talks about. There aren't a lot of those photos. But we were lucky enough that John Pinto submitted shots that he took of the band in 1970. And his good friend Edwin Galitz, who was the guy who took the Bruce Coburn photo,

helped to work on those photos which had laid untouched I think for for quite some some years I mean that we're talking you know 50 years ago more than 50 years ago and John's description of taking the photos and of the show itself he said it seemed like the entire night was there to savour and they did one of the massive shows

that defy description and it was the band's triumphant return to Toronto and I think they're all really fitting with three beautiful black and white photos that John put forward. All Canadian

in the band except for Levon. He's from Arkansas. He's from Arkansas, right? Yeah. Because Ronnie Hawkins is from Arkansas. And no, not the lowest of the low guy. The other guy. But yeah. It's funny because I'm going through your book and then I'm seeing all these FOTMs jumping out at me.

Just a couple I want to shout out though because it's on that Tragically Hip. One of the Tragically Hip pages is Kevin Shea. So it's awesome to see Kevin Shea. I had a great chat with Kevin Shea the other day. I saw him during a Leafs game. Like they put him on whenever they want to talk history and he's talking about the history of the arenas

because we wore the arenas throwback jerseys for that outdoor game yesterday. Um, and can you play net? Can you, are you a goaltender? Can we stick you in there? We got to do something, buddy.

Okay. So, uh, Kevin Shea is on my screen and we're chatting about that. I'm telling him he looking good, Kevin. And he's like, you should have on the guy,

Phil Pritchard. He's the guy who never leaves the Stanley cup. So like I'm now work, I'm trying to get so that Phil and the Stanley Cup come on Toronto Mic. Imagine Stanley right there and with Phil Pritchard. So anyways, I'm working on it. But shout out to Kimmich. Another guy I was reading about in your book who submitted some great verbiage is Alan Cross. And I shout out Alan Cross, not just because he's a great musicologist, but because, what are we now, buddy? We're 1015. But episode 1021, otherwise known as 1021, is the most who worked at CFNY and we, you know, David Marsden is on there and we talk, speaking of Spirit of Radio because Rush wrote Spirit of Radio about CFNY

in the Mars Bar era. But anyway, there's a great episode at CFNY for anyone who's a fan of that station. Or even if you, you know, you want to just learn about a really cool Toronto station that you maybe don't know a lot about, make sure you don't miss episode 1021 because Alan Cross is on there and that's uh what made

me think of it okay so that's that's the band and here's an act that got quite a lot of uh coverage just paul weather i'm looking at him right now that was your uh underwhelming debut i'm looking at there okay is that your photo don't don't tell him he's a listener you know okay here we go with another great jam Okay. Is that your photo? Don't tell him I said that. He's a listener. Okay. Here we go with another great jam. Early morning rain, with a dollar in my hand With an aching in my heart, and my pockets full of sand I'm a long way from home, Lord I miss my loved one so Lord, I miss my loved one so The early morning rain With no place to go

Out on runway number nine Big 707 set to go And I'm stuck here in the grass With the pain that ever grows Now the liquor's tasting good And the women all are fast And there she goes, my friend She'll be rolling down at last Mr. Massey Hall Gordon

Lightfoot Alright, before we talk Gord though, I was reading the Frank Turner page, and it wasn't written by Dave Hodge, and I wonder if that was an oversight. Where's Dave Hodge's Frank Turner piece? He's a huge fanatic for Frank Turner.

And I did see the Mavis Staples page, which I love Mavis Staples, and then that got me thinking about The Last Waltz. And I absolutely adore when the Staples singers are doing The Last Waltz with the band. It might be my favorite part of The Last Waltz, actually. It's amazing. Anyway, that is The Wait. Tell me about Gordon Lightfoot, Mr. Massey Hall. You know he's everywhere.

Mr. Massey Hall you know he's everywhere he runs through the book because so many people refer to their experience of seeing him whoever they're talking about they feel the need to mention that of course they've seen Lightfoot and Massey Hall as well

there's a great story I mentioned Ron Sexsmith earlier about Lightfoot calling him and giving him some advice There's a great story, I mentioned Ron Sexsmith earlier, about Lightfoot calling him and giving him some advice on his first appearance at Massey Hall. Amazing. And there are lots of, it's a mixed bag of stories, but the thing, there are a lovely bunch of stories. There are stories about just hanging out with him in the car park after the show.

