Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Tim Bovaconti: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1571

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

In this 1571st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Tim Bovaconti about his years playing with Ron Sexsmith, Burton Cummings, Kim Stockwood and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

I I'm gonna sit you down. That's good. Thanks. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city. I aim to please, Tim. I aim to please. Welcome to episode 1,600, no, 1,571. I gave myself an extra 100 episodes there. Why not? Who's counting, right? I'm the only one counting.

I could do that. Glad to be here. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Advantage to Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada.

Learn how to plan, invest and live smarter. That's a good idea, live smarter. Season seven. Speaking of living smarter, season seven of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Monaris, hosted by FOTM Al Gregor. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto mic debut is Tim Bovaconte. Welcome Tim. Thanks for having me. Well thanks for not hitting your head when you came down to the basement here.

And when you said you had a gig last night, where were you playing last night? Oh I wasn't playing, I went to a show. I went to see Nick Lowe at TD Music Hall in part of Massey Hall there. Very cool, how was that? It was amazing. I've been a fan since I was 13 and Yeah, I think this is my favorite Nick Lowe show I ever saw but Partly because the sound is so good in that place. I don't know if you've been there TD Music Hall No Don't think I have I'm trying to think if I have maybe I have but smaller room

That they just sort of put in its brand new great production great sound room that they just sort of put in its brand new great production great sound sight lines yes very good I got to make my way out there check that out here maybe this is a good place to start I'm kind of curious about your like musician origin story and then we're gonna walk through some of your highlights and then I have some music to play we're gonna get to know you better like when did you fall in love with music? When I was about, I grew up on Toronto Island on Moores Island and... What's that like?

It's, you know, it's different. My dad still lives over there and, you know, I went to Island Public School. There were only six kids in the whole, grade six, in the whole system there. Very small community. We were lucky, we got to go on these school trips once a year, we'd fundraised the year before the trip and we'd go for a week to Gas Bay Peninsula and then bill it with families in PEI. Because it was such a small school, you were able to do that. If there was 80 kids, how are you gonna pull that off off? Right? Right. So we do these awesome trips.

And I got into music around that time. My teacher, Barry Palmer, rest in peace, he took us to a concert in Quebec City on that trip that we went on, grade five, I believe. And it was Robert Charleboix, a French-Canadian rock and roll singer, who I knew nothing about. But it was the first time I ever saw a guy hitting real drums, and I was like, wow, this is so cool, right? And it went from there, and my uncle gave me a Yamaha Spanish classical guitar,

and I started to learn easy chord beatle books and things like that, and it just blossomed from there, I guess and Like when do you realize? Hey, maybe I could do this professionally. It's funny Like I always think that when I was 12 years old, I started to learn Jimi Hendrix licks I had a little tape recorder It's not the like we didn't have YouTube like all the kids now where you can know you got a guy and here's like half The speed here's how you play the lick. I had a little tape recorder and I put a mic up to my stereo playing the record

and all along the watch tower or something by Hendrix and I, and I'd find note by note what he was playing. That's how I, it was very time consuming. So I, but more, more like rewarding. I'd like to think that, cause you had to work for it. Yeah, but you had to work for it. That's for sure. And I, and I said once I like quote unquote mastered a song I would call my friend Brian Smith who lived over on 1st Street on Ward's Island Brian. You got to get over here I learned the solo on Watchtower by Hendrix or something, you know

And so he always supported me and that's kind of how I started to learn just I was always self-taught So I'm curious when you are raised on the island, you might be the first person I've talked to who was raised on the island. How often do you take the ferry over to Toronto proper? Well, when you're a kid, you wouldn't have to, but if you had a job, like you're a grownup adult working, you'd have to go every morning.

But as a kid, how often would you visit Toronto? Maybe once or twice a week like sometimes less well if it was hockey season I played house league so I had to go to the city for that so I'd you know get the seven the first boat to get to hockey you know st. Mike's or Leeside I played at both of those places. Amazing okay so I'm actually gonna move the mic like a tits close. I want you to stay where you are. Okay. Yeah.

