Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Best of Toronto Mike'd, Vol. 2

Episode Date: November 9, 2019

Memorable moments from the episodes 251-500 of Toronto Mike'd.

Hey, what's up? This is Chuck D. You are listening to Toronto Mike right here, right now, and the place to be. What up, Mike? Toronto! I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm in Toronto Mike where you wanna get the city love. My city love me back for my city love. Welcome to episode 540 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, StickerU.com, StickerU.com Brian Master from KW Realty Capadia LLP CPAs

and Ridley Funeral Home I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week for the Best of Toronto Mike Volume 2 Episodes 251 through 500 It's a long subtitle. Is the lead singer of the Royal Pains.

Can I use your last name? Yeah. Al Grego. Welcome back, Al. Thank you very much. Very nice to be back. It was episode 477 when you dropped by the first time for the best of Toronto Mike volume one.

And it was very well received. And again, I'm going to set the premise for everybody. It was the same then as it is now, which is you are playing the best of clips from your tablet connected to the board via bluetooth and i have no idea what you're going to play correct so i will when i hear it like my reaction is genuine and if you're watching on periscope because we didn't have periscope yet right when did we do no no we did we did okay when i got home that night uh my wife was still up and she's like so

how did it go i said well let me show let me show you. And I actually played back. I think we watched like the first half an hour. Okay. Is your wife watching us live right now? I doubt it. No. Because you have kids. Yeah, exactly.

She's feeding the kids, getting them to bed. I'd have it on like I'd have it on the kitchen counter or something. Plus she doesn't do Twitter or anything like that. So she wouldn't even know how to get it. Okay. So hello in the on-demand viewing. something going. Plus, she doesn't do Twitter or anything like that, so she wouldn't even know how to get it. Okay, so hello in the on-demand viewing. I want to say hello because I don't... Have I met your wife? This will be the embarrassing part

where you tell me I've had many long conversations with her. No, you have not met my wife. I was thinking back. No, you would never have met her. I saw a picture of you on Facebook from like early 90s. We're friends, yes. You had hair. Yeah, rumor has it. Yeah, it was kind of neat to see you with hair. We're friends, yes. You had hair. Yeah, rumor has it. Yeah, it was kind of neat to see you with hair.

At some point we all did, didn't we, I think? I still have hair. Yes, shut up. Your hair is now growing out of your chin. I can't do that. So you have... Among other things, yes. You know, you are blessed.

Okay, so it was episode 477 when the Best of Toronto Mic'd volume one, where it can be found so it was episode 477 when the best of toronto mic volume one where it can be found it was two hours long and that was the best of episodes one through 250 this is 251 through 500 uh do you want to talk to us a little bit about the process like how you went or how you went about curating this list and how many clips are we going to hear so i have 17 clips could have had more but 17 clips i tried to keep these a little shorter than last time because last time we had a few that were pretty long and you know made for you know you were in a bit of a hurry that night and oh yeah my anniversary

dinner was that night that's right a little bad that i made you late for your anniversary well you should feel bad we're now getting a divorce. Thanks to you, Al. Can I tell the people who aren't watching on Periscope, which is most people, that I'm wearing the official Royal Pains t-shirt. And I appreciate it. Thank you for repping

the band. And you saw us play in our live environment a couple of weeks ago. Okay, so it was your new Toronto debut. Correct. Well, except for TMLX. That's not new Toronto though. You're too north because you go above the railway tracks.

I don't get the boundaries. I really don't. The railway tracks. It's literally like a 10 minute walk. The railway tracks of the northern border. Everybody knows that, okay? Really? Everybody? Nobody knows that except me. And maybe a few real estate agents like Brian Master. But you were not in, Great Lakes Brewery is not in New Toronto.

But you did perform at, what's the name? Dakota Sports Bar? Yeah, Dakota Sports Bar and Grill. Which Hebsey thought was the Dakota Tavern. Yes, which is very, it's either very disappointing or a really lame excuse for not showing up that night. So Hebsey was not there, but I was there. And there was a bunch of FOTMs.

Yeah, it was great. Great turnout by the FOTM crowd. Can we shout out a few? I want to shout out Moose Grumpy. Yeah. I want to shout out Lieve Fumpka. Yeah, basement dweller. Basement dweller.

Michael Lang. Yeah. Oh, basement dweller. Basement dweller. Michael Lang. Yeah. Oh, you're going to forget somebody? Oh, on the spot, I was going to forget somebody. But there was a lot of spouses. Yes. Do we count them as FOTMs? They're more like F-O-F-O-T-Ms.

Some of them have become FOTMs. I mean, Lieve's husband? Lieve Fumpka's husband, I don't think listens. He doesn't listen, but he comes. Only when she makes him. He comes to the TMLXs. And he gave me two bicycle pants, like two pairs of bicycle pants. So you're already too close to the man.

That's right. We are like, somehow we're now related or whatever. So that was fantastic. You broke out a jam that you dedicated to me. This is a jam you broke out, I believe, for the first time at this event. You got to talk up the intro. You gotta talk up the intro. Yeah. So, it wasn't our first time playing this.

Oh. We used to play it all the time. I love your black tush, your red lips, your long legs, your high heels. I love your thigh-high boots, your snake skin, one piece. Yeah, you really get me going when you put it all on. Woo! Anyways, you kicked ass with this song. Oh, thank you.

Danko Jones, of course, who is ineligible for this best of because he's after episode 500. Correct. So he's in the running for the volume three. He would be, yes. And he was a great guest. It was a very enjoyable episode. I like it when guests come over and they're a little bit,

they got a little bit of an axe to grind. Like there's something that's eating away at them a little bit. The more he said that he's not bitter, the more the bitterness.

And that's a tell, everybody. When somebody tells you they're not bitter and they repeat that, they're very, very bitter. But I knew, I mean, he's a podcaster himself, so I knew that he would be a good guest. You'd bring it. You'd bring it. And he brought it.

Speaking of Volume 3, Dave Bedini came on, and I thought he was good. Did you listen to the Bedini episode? When was that? I think I did, yes. I can't remember now. Okay, it's all bleeding into it. Okay, I won't bother you about volume three. I've listened to so many episodes in the last three days that my head is like

swimming. Are you sick of my voice? I'm a little bit as sick of your voice, yeah. So anyway, that wasn't our first time playing that song. It was a song that we had in heavy rotation in our set list for quite a few years when we first started out but then we stopped playing for a very long time. But then after the Danko episode, I'm like, we got to bring it back. You brought it back because it was really perfect for your register, the way you sing.

Like, I really thought like, OK, Al was meant to sing Bounce. It was really good. But you also dedicated a song to my wife who came out. Do you have the time to listen to me whine about nothing and everything? That's what came out. Green Day. Basket Case for Monica. Because she married a basket case. Sure. Well, she asked for either Green Day or I forget what the other song was. Soul Asylum.

Was it Soul? Oh, Runaway Train? No. Yeah? I think so. I think she tweeted it, right? Or was it that song by the band Train? No, no, no, no, no. I would divorce her. No. I think they tweeted it, right? Or was it that song by the band Train? No, no, no, no, no.

I would divorce her. No. I think they're really weak. I think the band Train is horrible. I can handle pop, and I'm fine if it is. But Train's trying to be something else, but they're weak. And I hope he's not listening now. I think he's friends of Aaron Davis for some reason.

I don't know why I think that, but I really don't like Train. But Runaway Train by Solas Island is a good jam. Yeah, I think my high school band used to play that song. But no, the Royal Pains don't play that song. Okay, so the Royal Pains, they kicked ass at this event. I hope they come back to New Toronto. You were fantastic. Thank you.

Actually, we have booked New Toronto April 3rd. Dakota? Yeah, Dakota again, April 3rd. I think it's a Friday night. Pretty sure it's a Friday night. That's exciting. I'm going to tell all the FOTMs to meet me there. Let's do it again.

Yeah, let's do it up again. Michael Lang, you listening? You got to be back there. Michael Lang, I got to tell you, Michael Lang's funny because he wrote me a note to say, I can't support your new sponsor, The Funeral Home. Because his wife is apparently a funeral director at a rival shop. Well, you got to tell him.

What's his name? He's been on your show. He also does funerals, doesn't he? Oh, yeah. Howard Berger. Howard Berger. Yes, yes. But again, as Brad tells me from Ridley Funeral Home, it's a very local thing.

People living in Woodbridge. Well, you live in Holland Marsh? Where do you live? Holland Landing, yeah. Is there a marsh near there? There is a marsh. It's near the Holland Marsh. Everything's Dutch up there, for sure.

Gotcha. Okay. You know, I'm familiar with Guilford. I've told you this. So I feel like... Your grandmother, right? Right. My grandmother lived in Guilford for most of of my life and I went up there a lot.

Okay. So if you were... I hope you... Mrs. Grego, I hope this doesn't happen for a long time, but you did have a heart attack, right? Yes, I did. So it could happen. If it should happen, you're probably not going to come to New Toronto for the funeral service.

No, probably not. So it's a very... Yes. So it's a very local thing. So there's room for all of us. Thank you, Billy Joe Armstrong. And what other band? Are we allowed to talk

that you started another band or is that a secret? If you want. Actually, I'm going to try to get that other band at the Dakota as well. Started another band with a female co-lead singer

and my brother on guitar and it's a bit of a different vibe than the pains but it's you know it's fun is it edm like what is this uh difference well the difference is we can play a lot of songs that are female led right so uh you could do it uh if you do a christmas show you could do fairy tale of new york yeah we could yeah so one of my favorite duets of all time male female who knows. So anyway, it's, it's still in its infancy, but we've played a couple of shows already.

It's a lot of fun. Did you bang your head when you came here to sit down? Did you hit your head? No, because it was this massive sticker that told me to watch my head. The new check your head sticker. Now I tweeted a picture and a little video, actually,

if you want to know what I'm talking about. It is now in place, and I want to thank StickerU. I picked it up there today. They made it when Andrew Witkin was on the show. He said, you need a sticker there. I said, yes, I do. And they made it. I saw on Twitter, Hebsey's delighted.

This is going to change his life. He's running out of brain cells. How much DNA has he left on this ceiling? There's a lot of DNA up there. You don't want to know. But I want to thank StickerU for the sticker. And although you have a bunch, here's more. Al, you're bringing these stickers home with you, courtesy of StickerU.com.

I've already got one of these on my guitar case, but I'll put this one right next to it. This is a cool one. That's for the bricks and mortar store that they have on Queen Street. So that's the sticker for the actual store. And yeah, stickeru.com if anybody out there needs stickers or decals or temporary tattoos. Thank you, StickerU. Or badges.

Yeah, I think we probably need some Royal Pains stickers. Yeah, for sure you do. And did you name your new band? So it's a little bit derivative. It's called The Weekends. Is that written in stone? Can we talk about that? I feel like it's too confusing because The Weekend is a very popular singer.

You might not know. He's not a rock star. It's okay. No one's going to confuse us. The Weekends. Yes. Is it spelled in a funny way or is it just The Weekends? No, it's just two separate words.

So there's no Z at the end like The Weekends? No, there's no Z. No. Okay. We're just a cover band. It's not rocket science. We're just trying to find something that's catchy and memorable. Looks good on a poster.

I look forward to seeing all your bands. You have a wonderful presence as a rock star. I enjoy watching you work. So thanks so much. That's kind of you. I'm kissing your ass now because you put in all this effort and I need you to be. All you need is lasagna and beer. Okay, lasagna.

There you go. I should tell the world, Andrew Stokely is so busy. You are now my audio guy for my live events. You were my audio guy to help set up the live event at Great Lakes Brewery, TMLX4. So there's a six pack of fresh craft beer for you because of your great efforts. That sounded great. I think everybody in attendance could hear us through the board. I guess you plugged the board into your kick-ass speakers that you brought.

Yes, it worked out well. And you're going to bring that same system to Palma's Kitchen. Yes, I'm looking forward to it. And you will meet my wife. Okay, good. Good, it's a very family-friendly event. They're going to have it decorated for Christmas.