There's a story about him sitting down at an after-show party at his house and playing a few songs. And there's a story about somebody who uses one of his songs as a lullaby to his young baby to get them to sleep and then takes that same baby a few years later, grown up a little, obviously, and she falls asleep during the show to the same song. That's a sweet story. It is, but I've got a favourite,

and there's a wonderful account from an author called John Bain there's a wonderful account from an author called John Bain who describes how he and his mate Phil bunked off going back to their school to spend a teenage Saturday and Sunday in downtown Toronto and the adventures that they have before eventually going to the Lightfoot show. And the story is is great and it has an emotional conclusion that i won't spoil um but i went back to massey hall um for

the opening gig uh with lightfoot um and when he played softly, which is mentioned in that John Bain story, I turned around and I looked up to where I knew their seats had been in the balcony, and it was just, it was a weird connection, but sort of a good one as well, and I hope people will buy the book and read the story and they'll understand what I mean as well. Like straight up, what I love about the book is

even if you couldn't read English, this is a great book. Like just the photos are telling a story unto themselves. Then you got all these, you know. How many, do you have any clue how many unique artists are covered in this book? There's probably, well, there are 200 stories. There's probably, well, there are 200 stories. Okay.

And there's probably 300 artists featured in the stories. But then there are many other artists as well that come up. So you've probably got about 500 artists that at some point are mentioned. Right. I mean, look, I just was reading and Bob Marley played Massey Hall. So who would be like the, I mean, I'm sure there are some big artists that never played Massey Hall. So who would be like the, I mean, I'm sure there are some big artists that never played Massey Hall, of course, but has Paul McCartney ever played Massey Hall?

I don't believe so. Okay, so am I right? Ringo Starr. Yeah, so Ringo Starr is the only Beatle who's played Massey Hall, right? Because I don't think George Harrison played Massey Hall either. I'm only a spitball in here,

but that's an interesting factoid. But hey, we have two artists left in our little Massey Hall countdown here. And for my money, and I thought there's a few artists I purposely overlooked because we cover Leonard Cohen so much on the show. Like every year we kind of do another deep dive into Leonard Cohen with Michael Posner. And there's so many other Canadian artists we've kind of done the deep dive into. But here are what I would consider maybe the two greatest Canadian singer-songwriters of all time, with all due respect to the bands we've already played and Gordon Lightfoot and everybody. Let's kick out this jam. See it, he said, you just can't win it Everybody's in it for their own gain, you can't please them all There's always somebody calling you down

I do my best and I do good business There's a lot of people asking for my time They're trying to get ahead They're trying to be a good friend of mine I was a free man in Paris I felt unfettered and alive There was nobody calling

me up for favors And no one's future to decide You know I'd go back there tomorrow But for the work I've taken on Stoking the star maker machinery Behind the popular song Joni Mitchell.

Tell me about Joni Mitchell in The Night at Massey Hall. I'm watching you, Mike, flicking through the book, and you've stopped on a photo of Joni Mitchell, which, if I describe the image, it's black and white, and she's sort of leaning on her guitar and staring almost through the lens of the camera it feels. People ask me what my favourite story is and what my favourite photo is and it changes

all the time but the Joni Mitchell one is a very special image I think and the story is by the photographer Edwin Gerlitz who took that photo. And there's also a great description from Catherine Mackay of the 2013 tribute show to Joanie at Massey Hall that had a whole bunch of acts supporting and singing her music and playing it. I know Rufus was there, Glenn Hansard was there, Liz Wright.

Kathleen Edwards was there? Kathleen, yeah. So a great night and finished off as well by Joia herself making a brief appearance towards the end of the show, reading a poem, singing a song, and I think joining in on the chorus of a further song,

which was a special moment, I think, for everybody who was there. And it's beautifully described by the author Catherine Mackay and so I would point people to that and I think there's a lot of enjoyment of the tribute show and I think people will enjoy the photo as well. All right, we're at the end here. Just before I kick out the final jam, I want to give some love to the good people at RYOBI.

RYOBI is the newest sponsor of Toronto Mic'd. They've got the RYOBI 18-volt 1-plus system of tools and chargers, and these batteries, they last four times longer. There's a four-time longer lasting charge, more run time, 20% lighter than the NICAD batteries. My wife, this is the truth, my wife swears by the RYOobi 18-volt 1-plus system. And at some point, I'm going to get her to talk about

some of the pieces that, you know, she's made. She made the loft bed for my two youngest kids. My TV's on a stand she made. There's tables, there's chests. She's been, you know, whenever she has time, she loves to do the woodworking with the real real B system. So it's amazing to have real B on board. And what's even more amazing is this final jam, because I'm thinking when I'm putting the list together, I said, okay, I know who I want to close with. And I want to close with a

song recorded at Massey hall. So this is a song from that artist, live at Massey Hall. It's a new song about... It's about... It's a Broadway musical. And it's... Some people look at their life and say, Well, my life's like a movie. And then they talk about what scenes went down.

And in some movies there's tunes, you know. And this is like a show tune from my movie. Thank you. I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid Find a place nearby for her to stay Just someone to keep my house clean Fix my meals and go away Afraid A man feels afraid Afraid piano plays softly It's hard to make that change When life and love turn strange and cold cold

To live a life You gotta give a love To give a love You gotta be part of And when will I see you again? A while ago somewhere, I don't know when, I was watching a movie with a friend. I fell in love with the actress. She was playing a part I could understand. Me. understand Me Man needs me

Me Me I wanna live, I wanna give I've been a miner for a heart of gold It's these expressions I never give That keep me searching For a heart of gold And I'm getting old

Keeps me searching For a heart of gold And I'm getting old I've been to Hollywood I've been to Hollywood I've been to Redwoods I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold I've been in my mind

it's such a fine line that keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I'm getting old It keeps me searching for a heart of gold And I'm getting old I wanna live, I want to give. I've been a miner for a heart of gold.