Just want to capture all this gold here, Tim. You know how it works here. So and the headphone volumes are good? Everything's good, yeah. Okay. I wasn't sure which one you were. It's like, I'm in the middle of intro. Where the hell is Tim's and which one is it?

It's okay. So I turned them all down except mine. See, that's what you do when you're not sure which one is. Turn them all down except mine. See, that's what you do when you're not sure which one is the guys. Turn them all down here. Okay. So I want to shout out Blair Packham. Yes. How do you know Blair?

You know, Blair, like I remember seeing the jitters at like in the heyday at Nathan Phillips Square and, you know, they had hits on the radio and I thought, well, that's really cool. And I remember, it's funny when you're an impressionable youngster trying to get into the music thing and I remember I have this image in my mind I've probably never even told Blair this like of him standing outside the black bowl on Queen Street West I'm like that's the guy from the jitters you know like a like that you know very esteemed from, from my perspective. Well, when you're on a radio, that's a big, especially when you're a kid,

any rock band that played on the radio is a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and, uh, and then I guess I'm trying to think where I first met him, but we have a lot of mutual friends, Fergus Hamblitton, who I've played with for years. He was here just about a couple of months ago. He was in this basement. Yeah. So we, I I I can't remember a pinpoint like exactly when I met Blair, but just over the years, you know different songwriting things and and Yeah, okay. So, you know, I'm trying to still discover this origin story So when you realize you could be a professional musician, but like when did you realize you could write a decent song?

Well, I'm still thinking about that. You're gonna let me know. Yeah. Yeah, you're on me when you do it I think the thing the way I look at music and that goes for playing as well It's like you're never you never get there like it here. It's a constant learning I hate the word journey right now, but but you know what I mean? Like you're never you never reach that your target as far as I'm concerned Like I guess I'm a harsh critic of myself, but I think that you're always constantly trying to do better, write a better song.

So I'm gonna drop names periodically and then it'll be your job to just tell me everything you can about that name, okay? This is putting me on the spot here, but the first name, this is a gentleman. I gotta tell him he's yet to visit the basement, but we did do an episode of Toronto Mike via Zoom. So he is an FOTM, love the guy,

but he's never been in this basement. So this is a shout out to next time Ron Sexsmith is in the neighborhood, we gotta make that happen. But please tell me when you met Ron, your relationship with Ron professionally, personally, and let's talk some, Sexsmith. Okay, well Ron I met, you know, it was probably in the 80s.

I used to play a lot at Say What downtown, you know. And George Mildebrandt, the owner, he would put together these three different songwriters sometimes, like sort of a package night and And he put me I remember one time he put me on with Ron's sex with and Kurt swing hammer Who incidentally did the artwork for my about to be released album and I see his Sam the record man on the wall There's a sword hang swing hammer. Thank you to Rob Bruce for the birthday gift. Yeah Kurt's I've always looked up to Kurt to As an artist and a musician, I've always liked, you know, I learned a lot just watching him play as a side man with people and

his own shows as well. Um, and I love his artwork. So if he's done my last three albums, I think, um, but back to Ron, um, so we'd sort of know each other from, you know, playing the odd bill together at say what, um, and then, uh then I used to see him in the East End. Once I moved off the island, I lived in the East side. So how old are you when you leave the island? I was about 18. I lived in the beach with my mom and my stepfather. And then when I finally moved out of my own,

I was living near Coxwell Avenue. I remember seeing Ron on the bus one time and I'm like, there's that guy. Like, we didn't talk, we didn't know each other and then and then and there was a funny thing that happened I was dating this girl and it was her birthday and I knew Ron at this point just to say hi this is probably around 2000 you know and I was like man what could I do for my girlfriend's birthday because she she loved Ron, she had a poster of him in her room and all this stuff.