Well, they enjoyed the lasagna so much that when I said, oh, we're going to do it again at this time, it's going to be at Palma's Kitchen, she was like, all right. Yeah, free pasta, even your kids. Free pasta for everybody who attends tmlx5 it is december 7th at noon palmas kitchen google it but it's near mavis and burnham thorpe because they have four locations go to the palmas kitchen location don't go to the wrong one uh there's a lot of details

if you can ask me if you're confused. But come to Palma's Kitchen. Thank you again, Al, for helping me set up the audio for that. And yes, you're getting another lasagna. So there's a meat lasagna in the freezer that you're taking home to feed the family. Is that why you're back to do another volume? It's the only, well, that and the beer. You got the beer.

You got the lasagna. And the stickers. I love the stickers too. And you got the stickers. And I mentioned Ridley Funeral Home. So let me just get serious for a moment and tell everybody that they have an event. Can you call it an event?

I suppose. It's called the Holidays and Hope Candlelight Service. You can join Brad and the good people at Ridley Funeral Home at the Assembly Hall. That's also in New Toronto. And it's Wednesday, December 4th at 7pm. It's their annual free memorial service in honor of those loved ones who have passed away and cannot be with us this holiday season.

That's the thing about the holidays. You start thinking about loved ones who are no longer with you. And it can be kind of like a little melancholy and sadness. And this is a chance to kind of get together and remember those at the assembly hall. kind of get together and remember those at the assembly hall. And if you want more information, you can call the good people at Ridley Funeral Home at 416-259-3705 or go to RidleyFuneralHome.com. You like The Watchmen, right?

Yes. Listeners can win tickets to see them at uh where are they the danforth music hall on november 23rd they're performing with the grapes of wrath i dropped this tidbit in the last episode of ron davis and i'm dropping it now because i want people to to enter i really do have two tickets to give away all you have to do and tell me if this is maybe is it too complex tell me tweet at me i'm at toronto mike on twitter tweet at me a video in which you're just basically saying why you like the watchman and why you want to see him live like i don't want to get any more uh uh complicated than that but just tweet a video at me why you want to see the watchman live and you could be on the list to see them for free on

November 23rd. That's a great venue to see a good band. For sure. When I was listening to you perform Bounce at Dakota there, I was thinking about this song from a recent guest. This guy's also ineligible for the best of today, but I was thinking

of this song right here. Mom, I want you back In a dress that's painted black I want you back, I want you back Oh, wait, my mama taught me not to Is it just me, or does this song, Striptease by Huxley Workman, remind you of Bounce by Danko Jones? Is there something about it? You know what it is? It's the fuzzy bass, or the buzzy bass.

And it's about stripping or something, right? Yeah, well, exactly. And it's the same era. See, I'm listening to well, there's that too. And it's the same era. See, I'm listening to the musical similarities, and you're just going through the piece. Oh, it's all. There's a lot of similarities. And there are also early hits for artists

that have kind of moved away from that, kind of. There's a lot of similarities. I'm going to write an essay on bounce and the striptease and their commonalities. But you mentioned that someone else in the band would probably have to sing the song. It's in the wrong registry or something? No, no, I could probably pull this one off.

But yeah, anything that's higher than this would be sung by Chris, the bass player. He's the one who serenaded Monica to Basket Case. But that wasn't because it's out of my registry. He just wanted to sing that song. To Monica, specifically. Is that what I'm trying to say here? I didn't want to say anything. That's all right. registry. He just wanted to sing that song. To Monica specifically. Is that what I'm to understand here? I didn't want to say anything.

That's all right. But you said she was leaving you, so. Oh, yeah. Well, that's your fault. I was late for the, there's nothing to be late for tonight. I think we're going to watch that Eddie Murphy movie on Netflix

about Dolomite. What? Dolomite. Do you know who Dolomite is? Because you're about, no, you're younger than me. You are younger than me. A year.

What's Dolomite? So I was a big, okay, I only learned about Dolomite because he would appear on a big daddy kane album so uh i liked a taste of chocolate which i think was like 1990 i want to say but there was a song like big daddy versus dolomite and he and he was basically he was a a black comedian and he had this style dolomites my name uh getting girls my game or whatever like it was kind of like this pimp style or whatever like sort of like bravado see i thought it was one of those things that only australians ate on their toast or something yeah yeah that's right uh vegemite vegemite i think yes i'm thinking of men at work right now so uh that's from vegemite sandwich but anyway

there's a eddie murphy movie that i think he's good in. So this is what you're keeping me from, but we can do that. I apologize. That's okay. It's done. Let me tell everybody that Brian Master will be at TMLX 5 as well. And Brian, of course, is a real estate sales representative with Keller Williams Realty Solutions Brokerage. brokerage and I urge everyone listening especially all you FOTMs to send an email to letsgetyouhome at kw.com to get on Brian's mailing list no you know hard sell push here you know we're buying and you're selling in the next six months nothing about that simply great value add educational

information that he will send you via snail mail once a month. So again, email Brian at letsgetyouhomeatkw.com. And Rupesh Kapadia, the rock star accountant who sees beyond the numbers. Here's a fun little chat we had about, do you have any tattoos? No, no. No tattoos because you're a rock star. You're supposed to have a tattoo. I know, I know. I'm a lame rock star.

You sure are. Well, let's see if Rupesh has any. Let's talk to him. Rupesh, you're the rock star accountant who sees beyond the numbers. Would you consider getting a Toronto mic tattoo? Well, it's not about Toronto mic tattoo. Generally, I'm not into tattoos. Maybe I have fear of commitment. I don't know.

I have a temporary tattoo for you from StickerU. Will that have, that'll have to do, I suppose. That definitely will do. And I'll definitely put it on my arms. So I think he's rocking that today. Okay. Just get those sleeve tattoos, you know. That's right.

All right. I'm totally like ready to go here. So you have your tablet. I'm not going to look at it. Just not that my eyes are going to see it. I renamed the file so you have your tablet i'm not gonna look at it just not that my eyes okay i renamed the file so you can't even see what it is okay so basically the bluetooth channel is open all right and you can are you gonna talk before you play okay so you're gonna talk it up then play are you gonna play then talk oh i'll do a little bit of both so um just so just to kind of remind people of how my process here uh no uh kick out

the jam episodes although i do break my rule for this one for one here because there was something i just couldn't leave out but uh also no retro ontario no mark weisblot no elvis because it would just have been too daunting well elvis Well, Elvis wouldn't make this list anyways. Probably not. But, you know, Mark Weisblatt may have, but yeah. I think Ed and Mark could both make this list. But why no Kick Out the Jams episodes? It's just too much to go through. I mean, 250 episodes. And plus, I already had, you know, clips in my head that I knew were going to make it.

And this would have been a four-hour podcast if I had done it. Understood. Understood. So I're going to make it and this would have been a four-hour podcast if I understood so I understand so uh I'm going to start uh so the first couple and please don't turn it off they're a little heavy but um I promise you it does get a little more light-hearted later but the first episode here is going to be from uh 2017 November what is this? November 20th, 2017 I just can't catch my breath since the day he left

won't you bring him home to me won't you bring him home to me please God bring him home to me I really struggled whether I should include this song or not. It's very personal.

And nobody can speak about grief like Jennifer Magnus. I mean, this song is about a love affair that she ruined, but to me, it really talks about grief. As I said, I struggled whether I should include this because this is the worst week of my year. On November 25th, on Saturday, is my son's

birthday. And on November 25th on Saturday is my son's birthday. And on November 29th, next Wednesday, is the fifth anniversary of his passing. And this song just, it's so accurate on what grief is like. It does take the breath right out of you. And there's a, you know, I'm not the only one that's in this position. You know, obviously my wife and this song, it speaks to her as well or for her. But there's other people in our business that the same thing.

They've lost sons at an early age. There's Ken Daniels, most recent. Brian Burke. Grant Kerr, a guy I worked with for years at the Globe and Mail. He lost his son. Dean McNulty, who was I worked with for years at the Globe and Mail. He lost his son. Dean McNulty, who was the Dean of Speed over at the Toronto Sun. He lost his son. And now he's doing his own battle with cancer.

Scott Oak. So Brian Burke, you know, the list sort of goes on. Even Aaron Davis. And Aaron Davis. So that's David Schultz on the loss of his son. Wow. You really did start us off with a heavy one there. Yeah, well, I wanted to get those out of the way.

It takes the breath out of you. Absolutely. Listening to him describe the grief, and you can hear it in the timber of his voice. And then you're a father, I'm a father. You do that mapping thing where you can't even imagine. And then it leaves you breathless and it's secondhand grief, if you will. And I can't imagine living through that and having the courage, if you will,

to talk about it on a live microphone like that too. Yeah, but I mean it to to where this show has gotten right where somebody can sit here i mean he's not a stranger anymore he's been on the on the podcast many times but he's still comfortable enough to share it with you and your audience the this tragic loss the interesting thing about that and that's david schultz if we haven't pointed it out yet episode 284 i i i did know that he had lost his son and this was i believe this was his third visit i think to the studio and i was i made it like a conscious decision i'm not gonna bring this up if he wants to bring it up we'll talk about it but it was his call if he wanted

to talk about it we did two full episodes where it never came up and then at the end of that jam kicking as the song was playing i knew what was coming like i i said oh he's going to talk about his son and i was like bracing myself because in that moment where we're very close like we are i think we might have been closer because i had a different configuration there was no periscope we were both i mean he was crying you could hear i was crying too like that was really a heavy moment and you're right that was compelling audio because you're hearing somebody's real emotions, which we're not used to hearing anymore, I think, on broadcasts. For sure.

And going through all the comment sections of all these episodes, because that's primarily how I found the clips that I wanted to find. There was a time where there was a lot of complaining about the Kick Out the Jam episodes. I remember. And this was at the peak of it where a few people in general were like oh another kick out the jams i want to know more about these people deep dives and your point was always you learn more about them when you hear the music that they love and i don't know if they were being like purposely thick or or you know contrary but uh yeah i mean in that clip there you learn more about david schultz than you probably did in the first three episodes it always

baffled me that this free podcast i produced everybody like and i was doing a lot and i was just adding kick out the gems like you're getting what you paid for and i loved the kick out the gems i still do i just did it with a couple people including andy kim yeah i remember the resistance i remember that resistance like it was depriving them of a deep dive well come on you're drowning in deep dives now okay what are we doing for a week here but great if i talk this much for each one we are going to be a four hour episode so i'll shut up now and you can play another clip we'll move on to march 18th sorry march 23rd of uh 2018 Those who are addicted to any type of medication and you go through detox and you become sober

and it's an everyday battle and then you need a place to live because the worst thing that many of these kids can do is go back and live at home because if you're old enough not to and then there's that mistrust there and you have to go be with your peer group and be responsible on a daily basis.

And there's not the mistrust from the parents and wondering, why aren't you here? What are you doing? You've got to be on your own. And that's where Jamie was on his own, was in a great place and then another great place. And then met this kid at an outpatient program at meetings that they all attend. And this kid, whether Jamie asked him or the kid asked him, no one to me, but all I know is after Jamie switched houses and I said, why? And he was, you know, 245 a week, which he was paying for three of the weeks I was paying for one. It's expensive. And then you've

got food and you're drug tested, right? You're in a sober home. And this kid met him at a meeting, took him a home where it's covered by insurance, supposedly, at 50 bucks a month. Well, what they do is you go to these homes, which are sober homes. Now, this is in Florida. And in many other states, it's happening. So that's why I want people to be aware of this. And you have to do your due diligence and do your homework on where you are. Because you go live in a home where drugs are there.

And then they'll send you to labs for testing or a doctor who will send you to a lab and you only need to pee in a cup maybe once a week but they'll run a full gamut of tests that i was getting bills for jamie for seventeen thousand dollars and fifteen thousand dollars through lab work that didn't need to be done and on three of the days he was with us over thanksgiving about three weeks before he passed two weeks before he passed and later we got documents from florida with his signature on the dates that he passed. And later we got documents from Florida with his signature on the dates that he was with us. And I got a picture with Jamie and Bob Cole

at Joe Louis Arena and the FBI called us. And we'd been working with them for months in investigating the doctors and forged signatures of Jamie that were not his. Couldn't have been. He was with us. Right. And bills for thousands of dollars.

So that's what happens. You go live somewhere. That's the bottom line. You go to a home. They send you to a doctor who sends out your lab work and the lab's bill, the doctor's bill. The homes get paid off and you're stuck. And I know people who've had millions of dollars in insurance bills and the homes are anything but sober. Well, yeah, your term is predatory rehabs.

That's what it is. sober. Well, yeah, your term is a predatory rehabs. That's what it is. And he, when, you know, and they call it patient brokering or body brokering where kids will go find kids with insurance. And if you see a kid in Florida and many other States, if you're walking with a suitcase, they're gold. Hey, you need a place to live. You got insurance. Come with me 50 bucks a month. You're all covered. Well, that's where Jamie met this kid. And I remember Jamie calling me and he said to me, I met this kid, dad. It's an awful story. His dad had taken his own life and this kid's got no money.

I'm taking them to Target. I've given them some of my t-shirts. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. I got one kid to worry about. I don't need to worry about another. And four days later, Jamie died with his roommate, that kid in his apartment with him. So. Yeah. Jamie died with his roommate, that kid in his apartment with him. So, yeah.

Wow, Al, you, again, I'll never forget Ken Daniels' visit and that discussion. And here's something I've never revealed. I don't think I've ever revealed this, but I could cry and talk about it. Ken, who was a sweetheart, he left an envelope for me. He gave an envelope to me.

And he said, don't open it until I'm on the road because you had to go do the Leafs and Red Wings game and then he was going back home to Michigan or whatever. And so I did what he said and he left and then I opened up this envelope and it was the nicest note ever about how many hours he's listened to me in his car rides and how much joy I brought him.

And there was a $100 US bill in there. Wow. Like, this is the kind of guy Ken Daniels is. Like, what a sweetheart. And he was so open and honest in that episode. I'll never forget that. Yeah, that was quite the story. You're going to lighten things up, right?

Yes, starting? Yes. Starting right now. All right. So we have a clip from August 9th of this year. So this person sent me a link to one of your tweets and said, you have to get this story. It goes, this is you talking now. Ah, yes. Back in the day when being an Anglo-Montrealer meant being liberal. How things change. He was the first of several Canadian prime ministers to tell me to,

and you didn't type out the word, but the word is fuck off. You're talking about Pierre Elliott Trudeau here. Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the first Canadian prime minister to tell me to fuck off, but he wasn't the only one. Okay, I got to hear this story. That sounds like there's a story here. I was a reporter. That was what I did before I got hold of the FM station that Hepsey and I were talking about with you.

And so I was a reporter for CJAD. It was Rick Lechner and Sid Margulies and myself. We're still friends today. And we're all Jewish. So they called us the JMS, the Jewish Mobile Squad. And it was done tongue-in-cheek. But you know what? That was another one that stuck. And it was done tongue-in-cheek, but you know what? That was another one that stuck.

And I was assigned. Sidney was my assignment editor. I think he was deputy news director then. And he said, go to town of Mount Royal, which was the area that Pierre Elliott Trudeau represented, and interview the prime minister. There's not much going on in the news. It was summer, so he's doing a writing visit.

And see if you can grab him. It's his 60 a writing visit. And see if you can grab him. It's his 60th birthday today. So see if you can ask him a question about his 60th birthday. You know, make it fancy like a man on his 60th birthday looks back in retrospect and looks ahead. And what's he going to do? So I asked for an interview from his then press attache, a guy named Vic Chapman, who had spent time in the Canadian Football League. He's a great big bruiser. And I said, can I have an interview with the prime minister?

And I knew Vic. And Vic says, no, there's not going to be any interviews. It's one-on-one. If he holds a press availability, OK. That kind of thing. So I hung around and hung around. And he's going to the second floor of the Town of Mount Royal town hall in an elevator that only goes two floors.

And it's kind of jammed. And as the doors are closing, and Vic's not in it, I jump in, and the door is closed behind me. And I'm sandwiched up against Pierre Elliott Trudeau. And I say, Prime Minister, Peter Sherman, CJAD, can I ask you a question or two? And he's surrounded by people. So he goes, yes, of course, the way he spoke. And I said, Prime Minister, your 60th birthday is today.

I wonder what your reflections are on what you've done as Prime Minister and what you see lying ahead. And he looked around and he cupped his hand over the top of my microphone

and leaned in and he said, fuck off. I said, yes, sir. And then the elevator door opened up and a hand

clapped me on the shoulder and it was Vic and he said, don't try that crap again. He's so good on a microphone. He's so good on a microphone. He was so good on a microphone. And I gotta say, that's my first surprise.

I didn't consider Peter Sherman for the best of, but yeah, he was fantastic. Lost in the mix, maybe. So, there are a lot of great episodes, but I'm trying to find moments and clips. And as soon as I heard that story, I'm like, that's going to make the best of. That's a great story.

I mean, just think about all the circumstances leading up to that. He jumps in an elevator with the Prime Minister of Canada before it closes, before security can stop him. Like, imagine doing that now. Like, he'd get shot. He'd be shot today. But yeah, again, he was, he has a wonderful, he's a wonderful storyteller and he's really strong at a microphone.

So it was great, great, great chat. He told great stories, but that one there stood out for sure. Okay, so that was 498 Peter Sherman. The next one is from October 23rd, back in 2017. We all went to high school together. When I was in grade 9

Going up for football the first year Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair were on the team And so we played together for a year And then they got out of football together Which was too bad because they were actually pretty good players And then in grade 10 Paul Langlois Whose dad was the head coach of the senior team

Played with us I didn't know Gord Downie very well at all Paul Langlois, whose dad was the head coach of the senior team, played with us. I didn't know Gord Downie very well at all until basically the band started. He played pickup basketball with us at noon kind of thing, and there was always a, hi, how are you doing, in the hall. But it's not like we went partying or golfing or anything. The other three guys I knew better. I didn't know Johnny Faye at all.

And when they were starting, they'd play some Saturday afternoon matinees. And a buddy of mine, Tim, hi Tim, one day said, you know, Baker and Sinclair are back in a band. Okay, who are they with? He said, Paul Langlois was with them. And I was like, Paul Langlois plays guitar? Because I had no idea. And Gord Downie's the lead singer. And I'm thinking, okay, the really, really shy guy is the lead singer? Interesting. So we went down and saw them for the first time on a Saturday afternoon. There were probably, I don't know, 20 of us in the place. And Gord Downie came out, and I didn't recognize him because he was so odd at the time, jumping up around and gyrating,

and he just didn't look like him, and he had this big mop of hair and the omnipresent jean jacket. And they were doing stuff like I'm not your stepping stone and route 66 and a bunch of covers like that. They still do the best cover of route 66 I've ever heard. It was awesome.

Um, but, uh, yeah, so it was, it was kind of, uh, watching that.

And then they put out the EP with last American exit and small town bring down. And, uh, I thought, man, this is really good really good and never thinking would go any further than oh they put out an ep and then they break and i was up when they really started going i was up in auto at the time at a rock station 54 rock and it was uh it was mind-numbing to watch people who i knew start going you know ape crap over a bunch of guys that i knew from high school yeah it was mind-numbing to watch people who I knew start going ape crap over a bunch of guys

that I knew from high school. Yeah, I can't imagine. It was a really bizarre circumstance, and it took me forever to really warm up to the fact that this band, or realize, I guess, that this band was as big as they were. It was mind-numbing. You know them from this, you said it, right?

Kinks in Penitentiaries, right there. This was hyper-numbing. Did you have that sense, like, you know, you know him from this, like, you know, you said, right? Kinks in penitentiaries right there. Like, this was hyper-local for you. Yeah. And then you have that moment you realize this has gone national. Like, this is coast to coast. And it was bizarre. And, you know, when you heard New Orleans is sinking and blow it high dough and stuff like that, you go, man. These guys are really good.

And then the first time I heard i heard little bones it took it to another level for me that for me that was the song when rob baker was just thrashing um that's the song i went okay this is not a one album wonder there's something special going on here hoagie yeah nice to hear him again it is it was great to hear him in the podcast i mean a big mike hogan fan and when he left the fan it wasn't the same so to hear him back on this show was uh was yeah and he was a long episode too as i recall if i can give myself a shout out i really like how i have the the bed of the hip in the background i was listening and who's the producer of this program it sounds really good well some of your best clips have the music under again another thing for kick out the jams like that like music helps the mood

and and you know sets the table um by the way if you hear edits a lot of these clips are edited down because like they're long clips or you you interject in between them and i'm trying to keep them nice and short so uh you probably heard some cuts in there in the in the hip songs and it's well that's when you would notice yeah that's not your background music you know right away that's not your crappy mixing it's just me editing the clip everyone knows i don't edit yeah exactly all right so that was uh october 23rd hello to mike hogan too uh i think he's got a real job now i was i invited him back on and he said it's harder now he has a real job so i think he's left media is he back oh really like he's out of media with a voice like that how can he leave

media there's a lot of great voices out of media right now. For sure. You could have a whole radio station and television station just with people on the sidelines doing

something else. So August 17th, 2017. My parents, they grew up in India and they went to Kuwait because that's kind of where, what a lot of people at that time would do, you went to the Middle East because you found a lot of prosperity. There was a lot of money to be made there, especially for expats.

And that's where they met. That's where they got married. That's where my brother was born. And that's where I was born in 1985. 1985. Um, and, and in 1990 was, was when, uh, the, um, the soldiers of Iraq, uh, trampled across the border. Yeah. So that's your, like, you're like five years old. I was, I was four at the time because it happened in August and my birthday's in November. Uh, So I was four at the time, my brother was eight. And, you know, we actually lived really close to the Kuwaiti palace where the sheikhs lived.

We lived a couple of streets away. It was a really weird place, because you had this big palace close to the waterfront, and then, like, apartment buildings nearby. And we lived in one of the apartment buildings, because as an expat in Kuwait, you're actually not allowed to own any property. So, um, so it, that night I remember really clearly, I remember really clearly, uh, all of a sudden, you know, in the middle of the night, it was, I think it was about eight o'clock at night. We, we started hearing like a whistle and a boom and a whistle and a boom. And then we heard, you know, rat, dat, dat, dat, dat, dat, dat.

boom and a whistle and a boom. And then we heard, you know, and, and those sounds were very distinct and we didn't know what they were. I didn't know what they were. My brother didn't know what they were. My dad certainly knew. And we all went up to the window and we pressed our faces towards the window. And at the time, my mom actually wasn't there with us because she had to go back to India because her, her father, my maternal grandfather, had just passed away. Okay. So it was up to my dad to calm us down, get us all ready to get out and figure out a way out. It was a wild, wild time.

Colin DeMello. That's right. Imagine I don't know who it is. Imagine you play a clip and I'm like, who is that? I'm waiting to see when the light bulb comes on, right? Him and you right away. Yeah. First of all, I think he's very good.

And I actually think at some point down the road, he's still a young man. He's going to have the Lisa Laflamme job, the CTV flagship anchor role. That's how good this guy is. Yeah. Well, I mean, he tells a great story and he's got the experience in the background to back it up. Absolutely, yeah. And I remember

I played that clip of the George H.W. Bush in the episode. I originally had it in there, but it was too long and I had to make an editorial. H.W. got clipped there. Yeah, I had to make an editorial decision. Another good choice. And you're right. I didn't spend a lot. HW got clipped there. I had to make an editorial decision. Another good choice.

And you're right. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to predict. Just a few episodes went to top of mind. And Colin, I forgot Colin. There were a lot of good times in episodes 251 through 500. That was a great choice. Yeah, that was 258. So early on.

And so now we go on to, I won't say the episode number because it probably gives it away but the date is January 10th of this year definitely the most popular sitcom now and how the heck and I think I've actually heard you tell the story about how you didn't want to

record it you didn't want to drive home from the college I didn't want to come back from the college it's lower now. The crazy thing about this is, okay, so you mentioned this fragmented universe and where we're at. Let's rewind back to 2007. We're very busy. We're a very busy band.

And we're deciding to, it's right before we decide to, is it 2007 or 6? I don't know. 6 maybe. Could be 6 or 7. We're deciding to kind of pull things back a little bit in the summer times because we all have young children and we're

away all the time and it's Canada so we want to enjoy cottages or summer and so we made a kind of conscious effort to work a little bit less in the summers which is ridiculous because that's when you have to make hay but we needed to do it because we'd been pretty much on the road for 17 years of constant work so we decided to pull it back a little. And I was at the cottage. I was in probably,

we had two weeks booked up there. And we probably had some gigs here and there kind of thing, but mostly it seemed like that two weeks was really sacred. And previous to that, Ed had been working with Bill Prady and Chuck Lorre, the producers, creators of The Big Bang Theory. And they had seen us play in Los Angeles.

I mentioned before how we had a lot of TV types and producers, actors, etc. come to our shows. They saw us at the Greek Theater. And Ed happened to improv a rap that night in between a song about fractals because that's the kind of guy he is. And, uh, you know, we just started talking about fractals.

He'd been many anyway, they turned to each other, they were at the show and they said, these guys have to write the theme song to this show. We're working on it. And so they approached us about it. Then it kind of sat dormant for a number of, you know, for a number of months, almost a year.

And then finally said, we need you to do this. And Ed had been working with them a little bit, you know, and he came up with that song in the shower and he sent it to them. And they said, we love it. And then they said, well, what do you want me to change? And they said, nothing. Wow.

Because it's also, it's a minute long, 30 seconds. I'm not sure how long the actual theme is. Yeah, the one I played is not the one they played. Yeah, that's the longer version. That's the controversial version later on. But the original... Like 30 seconds, I think. Yeah, I think maybe less than 60 anyway.

Yeah. 30 seconds, I think. Yeah, I think maybe less than 60 anyway. Yeah. So, you know, Ed's like, okay, they'd sent out a VHS tape of the pilot, and there's no laugh track or anything on it, which is fine. But it's essentially a three-camera old-school sitcom. I hadn't watched one of those since, like, WKRP in Cincinnati. Right old-school sitcom. I hadn't watched one of those since WKRP in Cincinnati.

I just had no idea. And I also thought, I couldn't figure out whether they were making fun of smart people or they were revering. It just didn't connect with me at all. I was like, yeah, okay, whatever.

Day two of vacation at the cottage i'm just starting to fucking unwind like day three maybe and ed says and our management like we gotta they need they want this now we're the studio is going to be booked for tomorrow or the next day and you we've got to be there and i was like yeah fuck it i don't want i'm just starting to relax i don't want to right i don't want to do a sit, a theme song for a show that I'm sure is going to not going to last a minute. I didn't think it was any good.

And, uh, I remember being on the phone. Ed's, he said, Ty, I need you to come down. I was like,

I can't, you just play drums on it, man. I don't care. I don't give a shit. He goes, look, man,

these guys have been great to deal with. Chuck and Bill have been amazing. This could be a really great opportunity for us down the road. The show actually is funny if you give it some time. And I worked hard on this. So come on, man. I just need you to play a kick-ass drum set, drum track. And I was like, OK, I'll come in.

But this better be the next fucking Seinfeld. That's a great story. Can you imagine if he had not done it? Like how much money he would have lost? Oh yeah, oh no. Can you imagine? Ed would resent him forever. But I will say that Tyler Stewart gives good podcasts.

Absolutely. We need a round two because that guy was incredible. He's got to come and kick out the jams. He was so good, right? Yeah, he was really good. And it was a long episode too. And he just was, he knew the game. He knew the game.

I find it when guests listen, and I think Colin DeMello listened, and a lot of these hoagie listened. If you listen and you get what we're doing here, your episode's going to kill. The only time it ever doesn't kill. Yeah, don't give away the end. Oh, yeah. Okay.

I didn't know. Okay, spoiler alert. Oh, come on. away the end. Okay. I didn't know. Okay, spoiler alert. Oh, come on. I don't know anything. I played Dominoes. Everyone watching and listening now knows what's coming next. Not next, but coming up.

But I want to say thank you, Tyler, if you're listening, because I'm told by Mark Weisblot that Tyler Stewart is still an FOTM, still listening to Trono Mike. It would have been nice to see him at the Dakota Sports Bar and Grill. We could have had him up and playing a song with us or something. Stranger things have happened.

Maybe he was at the cottage. He's from my hood too. He went to the same high school as my sister-in-law in Newmarket. But yeah, never met him in person. Saw the Naked Ladies at Massey Hall once and they were amazing. Which tour? Oh, geez. Stunt, maybe? Is that right? Is that? uh, they were amazing. Which, uh, tour. Oh, geez.

Stunt. Maybe. Is that right? Is that, well, could be, I don't know. Cause I've heard,

yeah, but that's a great venue for, uh, amazing, amazing venue for, uh, for their kind of music, especially.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, all right. So, uh, we're now going to April 11th, 2018 episode three 24.

Start the season. And, um, I understand and i don't bs that i am inheriting john brophy as head coach harold bowder loves john brophy john brophy should not be coaching in the national hockey league i love john brophy i do the person i absolutely do if everyone could have like had his passion to win but it's too many too many bridges had been burnt but so be it that's a reality season starts and he can't stand russ cortenel okay um russ kind of a cocky kid well not but also a cocky kid too which i like about us uh so anyway season starts and we've got and i'm doing a lot of work with Brof, just trying to get on the side. So we've got Eddie Olchuk, Gary Lehman,

Daniel Marois, Vinny Domfus, Russ, not a physical team. I draft, I don't, we draft Idomi in the second round to, you know, get some toughness for the future. You know, things like that. We, Brad Marsh, a bit of physical presence. We try to do a few little things that way,

but we're not the physical team and of course he precipitated the Al Secord trade which was you know and again Al Secord wasn't physical anymore like he that had gone but Brofe loved the Al Secord he thought of five years earlier right and we get off to this start eight three and one and then we have a game and again Brofe's kind of strutting like a peacock. And I'm going, oh, jeez. We lose in St. Louis. And then we lose back-to-back the Boston Bruins.

And I always kid that Marty McSorley later, the LA Kings. You know, it was Gretzky's first year there in LA. But they kicked the crap out of us physically. And now Brofe just goes, you know what? He wanted John Cordick huge. Now, you don't have a lot of pre-scouting and all that going on in 88. And so I talked to Serge Savard about that. He talks about Todd Gill or Russ Cortnall.

Again, in hindsight, I obviously could have played it a lot differently about draft picks or something. But there's a sense of urgency because I'm sensing we're going to get off the rails pretty quick. So the trade is made. And I do it as much to liberate Russ Cortnall. Kordak comes to town. I like, there's so many parts of John Kordak I really like the person, not the screwed up person, the whole thing. But from the word go, yeah, there's things have changed from the guy that John Brophy and a couple others are telling me about.

So believe it or not, there is a point there where John Kordick, the next year, especially when Doug Carpenter was there, his physical part is huge. Like he's a heavyweight. So we brought him the heavyweight, a guy who could play whatever. But because Broph was orgasmic about this guy,

he would get on him hard. Kordick would go out and do something even stupider. And then, you know, the off-ice stuff. And that's one reason I'm careful because of the, just the off-ice stuff. Like, anyway, I always kid about, oh, wait, it wasn't Kordek for Korten. It was Kordek for Korten on a sixth round pick. They go, who was the pick? I go, I don't know.

He didn't pan out anyway. It doesn't really matter. Or I say that I thought Serge Savard said Shane Corson. I don't know. Whatever. I don't pan out anyway. It doesn't really matter. Or I say that I thought Serge Savard said Shane Corson. I don't know. Whatever. I don't know. Whatever. But yeah,

it was, um, it basically, and then a couple months later I did, I worked hard and got John Brophy fired, but very amicably got him paid off all everything, but just, okay,

I've given you this, you know, and, um, this is really not working out. And, you know, I'm the guy that ends up wearing it,

but that's the way life goes. And 30 years later, you still wear it. Gordy, who recently paid a second visit here. He did. And he was, so that episode was gold from beginning to end. Amazing. If you're a sports fan, amazing. I was at a party with my longtime friend who we lost touch for a long time,

but then we got reacquainted Harold and Harold's like, that is my favorite Toronto Mike episode is Gord Stelic volume one. I think it's a victor's too. So tell me if you've heard this story before young Leafs team with an old school coach with a very young general manager and the team isn't tough enough and the old school coach isn't playing players that the gm is getting him does any of this ring a bell so who is it though are we trading is it is cortinal supposed to be marner or is cortinal who is uh you map that marner gets

traded for i don't know who's the latest cement head in... That's a great... I don't think the cement heads are around anymore, but yeah, I totally... History is repeating itself. Hope Shanahan, at least there's a Shanahan at the helm and not a Harold Ballard. Correct, yes. That is our saving grace, hopefully. Shanahan is going to be at this...

Where is he going to be? I just saw Troy Birch at Great Lakes Brewery was with him and some Etobicoke Hall of Fame thing, like maybe today. But Shanahan's going to be at this Dave Hodge live event. Oh, the reporters? The reporters live, yeah. Are you going?

I'm going, yeah. Yeah, that sounds like it might be fun. I have a top secret thing I can't talk about regarding me and the reporters. Oh, all right. But we can't talk about it. Okay, we won't talk about it. I feel like I know what it might be.

And maybe this could be your opportunity to get Shanahan in here. I mean, it is. Stranger things have happened. He could probably walk over here from Mimico. It is his hood. Does he still live? Do we know? Does he still live in Mimico?

I doubt. I thought he lived in New York and he commuted. Maybe. I have no idea where Shanahan lives. I got to plead ignorance there. But maybe I'll ask him when I see him at the Paradise. All right. We're going to... Love Gordy, by the way.

And by the way, Gordy loves this show and he has... My buddy Murray bumped into him at some restaurant and told him, hey, I heard you on Toronto Mike's. You were great. And Gord apparently told my buddy how much he loved doing Toronto Mike's.

That guy's memory is crazy. Like it's a steel trap. That's why he's a good storyteller. Absolutely, yes. And he's a steel trap. That's why he's a good storyteller. Absolutely. Yes. And he's lived through some interesting times too. So he's got lots of stories to tell. We're big Gordy fans here. Yes,

absolutely. All right. So two days later, you had this gentleman on. So April 13th, 2018. No, not that one.

Hold on. Sorry. This one. I'm working in the evenings at CJCL. I'm not even on primetime yet. You know what I'm doing? I'm doing a postgame show for a Leafs game or a Jays game or something. So it's probably 93. And the phone rings in the newsroom. Again, this is way earlier, way back in 93. The phone rings in the newsroom and I pick it up, CJCL 1430, and I hear a man say,

Good evening. I'm looking for Dan Schulman, I said, speaking. And he goes, my name is Al Jaffe, and I'm calling from ESPN, and I'm wondering if I could talk to you about auditioning for ESPN radio. Now, again, kids, this is 1993. No satellite TV, no dishes, no internet, nothing. And I know what ESPN is, but I don't know what ESPN radio is. That's like saying two words that don't belong together. What does that mean? And I think it's my roommate, my college roommate, Rob, messing with, punking me. So I said, that's pretty funny, Rob. You even gave yourself like a New York accent. And there's this

long pause on the other end of the phone. And then I hear, I'm going to say this again. My name is Al Jaffe. And now I'm going, oh man. I said, I'm going to say this again. My name is Al Jaffe. And now I'm going, oh man, I said, I've really screwed this up, but I'm still suspicious. So I say to him, Hey Al, I just got to do one more sports cast, which was true. I said, can I take your number and call you back at midnight as soon as I get off the air? So he gives me a number, area code 203, which at the time was Hartford, Connecticut. And I call him back and he says, we'd like you to come down and audition for ESPN radio, which I do to fast forward a little bit. Um, I find out that again, pre-internet Al is sitting in Connecticut and was told there was a promising young radio talk show host on a

station like in Albany at, at 1420. And somehow, you know, there were no buttons then. You're tuning a dial to get to the radio station. Yeah. He accidentally gets me in Toronto from Connecticut at 1430 instead of

whoever it was in Albany, I'm really sorry, whoever you are, at 1420. And he takes a liking to me and he calls me and I go down to audition for Yes Man Radio.

So while I'm doing primetime sports. Ken, this story's amazing. Yeah, this might be the answer So while I'm doing primetime sports. Ken, this story is amazing. Yeah, this is my favorite story. While I'm doing primetime sports Monday to Friday, I'm doing ESPN Radio for 18 months, Saturday, Sunday. They had a Saturday night and Sunday night show. So I would finish primetime Friday. I'd fly Saturday morning down to Connecticut. I would do Saturday night, Sunday night radio, fly back Monday morning and go right to the station and start all over

again. That story is amazing. It's crazy. Can you imagine there's somebody in Albany, if you've ever heard this, I could have been the next Dan Schulman. That story is just unbelievable. Of course, I believe it to be true, but the whole accidental

tuning in of this 1430 from wherever he was and hearing this voice and at night and it's Dan Shulman. And it's like, next thing you know, at Dan Shulman today is the, the, the voice.

I think, I mean, Joe Buck's great too, but Dan Shulman, he is the greatest voice calling baseball post of in Scully. Baseball, college basketball. Yeah.

It's true. Wow. And that, I, yeah, I do. Yeah, yeah. It's true. Wow. Yeah, I do. I remember Dan Schulman's visit very well. I didn't know it was that close to Gord Stelic. What a week I was having there. That was, those were the, probably your two best back-to-back episodes ever.

I peaked too early. I mean. You never know what's coming. You never know what's coming. But Dan Schulman, I remember distinctly him. He came here. He said, I got one hour. And I remember bargaining with him. And I think I said, because I said, oh, I got, I remember distinctly him. He came here, he said, I got one hour. And I remember bargaining with him.

And I think I said, I need 90 minutes. And he said, I got an hour. And I said, can I take 70 or something? And I think he might have agreed to 70. And maybe I ended up stealing another five on the back end or something. You were bargaining with an actuary. That's right. But I believe I won the, I do believe I,

I didn't have a lot of leverage there, but I do know that was a fantastic episode. Even hearing that voice and I'm like, what a voice. And that was

an unbelievable story. Absolutely. I'm thoroughly, you know, I was in the room for all these. I'm thoroughly enjoying this. All right.

So we're going now 12 days later, September, sorry, not 12 days, but it's September 13 13th uh no september 25th 2018 and this is number nine now and uh um you'll see why this guy came on a story about negotiating yeah this is a favorite story time and this this hurt me because I was such an asshole, but I was making $37,000 in 19, let's say 1982.

Pretty good money. Pretty good money. And the producer, I won't tell you his name. We have a strange way. He was an interesting character. He says, I have to negotiate with you for your new contract. And he offers me $40,000. And I say, nah.

I had a massive ego. And Moses was telling me how wonderful I was. So I was thinking I could make way more money. After several meetings with this fellow, we shook hands on $45,000. I think a two-year contract for $45,000. And I remember going home to my mom, because my mom was always sure that I was going to be such a jerk that I would ruin what was this good thing.

You'd be back to driving cabs. I'm in for two years for $45,000. And I think my father, my father was a dentist. He says, I never made that kind of money. Wow. Wow. So I was very pleased with myself. Anyways, after a week or two

producer comes back to me and he says those numbers we tossed around they won't work i said we didn't toss numbers around we sure cans and i said to him now you can't get me for 45 so we we have some more discussions and he offers me 50 and he offers me 52 and he offers me 55. And I said, I like 55, but I want more for the second year. And he says, that's it. That's it. I'm fed up with you. I'm not talking to you anymore. I said, fine. Uh, Moses, cause you asked the question, did Moses compensate fairly? Moses calls him into his office and This was like a two-minute conversation. And he says to me, what's the problem? And I said, well, you know, we shook hands on 45.

And he says to me, so what? You think you deserve more money because we reneged on a deal with you? And I said, yes, I do. And he says, so do I. And he says to me, what if we make it 55 for 18 months and 60 for the next 18 months? So we get a 36-month contract. I said, that'll do it. And that's how I ended up getting essentially 10,000 more a year

than I shook hands on at City TV. But the downside was that producer hated my guts from that point on. That's worth it, right? And made life as miserable as he possibly could. That man, Peter Gross, should have a podcast. What a storyteller. Yeah.

I put that clip on there because, A, he gives good podcasts, but also, B, that story is on one of those episodes that I won't, or should I mention? Can we mention? Why wouldn't you? I produce those things, you know. Was it Peter and Gallagher save the world or Gallagher and Gross?

Gallagher and Gross save the world. And he tells a version of that story, but you had it here first. I can't believe you asked me if you should say the name of a podcast I produce. I was giving you the opportunity to pump it. Do you know they're my next guests on Toronto Mic? Are they?

Yeah, they're both coming in. I think, well peter needs a lasagna or he's gonna be hungry so uh but he gambled away all of his lunch money that's why oh so i here's okay so i have obviously from we've done how many episodes of gallagher and gross save the world have we done let me do the math eight and five okay so we've done 13 of these things if my math is correct and it's a lot of time i've spent with peter but also on the phone because there's a lot of moving parts and we have these long calls and chats about it i must am i confessing this i must tell you that uh i've become very fond of that man like i really like peter gross yeah he's a he's a solid dude and um that podcast is amazing i listened to the first eight episodes some great stories. The sex episode is something else.

Too hot for podcasts. Yikes. Well, you heard me at TMLX4, right? I said, I think that's what I thought. I said, I think something in your upcoming episode is going to get you arrested. I think I said. Yeah, that's crazy. So I'm looking forward to the next five.

Oh, yeah. I think the next five are better, to be honest. Really? I think they're better. I really think that there's something going on here. i'm talking i love peter gross gallagher's great too but when i have those long uh warm conversations they're not with john gallagher okay they're with peter gross and both of those fine guys are going to be here on monday and we're going to talk about gallagher and gross save the world and uh more and those guys tell it like it

is i think peter's at a point in his life, he's 69 years old. He knows he probably won't get another gig anymore now that he's post 680 News. Out of fucks to give, but very candid and very comfortable in his own skin. And it makes, again, a great storyteller. He's made for podcasting. Made for podcasting. And he may be coming up in the next clip or two.

But before we move on to the next clip, Peter Gross, I was chatting with him at the last TMLX because I was on one of his vignettes that he did for City TV 20 years ago. The World According to Gross? The World According to Gross. So I was asked. He came up to me and my buddy Travis as we were sitting at the Starbucks across the street from the City TV building. Yes. Queen and and john 299 queen i know that starbucks yeah i used to work on john street just down the street so we'd have our coffees there and he came up to us

he said hey can you help me out with one of my uh one of my gig you just have to say this line you look taller on tv so that was me so i went up to him just like a hill mary i'm like i would love to see that video of me 20 years ago. Is there any chance you have a digital copy of that anywhere? And he's like, no. You know what? You got to go straight to the man, Ed Conroy, who's going to do Christmas Crack Speaking.

This is Best of Toronto Mike Volume 2, Christmas Crackers Volume 3 coming in December. Crazy. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Those are great. I love when Ed Conroy comes on. But if you want to see me with hair, if he can hunt that video down,

I'll have hair in that video, I think. Okay, well, you got to submit that question for Eddie. We're going to do our best. I want to see you with hair for sure. But again, yeah, Peter Gross, great guy. Gallagher and Gross Save the World is fantastic. If we don't find... It's a great show.

It's compelling content. Amazing. Everyone who tries it loves it. But if they don't find uh it's a great show it's a compelling content and people everyone who tries it loves it but if they can't uh finance this thing it's gonna have a short lifespan so someone's gonna have to step up here that's too bad i hope somebody does uh it'll it'll be tough to find a sponsor though that'll that won't mind some of the content that's the thing i don't think mcdonald's wants to be associated with all that cocaine all right speaking of which november 18th 2017 you had this gentleman on and this is a fergie oliver is he the guy we blame for this fergie would have a bundle of 50 american bills crisp and clean to give to players after they did the interviews with Fergie.

Right. And so I'm at the World Series in Atlanta, right? You know, history, of course. You know, I mean, by the way, I'm downstairs and I see the color guard about to go on the field

or I'm with Tom Cochran and they've got the flag upside down and I'm thinking, ah, they'll figure it out. Well, they didn't figure it out. That's hilarious. You could have prevented a great controversy there. Yeah. But what's the fun in that? So, I mean, and now I'm, they didn't figure it out. That's hilarious. You could have prevented a great controversy there.

But what's the fun in that? So, I mean, and now I'm, and all the players are in the clubhouse and there's only a couple of guys, you know, getting ground balls. And it's six, what were the sports cash? It'd be 6.30 or so. Games at eight.

So, I mean, Darnell Coles was out there taking balls. I'm like, you got a second, Darnell? Yeah, yeah. You got any cake? I go, what? Well, I'll eat some cake. What? Money!

50 bucks! Go see Fergie Oliver. Get it from him. I'm like, my God. So I actually went into my wallet and took out a 50 and gave it to him. Just like mom. And he put it back. Great line.

Thank you. And he put it in his back pocket, you know, next to his batting glove. I'm like, oh, my God. Darnell Coles. Come on, give me Robbie or Kelly or somebody. What gets me is like, okay, even in the early, way back in the early 90s, even back then, a guy like Robbie, I'm guessing, was making five mil a year or something.

Like, they still needed their $50 cake. No kidding. Oh, Robbie Alomar story's in there. I'm at Alice Fizzuli's one night. I think, you know, I like to warm up in the bullpen with a couple of cocktails before the sportscast. I mean, gosh, who doesn't, right? So I see Robbie there, and Robbie and I are good buddies. And I said, Robbie,

why don't you come over and do a little appearance for me at City TV? And of course, you can hit City TV to Alice Fazuli's with a snowball. And he goes, yeah, sure, I'll come over. I'll do any sports for you. So he takes his limousine and his entourage and comes in, and they get them all made up, and he walks into the newsroom,

and he's God. You know, he's won back-to-back World Series. He's probably the greatest athlete this city, I'll say it, this city has ever seen. I can't argue with that. You know, you got your Gilmores, you got your Georgie Chevalers, you got your Doug Fluties. He's the greatest ever.

I'm sorry, but he is. And you're not going to argue. I actually cannot come up with a name. Kawhi Leonard. That was just what I was going to say. I think you might be exactly right. So Robbie's with me on the air, and I can just hear the news directors and sports directors at Global and CBC

and CFTO, and they're going, oh, Gallagher's got Robbie Alomar live. Sitting right there on the desk where we do our sports. Oh my god, he kissed him! Gallagher just kissed Robbie Alomar on TV. And Robbie and I would go out later. We'd pick up some, chase some skirt and take him back to his hotel room. And is that where you think the lawsuits are going to come in right there?

I don't know. No one will sue me. It's all true. If it's true, I guess they can't sue you. I got to say, man, that's a character. Okay, Al, let me come on my knee here. I'm going to teach you about back in the day when we had characters in media, okay?

Just like Peter Gross. And this is why I'm just passionate about helping Gallagher and Gross be heard and broadcast without a terrestrial station. John F. Gallagher, love him or hate him he's you know he's polarizing guy not everybody loves gallagher what a character though so in that two minute story he drops he's with tom cochran he's at the world series oh look the canadian flag's upside down he's citing all this historical stuff and all these and then he goes chasing skirt with robbie almar he's like the canadian forrest gump if forrest gump did blow and and had more sex like

seriously that's beautiful that's beautiful i he's the canadian forrest gump if forrest gump did more blow and chase skirts and he's pretty much the same today as he was then yeah he's great that's the same guy. We need to hear more of him. And they're actually a great pairing. So frenetic in so many stories. It's just... I like them together because Gallagher's off the wall.

He's bananas. And Gross is like the straight man, you know? He's like this... Yeah, the straight man, I guess. And then you have the color from Gallagher. And then the two just tell great stories and they've, they've lived a lot.

They've lived lives, man. They've lived lives. Like I, I have an affinity. I think it's been obvious now we're in episode 540. I have an affinity for characters. I like,

I like sandpaper. I like interesting people. So do I. And so does Moses Neimer. Yeah. I think Moses and I are the same. Yeah. Just smaller bank account here.

And I know that Bob McCowan is still your white whale, but if you can get Moses down here, that would be... To be honest, I'm so turned off of McCowan,

I haven't even thought of him since he did those tweets. set your sights on Moses because I think he... I know that I think there's like something going on where they're investigating him. Is that still happening?

But... I got to plead ignorance because that was supposed to drop like three Christmases ago. Yeah. And I don't think it's coming out anymore. But I can say that when Ed Conroy comes in Is that still happening? I've got to plead ignorance because that was supposed to drop like three Christmases ago. And I don't think it's coming out anymore. But I can say that when Ed Conroy comes in for Christmas Crackers Volume 3, I know he works with Moses at the Zoomerplex.

I will see if there's an in. I'll work on it. I think that'll be your biggest catch. All right, here we go. We're going to September 20th. Oh, back to September 27th, 2017. This is an interesting one, actually, given. I'd suggest there's an elephant in the room.

Let's chat with this elephant here. Yeah, sure. Okay, so you're co-hosting Primetime Sports with Bob McCowan. Yes. You had worked with him before you went to the team, right? And you're back co-hosting with Bob McCowan. Yeah, he banned me for a while. So was that initial ban because you left to go to the team? Yes, because I left a place where I had no contract and no guarantees for a place where they would pay me a lot of money.

I'm sure Bob wouldn't understand that. You're probably on a pretty good list in that little black book or whatever. Yeah, they come and go, though. So let me, okay, so I've had David Schultz on this show. And he tells a story. He wrote about this in the Globe and Mail. But something to the effect of, and I hope I get this right, but you did some work

on Tim and Sid's show and Bob was not happy about this. So Bob, maybe Bob banned you from primetime sports? Did I get that partially right? Yeah, I guess he had a tantrum. I guess that's it. I think Bob really wanted somebody to be there every week.

And A, I couldn't do that. And B, I didn't want to do that. I really didn't. You know, that's just, it was too much, you know, and I wanted to do the other stuff. I really enjoyed doing the other stuff. So yeah, I know that again, the short version is I, you know, I came back. I usually started a Labor Day. Labor Day was late.

I'd come back from Newfoundland. There was a week in September before Labor Day. One of Tim or Sid was away. The guys asked me to sit in like they often do. And I had often done. And it is the same company. And, you know, I wasn't on Bob's show that week because I wasn't obligated to be there.

But I was on the other show. And he was just trying to make a point with the bosses. But, again, I think I was kind of collateral damage there. Are you and Bob friendly? You know, we never cross paths outside of radio. You know, we do different things. So it's not like we would see each other socially. He's a bit of a recluse in a lot of ways,

but you know, it's not like I'm going to see him at the horseshoe some nights. It's not going to happen. So yeah, look, I see him at work, but you know, no, we had a, you know, as is often the case in these things, you know, you work together for a couple of hours. We had a really good thing going there, I

think. And I think I understood how to work with Bob pretty well over the years. And by the way, he's the most talented broadcaster I will ever work with. You know, he, he invented that medium in Canada. There's nobody more talented than Bob

McCown in doing what he does. He's, you know, he's a genius in that. And I, and I, I mean that absolutely. Like, you know, he's a genius in that. And I, and I mean that absolutely. Like he's just, he's the best. But yeah, no, we, look, we, it's not like we hung out back in the day. We did our thing, we were compatible and then we went our separate ways.

Kyle wants to know if you'll ever return to primetime sports. It doesn't, I don't. It doesn't sound like it. You know, like I'm really happy. I'm incredibly happy doing what I'm doing right now with Jeff Blair. You know, I think we're doing some of the best radio I've ever done. And we can do things on that show that are different than, you know, it's a different show than primetime, but I really like the differences.

You know, I like the deep dives in baseball. I like some of the stuff we can do. And, you know, I've known Jeff for 25 years, right? So going back to the newspaper days, back when he was at the Montreal Gazette. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing. The time,

the mid-morning thing is better for my life in a lot of ways. I guess you never say never, but yeah, it's not imminent. Fast forward a couple of months, I think, and he's back with bob and count that's correct sir and i think i pulled that clip and made some noise about it and said oh listen to this i will say uh one of my all-time favorite guests is steven brunt and i for my money he's the i think he's the best guy working today and uh in all of maybe in all of sports media i think he's incredible and a great voice for radio too he's the best guy working today and maybe in all of sports media. I think he's incredible.

And a great voice for radio too. He's got a good voice for radio and he's smart and he's knowledgeable, not just sports, but music. And yeah, he's a great podcast guest for sure. I know I had a moment in that episode where I remember I had an out of body moment where I'm like,

Stephen Brunt is here now in my basement and we're having this heart to heart and he's amazing and I don't think I'm fucking it up and I can't believe this is happening. Like I had one of those and he came back to kick out the jams and he was just as good when he came back to kick out the jams. I mean, I think the world of this guy, I think is incredible. So there's a clip in that episode where he's on Tim and Sid and he's rapping, I forget what song it is.

I think it's a Snoop song or something. I was going to put it in, but again, for time, I need to make a hard decision. No, I hear you. Technically, it wasn't on this podcast. It was on the Tim and Sid show, so I left it out. Okay, now it's going to get kind of fun. It's already been fun, but it's going to get crazy.

I'm ready, man. This is November 15th, 2018. This is number six. Einstein comes out with just an acoustic guitar, a leather vest with no shirt underneath. And he's out there and he's playing the guitars in the day we sweat it out on the street and all these great songs, right? And he's doing mostly, goes to Tom Jode.

And he's up there with this bare chest and this leather vest. Now, Mike, I got to tell you, I'm very much a heterosexual man. I love, love women. I don't feel that way about men. They don't want me. And I'm looking at him and he's playing and I'm looking at his chest. And it's like this chest that chest that could only belong to a man who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has the time to work on this chest.

And it's sweating, and it's hairy, and I'm staring at the chest, and I'm looking at Bruce, and he's singing, and I'm looking at the chest. I can't believe this guy's chest. The concert ends. I go backstage, and I'm standing backstage at the old backstage at Massey Hall, and it's beautiful, and it's historic, and I love the vibe there. And there's a line of people. I think Lou Reed is back there, and Gordon Lightfoot's back there, right?

He lives there, I think. They're going to meet Bruce, right? And I got nothing to say. I'm drinking a beer, and I'm kind of minding my own business. And sure enough, it comes time. I'm the last person to meet Bruce Springsteen. I go down the hallway to this small dressing room, and the record company guy goes,

Bruce, this is Tom Wilson. He wrote Jesus Sings the Blues. Tom, this is Bruce Springsteen. Like, he needs to introduce me to who Bruce Springsteen is, right? Right. And Bruce puts his hand out to shake my hand, and I put my hand out, and he says, Well, if Jesus sang, he'd certainly sing the blues, wouldn't he?

I said, Yep. And I put my hand out to shake his, and Mike, instead of looking him in the eye, I'm looking, staring down at his chest. Right. Now there's a couple rules, Mike, you and I know as men. Oh, so good. That a lot of people, definitely women don't know.

And one of the rules is, as a man, you never get caught staring at another man's tits ever. And here I am face to face with the boss and I'm looking at his chest and he notices and let's go on my hand. And I realized at that moment, all the little pipe dreams that I had, because we're both working class, you know, blue collar guys. Right, right, right. I figured I'd be flying down to New York

and I'd call him up and I'd be saying, hey, Bruce, man, it's Tom. I'm in town. Let's go see the Rangers. Come on, baby. But none of that happened, Mike, because I got caught staring at Bruce Springsteen's tits.

What a story. You did a good job pulling these clips, man. Thanks. That whole Tom Wilson episode was fantastic. Just the voice and the stories, and it all came together so perfectly. Man, I've been actually touching base with him off and on. He's got to come back.

Well, he'd come back for sure, but he's been threatening to have me produce his podcast. And it's like, I just get so excited just thinking about a Tom Wilson podcast, but nothing's come to fruition yet. Oh, that's great. But man, that was just that story about Bruce Springsteen's tits.

So no word of a lie, I'm listening to that driving home from work. And as soon as he said Bruce Springsteen's tits, I'm like, ding, that's going on the volume two. As soon as soon as i heard i can't imagine what could beat that clip that was amazing that was number six all right tom wilson uh for number five we're going to my birthday june 13th 2018 it's also uh when the raptors won this year on my birthday. But anyway, so it's a good day. Go Raptors. And this is a good day for you

because this is where you caught your first white whale. I got a white whale. I can't wait to hear it. 2018. She's also the center square. Fun fact about you at City Pulse. Uh-oh. You can hear that.

You were the first Canadian female sports reporter allowed to interview athletes in their changing rooms. That's huge. So was Boria Salming. You got to interview Borge in the dressing room. If you could take it and swing it over your shoulder, that was Boria.

I was trying to read between the lines here, but okay. And this is why he started an underwear company in Sweden for certain men who have this need more space. Package underwear. So here's what happened. Terry O'Keefe, who is doing something different now, he was my cameraman.

We went on the road for the playoffs and I was brought into the dressing room and the guys were, they were all naked sure and they were hoping that i would be flustered and i was yeah they were trying to shock you i know but i was shocked at boria salmi wow i can't can you give me use your hands no one can see you right now what are we talking wow like an elephant's trunk yeah and i but my eyes remain locked on his, but I have peripheral vision. I can't help it. That's amazing.

They wanted to see me sweat. Okay, Mike. Wow. So back then, you didn't have Periscope. Can you show us how far apart your hands were? I can't remember, but listening to my reaction, it was like, I don't know, something like this maybe. Your reaction was priceless wow it was at least a foot uh is that possible i don't know it's uh i i have heard that i actually

have heard the borges thing from from actually gallagher gallagher anyway i won't go into except hearing like having ann romer in your basement and you know ann romer's a classy gal, and then she's talking about... So that's exactly why I pulled that clip. Well, first of all, I'm like, okay, I had to have an Ann Romer clip. Right.

I remember it being a good clip and episode, and you were chasing her for years and years and years. That's true. Right? So I went through the comments, and then somebody mentioned about her commenting on Bori as a member.

I'm like, wait a minute. She did. So I, of course, had to find that. And listening back when she said, I thought huge. And then, because, you know, I'm doing a lot of things live. And sometimes these, if you're too cute, it goes over my head a bit because I'm doing many, many things. But listening back, I think I missed that initial huge.

Yeah. Yeah. It was great. Good clip. Ann Romer, who has been missed that initial huge. Yeah. Yeah, it was great. Good clip. Ann Romer, who has been back since. That's okay. So that episode with Ann, the second visit, we called up David Onley. Or David Onley phoned in.

David Onley just had brain surgery. He had a benign tumor removed. Oh, wow. I think he's resting comfortably. Okay, good. Yeah. So your record is intact yeah that's that's right yes thank you man oh man yeah so thank you ann romer for being such a great fotm

and make making my dreams come true remember in the last uh in the last uh best of i talked about how when you have you can tell when you have a female down here that maybe you were crushing on when you were younger. Oh, Ziggy. Ziggy. That was definitely another one. Yeah, you know what it is. You're suddenly, you're back to being a teenager again.

You're like, I can't believe I'm finally getting that face-to-face I dreamt about. And you're talking to me about Boreas Salming's penis. And it was like, I think I called it an elephant's trunk. So I can't compete with that all right number four april 22nd of this year this is a big one whoa always tell the broadcasters you be you and be spontaneous and i wasn't really a big believer in signature calls i had none when i was in triple a and I really didn't

have any in my first couple of years here in Toronto because I wanted the game to be first, not me wearing something on my sleeve about, oh, listen to me or listen to my signature call. I didn't want that. My dad came up here in 1983 to see what I was doing and how I was doing. And when he left, he said, Jerry, one thing you might do is if you're at the microphone and the Blue Jays score their first run, you could have the Blue Jays in flight. And I said, Dad, I love that. I'm doing that for you. And that was how the Blue Jays came in flight, got to be because of my father. And then sadly, Hello Friends came about because of my partner, Tom Cheek. And halfway through the 2004 season, he developed that malignant brain

tumor and he had to leave the microphone. So they asked me to take his spot in the lead role. And before that first game, to start the second half of that season, I said to myself, Jerry, you've been up here for years. You've made so many friends, not only here in Toronto, but in Ontario and across Canada. Let's just not like be everybody else. Hi, everybody, or hi, everyone. No, I didn't want that. So I came on that be everybody else. Hi, everybody or hi, everyone. No, I didn't want that. So I came on that first day with hello friends. This is Jerry Howarth. And I stayed with that for 13 plus years and enjoyed it. The call it to a double play. That was just something that kind of spontaneously happened one day. And I said, let's go with that. I love that. And when it's you and it's something that you like, go with it. And to talk about what you just mentioned there about hooking, hooking,

or slicing, slicing, dropping, dropping. I got that from Dick Enberg. I was in Salt Lake City, and our AAA club was part of the Parent Angels. And Dick Enberg and Don Drysdale called the games on radio. So after our games on the road, they would have the Angels broadcast on because all of our players were trying to get there to Anaheim. And one day I was listening after one of our games, they had the radio on, and I heard Dick's call. The Angels center fielder was Mickey Rivers. And the call basically went, there's a line drive to deep left center field, Mickey Rivers,

some centers are going over, running, running, running, makes the catch. And I said to myself, I love that. I had never heard a broadcaster repeat words like that, but I could see Mickey running and running and running. So after that, I started to make all those calls and people always thought that hooking, hooking, hooking was foul. I didn't know. I wanted to be as surprised as anybody. And many times it would be hooking, hooking, hits the foul pole, home run, there she goes, whatever it happened to be. And I thought those are the kind of calls that made me comfortable,

and when you're comfortable, go with them. Jerry. Jerry. Yes, sir, there she goes. Jerry Howarth was as classy as they come. I mean, I've had a bunch of classy people in this basement, but no more classy than jerry howarth there's got to be some voices though you have in your basement where you

just go holy shit like that's a voice every that was a sign of summer right every time you heard that voice him and tom yeah tom and jerry the only voices i yeah voices ofmers. I fell asleep to them or yeah, after them on 1430, The Music of Your Life. I will, when he had that book, Jerry Howard wrote a book. So he showed up in a lot of places, a lot of media properties,

sorry, a lot of Rogers media properties because he was kind of leaving Rogers Media where he worked for many years there. And I absorbed as much as i could like i listened to him on a lot of shows a lot of shows and i'm gonna say this is gonna sound arrogant af here go for it jerry's best interview the best interview you're gonna hear of jerry howarth was that one right there it was great and and listening to just that clip

there was almost like watching or watching, like, origin movie, right? Like, hearing how he came up with those, like, iconic. In flight, like the dad saying, you know, you can say in flight and then boom. Yeah, yeah. What a great storyteller. What a great voice. What a great career. And man, what a classy guy.

We've exchanged messages on Facebook since. And he thoroughly enjoyed himself. And he left tickets for me to go see the Jays in his seats and man, I'm so glad I got to have a deep dive with Jerry Haworth. It's a shame that they pushed him out. That's the one I'm never sure about.

I hear this because I spent some time with Hebsey and Hebsey tells me he was pushed out. I'm going to remain on, I'm going to have that in the category of unconfirmed. I'm not sold on that yet. Do you know something I don't know? I don't, but it just,

it reeks of... But why did it happen in Spring Train? I feel like maybe Jerry quit. I think he was sick, but I think when he got better, they just, you know. Okay.

I don't know, right? Yeah, not a good one. Not a good one. I'm not speaking for money. Okay, okay, okay. Because usually, I mean, when Kevin Frankish was leaving to do a documentary series, I could smell that one a mile away, that he was being pushed out very rapidly. And Roger Ashby, too.

Like, I could smell him that way. He's being pushed out. I am not convinced yet that Jerry Haworth was pushed out. But I would believe Jerry is telling the truth when he says he decided to hang him up we'll never know or maybe we'll i don't know all right we're down to our top three and so for number three we're gonna go to i don't know if i should give you the day because it might give it away okay don't give me the day probably won't yeah i'll probably give it away so i'm just gonna play it ready iranto mcs knew that they wasn't going to get the New York deals, although Missy was the first to actually get herself a deal in the industry.

But a lot of Toronto MCs, they took 10 to 15 years to build their own scene and say, all right, not only forget New York, but forget the United States. And I thought that was always a move I thought they should be able to take. Do you know DJ Ron Nelson? Of course. Ron Nelson was the first person that brought us here. And I think we played the gym, gymnasium first. Like U of T maybe? Yeah.

There was a place also named the government here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Condos now. Oh, really? And I remember, you know, just, you know, always being here in the wintertime and on Yonge Street. And also leaving Toronto and playing Waterloo and Hamilton and Sudbury and knowing about these areas too. So I think there was an infamous Public Enemy tour in the winter of 89.

Same year as Fight the Power, but earlier on in the year. I need details. Details. What do you remember? Going to these towns and people being surprised that we would come to those towns.

Discovering there's two Londons. London, Canada, Ottawa. Wow. I still got to pinch myself. Did that actually happen, Al? You didn't doctor that and that happened, right? Yeah, that's just me, but with a voice modulator. Remember when Weird Al would come and do the Al music?

Do you remember this? Yeah, was it Takeover or something? He would take over, yeah, for the day. And then, of course, let's say, I don't know, Madonna did an interview with somebody. You would hear Madonna's answers, and Al would pretend to be asking different questions, and they would splice it together,

and it looked like Al was talking to Madonna. Is that what he did there? Yeah, I think Jon Stewart stole that for the Daily Show. Oh, Al TV. Al TV was the MTV version. I think Al Music was the one we got. But Chuck D, just hearing that voice, fucking love that guy.

Always have. And I can't believe I sat down and chatted. I can't believe I had an episode of Toronto Mike with Chuck D. Yeah. I mean, you talk about white whales. This wasn't one you were trying to get though, but... I never thought I could.

I never thought to consider it was possible. Whereas I always felt I could get a Bob McCowan, for example. Yeah, there you go. So, top two. Woo! Are you ready for this? I'm ready. I mean, this is going to be the worst kept secret of all time, I'm sure.

Oh, you're playing something? I love it. Well, that's a show. Ask me the question and we'll do Wild Horses. I was going to actually, because I tried to go in chronological order here. Yeah, don't try to direct Gino. It's me and you in a flatbed truck. A photo-written mom, just my love. Hey, hey, hey. In the middle of spring.

Now, what did she want to know? I want to know if you, at the time, regarded Black Cars as any sort of, like, jokes that don't call to come back. Can we get off Black Cars? My God. There was only half an hour more on black cars before we can, we can move on to another cut from the, from the same album here.

I got more black cars questions. I, you know what? You're breaking my heart, Gino. Can we get off black cars? I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night tonight in a cold sweat. Did Gino really say that?

You remind me of my parish priest. Get off of it, I said. What an exchange that was. Just listening back, I remember. You're trying to direct the conversation one way, and he's like, yeah, no, I'm just going to start playing this song. Well, I'm just doing my thing.

And he's on a whole different wavelength. He's got the guitar going. His brother's over there in the corner who liked my joke i mean he enjoyed the show i think his brother thought the audio was good so that was quite the yeah it was quite was that a holiday or something i feel like it might have been uh april 19 was that like good easter monday or something or good friday or something maybe good friday or something something about that about that because the times changed on me during that day. But Gino Vanelli,

one of the most referred to episodes of all time, great choice for two. And again, Gino, it was all good, just weird and strange and fantastic. Yeah. And the Black Cars exchange.

And I mean, I'm listening back to it now and I'm like, I don't sound bad. I guess I could have gone like, I know I could have been thrown off and i could have screwed it up but that's that's completely unedited and it's funny and i love his line about the parish priest such an inappropriate joke anyway but he's catholic he can make that joke okay of course he is uh all right so before we go to number one uh i just wanted to give some honorable mentions just like

episodes that were great but i just didn't have time to pull a to pull a clip but oh uh you know uh splashing boots lowest of the low um sarah bosvelt uh david schultz did a an appearance where he did a top 10 story i think this might have been his farewell episode or something like that. Yeah, he wanted to say goodbye, which is cool. When somebody you respect and enjoy his work says, I want to use your show as my way of saying goodbye to the industry, that's pretty cool. Yeah.

So you've had a few people use your show for various announcements. One year ago today, I believe. Mike Richards came on and announced he was going to Saga 960. That was a year ago today. Dave Hodge kicks out 100 of his favorite songs, and now he's doing it every year. He's booked for next week. Yeah, it's crazy that every year he's coming up with 100 new songs,

none of them on the Billboard charts. It's insane. Some of them on the Billboard charts. It's insane. Some of them, but not many. Well, anyway. Andy Mays, Ron James, just Alan Cross. I mean, this guy named Perry Monaco gave me some great tips on updating my LinkedIn profile. He was great.

Never heard of him. Never. Let's see here. Greg Brady. Stu Stone. Never heard of him. Never. Let's see here. Greg Brady. Stu Stone. I love Stu Stone. I wanted to get a clip from his episode, but there's just too many good things. So just go listen to Stu Stone.

And my kids have discovered, I think on Netflix, Magic School Bus. And every time they play it, I let them know that kid there, that's Stu Stone. He's a buddy of mine. Stu Stone is booked for a return visit in either this month or next month, but coming up. I'm looking forward to it. Ashley Docking,

it was here that you predicted that she was going to get hired by the fan and you're very prophetic about it. I did. I've made a few great predictions in my time. Maestro kicked out the jams and he kicked out one of his own. Oh yeah,

that's the first time that's happened, right? Yeah. I mean, I thought there was like this rule. Maybe it's just a rock and roll rule you don't wear your own t-shirt exactly don't wear your own t-shirt you can't wear this no i can't somebody asked me why don't you wear a t-shirt i can't it's against the rules and don't don't kick out your own jam i just want to point out the maestro kicking out the jam was also episode 416 that's that well well played. Was that an accident?

No, no, no, no, no. We had like face-to-face meetings. We had a meeting at Jack Astor's where we were sitting down eating and discussing the timing of his visit to make sure it got in as a 416. Well done. Gord Martineau was a great episode. What a surprise to have him on.

Yeah, I was a little disappointed in his answer to... Ann Roszkowski. Yeah, her story. But, you know, it was a good episode. Fred Penner came back. Yeah, he's always good. The cat came back. And you know what?

My daughter saw him play like two days ago at a school concert. She's a Fredhead then. Yeah, well, and I got all excited because they were asking for a parent chaperone. Oh, I had a dream he died. Okay. Oh, no. I had a dream Fred Penner died. This is about, I want to say about two months ago.

But in the dream, I remember thinking, I was really sad in the dream. And I remember thinking, oh, he was just here. He seemed so healthy. But yeah, my dream, he died. Isn't that weird? I have a dream Fred Penner died. Let's hope that's not prophetic. Hopefully he's not the first Toronto Mike guest to pass

because then I would have called it there. But he looked really healthy when I saw him. Alive and healthy on this past Wednesday. So hopefully we're good. Barry Davis kicking out the jams was an amazing kick out the jams episode because our musical tastes are very much alike. Barry's a good boy. Yeah, he is a good boy.

I hope he comes back. His own podcast is pretty good. And Kevin. Barry's a good boy. Yeah, he is a good boy. I hope he comes back. And he's got, his own podcast is pretty good. And Kevin Frankish's return was solid. Kevin Frankish's return is key because he basically came in and let us know that he just didn't one day decide to leave that wonderful job he had at Breakfast Television. But we knew that from his first episode. Yeah, but we knew it, but they told us otherwise. They tell you the story

that is not true and you can say, oh, I know that's not true, but then a lot of people believe that story. Yeah. A lot of people do. I would say the vast majority.

Anybody who listens to this podcast on the regular knows that that was bullshit. Right, but you know, the vast majority of the people. I had this chat just the other day

with Ron Davis about when people hear this, because Pagan started listening after he was on and Pagan loves this podcast. And he wrote me these notes about all the episodes he's been loving. He says, it's fantastic. But you know, Pagan only listened because he was on, but all this has been here for years.

Like if you, the most people, the vast majority of people have never heard Toronto Mike. If they had, they would stop believing all these bullshit stories we get then. Exactly. Leo Routens was amazing. Yeah. And around the Raptors championship.

And Master T, you had Master T on. Beautiful peoples. He was fantastic. That's right. All right. Are you ready for number one? I'm ready. Yeah.

I wonder who this is. I wonder. So again. But is this best of? Or like, because it's not bad. I'm ready. Yeah. I wonder who this is. I wonder. Uh, so again, I, is this best of, or like, uh, cause it's not bad.

I mean, I'm assuming it is what I think it is. Is that best? I will talk afterwards. By the way, before you even play this one. Okay. Before you play it,

it is the one that people, yes, people seem to go to this one, unfortunately, but I want to say thank you to you, Al, uh, because these are amazing clips you pulled,

like you great effort, but these are inspired choices like you did a kick-ass job thanks you earned the lasagna and you earned which is that's the md but yeah i got that lasagna don't forget you earned the six pack of great leagues beer you earned more stickers from sticker you and then there's another gift here let me give it to you right now actually before we do this final one and we'll talk about the final one here this is uh from electric city candle company and this is a gift for you to take home special needs adults make candles and sell candles and all the money goes towards their special needs hockey league and right now they're actually trying to fundraise to buy a used van for their travels. Okay.

It's very expensive. ElectricCitySpecialNeedsHockey.com where you learn about the league. But to buy these candles, and again, made by the special needs adults and for them to enjoy the hockey league, ElectricCityCandles.com. You get also fantastic candles.

So that is a gift for you from them. I can't wait to check these out. Check that out. Thank you. And now I am ready for number one. Welcome, Molly. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having me.

It's a sad day. This is a long one. Aretha Franklin has passed away. Was Aretha an inspiration for you in your career? I'm sorry. I just heard that noise news about a minute ago, a second ago, and I didn't realize that you were starting with an Aretha Franklin question. She's had a huge impact in my life,

and I'd like to take a moment to just absorb what's just happened. And so sorry, I don't have an answer for that. I'm a massive fan. And of course, we're going to talk all about you and about your festival. Oh, you're going to suffer through the whole thing. But just right off the top, I would be amiss if I didn't mention the fact that your brother is in my favorite show of all time. In fact, there's a DVD set in front of you there that's from The Wire. I love The Wire.

And your brother was in The Wire. My brother was not only in The Wire. He created The Wire. He was the first director on The Wire. So, yeah, he did a little bit of acting in The Wire, but the reality and the real story there is that he actually directed The Wire. Well, I want the real story here. So, obviously, we know him on the screen. He's Gus, season five. Well, read the liner notes that you got apparently right here in this box. Maybe you should read the liner notes. I'm sure his name's

in there somewhere. A question right off the bat, of course, is from Drew Gorski, who wants to know if there's any chance for an Elta Moda reunion. But can you tell us a little bit about singing of Elta Moda? Well, I was the singer, but I was also the writer and the director of the videos and the manager and a million things back in 1984. And no, I don't think there'll ever be a reunion of Julian because the drummer passed away in the 90s. People think when they see a musician like yourself

all over Much Music, for example, which is a national station or on the radio, we assume that you drive around and you're Bentley or whatever and then you've got your mansion or whatever. I think there's an assumption that if you're on TV and you're a popular singer that you're Richard Davis. That's America. That's not Canada, my friend. That's America.

If you see an artist on TV in America singing a song they wrote, they're getting an evently. I, sir, do not have a driver's license. I mean. Just so you know. Just so you see. This is all about real talk. No, we're understanding.

And now I got to level with you. Yeah. So this is all about real talk. Just so we're understanding. No, we're understanding. And now I got to level with you. Yeah. So this is episode 368. Yeah. This is probably the first time, and now actually I feel a little change in the climate, but this is the first time I felt like maybe my guest had better things to do, maybe didn't want to be here.

And I mean this with all due respect, because normally the show unfolds a little bit differently, but I felt like a little, I'm going to say nervous that maybe you're Molly Johnson. I think of you, you're a great singer. You're well-respected and I think you're an amazing talent and I don't want to waste your time. And I didn't want to, and I honestly felt a sense like for the first time and it's been,

it's been six years of doing this. And yeah, I felt like you were bothered to be here. Oh, I'm sorry you feel that. I know you don't owe me anything. To be honest, I like a lot of artists. Maybe not enough of them. I'm not a narcissist.

I don't actually like talking about myself. Did somebody make you come here? No, no. And by the way, I do make people nervous. No kidding, I make people nervous.

Abso-fucking-lutely I make people nervous. Well, I'm kind of happy I'm nervous because honestly, I got... I don't know, people come in

and it becomes routine and no one makes me nervous and I got a little... The thing I do is routine. Well, here's the word I'm going to use. Here we go. Here's the word

I'm going to use for you and I hope this doesn't insult you, but I got a diva vibe. Have you ever... Really? Oh, I'm going to use. Here's the word I'm going to use for you, and I hope this doesn't insult you, but I got a diva vibe. Have you ever... She was an inspiration to so many, but I can only imagine you, Molly, that... It's a torture.

You wanted to sing, right? You've always wanted to sing. No, I've not always wanted to sing. Tell us then. Do it. I'm sorry, did you want me to talk while Aretha Franklin was singing? Because I'm struggling with that. Well, I can take down the song.

No, I want to hear Aretha 24-7, man. I love listening to her. You know what? You're going to win, Al. You're going to win. So back to this other question. We're only halfway done. I thought you might insult me.

Well, it sounds a little. I think you would insult me. You are insulting me, and you'd insult someone like Aretha Franklin, too, with the word diva. Because unfortunately, my friend, the word diva used to have such a beautiful meaning to it. It was about a woman that dedicated herself to her art.

I'm thinking of Edith Piaf. I'm thinking of great, the great Jesse Norman. I'm thinking of that. And the Kardashians and theian generation have ruined that word and unfortunately guys like you see a woman who's got shit to do how dare you and you're not my main focus so therefore i must be a diva i must be this girl who's so full of herself and so and and and it's unfortunately because that's the way the word, that is what has become of the word.

A lot of words have been ruined. Like, for instance, the word fun. When did fun become a bad word? I don't know. When did people having fun become something bad? That's a good question. Like, that's a weird thing to me, too. It's fun to bad word.

So I look at words a lot because I do write songs and I'm working around words all the time. So over my career, I have been called that and much, much worse. And quite frankly, all women who know what they'd like to do and are doing it are put down in this world. It's a problem and we're going to change that. We're coming for you. That makes you nervous, you as in all of you. If that makes you nervous, get the Black Lives Girls in here. I dare you to.

I tried. I'd be happy to. That's really insulting to me. I'm really appalled, actually, that you would think I'm a diva. Molly. I was sitting on your front porch surrounded by sidewalk chalk, quite happy when you rolled up.

No, you don't know me, which is maybe part of the problem. I moved you to another time. And I appreciate that. I'm so grateful you're here. Good. Well, it doesn't feel like you're grateful I'm here. It sounds like I used a word I shouldn't use, diva. and a little afraid.

None of these features are setting up for a great interview. I disagree. I can assure you that... I'm really sorry. I know you've been doing interviews since you were four years old. No, you don't know that. You just told me. Well, I just told you now, but you didn't know that when you were calling me a diva.

I shouldn't have called you. But I guess because I got a very serious sense that you didn't want to do it, wanted to rush. I felt I had to abort my typical styles, typical format, in order to free you from this hassle. And again, if this

has anything to do with the passing of Aretha Franklin, I'm so sorry. My condolences. You broke that news to me. She was very sick. It's true. Well, I'm so sorry and my condolences. You broke that news to me. She was very sick. It's true. Well, I'm surprised to hear that if you couldn't sing, you wouldn't miss it. It sounds like it's not your

first love. Is it fair to say that you sing for the money? Is that what I'm hearing? I don't want to put words in your mouth. I mentioned earlier to you, I've actually never made any freaking money at this. And I'm in it 40 years. So clearly I'm in it for something other than the money.

As a diva, maybe. Unless I apologize to the diva comment. Well, it's going to haunt you now. Is it over? It's over. Because you know there's this thing called PTSD and we're not supposed to play around with that stuff. That was tough to listen to.

Like, there's a lot of, I feel cringy in parts of it, and I regret parts, but I also, listening back, feel bad for myself. So, but let me save this for a second. So, anybody who might listen to this episode because they want to get a sense of what Toronto Mic'd is about, that was the first half of that episode. By the end of it, you actually were friendly with each other.

She did give me a big hug. You saved it. You turned her around. I don't know how you did. I got a lot of feedback, as you know, on that episode. And other than Jeremy taggart okay typically the feedback was something like i don't know like why you didn't shut it down and kick her out like i got a lot of that like you could just kick her out and shut it down when i when i didn't wait

that's molly johnson like and she came to my show i wasn't going to shut it down and kick her out i did try to save it and if i was successful then i think you're, you're saved it. And it made for amazing, compelling listening. Like I know it was uncomfortable for you. Even Elvis listened to this episode multiple times. Because he needed more. My wife listened, my mom listened,

my, uh, my son, James, who never listens. He listened. Like, I can't tell you how many people made a point to listen to this.

What sounds a bit like a train wreck but it was well the the parts that i i picked every single one of the the worst parts right and then but afterwards you know you saved it like at the end you guys were hugging each other and and like i didn't put any any of those parts in because this was already an eight minute clip plus that wouldn't have been fun and i love what you did there though with the record scratch it really does bang home what kind of episode that was i i felt like i couldn't win and uh oh man and she was just not in any mood to be won over like so the fact that you did win her over by the end was was impressive i think that episode taught me a lot though i feel like i'd be better handling

a similar situation now like i feel like i learned a lot from that and it would take a lot more now i think to throw me because Molly threw me. I could tell my voice. I could hear my voice from my first sentence there about Aretha Franklin passing. I sound different in the headphones and I could tell it's because I'm nervous.

Because she was already really, really, really mean to me before I pressed record. Oh really? Oh yeah, I talked about it in the beginning intro I think. But yeah, it was going south way before I pressed record. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I talked about it in the beginning intro, I think. But, yeah, it was going south way before I pressed record. So, you say you learned something. Do you think you would have shut it down sooner or do you think you would just learn

to navigate around that? I think I learned to navigate. I think I learned how to navigate around it. I think I can work with a multitude of different personality types, including Molly's. Including divas. Including Aya. I learned to stop

using that word. I had no idea it was an offensive word. Did you know? I just, yeah, I didn't think it was offensive. I mean, I thought, like, I can understand why she took offense to it, but I didn't consider it like a racial thing. Yes, I didn't have a clue. I never thought of Diva as

having race tied to it. I just thought it was about high-maintenance singers like Molly. So I didn't think of race. That was the context in which you used it anyway, because we know you're not racist. No, I'm not racist at all. And I sure didn't know Diva if it has racist connotations.

I just learned it on that episode. I sure didn't know. Ow! I need some time now to recover from all that Molly at the end. You're going to kick me out now, aren't you? I actually have to say, I did not think Molly was going to make the best of, because I never think of it as a best of episode. I just think of it as an interesting,

maybe even fascinating episode, but not as a best of episode. I think it was one of the best clips for me. That's what I'm told. So we can ask folks on torontomike.com or on Twitter to chime in. I'm sure I missed some that people wanted to hear, but yeah.

No, you did fantastic. And a lot of my favorites made the list like Brunt. And I'm glad we started with the heavy stuff and then got lighter and then we ended with the cringe, but that's okay.

I will see you, Al. You did a great job here today, but I will see you on December 7th. Try to get there before noon. We got to set up. Let me know when you're going to be there

and we're going to have a great TMLX5 together. And that brings us to the end of our 530th, no, 540th show. Nice milestone there, 540. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Al, how can people follow you on Twitter? At PFTW is my personal Twitter.

At Royal Pains Band is the band's Twitter. Are you going to make a Twitter for the weekends? There is one for the weekends, but I'm not pushing that one today. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Brian Master,

you write him at LetsGetYouHome at KW.com. Do it right now. I'll owe you. Capadia LLP is at capadialp. And Ridley Funeral Home is at ridleyfh. See you all next week. And I don't know what the future can hold or do For me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up

Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rolling in gray.