And when will I see you again. David, I get literal goosebumps doing that. I didn't want to bring her down because I felt like I was at Massey Hall watching Neil Young in 1971. I love that. All right. And, you know, to be honest, I was desperately hoping you wouldn't bring it down. I thought the last thing I want to do is speak over that.

Well, you're in luck, my friend, because the last thing I wanted to do was bring that down, especially because I know he's bringing in a heart of gold, right? So it's like, I love it. I love it. And, yeah, I wanted to play the whole damn thing and what can you say i'm looking right now at this gorgeous photo of neil young i mean i closed with joni mitchell and neil young on purpose here uh just talk to me about neil young at massey hall

man you know i did i almost feel like a little bit of an imposter because I'm not Canadian and you know that when you read the 700 stories that I read and his name you know comes up all the way through and the affection and and the influence he has had on so many people's lives just becomes apparent not just musical journey but but life stories as well right um and in some ways he seems to me the the perfect artist uh to see on that stage at massey hall there's just something about when you have somebody with you know a singer-songwriter on a on a great stage with fantastic acoustics, local boy.

At the top of his game too, like the height of his powers. Yeah. Like 1971 Neil Young at Massey Hall. And that recording's pristine. It's a beautiful recording and we have that forever, which is amazing. It absolutely is. And so I think he's sort of the perfect star of Massey Hall. I know Lightfoot is on a different level for different reasons, but I think Neil Young, he's permanently associated with Massey

and is very much obviously in the hearts of Canadians. There are great stories. There's an usher who tells the story of he was so keen on the job, he walked to his interview to be an usher at Massey Hall listening to the live album before he got there. Rob Bowman writes a stunning part of the foreword of the book where he talks, sorry, Rob writes the whole foreword, but he talks, sorry Rob writes the whole forward but he talks about in part his very

first show which was that 71 Neil Young story. Gordowney's daughter had a game that she played at one of his shows. There's a real funny story. There's Eddie Vedder's personal tribute to Neil Young at Massey

all has told by Alan Cross. Just getting all your names in now. And, you know, Eddie's number two for me, man. I mean, you came in the side door, but if you had come in the front door, Neil Young is in the hallway upstairs. Not Neil, he's not actually there. I think he's in Peter.

I don't know, my buddy Freddie P said he saw Neil Young this last summer somewhere in the Coerthas. I think that's where he was hanging out during this pandemic in the Coerthas with Daryl Hannah. But anyways, I digress. But anyway, love Neil. I mean, I played these 10 bands for a reason. But sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you in the middle of your spiel there.

But great to just kick out some Neil Young live at Massey Hall with you here as we talk about that night at Massey Hall fantastic I hope that Massey moves on I hope that there's a whole new history created

at Massey Hall of new famous stories and great occasions and live albums. I hope there are many more stories to be told under the banner of that night at Massey Hall. But I also really hope that Neil Young comes back and plays the new Hall once more and we get the opportunity to go and see that.

Thank you for putting this together man. Like I said, this is a labor of love and you've got passion in the belly for the project and you did it man. It's a great job. I want to just give you some kudos for putting this together. Thank you man. Thank you Mike. It's been a real pleasure and thank you for inviting me on the show.

You're just saying that because I'm about to give you lasagna. And beer. And beer. And beer. And that, that brings us to the end of our 1015th show. 1015.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Okay, now I think I have this right, but Mr. Binks, you're not on Twitter, but your book is on Twitter. Yes, the book's on Twitter, and we're on Facebook, and most important, we have the website,

which is thatnightatmasseyhall.ca. So go to thatnightatmasseyhall.ca for all your That Night at Massey Hall needs. Our friends at Great Lakes Breweryy they're at great lakes beer palma pasta is at palma pasta happy birthday to palma palma is the matriarch of the petrucci family like that's her name palma that's where the name palma pasta comes from and today as i speak to you david she's 91 years young. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Palma, whose last name is not pasta. Palma Petrucci. Happy birthday, Mama Petrucci.

Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. Canna Cabana are at Canna Cabana underscore. And Ryobi are at Ryacabana underscore and Ryobi are at ryobitoolsusa. See you all Thursday night when Cam Gordon and Stu Stone visit me for our third episode of Toast. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today.

And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day but i wonder who yeah i wonder who maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray because i know that's true yes i do i know it's true yeah i know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you? I'm picking up trash and then putting down ropes And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes

And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms me today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy now.

Everything is rosy, yeah. Everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray