Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Best of Toronto Mike'd, Vol. 1

Episode Date: June 15, 2019

Memorable moments from the first 250 episodes of Toronto Mike'd.

Welcome to episode 477 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, StickerU.com and Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and this is a very special episode of Toronto Miked. This is

the best of Toronto Miked, volume one. And joining me, let me show the Periscope people my t-shirt. Nice t-shirt. Lead singer of the Royal Pains. Do I use your

full name? I don't know. Go for it. Al Grego. Hey, Mike. How's it going? This is your first appearance on Toronto, Mike, right? It's my first appearance, but not my first time down here in this basement. Sorry, studio. Sounds salacious. What happened down here that we should know about I

don't know you invited me down okay tell the people I think I invited myself down because uh remember hey hi Mike can I come and see your studio yeah and I what did I say no I said no right and you came anyways absolutely come on down yes yeah I have an open door policy at TMDS Studios. And yeah, I remember this because you were, this is the previous setup and it all looked different, right? You see everything's flipped now, but you were going to build a podcast studio for your place of employment. Yep.

That's right. Do you still do corporate podcasts? I just did one today. Because that's what I do. So I feel like you could have just hired me to do it and then we'd both win. Yeah. But you, at the time you weren't available. That's true. That's true. In fact, so you're part of the whole, like, I guess the whole, me realizing there is something here that could like feed the family is the fact, and I didn't tell the world though, did I charge you a penny for that podcast consultation?

You did not. You did it out of the goodness of your own heart i believe at the time though you probably didn't have the experience yet to be able to chart something and furthermore if people uh don't know the name the royal pains uh you played your band played tmlx1 and tmlx2 and you didn't charge me for that and you normally get paid there you go what is it quid pro quo that's yeah latin for uh you do me i'll do you well that's not talking about being salacious well hey hey now but somebody said what was what was the laura armstrong came on and i had somebody said oh you were flirting with her the whole time i honestly think i flirted more with you in the first uh three minutes of this episode than I did with Laura Armstrong.

No, but you know what? You can tell listening to your episodes whenever you do have an attractive lady on that there's a change in the tone of your voice. Does it get higher pitched because I get nervous? A little bit, slightly higher pitched. And we do get a glimpse into what Toronto Mike might sound like when he was in his flirting stage. Hi, Caroline. Thank you for coming. Tell us about Cash.

Okay. I'm so excited about this episode. So, yes, the Royal Pains played TMLX 1 and 2. And, well, Hebsey was here. I think I told Hebsey you were coming in. And he said it, and he said it at the time, kick-ass band. You guys are really good. Thank you.

We have fun doing what we do, and it's a weekend thing. We're weekend warriors. You can't live – well, you know, there's bands like The Watchmen that are weekend warriors, so you're in good company, I feel. Yeah, but, you know, they're artists. I'm just an entertainer. I know, but they still need to do other things. For sure.

Like I'm just saying, there's no shame in that at all. None at all. No, we have a great time. And, and, uh, you know,

I call this band my, uh, my, uh, rehab from, you know, I don't know if we'll talk about it, but.

From corporate life? From, from, you know, my, my heart attack from a few years back. it's up to you, man.

I can't, I can't just go on the show and disclose your private medical information. That's okay. I didn't know whether we were doing a deep dive or not. But anyway, it was my rehab from some health issues I had a few years ago, and it's been great. So you, because you're not an old man. I'm looking at you.

You look old, but you're not. Like, are you younger than me? I think we're around maybe if a year, if that. So you're, okay. Wait a minute, 75. Okay, I'm 74. All right, so. 74 years old. I'm actually older than you there you go no i'm older than you if i'm born in 74 and you're i'm a musician math is not my strong suit i'm older than you i just i just look younger than

you so uh you had a heart attack that's like i mean there's a lot of guys right now and gals in their mid-40s listening to us right now who aren't even thinking heart attack yet. Like, you had a heart attack. Yeah, when I was 36. Like Everlast from House of Pain. Yeah, and it was obviously shocking. And did you live or die? Spoiler alert.

I don't want to spoil it. Okay, so I don't mean to make light of this, but you look so healthy now. It's okay. I don't want to spoil it. Okay, so I don't mean to make light of this, but you look so healthy now. As heart attacks go, it was actually quite mild, and it was all stress-related and stuff, and the things that led to that have been fixed. What were the symptoms? Because sometimes I have actually gone to the hospital

to make sure I was not having it. This has happened in the last three years. So what were these symptoms? Well, that's the thing. There was, there was pain and I was on my way to the gym that morning. And ironically, I was in, it was in a time where I was getting healthier and losing weight and working out on a regular basis. And I thought I had this pain in my chest and I thought, Oh, it was a pulled muscle maybe from a previous day's workout and it wouldn't go away. And so I said to my wife, I think I might need to go into the hospital

and just make sure this is all good. And even in the whole weekend I spent in the hospital, the most commonly uttered phrase is, I can't believe you had a heart attack because there was very little damage they found. It was just very minor, but it was just enough. Just enough for you to be able to say i had a heart attack which makes people think whoa he had a heart attack like i think that's the

way to go because uh you're not no worse for wear right but you get to say you had a heart attack i get to say yes i'm in that elite club i would open every episode trying to mic hi i'm trying to mic i had a heart attack but here i am so okay i'm glad you uh survived the heart attack so and then i'm glad that you started uh the royal pains i should tell listeners that the uh the wonderful poster for tmlx3 which takes place june 27th from 6 p.m to 9 p.m that poster is courtesy of a disco stew is that his nickname. His name is Stu and I call him the resident guitarist because he's our guitarist

and he's also an amazing graphic artist. Okay, good. That's where you're going there. Guitarist. And he's, so he's another member of the Royal Paints.

Do you want to shout out the other two members? Shout out to Stu. Shout out to Chris on bass. Shout out to the other Al on drums. Yes. And you're playing Tmlx3 you're actually

opening for the lowest of the low we are that i'm excited i can't wait i'm looking forward to that uh i'm sure the low are looking forward to that too i'm sure they have no idea who the hell we are and that's okay but they might use your mics and stuff oh no i'm sure they are you get there you set up and then we we let you play a bit and then we take advantage of your gear that's all there as long as i get a selfie we're good oh yeah ron ron is well ron and lawrence but they're uh sweet i mean they're doing tmlx3 they're getting paid what you're getting paid so i don't want you to think they're getting anything more than you so in fact maybe less because you're

gonna get a oh they might get a lasagna too because they're in here next week. Unacceptable. Scratch what I just said. So let me just quickly tell everyone the premise here because this is the most exciting episode in a long time. Forget Leo Roudens. Forget Cherry Haworth. Forget Gino Vanelli. Let's tell

the people what you did. Firstly, let me tell the people, as long as your tablet doesn't run out of battery there, you have connected your uh android tablet device to the board that's recording this podcast and you have your own channel via bluetooth so any noise that happens on your tablet is going to be part of this show as if i'm playing it from that's why i brought why I brought the tablet because you mentioned connecting to my phone. I'm like, well, what if my wife calls or what if

that would be... Yeah, that would come through and we'd all talk to your wife. In fact, let me just silence my phone now and I'm thinking of it. You should probably do that. All right. So, Al, you're doing... This is part one. So this is the best of Toronto

Mic part one, which means you're only going part one so this is the best of toronto mic part one which means you're only going to cover the first 250 episodes of toronto mic right so we were chatting online for a bit and we were throwing back and forth ideas or something and said you know we should do something where we kick out our favorite episodes and you're like that's a great idea you should do it i thought it was a great idea that's a great idea but i don't want to do the work you can do it. I thought it was a great idea. That's a great idea, but I don't want to do the work. You can do it. I don't have time for this. I'm trying to start my own business here.

So I thought, all right, well, I mean, I've always wanted to do my own podcast that isn't, that's outside of work, right?

Everything I do is for, for, for Moneris. And that stuff doesn't get on, oh, I didn't know if you were going to mention the name. Yeah, I'm allowed to mention it.

I've been given the okay to mention it. But we should point out this, these are not available on iTunes or Spotify. These are private podcasts. Exactly. These are for the company. But I've always wanted to do something on my own from work, but I've never had the idea. And I'm an avid listener.

I've been listening to you since day one. And I've been reading your blog since before day one. And that's why you reached out to me and said, can I see the studio? Absolutely. Because you were a listener. And that's the first time we met in the real world. Right. So at work, I wanted to start podcasting.

And I'm like, well, I want to get started. I've got an audio engineering background, but I wasn't sure everything that I needed. So I'm like, well, Mike's doing it. So let me see if... If Mike can do it, I can do it. That's what you were thinking. But Mike's close. And we've chatted a few times online.

So I'm like, let's see if he'll let me come by. He doesn't seem like a jerk. He might even let me come over and see his stuff. I was quite relieved that I was able to leave after, yes. Who is it? Gene Valaitis likes to make a joke. I don't know if you're on Twitter. He likes to joke that stuff is happening in this basement of these guests,

but it's all on the up and up. You live to tell the tale. This basement is literally not big enough for anything salacious to happen. I don't know how much room you need for that. But okay. At least as big as a broom closet. Okay, so you have...

How many clips are loaded in that tablet? So I have 16, but I burnt one in the test and it was really one that I was kind of okay to... We can still play it if you want. we can still play it okay let's still play so I've got 16 clips so what happened so when when we started talking about this I'm like okay yeah well I'm gonna remember the stories that stuck out to me and I'll just read through all the scenarios and synopsis and see okay I

remember that one and I remember it being good so I'll get a clip out of that but I don't know if you noticed, Mike, but you're almost at 500 episodes. This is 477. I was joking with you before we pressed record that I'm thinking of MASH 4077. I used to have a t-shirt that said MASH 4077. This is 477.

Yeah. So I came back to you and I said, Mike, I don't think I'm going to do the best of all 500 episodes. So how about we do half because I've got about 15 clips for the first half. And then when you hit 500, we can do the other half. Deal. So this is part one. You'll come back for part two.

I have to get to 500. Now, a lot of the stuff I think of, my memory is not so good, I guess. Like I think of things like I think of Molly Johnson and I think of Gino Vanelli. And I have these moments I think of that are all from the like 251 to now. So I'm really, really psyched to hear your 16 clips from the first 250 episodes. Because my way I remember is like most of those first 50 episodes, I think they're just like me and Rosie shooting the shit or something. So I had to disqualify a bunch, right? So unfortunately, and I loved Rosie and I miss Rosie. So there's no Rosie here?

There's no Rosie. There's no Elvis. Sorry, Elvis, my bearded brother. Oh, he doesn't listen, so don't worry. No, that's why I left him out anyway. And I decided, and there weren't any kick out, there was a couple of kick out the jam episodes that early, but I decided to leave those out.

And also any of the regulars. So Ed Conroy, Mark Weisblatt. I left those out. Sorry, guys. I disqualified you. You get your own time. So, you know. Even poor Ed Conroy, who's only been on, I think,

like four times or something, but he's been disqualified. Okay, so that's fair. You make the rules. I like this. So I got you. Yeah. So those are all out. The Rosie Epps, the Elvis Epps, the Kick Out the Jams.

Because otherwise we'd be here until midnight tonight, and I'm sure you don't want to do that. No, no. I'm supposed to go out for an anniversary dinner after you leave. So hard stop at 7, gotcha. No, it's not a hard stop. Not that again. Okay, so first of all, I should tell the people, and this is the truth,

I have no idea what you're going to play. Absolutely. So when we all hear it together here, I'm hearing it for the first time with you here. A lot of this I'm sure I haven't heard since it happened in real time, and it could have been years ago. This is the first 250 episodes.

So my reactions are genuine. There's no fakery here. I don't know what Al's picked. He's going to surprise me. That's really good effort, by the way. I know I told you this online, but the fact that you pulled 16 clips from the first 250 episodes for this volume one of the

greatest hits or whatnot is fantastic. So I owe you again. So I owe you again. Well, how about this? We're going to shorten the sponsor mentions here for this special episode. So you're going to get your six pack of Great Lakes beer. I didn't know if you were going to shorten the sponsor mentions here for this special episode so you're going to get your six pack of great lakes beer i didn't know if you were going to drink during the episode so i'll take a dad body if you got one okay i got it it's not gonna be cold i've already got one

no okay whatever you got cold this one uh octopus um danny graves's favorite so that's cold but i can always run up and get you more during the ben rayner good man that's awesome ben rayner uh he wanted a cold one i just just told him, tell a story, and I ran up to the fridge and got him one. So yeah, enjoy your octopus wants to fight. That'll keep it cold. You put it on the frozen lasagna. Now, even though you had a heart attack. Do I need a coaster? No. Even though you had a heart attack, you haven't switched to a vegetarian lasagna. You're having a meat lasagna.

I'm weak. Yes. That's great. I'm way too young and way too weak to go off meat. So my diet's better, but it's not what it should be. It's improved, but it's not crazy. Okay. So you got lasagna from Palma Pasta. They have a Father's Day special.

We're still pre-Father's Day here. So what is it again? $26.99 for the large lasagna that feeds eight people. And I urge everyone to go to palmapasta.com to find where you are. Can you lift that? This thing's a brick. I can't believe this is heavy. I can't wait. And you got two kids, right?

I don't care about, I mean, no offense, Great Lakes, because I love your beer and I already drink it and I already buy it on my own. I came here for the pasta. Well, this is whatever it took to get you to clip, to get those clips, man, whatever it takes.

So yes, thank you, Palma Pasta. Go there for Father's Day. Thank you, Great Lakes. They have a charity barbecue tomorrow. So if you're an early listener of Toronto Mike, then you're listening on the 14th of June.

Know that tomorrow, June 15th, is the charity barbecue at Great Lakes Brewery. So get your butts down there. Also make sure on your calendar you've got June 27 from 6 to 9. So you can hear Al from the Royal Pains and then you hear Lois de la Lowe and it's going to be absolutely

fantastic for everybody. Who else do I want to thank? Thank you so much to Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch and jewelry repairs for over 30 years, closer to 40 years, and they have a Father's Day sale going on there as well. So go to fasttimewatchrepair.com to find out a location near you. If you want 15% off any regular priced watch battery installation,

mention you heard about them on Toronto Mike. Thank you to Capadia, not your father's accountancy firm. Al, if you or anyone listening has uh any questions they want to ask a uh he's a he's a certified he's a CPA but he sees beyond the numbers and he's a fantastic uh guy to talk to to run ideas by so Rupesh Capadia is at your service capadiallp.com again a rock star accountant he's there for you. And stickers. You have two kids, right? Yes. So these are two Toronto Mike temporary tattoos. Oh, great. I don't know if your kids are into temporary tattoos. My daughter, unfortunately, is.

And yeah, I'm sure she'll wear them both. Well, you can wear one. Yeah, there's no place. Never mind. Do you have a sticker? Do you have a sticker yet? No. Toronto Mike sticker, man. Where's that going to go? In the car? Probably the guitar case. Oh, that would be? Do you have a sticker yet? No. Toronto Mike sticker, man.

Where's that going to go? In the car? Probably the guitar case. Oh, that'd be amazing. I want a picture of that. I will tweet that out. Do you think Ron Hawkins will put one on his guitar? He's got stickers.

You know, you should ask. You should make it. He likes indie stuff. This is indie stuff. So yeah, that's sticker. That's courtesy of stickeru.com. They're actually going to give out stickers at TMLX3. So you'll probably score another one. Thank you, stickeru.com. They're actually going to give out stickers at TMLX3, so you'll probably score another one. Thank you, stickeru.com. Go there and you can get customized stickers or decals.

All these new decals are from them and basically anything you can stick, buttons, temporary tattoos, anything. One or as many as you need. Go to stickeru.com. And Brian Gerstein, who, as you know, I want to spend two minutes on this before we start doing the best of Toronto Mike. Brian Gerstein moved from Montreal, where he was a diehard Expos fan. And he got here in time for the birth of the Toronto Raptors. And he adopted, that became his second team,

like the only the second team he ever loved, he tells me. So he's, like you and I, he's been there for 24 years and he's calling himself Raptors devotee on Twitter. Now, Brian, I mentioned him because he's an amazing real estate sales representative with PSR brokerage.

And if you go to property in the six.com or you call Brian, do you memorize this number? No, you don't. I should know it by now. I know the jingle. You want me to sing it while you... Well, here, I got the jingle.

I should probably do it real quick. Maybe this is the time for you to play your burner, but here. All right, Brian, you are 416-873-0292. I urge anyone looking to buy and or sell in the next six months to contact Brian, if for no other reason, but because he sponsors Toronto Mike. And this is a moment for me just saying, if you need a watch battery or a band or jewelry repaired,

you got to go to Fast Time because they sponsor Toronto Mike. If you need beer for the party or if you want to pick up some beer, make sure you pick up Great Lakes Beer, a local independent family-run business that makes tasty, fresh craft beer. Because they sponsor,

they were the first ones in, they sponsored Toronto Mike's. Palma Pasta, it's a family-run business. I talked to Anthony today, I told him what you had done and he called you a nerd. I just wanted to know. He said, only a nerd would do that.

I was like, you don't get it. Anyway, he's a good guy though. But the family-run business in Mississauga and Oakville and they make great Italian food. His parents started that company with real Italian recipes. They came straight from Italy and you should support them because they sponsored Toronto Mike. Capadia, if you need help from an accountant

or need to run something by somebody regarding your business ventures or whatnot, Capadia, because they sponsor Toronto Mike. Do you get what I'm saying here? Right? You got to support the people who sponsor Toronto Mike. Well, and it's a free podcast. It's a free podcast.

And then you put up with me telling you about these wonderful partners. That's the price you pay for all this wonderful content. Okay, good. I love that jingle. Thank you, Ill Vibe. Oh, we finished it. I don't think we ever finished the jingle. So making sure your Bluetooth channel is tuned up because I think we can dive in here.

Now, again, I've never had any audio played on this podcast and I did it without knowing what was coming. So I have to quickly adapt to that. But how do you want to do it? Do you want to take over? And I just chime in as the color guy and you be the play-by-play guy? Oh, yeah.

I wanted to talk Raptors for two minutes. That's right. I needed a timestamp. Yeah, that's why I was talking about Raptors devotee. I forgot. See, I'm all over the place. I don't normally record in the evenings. Al, it was your birthday yesterday.

Yes. Happy birthday. Thank you. By the way, this is from Kapiti. I forgot to give it to you. Al it was your birthday yesterday yes happy birthday thank you by the way this is from Kapiti I forgot to give it to you but it holds up your cell phone when you watch Raptor highlights on your phone for your birthday we I don't know if you

caught this we won the NBA championship the Larry OB is ours we won it in six just like the Jays won it in six in 92-93 we did it yes it was quite it was quite the birthday gift that's i tweeted out before the game i was so nervous yesterday all i want for my birthday is is a raptors win and so who gets a an nba parade for their birthday i did so i'm very

happy so we owe it all to you absolutely it was all it was all me and what a what a game i was so i was watching it, well, I was watching my teenagers, but my daughter was multitasking by listening to music and podcasts or something. But my wife was there, although she was,

it wasn't off a bit for the first two quarters. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but she came around for the fourth. But we were saying like, if we didn't have a horse in that race, this is the kind of game we like. That was a fun game.

Oh, Lowry, he started on fire. Yes. Making every shot. It was amazing to to watch Lowry was on fire uh I gotta say man uh I want to rename my youngest son Fred because what Fred Van Vliet when he hit that three like everybody kind of came together uh Kawhi only only had the foul shots at the end of that very regular game for Kawhi yeah and he had a regular game in game five too. In Kawhi, we tried.

I think he's banged up, I think. But we did it, man. And at the end there, when Steph Curry, well, first of all, I was really mad at Danny Green for that turnover. I was like, holy smokes, dude. Somebody at work today said, we need to get rid of Danny Green.

I'm like, you know, I like his podcast though. I want him to stay just so I can listen to his podcast. But that turnover. And then Hebsey this morning tells me Pascal should have had it. And I'm like, I watched that replay 10 times. That's a tough grab. That was a terrible pass. That's on Danny Green.

But then they do their play for Steph Curry to put up the potential winner. And that thing missed. It was all so surreal. It all slowed down. And I'm watching the clock. And then you know what happens with the timeout they that thing missed. Like it was all so surreal. Like it all slowed down and I'm watching the clock and then you know what happens with the timeout they don't have. It was a very anticlimactic, yeah, win. I mean, there wasn't any of that rushing onto the floor

with your arms up high. Well, you started to do it and then you had to stop because you saw the refs talking and there was 0.9 on the clock. So it's like delayed. Yeah, you're right. We didn't have that timeout. Let's go.

Right to the last split second. The Raptors were doing the whole, we haven't won it yet. We haven't won it yet. Even though everyone in the room, everyone in the stadium knew they had won it. I mean, unless a miracle happened, they won that game. Right. But until, you're right. You're right. You're right.

So it took a lot of like, I think, self-control for them not to, like, start, you know, celebrating right away. The way I described it on the open mic today is if they don't call the timeout they don't have, okay, that clock expires and the Warriors lose.

We're the champions, right? But if they do that, which they did, they get the technical and then we get possession. But if you do, through all that,

it gives them, I would guess, about a.5% chance of winning that game. And twice in that game, I don't know if you do all through all that it gives them i would guess about a 0.5 chance of winning that game and twice in that game i don't know if you remember but but curry took really long deep shots from his own end that hit rim and so twice yeah yeah yeah if he had done it a third time who knows he might have made it right right no he can hit those and he does that would have been a deflating shot right so thank you raptors yes parades on monday i'm been underneath my royal pain shirt is my uh we the north shirt so uh i'm so happy and it was so wonderful and happy birthday that's all for you

all right al take it away mike are you ready to kick out the Toronto Mike's jams? Damn right I am. All right, so we'll do this one, even though I said it was a burner. But this one here happened June 21st, 2017. Okay, so that's good. I like to do a little preface, and then we play it. Yes. And then you tell me why you chose it, and then I'll react to the clip. Maybe give you some insight.

Here we go. But better yet, you're a musician. Let listen to brian's uh jingle while i tell you a little bit about him perfect extra free plug for brian brian says the toronto real estate board reported for the first two weeks in June, 3,000 transactions. That represents a drop of 50% in comparison to the same period last year. In order to sell your house now, you need to price it on what buyers are paying now versus what they paid three months ago. You're still going to get an increase of about 7% in price over a year ago. you're still going to get an increase of about 7% in price over a year ago. So call Brian now at 416-873-0292

for an up-to-date evaluation of your home as it is changing on a weekly basis. I'm blowing away that I'm jamming with Fred Penner. And he just goes on. And you let him go. Of course. I know when to shut up and let the great Fred. Speaking of Freds, great Freds, let the great Fred Penner go.

So, okay, why did you choose this clip? So, I mean, it's the lighter of all the clips. And it's kind of fun because you've had musicians here since then. And a few of them, I guess, deal with their nervousness by playing in some very odd times. I can't imagine who you're referring to. How much time do we have for Mike? I was thoroughly enjoying that. But you have five more seconds here.

That's fantastic. So that was Fred Pen penner fred penner jamming to property in the six i can't believe i had fred penner here and i know you know i mean some of the some of the people you've had down here yeah when you stop to think yeah it's like i can't believe i had that that person and i forget like because it's been almost 500 episodes uh and what number was fred oh that was 244 244 it's not that long ago is it maybe it is so oh okay so i remember that's the first time somebody you know whipped out a musical instrument and started playing it that's right and that kind of gave me the idea that oh musicians can do that

like i can and i actually started to get so bold that i asked the lowest of the low. They played a couple times. They're going to play again next week. I asked them, hey, do you mind playing something? I think I did the same with Chord Depth from Spoons, and I did it with Gino, and yeah. So, great clip because I didn't know he was going to start playing along, and I was really

jazzed that Fred Penner was there. That was amazing. He had the pork pie hat. I love this memory lane. This is great. Alright. Okay. So, let's go to same year, 2017, May 3rd. I have a clip here of Howard Berger

talking about the day he learned you had been let go, I guess, with Nelson Millman. So, this is about 40 seconds. Let's hear that and let's talk about how it all came to an end at the fan here. Okay. One of the worst days I ever spent at the radio station was the day that Norm got let go.

It was about a year, year and a half before I was let go. So I would say probably sometime in early 2010. And it was also maybe the worst day of Nelson Millman's career at the radio station. Nelson was my boss for many years. He was the program director, and he had to let someone go. And it turned out that after meetings, it was Norm. And I remember in those days, you were given memos.

You know, nowadays, everybody sends an email. There were memos in everybody's mail slot, and you'd pull out the piece of paper. It said memorandum on it. And I remember Nelson's memo saying, we lost a bit of our soul yesterday. It's one of the toughest decisions I've ever made in my life. Let's just carry on and do the best we can. Wow.

Yeah, so they lost a bit of their soul that day. Yeah, you know, someone had told me that, one of the sales guys, that after I was let go, that Nelson knew about it maybe a week or a couple weeks ahead and that he was kind of like, you know, the guy was saying, the guy who told me that was, you know, you can tell, he was in a rough and a bad mood and he was going through a lot of, seemed to be going through a lot of internal conflict

and he knew he had to do this. And so it sort of backs up what howard was saying and you know it's uh uh with um you know i remember nelson would quietly do things you know like like we like any boss you know employee or you know it's almost like a family thing you know we would have areas of disagreement but i remember if i was really having a hard time or trouble with something he would he would go to bat for me i I mean, one time, you know, the late 90s, we went through some, a few of us had to take some pay cuts. I won't say the other. There was like three or four or five of us, whatever.

I remember a time I was struggling financially, but I remember Nelson, when I told him I was struggling, he orchestrated something so I could find a way, like even on a freelance base, get some more money. So push came to shove. Like like I say it was like family you know we would uh we would have times when we agree times when we disagree uh but uh push came to shove he certainly you know went to the wall for me uh you know on a few occasions on some pretty serious stuff so uh always be grateful but that's I mean it's nice to hear that I it's, it's nice to hear that it affected him or that, you know,

he felt that strongly about me that he was affected in that way. So that's nice to hear from Howard. Nelson sat in that seat. We spent 90 minutes talking. I am certain of one thing, which is that Nelson Millman was, he enjoyed coaching people and hated, despised having to let anybody go. And, you know, this was not, yeah, he's, you know, and we joked about how you have to be sort of a sociopath to be,

to enjoy, you know, firings. But Nelson was there to coach, not to release. When Storm and Norman got fired. That's almost like Inception because there's a clip and a clip. Like we got Howard in there too. So that's why I picked it. I mean, so that was episode 235. And I mean, I wanted to have a Storm and Norman clip because like you,

I listened to the late night vampire religiously. Hammerhead alert. That's right. And I had the stripper stories loaded up. I mean, when you think of Norman, you think of, and I know you say you never went, but, you know, I might have gone a couple of times. And I remember hearing Norman's voice over the loudspeaker and I'm like, what's he doing here?

And it was, you know, and now, so he talks about on that episode about how he got those gigs, you know, being the spokesperson for Whiskey A Go-Go and Treasures Gentleman's Club. So that was really interesting. But the reason I picked this one, because it's just so hard to choose,

it features a clip from the Howard Berger episode, which is also very good. Spoiler alert, that's the only clip from that episode that I chose. And the Millman episode, which was also very good, but didn't have a story that I could really, you know. I will say it's interesting to hear, you know,

Howard Berger and Norman Rumack there because they're two gentlemen that we heard forever on our one and only sports radio station. And they're two guys no longer in the industry. And they're both, you know, eating and paying rent by doing something that has nothing to do with sports media, like both of them. So it's just...

It's kind of sad. Yeah, for sure. Like, what is it? No country for old men. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's a tough, tough biz. And that was another. I really enjoyed that because, yeah, I like Normie.

And I think he's a good egg. So I want people to rest assured that even though I was a big fan, five 90 listener, these won't all be sports media clips. I promise. Cause you know, Brian and Milan, two sponsors,

uh, they really, really want more sports media episodes. There's a few more, but I'm trying to, I was trying to mix it up a bit. Good. Mix it up.

Mix it up. So here we go. Uh, and the next one is a sports media clip, but it's a kind of a, a general, like people will know this person. So back in 2016, April 28th, this was episode 163. Let me try to hit the right one. Good. You can put some clarity on this.

I want to call it a rumor because I don't think it's ever been, we've never heard from Gary or whatnot. But there's a rumor, or a feeling out there, and some people treat it like this is fact now, where you have a falling out with Gary Bettman, and that's the reason you're replaced as host of Hockey Night in Canada a couple years ago. And only he

could know that, right? You know, I've certainly heard it. I do know that if you were to go to Scott Moore or anybody at Rogers, the league wasn't happy with me. CBC would tell you this. Terry Ludwig is one name that comes to mind. I remember having this argument with him at an All-Star in Carolina. And Nancy, everybody, all my bosses were continuously after me to be a better partner. And I, you know, that again

is a sort of an ethical thing. You know, I do not treat the listener or the viewer as a client, a customer thing, you know, I do not treat the listener or the viewer as a client, a customer, a partner. I treat them as a citizen. And it's just, you know, I will not back down from that. If I have to lose my job for, you know, suddenly trying to speak as a corporatized voice, no chance.

I'll step back from the herd every time and think for myself on that. It's a shame, from a listener perspective, it's a shame that this even exists. And I remember, and I don't know if you listen to Mike Wilner ever talk about Blue Jays baseball, but I remember Mike Wilner,

well, he was on and we talked about it, and he was suspended for a couple of weeks because of comments about Cito Gaston. Right. Rogers owns Blue Jays, the Blue Jays. And it just seems like nowadays it feels like if you, you know, they want you to play nice

with their corporate entities, if you will. And it's just, it's just, ugh. It is. And yet, you know, if Greg Zahn, I think, gets to walk the line

a little more, you know, it'll depend on the voice, right? Don Cherry's going to get away with it. The former athletes, somebody pointed this out, and oh, maybe it was Mike Toth, maybe?

Somebody pointed out that if you look at the people who are allowed to kind of criticize the the bite the hand that feeds, if you will, it's the former athletes that usually get designated. Like Don can do it. You're right. That's right. And Greg Zahn can do it. And maybe Ron McLean can't do that. That's right.

And, you know, again, I just work within the parameters as best I can. You know, it might have. And again, you and I are just saying that, you know, it's a, it's a hypothetical. Did the, did the league finally say we need Ron McLean on Hockey Night in Canada? I think the, you know, guess, I think it happened that way. Oh, so there you go.

Some real talk there. Absolutely. That's good. I was, I, for a moment I was, forgot it was me and I was really into that clip. Ron McLean was here. Yeah. What the hell is he?

That's amazing. Listen to me. It sounds like a humblebrag. And this is before he came back, before they realized that Strombo wasn't their guy, and they brought him back. But he was so candid. He was so open. Yeah, I was bringing it there, he was, uh, he, he was going with it. Like I, and that's, I think it's like stuff like that would happen. And I realized,

oh yeah, you can, you know, within reason you can ask them anything and they might even answer it. Like it's, uh, you got them in your basement, you got them chilled out and relaxed.

Now go hard. Uh, what was the name? Was it not? Uh, there was a name reference that I'm trying to remember. But there's another name referenced. Oh,

Tove? Yeah, Tove. Yes. Okay. I'm sincere. I'm actually worried about Mike Tove. But there's another name referenced. Oh, Toth? Yeah, Toth. Yes. Okay. I'm sincere. I'm actually worried about Mike Toth. Like if anyone listening to my voice right now can tell me Mike Toth is okay, just drop

me a line and say, yeah, he's okay. Because that dude dropped off the grid, man. He used to do some podcast stuff with Jim Lang. Yeah. And he was on Twitter. And we would email each other fairly regularly and all of a sudden all of that just stopped.

And I'd had people reach out like, hey, what happened to Toth or whatever and I would write him a note just say, hey buddy, making sure you're okay or whatever. I get nothing back.

So I'm sure, I don't have a clue what's going on with Mike Toth except I do worry that that guy's okay. So if somebody could tell me. If anyone's heard from Mike Toth, yeah, let them that guy's okay. So if somebody could tell me. If anyone's heard from Mike Toth, yeah. Let them know Mike's looking for him.

Toronto Mike. Yeah, Toronto Mike is looking for Mike Toth and it's all good. He doesn't owe me money or anything like that. But that was a great clip. Ron McLean was on, I think, we have this argument, who's the most famous person to come on Toronto Mike? In Canada, there's not many,

I don't think there's many people more famous than Ron McLean in this country. Probably not. No, you're right. It's a big deal. And he was fantastic. And he totally understood the real talk. I got to get that.

And he loved his Great Lakes beer because I told him he should go to the retail store and meet the guys. And he did. Oh, yeah? Yeah, he made the trip to the Great Lakes. So now that the hockey season season's over you should have him here to kick out the jams or something i'm gonna definitely work on that no for sure i will i will try to get him here to kick up and he's a big hip guy so tell him he made the best of and so now he's got to come back oh yeah for sure i will and he's a

sweetheart so i'll ask him all right uh our next one we're back in 2016 march 4th and this is episode 162 and we'll get back to salmon i will get back to it but uh what about jerry howarth okay because because you know right these guys you do you're right it's like caricatures these these are you kind of distinctive presentation styles that you kind of put on steroids if you will yeah exactly like jerry howarth is you do a great jerry howarth well thanks i appreciate that. And he's another guy who's, he was wonderful about it. He always had a really good sense of humor about it. Not everybody did. No.

I thought the first time I met Don Cherry, I thought I was dead. Because we'd been doing some of these bits with Don, and I'd never met him, although he'd been coming in to tape Grapevine all the time. But I'd miss him. Now, one day, I guess he was looking for me, and I come around the corner, and he's down at the other end of the hall, and he just points at me, and he goes, are you the guy? I'm like,

hi, Mr. Chair, it's nice to meet you. Are you the guy? And he's still looking at me from down the hall. Are you the guy who does me in the morning and everything like that, and you put me in funny situations, make me sound like I'm goofy, all that stuff. Are you the guy? And I start walking toward him. I'm like, oh God, I've got to simmer this down.

Well, Don, we're just doing them kind of. Are you the guy, I said, who does all that? And he's walking towards me. I'm like, oh no. And I go, I'll just give in to it. And I go, yes, I'm the guy. And he just puts his hand out and goes, put her there. I love it. Those things are excellent. Keep it up. Good stuff. And I'm like, thank God. I thought I was going to get punched out by Don Cherry. about CanCon hits of 85 or something, like pick your three favorites, and Black Cars was on there.

And today I replied on Twitter to Don Landry, and I said, nothing beats Black Cars. I was kind of setting you up there, but you never slid in. I saw it, but I was in a rush to come here, actually. Will the Royal Pains play Black Cars at TMLX3?

Would you get the hell off Black Cars? Oh, and will that clip appear in part two? I don't know. We'll see. Possibly. Probably. If it doesn't, there could be riots in the street. So get off like my parish priest.

Don Landry, the last morning show I ever listened to religiously involved Don Landry. As soon as he was gone, I had no, I lost interest. And that's when I just went 100% listening to podcasts on my commute into work. Don Landry was amazing. And it's a sin that he's not on, you know, Trestle Radio somewhere. A sin. That's serious stuff. Now, yeah, I'm going to guess that was Stelic and Landry.

He's in Marsden and Landry and Stelic and Landry. I'm trying to remember. But yeah, no, I mean, I'm a big fan of Don Landry. And I wasn't sure what clip you're going with. I thought maybe it would be the Mike Wilner telling him he didn't like Sleepy Wilner. So I don't know. I was watching to see how long it took before you realized who it was. That's the other thing I'm looking for.

I do know. It's funny to hear because I guess you're editing the MP3 files, right? And there was no compression on those clips clips and it can hear the difference so it's for sure it's a little tougher uh but i knew that was downlander after i think three seconds but yeah if i get stumped that would be a shame right i'd be almost embarrassed to say but so far so good but another sports media guy uh yeah yeah let's see who's next okay well oh crap all right another sports media person that's fine that's fine they they i do go away from sports media oh what by the way what year was i just like here so that was 2017 that was uh 2016 may 4th 2016 2016 162 and when

you do whenever you play the clip that's the oldest clip let me know because i think it'd be interesting to see what's the first episode that gets to your top of... Because I mean, let's face it, this thing's evolved. It took me a while to figure out what it was and then I had to find my voice and I think it took me a good 65 to 70 episodes

before I really could see what this should be. The oldest clip I have here is from episode 74. Okay. Oh, and I actually happen to know who that is because that's my birth year, so I remember who it was.

I gave it away. Damn it. Sorry. Another sports media person. And you'll know the story then too. Oh, yeah. That's okay. It all ties in back to Gord Stelig again.

So it's all good. So we're going to April 28th of 2016. Okay. The record. Okay. Do you stand by the April 28th of 2016. Okay. The record. Okay. Do you stand by the Kessel hot dog story? Absolutely. Except for the address. And I'll explain what happened that day. It was a day where I was working at TSN

because it was trade deadline day. And so I spent the entire day there and I, you know, at the end of the day, I have to write a column about Kessel being traded. And about January or February, one of my son's friends had said, every single day when I go out in the afternoon,

there's Phil Kessel at the hot dog stand by his condo. And I thought to myself, what a neat lead to sort of explain what it was about Phil Kessel's time in Toronto that didn't make sense, among other things, was his unwillingness to sort of be... Gary Roberts up. Yes. Whether Gary Roberts up or just be intelligent about being a professional athlete. And so I thought, what a great way to explain, begin the piece, which was about 850 words.

For the record, the hot dog reference was two sentences. Two sentences. It's not a story. It's not a series of stories, despite what people have written. It's not all these other things. Right. And so I phoned the kid to say, where are you? Like, where's the hot dog stand?

to say, where are you? Like, where's the hot dog stand? Now, my version of where are you was, where's the hot dog stand? His version of where are you was where he was at the time. So he gave me the address of where he was at the time. And then the reason I wanted to put the streets down, I grew up reading Mike Lupica in New York. And whenever Mike Lupica

wrote about anything in New York, he always referenced it was Broadway and 17th. He always brought you home. This is the way you got to write about people in your city, and I've always done that. So, I'm going to get the block. Well, I got the block, and I wrote it.

One of our editors, who lives at that block, said, there is no hot dog stand there. The hot dog stand is here. And so she changed the streets. So the streets get changed. And the original streets were wrong. Then she changed them. So there's already been one mistake made.

If I use the word, he goes to a downtown hot dog vendor every day, there wouldn't have been one word of complaint from anyone. Trying to be too specific and then having a miscommunication with someone got me to a position where I got the streets wrong. And so I know for a...

And the funny thing was, what happened, the day after the column appeared, before any of the Olbermann pension plan puppets, any of the other stuff happened, I happened to be talking to Brendan Shanahan. And Brendan Shanahan had been in the appeared before any of the Olbermann, Pension Plan puppets, any of the other stuff happened. I happened to be talking to Brendan Shanahan. And Brendan Shanahan had been in the office and he'd read the column. And he said he walked into the

office today and everyone was laughing. And I said, why was everyone laughing? And he said, because they thought I wrote the column. I said, what do you mean they thought you wrote the column? They said, well, were you talking to Steve yesterday? And he said, no, I haven't talked to him in a couple of weeks. Why?

He says, because the column reads like you had written it. So basically what I was trying to write that day, 800 or some words, was why the Leafs needed to get rid of Phil Kessel. And as I'll say right now, I've not read a better column explaining why they needed to get rid of Phil Kessel from that day. And Shanahan the next day is saying that his front office thought he had written it,

which furthermore tells me that I hit the nail on the head in writing the column. And I wish that I had used the word downtown instead of trying to be specific with street corners. So ESPN personality Keith Oblerman called you the worst person in the sports world. Well, he did that every day. That was a bit on his show where he found a person to do. And clearly, you're in the United States, and you're picking a Toronto columnist for

a Maple Leaf hockey story as your lead that day? ESPN was having a bad day. Let's hear it, because how could I not play this clip? I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't play this thing. By the way, he lost his show right after this, so I don't know if there's any correlation. Don't mess with Simmons. That's what he learned.

Okay, here we go. But our winner, this guy. Columnist Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun. The Toronto Maple Leafs traded unpopular egg-shaped, meaningless goal-scoring expert Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh in a salary dump, yet the Simmons guy has somehow made Kessel look sympathetic, indeed victimized. The hot dog vendor who parks daily at Front and John's streets just lost his most reliable customer. Almost every afternoon at 2.30 p.m.,

often wearing a toque, Phil Kessel would wander from his neighborhood condominium to consume his daily snack. And now he's gone. Just like that. The Maple Leafs could no longer stomach having Kessel around. Wait a minute, you're complaining about a hockey player eating one hot dog

every day? The bullpen catcher of the Brewers just inhaled 18.1 cheesesteaks over three days. Police were sick and tired of Kessel, sick of his act, tired of his lack of responsibility, unwilling to begin any reset or rebuild with their highest paid, most talented, least dedicated player. He didn't eat right, train right, play right. Yes, trim Phil Kessel, freed of the avoir du poids caused by eating one hot dog a day at home, amounting to as many as 110 hot dogs a season, would really have helped the Maple Leafs maintain their tradition of never contending for anything.

What matters is that Kessel is gone, that who he is, what he represents, what he has isn't had to be removed from the ice, from the dressing room, from the road, from the restaurants. Again with the food? Buddy, what do you think? The Toronto tradition and reputation. Maybe I won't play the whole thing. But if you actually listen to the words. But you listen to the words between the hot dog stuff.

That's exactly why the Leafs got rid of Kessel. They wanted to restart without him. Mike Babcock needed him gone. That's not in question at all. That's why I think, to be honest, I'm really proud of this as a column. I think it's a terrific column. And I think of all the columns written in that days that followed the trade, I would challenge it to find one that explains better what happened.

And at least it got a lot of eyeballs on it. Yeah, but for the wrong reasons. You don't want to be known for that. There are people to this day, like when I write a fact, you can't believe you had Phil Kessel eating a hot dog. I'm wearing this for, I'll be wearing this for a very long time

and I think it's just so wrong. Wow. Wow. Uh-huh. Wow, it's like he just went, and I feel like he really plays the heel, like a WWF thing where he owns it, and he doubles down on that thing. Absolutely.

It's wild to hear it, and I forgot I played the Oblerman thing for him. It was perfect. It was brilliant, yeah. Hearing that and watching him listen to that. And then I got the sense almost like I thought, oh, I've gone on a few minutes. Poor Simmons.

I should bring it down. I almost got the sense like he doesn't want it. He wants to keep it going. Enjoyed it. He was basking in it. Yeah. So from that episode, I could have picked the Howard Berger story

of how he got Howard fired in Calgary. Which comes up a lot on this podcast. Yeah, it does. Or Steve's thought about Brunt's Shapiro, quote unquote, documentary. Howard Berger's story of how he got Howard fired in Calgary. Which comes up a lot on this podcast. Yeah, it does. Or Steve's thought about Brunt's Shapiro quote-unquote documentary, which was also an interesting take. Right. Was Brunt in the first 250 or the second 250?

It must have been second. I just remembered his offense when I suggested it was a was a pr fluff piece but anyway we'll get to that it must have been soon after this yeah but but i i would have tried hard to find a brunt clip because i'm i'm a fan of brunt but by the way simmons gives good podcast uh i mean he's been on a couple times i'm gonna have him on again but he really does give good podcast he's fantastic guest right so how how could i skip the hot dog story that that was a longer one sorry for that uh but yeah well here's uh this i might as well say it here on the record people in periscope i can't even edit this out but the big steve simmons secret that i almost feel i shouldn't reveal is that the guy's an absolute sweetheart like i don't think people want to hear this like i think it'll upset them but this guy is very very uh generous and kind and accommodating

and after i just recently had david schultz on so schultz could say goodbye after whatever i mean decades at the globe he said he wanted to come on this show and say goodbye to everybody it was almost like a it was weird it was almost like a suicide note i'm like well you're you're just retiring you're not you know you're not leaving the earth but uh i got a nice email from steve simmons about how uh amazing dave schultz was and everything like that i just want to let the people know that i think simmons likes to play the heel in that hot dog story i think even his son jeff who i had on and i played that for would agree that maybe he did that lead was not great journalism. But the actual man, Steve Simmons, is pretty fantastic from my experience. You know what?

I buy his whole, I buy the story. I mean, it was a story to write and it was taken. I believe him when it's taken. No, this is my problem. The source was his son's friend. So the source is your son's friend and you know where are where where are you and there's no part like the rest of it was right the rest of it was true right about according to uh according to steve simmons friend i just feel like if you're a true journalist

for true i don't think that i'm not sure that's enough maybe i don't know who grill him a little bit and make sure that he knows this for a fact. Did he see it? I just think it was a little flimsy. All right. And I like Simmons, but that was a great clip.

Awesome. All right. So here's one that is not sports media. Okay, good. I got to think of the others out there. All right.

February 25th, 2017. And so I'll just play it. This one's episode 221. 2017. So I'll just play it. This one's episode 221. The whole incident was like a tornado. It came from nowhere and when it left

there was destruction and a lot of bad feelings. And you and Dina probably have to field all the anger, right? They're going to direct it at you guys. We're definitely on the front line. And then everybody has their opinion about what happened.

And you did this, and you did that. And some of the horrible things that came across, even other members of our staff were like, you should have been fired. And things like that. And you're horrible. And Kevin, how could you have fired her? Oh, I bet you they think, oh, the alpha male guy who's been there since the 90s.

Of course he did this. It was, you know what? This is the business. There are some extremely prominent names in radio and television that are here one day and gone the next. And its decisions made much higher than my pay grade. And you don't know why they are. I had been privy, sadly, to the decision for a couple of weeks. So I was living with this horrible, horrible feeling for weeks and argued it, argued it and argued it and argued it. Then it happened. There are other matters that I'm not allowed to discuss of another offer she was made. On both sides, there was a lot of emotion and there was a lot of wrong, extremely emotional person. I mean, that's what's beautiful about her is what the Jennifer you see on the air is

the Jennifer you get. I mean, she's in your face and she's very big. She has a huge personality, huge personality. And so after she'd gone, I was the one who was told, all right, you got to go on the air and say something. So we're going to prepare a statement for you. I said, absolutely not. I don't read anything the air and say something. So we're going to prepare a statement for you. I said, absolutely not.

I don't read anything on air. I'd rather not read anything on air. I'd rather talk. So they said, okay, well, you can write it and then give us a script we'll approve. And I said, no, I'm not writing it. I'm going to say it off the top of my head. You're a Hawkeye. I like this.

You know, and they were really like, I said, that's the way I do it. I either do that or I don't come to work this week and you get somebody else to do it. So I went on and I had said my piece. And this is all decisions. They get made all the time. We don't agree with everything that happens. And that's what happened. But afterwards, I, again, got into trouble for what I said because I said, I really, really, really want Jennifer

to come on here to say goodbye. No one should work that long with someone and be a part of a family without at least having a chance to say hey, let's look back, let's bring out the cake. Maybe we could have brought out one of Ann Romer's cakes. Sorry, Ann.

I don't have my bingo card here. So that's a huge, huge regret that continues to hang over my head today. I tried to get her back even after. We worked so hard. But I still to this day don't know whether it was a money decision. I don't know whether it was a programming decision. I don't know.

The secret in the industry is that a lot of times when you hear someone say goodbye after they've been there for a long time, and this is everywhere. This is every single media outlet. When it looks all pleasant and nice, like, oh, I'm deciding to retire and I've decided, I'd say 50% of the time it's all lies. Wow. In retrospect, that's fascinating. And so these are the notes I took. So this is an enjoyable episode. Kevin was refreshingly honest so you can tell when you're interviewing somebody who's got

something to lose they're usually very reserved and don't answer things very well they have like pr kind of absolutely except for kevin i was really impressed with kevin because he shot from the hip i mean there were a few things he refused to say but for the most part he said what he wanted to say. And then fast forward, what, a few months? Six months? Maybe? I don't know if it was a year. It was longer than that. So he saw the writing. It feels like he saw the writing on the wall and so he didn't

care. I have to admit, I've wondered sometimes during bike rides and stuff if this had anything to do with that. Like, I'm not saying, oh, but I do know for a fact he was spoken to by his superiors because of his appearance on Toronto Mike.

Oh, really? So I always wonder, like, okay, so obviously I don't make people, I get them comfy and then I ask them questions, but they control what they say, you know? And he's a veteran.

Like, it's not like you used any trickery to get him to say anything. No, and I didn't get him hammered first or anything like that. You know, he was sober. And again, like yourself, I was shocked by how honest he was because I was expecting him to be safe.

You know, you're right. I know right away when somebody is going to give me some, as I say, real talk. And Kevin delivered and it was amazing. And you're right. He talks about being able to say goodbye and spinning. And that happened to him yeah they they said and i still laugh and i think i'm sorry kevin i think kevin i think he's coming back in july like i believe he'll come back on toronto mic in july which will be fascinating

because then he really will have no be out of fucks to give but but uh he okay so what was i saying about kevin he uh they they suddenly he decided he was going to focus on documentaries or something he was oh right he's gonna do some some features like really like how stupid do you think your audience is i always think like like please like sure maybe i'm a little more savvy than the average bear because i have conversations like that but come on like kevin one day decided he didn't want to host breakfast television anymore. Like, please like, Oh,

it frustrates me. But then again, I have, uh, I had the, the words of Christine Bentley ringing in my ears. So, uh,

I just knew too much, but yeah, you'd be shocked. And a lot of this, I can't put out there on the record, but you'll be shocked how many times you think it's a retirement with cake and goodbye and choice, spend time with your family,

but they were basically forced to go away because management decided they should be off the air. Kevin says as much, right? I mean, he basically laid it out right there. If they make it sound like it's, it's a voluntary retirement,

it probably isn't. And if I told you some of the names that were involuntarily right you'd be shocked because some very big public retirements were not uh the talent's decision so i just want to give you some this is where i'm going to give you some kudos now mike because i'm ready i love this part this this podcast you've built right yes i gave birth to you're you're're documenting, you know, Toronto media history, right? You're a documentarian. And now you've become a place where people who didn't have a voice before, who get let go and didn't have a way to say goodbye to their audience,

they come here now. How many times has that happened now? Say, oh, I've been fired. Can I come on to your show and talk? Like from Al Joines? Lots of times. Lots of times. Yeah.

So that's amazing. Like that didn't happen before and they didn't have that outlet before so kudos to you i mean it's even i'm thinking i mean this is in the last 250 so it won't make today's episode but joe tilly for example yeah absolutely you're right there's a lot of that in fact uh jj and mel uh are coming on uh and people who know those names will be excited to hear that they're coming on uh like in a couple of weeks but yeah and hearing that kevin frankish talk kind of on the heels of the steve hearing all these And people who know those names will be excited to hear that they're coming on like in a couple of weeks. But yeah. And hearing that Kevin Frankish talk kind of on the heels of this, hearing all these with Ron McLean and everything, I'm reminded of basically why I still thoroughly enjoy doing this. It's not because it's made me rich.

You saw my car in the driveway. It is 100%. It's literally a Mazda. What is it? 99 Mazda. 99. It's 20 years old right now. 20 years old. I can attest. I saw it. 99 Mazda? 99. It's 20 years old right now. 20 years old. I can attest.

I saw it. And it's falling apart. But anyway, so everyone go to Patreon and support the show. Anyways, even if I was a millionaire, I think I'd be driving the same car. So I'm like, you know, Kawhi Leonard drives a 10-year-old car. I think if you give me a Kawhi Leonard money, I'd still drive my 20-year-old car. I think the house he lives in is a little bit bigger. We don't know that.

But anyway, we'll see what he buys of Brian from Property in the Six. All right, please car. I think the house he lives in is a little bit bigger. We don't know that, by the way. We'll see what he buys of Brian from Property in the 6th. All right, please continue. I'm sorry. All right, here we go. Here's an early clip, 106. January 15th, 2015. And let's take a listen to that. And I... You can do whatever you want. It's your show.

You know what? That's exact. I asked Mae Potts if I could play something from like 30 years ago or whatever. And she said the same thing. And you're right. I'm going to play this. Okay. I call this David Marsden's called Arms. And the audio is not very good.

It's very old audio. But please, I apologize for that. Remember, it's coming from a troll room with ceilings that are a meter high. And mice on the turntables. Here we go. Unless you, and I underline the you, unless you do something, right now for us, this radio station is going to go the way of a lot of other great radio stations in our memories.

Right now, I'm going to ask for your help. 500,000 names on petitions is what we need for starters. Then, if you believe in the music that we're playing go into the record stores bug those record stores to display the music that CFNYFM is playing exclusively in Canada tell them to put those records up front

where everybody can see them instead of in back of the store where you have to hunt for an hour and a half to find them. Can you imagine? Now, what else are we going to do? We're going to write letters, and we're going to write letters until it hurts. Because we need 300,000 letters. Later on, I'm going to start giving you addresses, and over the next couple of days, if I last that long, I'm going to continue to give you addresses.

But first of all, there are two places that you can sit down right now and write a letter to. And one is to the management of this radio station at 340 Main Street, Brampton, and the other is to the CRTC in Ottawa. We need some letters to the editors of newspapers. We need telephone calls to newspapers.

Telephone calls to the CRTC. Letters to the newspapers. Letters to Wilder Penfield. Letters to Peter Goddard and anybody else you can think of. Let them know that you care. Letters to the CFNYFM management. What we have to do now is convince other people

that there's more of us than they ever thought possible. CFNYFM 102.1, the spirit of radio. Wow. Where'd you get that? No, I can't reveal my sources, David. But I, and again, the audio quality isn't very good, but you, it's just, when I heard that, I'm like, wow. And I see you're choked up over this.

I am. So when was the last time you heard that? I'm not embarrassed to be by you. No, no. I don't remember ever hearing it. Well. I don't hardly remember doing it, but it was quite a trip.

Thank you. No, no, please. I thought it was amazing when I heard it, and I call it a call to arms because I don't know what else to... That's what it is. You know, sorry that I call it a call to arms because i don't know what else that's what it is i you know sorry but i that i lost a bit there but no no please don't apologize um if it makes you feel

better i cried with strombo okay so i don't feel so bad i um i don't think i told anybody i was gonna do that i just think and i as i recall recall, I just opened the mic and started talking. And I just said what I really believed. People may ask, what was the driving force? And the driving force was that the radio station was for sale, and seven applicants had applied to get it. was for sale, and seven applicants had applied to get it. And only one of those applicants had said that they would leave it alone,

and the other six wanted to turn it into country or middle of the road or whatever. And I think at that point I felt it was necessary to get the people involved. I've always believed in the people, always. Mike makes David Marsden cry. I remember that moment, and I actually was getting choked up listening to it because I was back there, and it was so emotional, and yet it was just David Marsden's there, and it doesn't quite translate.

I can hear he's breaking up, but when people cry, that's one thing I've noticed. When you cry in person, you're crying, but sometimes on the podcast, you can't even really tell. So I'm staring across and I'm crying, but you can't actually hear it.

But a couple of times in an episode, he cried because he cried when I played the Aaron O'Toole tribute to Marsden that was read in the House of Commons and he started getting emotional at that. So Marsden was a fantastic, what a damn good guest he was. I think he was like the day after Strombo

or something like that. I can't remember which order it was, but that was quite the week for this podcast. I think that's when it got kicked up a level. Yeah, so can you imagine being on the air and soliciting letters for people to write letters to your employer yeah yeah to tell them like you're doing a bad job you're what you're doing is horrible like you're right i mean did he get fired soon after i don't even know like

if i feel like i forget the timelines but uh he doesn't last much longer than that. He's long gone before the McLean Hunter stuff. So, yeah, I got to say that guy is a legend, man. That's a living legend. And just recently, I think I brought it up in an – who was I talking to? Oh, Geetz. Geetz Romo. We were talking about David Marston. And I was asking Geetz if he had any audio of David Marston as Dave Mickey.

and I was asking Geetz if he had any audio of David Marsden as Dave Mickey. And somebody heard that episode and sent me a bunch of Dave Mickey audio. So I've now, at some point, maybe when I get Marsden back or something, I can play the Dave Mickey audio. But what a damn good guest he was. And I loved revisiting that, man. You're doing a fantastic job. Should I be recording this? Well, you know, you can record it the second time we do it um the the one thing i really

loved about that clip was he was hearing it for the first time ever that's wild isn't it like i have this piece of audio but the thing is i'm sitting here watching you listening to this stuff and i feel like it's the first time you've heard it too now it's a little bit of a difference there because we're talking a couple years it's probably it's been a long time 20 years for him right can you imagine listening back to a clip that you did 20 years ago because that's like five years for me right am i uh was that 2014 uh let's see here that was a 2015 so then four years four years ago man uh and yeah it is sometimes i do come up with some audio and i play it and i don't know why i just assume they've heard it a couple of times, whatever.

And they're like, I've never heard that before. And I'm like, oh, like it's just wild to see their reaction. That was great. That was great. All right. Orange bar. So let's look. I'm not going to tell you the episode.

I'll just give it away. All right. December 4th. Maybe the date will give it away, though. December 22nd, 2014. Martin called me and he said, hey, listen, I'm doing this Edge Electric Christmas. Will you come on stage and present with me?

And I said, yeah, man, whatever you want. Like, no problem, bro. And I remember going on stage with him, and we were talking to the crowd, and he gave me this little wink, like we did an old inside joke, and I remember laughing. Somebody's got that photo because they posted on facebook and when marty died i blanked all my facebook and twitter and all that and i just put that picture up um and that was it but are

you sure it was electric christmas you're you know why only because okay i was at the he called the electric christmas i don't know what they called it now but it was always called the electric christmas all right it was a Christmas thing, wasn't it? I was at the Cool House for a Casby Awards. Was that what it was? I was there. I was super close to the stage. I remember when Marty was giving out an award.

I actually think the award might have gone to Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker for some reason. Now who's the nerd? Maybe I'm misremembering that part. Only the cash was just here. Maybe it's all kind of coming. I remember you going on stage. A big surprise was you came on stage with Marty to hand out the award.

And I remember that moment. I was like 20 feet from the stage. Yeah, that was the night. Was that the Caspies? The Caspies Awards, yes, for sure. Canadian artists selected by you. I remember Bedouin Sound Clash performed. This is how I'm remembering it.

No, you're right. I'm not questioning you. No, you're right. Who am I? I just assumed it was around Christmas, but when was it? Well, the thing is... I was wearing a vest. I couldn't imagine. You know, I'm remembering it. No, you're right. I'm not questioning you. No, you're right. Who am I? I just assumed it was around Christmas, but when was it? Well, the thing is, I was wearing a vest.

I couldn't remember. You know, I blogged it, so I will tell you later, which won't help a lot for the audience, but I only remember because I was going with my buddy, Mike Kick, to the show,

the Caspi Wars, and he bailed at the last minute, and he got cancer and died on me at 32 years old. Jesus. I mean, I'm not trying to bum everyone down listening to him because we're talking about Marty and this is life I mean, I'm not trying to bum everyone down listening to

because we're talking about Marty and this is life. No, that's not bad. So I went alone to the show. Wow. And I'm 20 feet from the stage. You and Marty are up there. That's the last time I ever saw Martin Streak. The last time I saw him, I saw him a couple of times on

those Sunday nights together, but not, yeah, that was the last time Marty and I were on stage together with microphones. Yeah, it would be the Caspys. And I remember being at that event, looking around at the people. Yeah. Yeah. And I looked at people and I were on stage together with microphones. Yeah, it would be the Caspys. And I remember being at that event, looking around at the people. Yeah, and I looked at people, and I thought, yeah, man, this station doesn't...

This is changing. This is not my vibe. But Marty, that's what I did. It was for Marty. Cool. Yeah, yeah. Oh, God, I miss that guy. He was good.

Yeah, by the way, I'm sorry for your loss. I know you were close. Yeah, man, listen. Five years. It's one of those things where, you know, and I know this is my buddy who passed away from cancer. Five years as well for you. I know because he didn't pass for many years later,

so it's actually still kind of fresh. He passed actually in April. He passed three days after my son was born. Do you know what? I got two children. One's 12, one's 10, and then a newborn. And so me and I wanted to introduce uh son and my daughter to their new baby brother so we're at st joe's health center meeting jarvis actually i can't talk about it you know i

can't talk about it but i gotta yeah maybe we get we gotta move on this will be maybe oprah will come we'll come in here and i'll be she'll be passing me some clinics yeah long basically if i tell it quick it's real fine i get a text message to come say goodbye, like he's going. And I took my kids straight from St. Joe's to Big Cancer Hospital, Mount Mount Sinai. Anyways. On University. Princess Margaret. Yeah.

I did the ride for them just last summer for that. And I remember the juxtaposition of, here's your new brother, and we're holding this angel in our hands. Let's go say goodbye to my body. It was just too too much heavy it is too much man that's life man but that is life and you don't and i remember my wife saying you don't you know maybe they don't need to see him on his deathbed and i'm like no because this is really happening like this is real maybe they do need to see they do need to see it and then afterwards she said to me mike you were right

they needed to see that and they were fucking amazing that night. Wow. So, yeah, sorry about that. Don't apologize. It's real talk, man. Real talk. How do you end up... Here, here's a change of gears. How do you end up on Much Music?

Oh, change that gears quick. Dude, that story, even hearing myself tell it, I was like, Mike, don't tell it because I'm going to cry now in this episode with you. And a couple of times you try to excuse yourself from telling it but then you go ahead and i try to george isn't prompting you you're you know i feel like i should tell the story but i try to like go out of out of my body to tell it i don't even describe that but so i'm not telling it for like first person account i'm telling it like it's some happened to somebody else like a third person account and i have to do about thinking on it or I cry.

It's all kind of fucked up because Kick was the biggest... I mean, I was a massive Raps fan since game one. I recorded the VHS. By the way, Ed Conroy has that VHS cassette of my first Raptor game I recorded. I gotta get that back from the guy. He was gonna digitize it for me. Speaking of Retro Ontario. But okay.

Mike, what are you talking about? Big fucking Rap fan. fucking world champions of the world right now Mike kick used to write a column on Toronto Mike calm in which he he talked about the wraps he's do the guest rap synopsis because he was the biggest rap fan I knew

and he would be fucking going nuts right now he was such a huge raps fan and here we have done it man fuck cancer sucks but hearing that and going nuts right now. He was such a huge Raps fan and here we have done it, man. Fuck. Cancer sucks. But hearing that, I remember that Strombol discussion because, again, you can't hear it, but we both had tears in our eyes.

Like, he was talking about Marty, he was talking about Kick, and it was all coming together. And he says real talk in that clip. Well, that's why, so that's why I picked it because you know my bingo card. Real talk. So the people who don't know you, your bingo card got a lot of traction,

but now you no longer tweet your results. Milan needs me to, says I'm a nerd. No, no, no, it was Anthony who called you a nerd. Oh, it was Anthony, all right. Well, fuck you, Anthony. Oh, sorry, Palma Pasta. I love you, Anthony. No, it's okay.

He knows. Fuck you, Anthony, but's okay. He knows. Fuck you, Anthony. But you make good fucking lasagna. Dude, that clip. These clips. I'm telling you. You're killing me here. I'm loving it.

I forgot about these first 250. It's funny because when you look at my notes, I have, what is it? First, we have Mike makes Dave Marsden cry. And then the very next clip, Strombo makes Mike cry. By the way, epic episode of Strombo. It was. And it was hard to pick, but once I heard that,

I had to pick that one. By the way, it's funny because when he's telling the story about the Edge Electric Christmas and stuff, and I'm hearing him talk, and I'm like, dude, I was 10 feet, I was 15 feet away from you through that night. We weren't buds, so we weren't talking,

but I was right there. And I definitely have a recall in all those things. That was definitely the Caspi Awards. Well, I mean, he's George Strombophokolopoulos, right? I know, he does a lot of shit. He does a lot of shit, so you excuse him for not remembering specific shows, but you probably don't go to as many shows.

Right, and I remember when, I remember it vividly, but I do remember also that I was going to that show with Kick, and this is before he was diagnosed, so we had no idea, but he just, I remember like a, but I do remember also that I was going to that show with Kick and this is before he was diagnosed, so we had no idea, but he just, I remember like a last minute, he said, oh, I can't make it.

I'm busy at work. And I was like, fuck it, I'm going alone. Like I was actually pissed at the guy, but I forgive him now. Well, what I love about that is it really shows George, like listening to George react to your story,

you might as well just be a buddy. Like he's not, he was easy to talk to. Oh man. I got gotta get him back yeah i went to a couple of live tapings of the hour and i i marveled at his like just the way he was able to do that you know yeah he connects all right here we go uh let's see december 15th this one's fun uh December 15th, 2015 episode 150.

Does that ring a bell? Yeah, I do know. Cause I just had shoulders here. Okay. I'm going to stop giving up. Yeah. Yeah.

Don't give numbers till afterwards. All right. That's probably better. I'm good at numbers. Okay. All right. All right, David,

it's a very important question. Very important. What do you think about either replacing Mike Richards or Dean Blundell with Mark Hebsher from Sportsline? This guy is suddenly a free agent. I don't know if you heard, but Hamilton CHCH had a

gutting last Friday. Yeah, I heard something about that. Yeah, yeah. I'm right here. I'm sitting right here next to you guys while you're saying this. If you sat down and said, what is the absolute worst thing I could do to this morning show? Hebbshire. Yeah, the answer would be Hebbshire.

This is a very exciting moment in Toronto Mike's history because David Schultz is the guest today and we're having a great conversation, but fresh off the CHCH gutting, as I'm calling it now. Don't you have any security in this place? He has his own key, and here he is now to tell us what the hell happened at CHCH on Friday.

I want to ask Dave some questions, though. This is his moment. Yeah, go ahead. This is my third time on. I want to know what other information he's got. I listen to the same morning shows as you do. All right, I'm going to pause the Schultz talk because I got to know while it's still fresh, while the wounds are still oozing.

What happened Friday? Because all of a sudden I saw a tweet from somebody who covers this stuff and it was something about how CHCH is going bankrupt. And then you dig in and it sounds like CHCH is owned by Channel Zero, but there's this Channel 11 lp that runs the news department and they were declaring bankruptcies so they could fire a bunch of people like many people without severance and then another numbered company that's not either of those companies is a numbered company would then offer some people you know a new contract to come back to work Monday.

But of course, I guess this breaks the union. Please tell me, how did you find out? What happened? Tell me. Okay, so Friday morning I go into work. But before I do, my wife says to me, hey, there's a deposit in our bank account. And it's for several thousand dollars and today is not payday.

And I, oh, that's interesting. Well, it could have been an error. It had happened to me before a couple of times where somebody, you know, they mistakenly put money in your account and said, we've made a mistake. We're taking it out. So I thought at first that was it. When I got to the office, my boss said to me, did you get a deposit put in your account? And I went, yeah. He goes, yeah, so did I. So when your boss says, yeah, so did I, and he's scratching his head, you're thinking, Oh, he's not in the loop. What the heck's going on? And then during the course of the day,

and we taped the square off show at one o's not in the loop. What the heck's going on? And then during the course of the day, and we taped the square-off show at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so we still weren't told anything, so business as usual. We're putting the show together. We actually taped the show, Liz West and I. It was a good show, Friday. No one ever got to see it. And then as the afternoon went on, the rumors all over the place, and then we found out that there was going to be an announcement

made at 4 o'clock, and that announcement at 4 o'clock was, you know, CHCH is suspending news operations. We hope to be an announcement made at 4 o'clock. And that announcement at 4 o'clock was, you know, CHCH is suspending news operations. We hope to be back next week. There will be no more news. The station's gone bankrupt, that type of thing. So all the employees were asked to go into the newsroom for a meeting. My office is at the other end of the station. So I didn't hear that we were supposed to go to the newsroom. And about 10 minutes later, I see everybody walking past my office,

going up the stairs to Studio B. So I think, oh, I guess this is what it is. So I go up with everyone to Studio B. And unbeknownst to me, the boss had named off a bunch of people. Like, it's roll call. And if I call your name, go up to Studio B. And he names like maybe 30 or 40 people. I wasn't one of those names, but I didn't know that at the time. I following everybody up the stairs so now we get up to the studio and it's deathly quiet and

one of the owners is up there and he can barely talk and it's just so quiet what's going to happen and he starts saying things like you know those of you are here and here's the bankruptcy there's the banker the trustee of bankruptcy over there he's going to explain what the situation is and basically we're going to offer you jobs with the new company under the new management on Monday. So I'm thinking, okay, well,

sports line's going to still be around. It'll be all right. And then I get a tap on the shoulder from my boss who says, come over here. And so we get out of the studio and he goes, you're in the wrong room. Oh my gosh. That's incredible.

Whoops. We're in the wrong room. Meaning I'm with the wrong room. He goes, yeah, you're supposed to be in the room with those people who, by the way, had already been escorted out of the building by then 20 minutes earlier. The way they do these things is so heartwarming. That's terrible. So, yeah. So that's

how it happened. And over the course of the weekend, especially with social media now, just everybody weighs in. And it was really nice to hear from people, sorry to hear what happened, that kind of a thing thing and then I reached a point where okay am I going to now be upset that I'm not going to get my severance and I'm going to be angry for the rest of my life about this or is it time to now turn the corner it's almost Christmas time maybe make a couple of phone calls see where things are at what's your next gig going to be if you're going

to get one uh and I decided to go that route there because too many people are just, oh, that company, I hate them. I want my severance, and I don't think I can deal with that now. I don't want to be that person now that's thinking, you know, how was I wronged, and they screwed me. I'd rather be the guy to say, well, well, that's the business that we're in. I'm not the first guy to have it happen to, and I certainly won't be the last.

Wow. Ebsi crashes schultz podcast it's interesting because those two guys have both been here in the last week so it's funny here and of course hebsey well hebsey's here now twice a week so it's just funny to hear that's his third visit so at that point you know you know i didn't know him that well like you only i'd only met him three times well the fact that he came over and just felt like he could come in. Well, no, we arranged that. He said he's willing to come in and talk

about it. And I said, oh, I got Schultz coming in from the Globe and Mail. And I said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I said, we'll start at this time. Come at this time. I'll leave the front door open and just come down. So I didn't tell Schultz that was happening. I felt bad about that for a long time. He's been on like five times now. But yeah, that's kind of a neat stunt. Like Schultz was shocked that all of a sudden Hebsey was there. And felt bad about that for a long time. He's been on like five times now. But yeah, that's kind of a neat stunt.

Like Schultz was shocked that all of a sudden Hebsey was there and then we got that great story hot off the press. That was really cool, man. I'm not the Simpsons historian that you are,

but every time I, when I think of that story, I think of that whole Homer's like, everyone's made the baseball team except for you, you, you, you, and you,

and oh, and you. And where are you going? You're cut too or something like that. I think that's, he's cutting the hockey. Oh, is it hockey? I thought it was basketball or baseball. I don't know. Yes.

And you too, yeah, snippy. I remember that. That was a great, great episode. All right. Here we go. October 20th, 2016. April 17th, 1981. My mother's friend ran a hat shop

in the Sheraton Center, Queen Street, right? And she was away on holiday and she wasn't overly fond of her manager so asked if I could go and pick up the day's takings and make the bank deposit. And I said, sure. And I went in there one day and I'm behind the counter and it's like a U-shaped counter so you were like stuck in there one day and I'm behind the counter

and it's like a U-shaped counter so you were like stuck in there. I turn around and there's a guy standing there with a steak knife in his hand and he said, are you the owner? And I said, no, but I'm in charge while she's away and I had that steak knife in my chest. Oh my gosh.

So I pushed him away, went past him went down on the floor put my elbow up because he was going to slash my face slash my arm um he stabbed me um in the abdomen managed to sever my fallopian tubes a couple of slashes in the leg i thought my life flashed before my eyes i thought i was dead um and woke up, well, I opened my eyes, and there was an off-duty paramedic from, no, an off-duty firefighter from Michigan up there. He said, don't worry, I've seen worse. You're going to survive.

But it was the first day the paramedics were on the road in Toronto, and there was a hotel strike. Think of it. I'm basically opposite City Hall, and it took them an hour and a half to get me to hospital. Wow. Yeah. To get me through the strike. And the media is there, right? The media is everywhere. Now, the one thing that I have always thanked CFTO at the time for is my grandmother watched that show. My mother was a producer there and she watched the news, you know,

every night. And my mother phoned the station and said we haven't been able to reach her mother please don't air the story and at the family station at the time and that story didn't air it aired on every other network um that you know young model slash actress you know stabbed in downtown toronto and um yeah they didn't air it and i thought that was pretty damn decent. Yeah, that's good to hear actually. And so she found out there and I was declared clinically dead

and revived. I almost exangulated. I learned a new word. That means bled to death. I almost bled to death. This is everyone's worst nightmare, right? Which is a random attack by somebody. He didn't like, you know those baseball hats

that they have and they have a pile of poop on them and then it says, can I swear on a podcast? Yeah, you can swear. It says shithead across that. He was a paranoid schizophrenic and he thought the hat display in the window, she sold very nice hats

as well, was specifically aimed at him and that he was going to take revenge. So he suffered delusions. He was in and out of the Queen Street Mental Health Center. Apparently he had been following me for going in and picking up the money, so he thought I was the boss.

And yeah, he wanted to... Go ahead, sorry. No, he was arrested. He was sent to the Penitent Wishing Institute for the Criminally Insane. I did not like the way that everything was basically handed to him on a silver platter, mental health, physical health. If I hadn't had parents with money, I wouldn't have got any psychological help. I wouldn't have had the plastic surgery.

My modeling career was ended because of the scars across my body. So I didn't like the way that victims fell through the cracks. So started a group that became Victims of Violence, still occasionally get called in to talk to people that have been through traumatic events like that. And I was talking to, I was working on a film with Marilyn Lightstone, who is Moses Nimer's partner. She told Moses the story, and I ended up getting the law changed. So victims of violence now get money for psychological help up front from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. And so we did a series.

We did a series on it, and that was my entree into journalism. That's how I got in. So five part series. Yes. And yeah, that story is amazing. Because obviously, you mentioned that you were revived. And thank goodness, because I was on the, you know, I was just on suspenseful needles there finding out what happened there. But you went on to have a great career. We'll talk about it.

But I guess it's just scars at this point. It's just these, you're left with scars. It took a long time before I could use a steak knife. Oh, yeah. It really did. And I had agoraphobia. I didn't go out of the house for maybe 18 months. I had to be taken everywhere.

What about like trust issues with, you know, the guy who doesn't look like he's playing a full deck on Yonge Street, like would you cross the street, maybe not pass him, anything like that, any trust issues like that? With the specific type of the man that attacked me, yes, I would cross the street, but I mean, he

had no family, had a cousin, you know, somewhere else, nobody cared about him, and again, it was a failure of the system i mean if you don't have enough room to house people with mental health issues and you send them out on the street with no address nowhere to go no support you just say goodbye we think you're cured and they're not this is what what happens. Kate Wheeler. Can you imagine empathizing with somebody who just tried to kill you? And that's what she did, right?

She changed the law. Yeah. But she also had empathy for the guy who put a steak knife in her chest. The guy who put the steak knife in her chest, though, has a disease. Like, I totally get it. For sure. But you know what i mean some most people would have zero empathy for their attacker right she went and changed the

law for for victims but she also empathized and and knew that there's a failure in the system great clip uh she was a great guest she came in with christine bentley of course and the two things thoughts uh removed from the story which was very compelling is that one, I could tell I was still figuring out that board, which was hard to figure out because I was too hot compared to them. The levels are bad. So I'm much better at that now. Listening back, I'm like, oh no, I'm way too hot there.

And then the second thing is, and I didn't notice in real time, but then somebody pointed it out to me and now it's all I hear. Kate Wheeler has an Australian accent. Yeah, because I didn't notice it when I had a chat with her and then I just listened back to that clip knowing that. Right.

And it's very obvious. It's a very obvious Australian accent. It's in the background there. She's been in Canada a long time, but it's definitely an Aussie accent there. Oh, there you go. I got to get her back. Her daughter's been on.

Yes, yes. Alexandra Beaton. go. I gotta get her back. Her daughter's been on. Yes. Yes. Alexandra Beaton. Yeah I forgot about that one. Sadly probably won't make the. Not in your demo. Maybe not. I don't know. Alright. Let's see here. September 7th 2016. I'm not going to give you an

episode number. Okay. Well it shouldn't surprise you that in my mind, live television and the broadcast of a game should probably start at the beginning and end at the end and not sooner. Certainly, if you have people watching a game,

although they didn't see the Philly-Montreal game across the network in its entirety, if they see it tied up and they're ready for overtime, and then you tell them that you're not going to be able to show overtime because, sorry, we have to leave, it's 11 o'clock at night. And the reason for leaving the game in midstream, as it were, was that the New Democratic Party of Ontario had just announced a new leader. New Democratic Party of Ontario had just announced a new leader.

And the rest of the country actually saw the Flintstones. Really? You should know. I did not know. So it wasn't all that important for anybody other than Ontario. And the people in the rest of the country made their feelings known that this was a decision that almighty Toronto or Ontario, anyway, Central Canada was making for itself and never mind anybody else. But earlier in the day, the CBC had done the same thing to a curling match

that was an important playoff match at the Briar. A couple of rocks to go. Sorry, we have to leave. I was watching with Bob Cole and Bob gets angry at the best of times. Newfoundland was playing BC. I was living in Vancouver at the time, so I had interest in the BC rink. He had interest in the Newfoundland rink, and we didn't see the match conclude on TV.

So that was frustrating enough. The same thing happened later at night in the hockey broadcast and hockey night in Canada. And what I did was express frustration, I guess is the best way to put it, that this was happening again. I didn't think it should ever happen. Uh, I really hoped from that day on that it would never happen again. And I think it happens far less, um, ever since because people realize how, how basically dumb it was, uh, at the time for a network to do this and just shrug its shoulders and say, you know, this is, this is our policy. This is what we do. Um, that's, that's a longer version that I'd intended. But yeah, it was live television. Sometimes you don't have a chance to gather yourself.

And at the moment, I was told, you know, I was asking a question on camera, in fact. Can we go back? We've been in a commercial. Can we go back and see the end of the game? No, sign off. And I said what I said after hearing that. Okay, let's play this short clip.

Now Montreal and the Philadelphia Flyers are currently playing overtime and are we able to go there or not? We are not able to go there. That's the way things go today in sports and this network and the Flyers and the Canadians have us in suspense and we'll remain that way until we can find out somehow who won this game or who's responsible for the way we do things here.

Good night for Hockey Night in Canada. Now, before I play the Ron McLean clip, you can't see that. This is a podcast, but you flip your pen. It's pen or pencil? Is it a pen? It was a pen, yes. You flip your pen in the air. Let's hear Ron McLean briefly here.

And I was there. I was at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I was in what we call the client room, Mike, just around the corner from the studio. I watched the whole... Doug Sellers, God love him, is no longer with us. Doug died at 50 playing hockey down in California. But Doug was the point person who was having to say to Dave, Dave said, don't put me on. Please just go off the air and make it look like some kind of a mistake, you know, that we were cut off. But let's not have Hockey

Night in Canada tarnished with the same brush that already the curling producers and people are. So he was begging Doug not to put him on camera. And Doug was saying, Dave, you know, you're our guy. You have to make this somehow palatable for the viewer and sort of get us off the hook here. It is bonus coverage. It wasn't like they watched the Flyers Canadians all night.

Right. And he, he just, he, yeah, it was a. Like a last straw. Amazing thing to watch. It was the last straw. He, he, like Dave would be better to explain that. Yeah, I gotta get him in here.

I think he was just tired. And, uh, and he, he tired, and he felt, I mean, he was entirely right, of course. Anyway. Oh, that's okay. It goes a little longer, but it's the longest clip. Fantastic. So I thought we'd cut that one there.

No, and again, what I liked about that clip is that Dave Hodge told me, of course, before we started recording, he said he didn't want to talk about the pen flip, but look what he gave. And he's been over a few times since then and uh he's wonderful well and you know you've documented the story now he doesn't have to tell it ever again that's right and i have documented it because uh who else was it a couple other i think romanek was he in the room yeah and uh uh who's the guy who calls the uh ken ken uh from who calls the Red Wings games now?

Ken Daniels. Ken Daniels, yeah. And he's got a story that I'll probably make the next 250, I'm sure. All right, so I'll try to get this moving. September 13th, 2016. I like this one. It happened with Gord as Gord stopped talking to me for about three years. So as soon as Rogers came in, he kind of stopped talking to me.

I mean, we always would have at least a friendly sort of exchange of, hello, how are you, right? But it wasn't – we weren't intimates at all. But then it stopped. And I didn't understand that. And then, you know, there were explosions of temper and stuff like that in the newsroom, which, you know, was kind of strange. And he wouldn't stand beside me. Like, we used to start the show and end the show together. But he wouldn't stand beside me until we were like counting down three, two, one.

That's crazy. And I was like, what? What's going on? Yeah. So I actually went up to him and I said, look, did something happen? Did I say something to you? Did I do something to offend you that I don't know about? But if I have, let me explain it.

He said, no, no, no. It's fine. You know, I'm just going through my own but if I have, let me explain it. He said, no, no, no, it's fine. You know, I'm just going through my own stuff. I thought, okay. But I had opened up, I had opened up the conversation. I thought that would shift things, but it didn't. And so, so this kind of freezing, freezing thing happened that went on and on. And finally, I just sort of gave up on trying to remedy it.

I didn't know what had happened. And then about a month before, it was before Christmas, I recall, because suddenly he was like smiling again. And I thought, oh, well, maybe something good has happened at last with him. And what it turned out to be is I got fired. And so after working there for as long as I did, the news director, who was a woman that I thought was my friend and certainly a valued colleague, sort of pushed the paper in front of me and said, we're not renewing your contract.

And that was it. That was how it was done. And then there was this woman who was hired by Rogers to make those cuts, said, just to be clear, Anne, it isn't personal, it's business. And I stood up and said, don't spout cliches at me at this time. And I looked at this woman who I had worked with for such a long time. And I thought, this is how it ends. I walked out and I burst into tears. And I was walking down the stairwell because I didn't want anyone to see me crying. And a colleague of mine was coming down the stairs and said, what's the matter with you?

And I looked at him and said, I just got fired. And that, of course, just spread like wildfire really quick. And I was walked out the door. I went to my desk. I put my few personal belongings in my bag. And that's how I ended my 30-plus career at City TV. Wow. It was pretty sad.

You know? It was pretty sad. Okay, but Gord, real quick on Gord. Is it fair to say Gord Martineau was told your services are no longer? That wasn't a decision on his part. Yeah, no, I think he was told that. Okay, let me, oh, I forgot to tell you this. So the day after

I'm fired, okay, I've just said he hasn't talked to me for three years. He calls me. And by the way, it was so different when I, the phone didn't stop ringing for weeks after I got fired. Because I was the poster child for that big

cut, right? You know, 600 people, including veteran broadcaster, Ann Roszkowski. So there was always my face somewhere, you know? And, um, and I think, and I think that really unnerved a lot of people. You're right. Because I was, I had been around for so, so long. And he called me the next day and said, it's Gord. Hi, Gord. He said, I just want you to know that as soon as Rogers bought the company, they told me I was out and you were in. But they couldn't open up my contract. It was so ironclad. It would have cost them too much money.

So they got rid of you. Thanks, Gord. Bye. Yeah. Yeah. So there you you go so there it was and it was again a money decision and because i was making a whole lot less money than gordon martineau i'll tell you who does that wow first of all that's the most that's the most real talk thing ever i can't believe that happened ann roszkowski came here and emptied it all out like she just put it all out there it's unbelievable in my notes i said beware the guests with no fucks to give as you would say right they're the best uh that was so that's that's shockingly refreshing like in that in its honesty i had to edit that a bit because i was

listening to that and that is a longer clip and then i got to the point where she said oh gordon called me back i'm like oh we got to put that in there because I was listening to that and that is a longer clip. And then I got to the point where she said, Oh, Gord called me back and like, Oh, well we got to put that in there. Cause that's just right. Unbelievable. Yeah.

I, you know what? I got to get Ann Roszkowski. This has given me all the ideas of all the guests I got to have back here. She was tremendous. Thank you so much. Okay. Keep rocking before,

before this ends up, I ended up separated from my wife for missing her anniversary dinner. this is your end. No, four more clips missing her anniversary dinner. This is your anniversary dinner. Four more clips and they're not as long. Okay, this one is June 30th, 2017. Do you have any bizarre stories about Bazaar that you could share with the

listeners? Actually, Bazaar was very bizarre because I was working the switchboard. Bizarre stories about bizarre that you could share with the listeners? Actually, bizarre was very bizarre because I was working the switchboard. I auditioned because I told you I was trying to act and I auditioned for Dave Osborne, right? Who was the producer. Dave Einstein. Yeah, Bob Einstein.

Bob Einstein. Bob Einstein. Thank you. You're very good. He was the producer for Sonny and Cher And so at any rate I did my audition for what was supposed to be A season's regular on Bazaar

With John Biner I got it I told the executives at City Like it was some big deal I was working switchboard That I got this gig I needed some time off And then the executives went away and one of the assistants said,

you can't do the show after it was okayed. I said, well, then I'm out of here. So here's what happened. I go to do Bazaar. I'm okay for a few episodes. I really am because I'm unaware that they do a completely different version for Showtime. So we're rehearsing over here by the lakeshore.

In one of these halls. Banquet halls. And all of a sudden I'm asked to do a seduction scene where I have to take off my top. And there's John Biner. Well, I completely froze.

And I was fired. I was fired at lunchtime. So I didn't have Bazaar, and I didn't have my city TV job. Okay, so I'm back on the hunch again. And so it didn't quite work out that well. But it was peculiar. I played a human lamp, right? I remember a lot of attractive young women removing their tops on Bazaar.

I think that was part of the allure as well. Yeah. But you know what? Those are the girls that took over from me because I swear to you, you know what? I just couldn't do it. I could not do it. There's a quick Bazaar story, real quick, is that I remember this episode where a woman would take off her top, but she had a top underneath it.

Yes. And she would keep taking off her top, and you kept thinking, oh, this is the last top. We're going to see her in a bra, maybe topless. No, it's like a hundred tops. You never get to the end. It was very frustrating as a young man. I remember that. It was a frustrating program. It was a silly program

to say the least. Yeah, but that's part of the repertoire and by the way that's part of your history your history uh super dave osborne who is bob einstein of course his brother is albert einstein who changed his name because of the other albert einstein and became albert brooks oh wow and now you know the rest of the story. Wow. That is great to know. Thank you. You're welcome.

You're an educational feature no gal should be without. My God. Ziggy. I haven't been so happy since I heard, hello, boys, running in station. So when I say that we can hear in the voice that when you're interviewing somebody that you've been crushing on, that's the prime example.

I did crush on Ziggy, but that was a long time ago. It was great having Ziggy on. You're right. I hear what you're saying. Now, wow. And the whole Bob Einstein, first of all,

she butchers the name. I know exactly. He passed away since then. So hopefully in part two, there's a Tyler Stewart stewart clip because tyler stewart came in here yeah and told the greatest uh stories about being the personal helper or assistant to driver i guess for bob einstein who of course is super day of oscar i also think that was your like cliff clavin moment well i know i'm a little infected but shouldn't I correct? Oh, that.

Yeah. That is, I do have a collection of... Einstein, Brooks. But when they don't know it, because she didn't know that story, if someone doesn't know that Bob Einstein's brother was Albert Einstein,

who changed his name to Albert Brooks, it's wonderful to see their reaction if they don't know that. We got a glimpse of Mike. Those are your moves. We saw your moves. I like Cliff Clavin. All right. glimpse of Mike. Those are your moves. We saw your moves. I like Cliff Clavin. All right.

Okay. Here we go. My moves. Well, Ziggy gave me a kiss in the picture. Yes. I don't get a lot of kisses in the picture. Is that first base? I don't know.

It's been a long time. That's first base. Okay. There you go. I don't know if I got it on the lips or anything. May 27, 2015. We have this one. I got a song I'm going to kick right in.

It's going to bring us back to another time. And then I want to hear a little story about it. But I just learned this fact, so I'm excited to play. You're not like a Brian Linehan, are you? Oh, he's the best. No, Brian Linehan scared people. Did he? He had a lot of homework.

He did a lot of homework. Oh, man. Before Wikipedia. He would have stuff that people who he was interviewing would go, where did you get that? I thought that was five. Your email signature links to an article where this fact is dropped, so I didn't dig too deep for this one. But, okay, for those who, I don't know, who out there doesn't know.

He's got to sing it. Turn it up when it's singing. Okay. Vocal's coming. He's in town right now playing tonight. Toronto Mike. I have a co-worker who went to see him you just hit the post

my friend that's what you do in radio music anyway you know I was wondering how long does it take for Corey to say boy in the box

it takes him 90 seconds so we gotta wait for the 90 seconds and anybody who relakes it so long you can find it anywhere on YouTube so don't say

oh the DJs are talking over the music I hate that and I actually linked I tweeted a link to this video because I let people know anywhere on YouTube, so don't say, oh, the DJs are talking over the music. I hate that. And I actually linked, I tweeted a link to this video because I let people know I'm opening with Boy in the Box by Corey Hart. I loved this album. Well, yeah.

I think this was his best album because Never Surrender was on it. I think he sold, I don't know what it was. It was like a hundred million copies. It was ridiculous. Anyway, from there. You're from Montreal and he's from Montreal. Right.

So Corey Hart, when you crack it up when he says boy in the box, okay? Keep it there. Corey Hart was a young songwriter in Montreal. He was, I guess, maybe 22 at the time. Here we go. Bring me back, man. Okay. All right, so I was doing a, I did an afternoon drive radio show in Montreal at a Top 40 radio station.

Those people listening in Toronto herald back to the times of CFTR. When CFTR was like the hottest station there was. Tom Rivers in the morning. That's right. Top 40 radio in North America. It was considered one of the top five stations. The station in Montreal, CKGM, was in that vein. And I was lucky enough, on its fall, as it started to fall, I was doing Afternoon Drive, and I was the music director, etc. And Corey Hart, who was just coming out, he was just trying to get Sunglasses at Night played,

listened to me, he liked me, and I had it added to our station. So Sunglasses at Night in Montreal became a hit. It wasn't just because of us, because it was in the States and Europe and all that stuff. But we were supporting it. I was supporting it. He and I got to be, he wasn't a huge, huge star and we got to be friends. And my line, the way I identified myself, my handle on the radio at CKGM was Steve Anthony, the boy in the box. And one time he phoned me, he was recording in Morin Heights, which is a very, very famous studio north of Montreal. Andre Perry is the guy who owned it

and the police have done albums up there, all kinds of... Anyway, he's recording up there and he phones me and he goes, he goes, Anthony! He goes, yeah, listen. He goes, I'm up here, man. I just wrote a song.

It's just like, it's a remarkable song. I just want to let you know that you inspired it. So, you know, that was it. You're the boy in the box. Anyway, so I didn't know what it was. He just said you inspired it. And then a couple of days later, he said, Anthony, recorded the song.

It's so great. It's going to be the title of the next album. And then when the name of the album was released, I saw the connection. I didn't know until then. You know, that's an amazing fact that I made The best Corey Hart album is essentially named after you. Well, it's a bad idea. This would be the only story I tell at dinner parties. I'd love to say that this song is about me, but it's not.

It's about Jimmy Dean or something. Same difference, man. Same difference. Except I didn't die a car crash in the 1950s. That's fantastic. Steve Anthony gives a good podcast, too. Yes. Fucking great.

Yeah. All right. We had two a good podcast too. Yes. Fucking great. Yeah. All right. We had two left. Two left. Okay. Let me just say that I, just like I share that, although now that Super Dave has passed away,

I don't actually share the fun fact anymore. Cause I think everybody knows it now. It wasn't, you know, it's not fun anymore. Everyone knows that fun fact about Albert Brooks and yeah, but I still do the boy in the box. If,

if Corey Hart's mentioned, I'll go, you know, Steve Anthony is the boy in the box. It almost made the bingo card, but you haven't mentioned it in a while. So that's why I don't know. That's funny. I biked by the Budweiser stage today and I saw already a bunch of Corey Hart fanatics collecting outside. That's today. If he's in town, that means he's coming here, right? My buddy Murray texted me to say, is he coming over? And I haven't heard from him. I was told he was coming here right i got my buddy murray texted me to say is he coming over

and uh i haven't heard from him i was told he was coming on toronto mic like secretly when he's in town but he's in town right now and as far as i know unless he shows up tomorrow i don't i don't know but i know he listens he's probably listening it's funny you should say because coming down the stairs right now oh my god the boy in the bar oh it's steve anthony okay please your wife she's angry oh yeah that's true but she's a sweetheart. She doesn't want to interrupt this best of volume one. So there's two left? Two left. Okay, this is the penultimate clip.

Let's go. This is the penultimate. This one is from June 28th, 2016. The story I read is one of those too-good-to-be-true stories. I know where this is going. You know where this is going. I don't think people, some people know this because it's in the newspaper, Dwayne, you, and I don't think people, some people know this because it's in the public newspaper,

but you saved Mark Wahlberg's, Marky Mark Wahlberg's life. In no uncertain terms. So tell us that story. There was a huge party. It was the night. The night. So it's past midnight. So it's 9-11.

I'm frightened as hell because I was smoking cigarettes at the time, and I went back to the smoking room, and there's Harvey Keitel and Richard Harris having a smoke and I'm too afraid to go ask for a freaking light. But David Pamer's there, William H. Macy, it's a party of the year. And I started cocktailing. I'm a huge Planet of the Apes fan because some people

are star truckers and trekkies. I was a Planet of the Apes guy. And even the new movie which got panned, the Tim Burton feature, I love the film. And Mark and I are getting pretty sloshed. And so he's got to wake up the next morning to take a flight from Toronto to Boston, which is the same one, Flight 77,

that hit the North Tower. Okay, so he's got to take a flight from Toronto to Boston to board the flight that ends up... A connecting flight that's going to fly to Los Angeles, back home for him. So if he's not getting sloshed with John Gallagher on the 10th of September, 2001... Right, and not to correct you, but it's now the 11th,

because it's past midnight. Oh, yeah, right. So it's really 9-11. Yeah, it's 9-11. And the jets are fueling at the time. We went bar hopping from bar to bar, and he never made it. They're pounding on his door. They're pounding on his door at the Four Seasons Hotel, and they're like,

wake up. You've got to see this. He's like, he's so hungover. He missed the flight, and the rest, they say, is history. Now, he did say something really off-color in Esquire magazine, remember? He said, if I was on that flight, and I was supposed to, but I got drunk with some sportscasters

in Toronto or something, they wouldn't have made it through the cockpit with those box cutters. I would have taken them down. That's insensitive. Well, he had to apologize not long after that. But he was going to be on that. It's not the only indiscretion in Mark Wahlberg's past.

I know. I think. Didn't he commit murder? Yeah, some Asian guy. It was a racially motivated attack. He pummeled some Asian man. But we got so... Yeah, yeah.

Wow. He admits it. He admits it. It's the Canadian beer, drinking all night with some, I think he mentioned sportscaster, but that's a true story. That's an amazing story. Wow. There you go.

You know, a lot of these great guests have a connection to the Moses Zaymers. Say it for me. Moses, say his last name. Yeah, you're better at these things than I am. But a lot of these connections are to City TV and much music, like Steve Anthony, Ann Roszkowski, Ziggy, John Gallagher. He went for the personalities. Yes, and they're larger than life.

In fact, listening to John Gallagher there, he sounds a bit like William Shatner. Yeah. Well, on that podcast, 181, the whole thing is gold. And he was like this. Okay, so please excuse this. But that whole time he was doing this thing right here where he was like so it was incredibly difficult which is weird because

he's from is he from maybe they wear this thing on their lapel like i don't think i don't think he works with mics like this i don't know but uh maybe in q at q107 he might have but john gallagher he's been on a couple of times but yeah i gotta get him back amazing so many stories and i think he was pushing a book that day. So he was trying. Wow. Right? He was peddling that book. Yeah, which I read. Hollywood Babble or something.

Babylon. All right, here we go. Last clip. Okay. You already know it, unfortunately, but here. But I don't remember, so go. Okay, so that's number one. Park Lawn Cemetery, my first day on the job.

So it was after my first year at university, University of Guelph. And me and my buddy Dave Quealy, we're done. It's our first day back. It's April 18th. We're walking up and down Bloor West Village trying to find a summer gig. We don't know where to work. We're going to apply at the various coffee shops and

future bakery and some of the bars. I went to St. Pius, Jane and Bloor. You did, eh? You have no idea how well I know this neighborhood. I worked at that McDonald's at Runnymede and Bloor. You did, eh? Yeah. You have no idea how well I know this neighborhood. Okay. And I worked at that McDonald's at Runnymede and Bloor for 18 months. Upstairs or downstairs? It was all the same thing.

Because upstairs was just tables. Yeah, exactly. Downstairs was the service. But I used to open the breakfast. So 6 a.m. Saturday, Sunday, I did the breakfast shift. Homeboy, you sold me hash browns. No, I definitely sold you hash browns. You ever order a big breakfast? That was me, man.

I scrambled those eggs, man. Really? Was that your specialty? I was the guy who trained everybody on breakfasts for 18 months in the late 80s, early 90s. That's some responsibility. Please continue. That's my hood you're in, so please continue. All right.

All right. So we're swimming in your waters. So we're walking up and down the street, and we stop in. We go up from Blue Rest Village. We go walk up to Prince Edward and Bloor and we go to Burton Ernie's

I think Burton Ernie's is there anymore it's something else something else yeah so we walk into Burton Ernie's we have a couple of beers and we're like

oh well day's over and we're walking back to go to the subway station because we're going to go to Old Mill Station I don't know why we're walking down the hill

instead of just going to Royal York but we're going down Old Mill for whatever reason and we're like hey man we're just reading

in the newspaper at the honestly we're reading in the newspaper at the bar that a bunch of headstones had been kicked over at Park Lawn Cemetery. Like, that's a real drag. Maybe they need like overnight security or something. Wow. And we're like, I don't know. Let's just go see and apply and see if they need any help there.

And so we went and applied and the manager's name was Wendy. Oh, she's such a sweet lady to Wendy something or other. And so she said, yep, fill out these resume, fill out these applications. So he filled out some like micro,

like we're half drunk, dude, like gobbling down, tick tack before I go in and try not to breathe on it. Cause we've been drinking beer all the rest of the afternoon. Yeah. I think this is a goof. Go to Bert and Ernie's basket of fries and some beers.

And so we, we fill out these applications. And then so we get home, start to sober up, and we both get phone calls. Can you start tomorrow? Well, no, we got some other shit to do for tomorrow. We can start on the 20th. Okay, that's fine. Good enough. So I get there.

My first day on the job, 7 o'clock in the morning. Our shift starts at 7. Having a cup of coffee, meet my foreman, meet all the guys that I'm working with, great bunch of dudes. And the first job is on that particular day, April 20th, 1990, they had seven graves to dig and only one backhoe. So that's pretty big. Seven graves is a lot for a day when you only have one backhoe. So they said, all right, we don't have time to fill in the graves. So your first job today before you get started on like mowing lawns and pouring cement and digging

foundations, you're going to fill in a grave. It's your first, first day on the job, you know, jumping in with both feet. How do you, how do you fill in a grave? Uh, well, you see that pile of dirt with the flowers on it, take the flowers off dummy and then throw the dirt on the coffin. It's a fair question. I mean, who, who gets to fill in a grave? So they sent me up to section double A, which is right at the corner of Prince Edward and Bloor. And they said,

all right, here's your shovel. It'll probably take you a while. Take the flowers off, you know, be discreet and respectful about it. And then just start throwing dirt on the coffin.

I said, okay, how, it's going to feel weird. Not many people get to experience throwing dirt on a coffin. So I get up there and it's section double A

and it's right in the middle and I walk by the Sutherland Stone where the Sutherland family, Kiefer and Donald, have a block. Gordon Sinclair is off in another area. Con Smythe is in an area there for all you Maple Leaf fans. I biked by this place yesterday. So you know it, right? Yeah.

You got to look at some of the headstones, man. I got to go in and check that out. I will do that. Some really famous people there. And so I remember digging the first shovel full and I throw it on the coffin and say that out I will do that and so I remember digging the first shovel full and I throw it on the coffin and I say and I had to stop I'm like this is the weirdest thing

I've ever like what am I doing like I'm burying someone and then I look up on the headstone and it's Ballard and I'm like shit this is where Harold was buried this is where this is this is the baton i found out later the ballard family owned part of what they still do own part of parkland

cemetery bill actually just passed away a couple years ago um and and that was my story my first day on the job and i grew up a toronto maple east fan and what were the odds uh that's it that's it right like in that anecdote that like i think i was talking to my buddy elvis about this i think i would use that and i would every time i met somebody for the first time i'd be did i tell you i buried harold ballard like that would that would i drop that into every bio every conversation like i always say everybody hated the old guy but only one person did something about it everybody complained about it that's the line right there too put on a business card. Amazing. Amazing. And I just, I think I just talked

about it, but I just was in that when the Raps started the playoff run, Kix in there, Mike Kix, who we already talked about, but he's in Parkland Cemetery and I just went to, because we the North, I went to check out his gravesite, just getting ready for Raps' playoff run and I had high hopes. And I saw four, count them, four deer

that were just hanging out with me in that cemetery and right in the middle of the city. Uh, amazing. And that's a great story. The Harold Ballard story, uh, by Jeff Merrick. And, uh, I got to get Merrick back on the show. What a great guest he was. He was. And that was, yeah, that story there. As soon as I thought about doing this, I knew that was going to be number one because it, it's got everything. It's got everything. It's got the local touch points that you talk about in your neighborhood. Right.

Oh, you bike through there. It's got the Maple Leafs lore. It's got, it's got. By the way, that Bird and Ernie's, I think it's a Gabby's now. You work there, right? It's really close to where you work. Oh, Gabby's. That does sound familiar. It's right.

It's pretty close to Royal York and Bloor. It's a little bit, a little bit east okay i know on bluer gabby's al that was incredible i can't wait to have a little fun burn through 500 episodes just to get you back for part two seriously i gotta figure the math maybe to be in september or something but uh get to work on it now then get to work on it now and thanks so much that's a lot of effort and i owe you man that was tremendous what thanks so much. That's a lot of effort. I owe you, man. That was tremendous. What a fun, fun ride.

It was a lot of fun. Thanks for doing that, man. And that brings us to the end of our 477th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Al, what's your Twitter handle? So my band is at Royal Pains Band. And my personal is at PFTW.

PFTW. Correct. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. By the way, I'll see you next, I guess, on June 27. I'll bike over there before 6 just to make sure everything's going cool, but can't wait for that. Palma Pasta, that

Palma Pasta, he called you a nerd. Fast time. Watching jewelry repairs at fast time. WJR Milan's another big Raptor fan. Uh, so property in the six.com is Raptors devotee. He's a massive Raptor fan. Sticker.

You is that sticker you and Capadilla LLP is that Capadilla LLP. Rupesh is also a big Raptors fan. So it ties us all together. See you all next week when my guests are lowest of the low. It's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green