And then the next day I ran into Ron at Ted's Wrecking Guard, which is now gone, it was a venue on College Street. And so I just went up to him, I said, hey Ron, and he's like, how you doing? And at this point I was playing with Kim Stockwood, and she was signed to EMI. Are you stealing all the names I was gonna throw at you. No, please, we'll get back to Kim, but yeah.

I'm stealing your thunder. So then I see Ronny. Someone's gotta do it. Yeah, he just walks in and I, so I go, this is perfect. I was just thinking about him yesterday and I haven't seen him in ages. So I go, hey man, would you come and play at my girlfriend's birthday party?

And his first question was not like, yeah, or whatever, I'm busy. He just said, will there be cake there? That was because he had his two young children, they were really young at that point, and he just wanted to know that if, because he obviously had to bring his kids because of his situation at the time,

he was taking care of his kids. And so I said, yes, there will be cake there. And then the second question was, do you have like a PlayStation or anything like that for my son? In other words, like I'll do it if these prerequisites are covered. What a sweetheart move by Ron Seggsmith.

That's a sweetheart move. Like just play your girlfriend's birthday party. Yeah, and so he arrived at the door and I wanted it to be a surprise. And I was upstairs though and she at the door and I wanted it to be a surprise. And I was upstairs though, and she answered the door and was shocked to see Ron Sexmith. Like she's like, what the hell? So long story short, we jammed on my back porch that night

and a bass player named Maury LaFoy, who I played in a band called the Supers years ago. He was there as well and we the three of us jammed and about a month later he ran into a mutual friend and and she had been at the party and he said yeah I'm trying to get in I want to get in touch with Tim I want to see if he wants to go on the road that's how I found out he was looking to augment his band and and so then I I just took the initiative and reached out to him and And he said yeah, I want to I'm gonna be doing Europe and so I ended up traveling all over the world with him For about 11 years. That's amazing. Yeah, so you played with Ron sex myth all like Europe and in

Japan and and got to play like Royal Albert Hall he had lined, you know, which if I can tell a quick Nick Lowe story Yeah, please related to that when Ron headlining Royal Albert Hall. I think it was 2013 and I flew my now wife Jenny over to the UK and my my mother and my Sister my aunt and cousin and I remember feeling a bit nervous. We'd been on the road for like five or six weeks. So there was no reason why I should be nervous

about the gig, but it was such a big show like in London and Royal Albert Hall. There's more pressure, I guess, or I was putting it on myself. And I was kind of pacing around backstage and it was minutes before we were supposed to go on. And it was myself and the bass player in the band who was Jason Mercer and Nick Lowe,

because Nick was friends with Ron. And it was just the three of us in the dressing room at this one moment. And I would guess Nick caught my nervous energy. I was walking in circles. And I just heard this voice. I didn't even see him say it. I just heard, you know, it is a wonderful place to play.

Go out there and enjoy it." And I just chilled the eff out. I walked out there, I just felt like it was just totally magical. I just sort of embraced the moment and we had a great time and I thank Nick Lowe for that. So why did you stop playing with Ron? Did he replace you, did he kick you out?

No, I had a sub. You didn't have any more cake? I had a sub. There was about five years where I was touring all over the world with Ron and touring with Burton Cummings. I needed two of myself. It was crazy. Yeah, you had to clone yourself. Like Dolly the sheep. Yeah, I needed that. I didn't have the wherewithal or the technology to make that happen. Okay, so we're going to get to Burton later. Yeah. So the wrong thing, like I subbed it out when we found out we were having twins

and I have nine year olds, identical twin boys, Brighton and James. And I was, I just thought, well, you know, I'm just, I can't be going away as much and Burton at that time wasn't doing long tours Just you know, like four days here for day, you know, a smaller little right sample sizes of Rhodes work So that's how it sort of went down to make a decision Yeah, and that's all life is man just a series of you know decisions Yeah, and and you know, I'm still playing with Burton and I do miss the days with Ron sometimes but you know I just it was kind of crazy. I remember one time being in a stopover

like flying from playing in You know Frankfurt, Germany and then playing the next day with Burton in Connecticut Wow It's like you're in liquid form, you know, when you get to the gig and you're just like, well, it's a good thing I had practiced playing stoned in my youth because this is like, if I just feel like I'm stoned, I'll get through the gig. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like crazy. Good training. Okay. A few points here. One is, I also have a son named James, so we have that in common.

Right on. Okay. I just think, you know, celebrate that. Okay. And then in your humble opinion, Tim, do you believe that Ron Seck Smith is better appreciated in Europe than he is in Canada? Absolutely. Yeah. Why is that? I have no idea. You know, like he's well known in Canada, but sometimes people go to Europe, and like Feist for instance, you know, they go over there and make it in Paris

or somewhere like that. I can't remember her thing, but. Yeah, it was Paris. And then they're embraced back here more, even though they gave it a shot for years in Canada. But oh, they love the artist in Germany, so we better start liking them. There's that kind of thing in Canada sometimes.

And I believe that's the case with Ron sometimes. For instance, we would play big theaters in England and all over the place, and a band like Blue Rodeo, they would play the borderline in London, which is a club. Ron has a bigger profile in England than Blue Rodeo. See, let's process that, that's a mind blow for a lot of GTA listeners tuning in right now. But it's true.

I saw it. So I know I had Ron on, I should ask him, has he ever considered moving to Europe? I don't think he has, i've never heard him talk about it He's like peter mansbridge's neighbor now or something like that. So, yeah, he's got he's got his thing going on there Okay, a couple of more things. Can you name the members of the supers? uh maury lefoye graham powell and uh jeff

I'm forgetting his name right now because it's the morning. Well, I'm putting you on the spot here, okay? You didn't know this was gonna be 90 minutes on the supers. So, okay. Also, I'm gonna give you, I know you write songs, so here is something to get you going. You need to write a song about sex myth on a bus. Like it's starting to form in my head, okay?

So, sex myth on a bus is a song you could. Yeah, I can still see him sitting at the back and and he and he remembered that that moment too because I had a guitar over my shoulder like gig bag and and he said yeah I remember seeing you that there's that guy that plays guitar you know like we had this sort of knowledge of each other you know. Can you explain the button that's on your collar here? The button? Oh this is a I still love the Delphi's which is my good friend Jerry Legere's side project which I play in quite often it's a sort of a rotating cast of musicians and I was and I was out with Jerry last night at the Nick Lowe concert. Well let's talk about Jerry then next so I'm gonna go out of order and

I'm gonna bounce, except Jerry played live in this basement. I had a great chat with him, loved it very much. Tell us about your relationship professionally and personally with Jerry this year. Yeah, I met Jerry when he was 17 and I was hosting with a couple other guys. This open stage, but it was just original music. I would play bass or pedal steel usually because there were lots of guitar players, keyboard players.

And Jerry was this kid who would show up at this bar at Woodbine and Danforth. And they'd always make him wait to the end. And he was too young to even get in, but he became my guy. Like I'm gonna play drums with Jerry. Like get out of my way. Like, so we'd be like get out of my way.

So we'd be like the White Stripes or something, Jerry playing an electric guitar and me on the drums. And that's how I knew him. And I guess I championed him, I thought, with this kid's, he was a kid then. He's really good, you know, he's got great songs. Yeah, well, Dawnlands is the last album I heard. I think that's still his most recent album.

And it really is fantastic. Yeah, he's so prolific And so I guess I championed him at that a very early time in his his thing And and then he was gonna make his first record and I said let me produce it. We'll go to the studio I just want a hundred dollars. That's right. I just wanted to help him right, but you would have done it for cake I would have done it for cake for sure as long as he had a PlayStation there with you know with NHL Whatever NHL 2001 or whatever year it was. Yeah, that's around my my time for the NHL EA Yeah, I stopped after that. Yeah, break the habit and the music was always pretty good, right? Like I'm thinking Queens at the Stone Age

Yeah, that's right. No one at the Stone Age? Yeah that's right. No one. All right I have a note from Blair Packham though like that I said hey you know Tim's coming over Friday and he said his wife Jenny is very tall. Yes she's taller than me. Okay so what do we talk I just when he when you get a note like that like I picture a seven foot two WNBA superstar. What's going on? Well she's like 6'2 and I'm when he when you get a note like that, like I picture a seven foot to Wnba superstar what's going on? Well, she's like six two and I'm when I'm standing straight. I guess I'm about six one Okay. Yeah, and you you you were with Jerry at the Nick Lowe show or last night last night hanging out Yeah, that's okay. Come on. We got to start recording these things I feel like that's a reality show waiting to happen here. Okay, go ahead.

There were a lot of musos there last night, lots of musicians there. Everywhere I turned, the people that I knew or recognized, Nick attracts that crowd for sure. Absolutely. Now, you mentioned Blue Rodeo, not as popular as Ron Sexsmith in London, England, in the UK at all, right?

That's a Sexsmith in London, England, in the UK at all, right? That's a Sexsmith town. By the way, shout out to Sexhammer. Yes. Yes, the duo of Curt Swinghammer and Ron Sexsmith. What a great name, too. Great name. And shout out to Lori Cullen, too, who fights over here last summer. And we got to get Lori Cullen back to kick out the jams. Okay. When we went with Ron, we played on the Conan O'Brien show. And I remember his monologue. He said, and today we have also on the show Ron Sexsmith. And he goes, Sexsmith, that was my nickname in college. What year was this Conan O'Brien performance?

I think it was 2001. That's when I joined Ron's band, 2001. I think I had fallen off. I was such a massive Conan O'Brien, late night with Conan O'Brien fan when he launched for like a few years where I was just like All in on it. I love the irreverent comedy. I just I just love so refreshing I was a big fan and I was already a big Simpsons fan So I like the Conan O'Brien comedic vibe or whatever, but I might have fallen off by then but man, okay, so Michael Boguski,

blue rodeo, blue rodeo. That's right. That's how he, that's where I was going. So speaking of blue rodeo, see, thank you. I got to put in these segues. Come on. Speaking of blue rodeo. Do you know Michael Boguski? I certainly do. Okay. Talk to me about my former Michael power classmate. Okay. He's a fine gentleman and an amazing keyboard player. I remember seeing Blue Radio at the, I guess it was the Moulson Amphitheater then. And I just remember he'd just played this solo with his head down over the keyboard and it was-

Is it Diamond Mine? I think so, yeah. Cause that's where he does his thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he hits along, yeah. Yeah, and then he just, he blew the roof off. Everyone freaked out, it was so good. And he's a great guy. His first wife, my wife, like the four of us,

hung out a fair bit. And I don't see him as much now, because we're both students, different things, we're busy, but I consider him a friend and an amazing musician. So, Classmate's kind of of wrong because he's a bit younger than me, but he was in the school at the same time, but it was his brother who was my classmate, Mark Boguski.

Yes, I met Mark. You know Mark, okay, so we're the same class. It's funny, because yesterday I was doing a gig. I gig, I don't sing at my gigs though, so no pressure. I don't play guitar at my gigs either. So I was at a gig at One Yorkville yesterday, and so I couldn't take my son to a soccer practice, which happened to be at this new location of Michael Power,

and my wife took him to this thing. This is a long boring story, except it was open night night, so parents were visiting Michael Power, like just a coincidence. So to kill time, my wife and my youngest child were touring around Michael Power and they found the grad photos. I guess every graduation class gets a picture on the wall somewhere. And this is a new location.

I guess this is boring to everyone but maybe the Boguskis. But they moved locations so the physical school I attended actually got turned into rubble so condos could be built. So of course, you know, shout out the Ridley funeral home but this new location does have these pictures and my youngest daughter who's eight years old was very excited to find me on the wall of this school in Etobicoke so I'm sure we could get him hunting for all the Boguski's too but a fun moment for me personally was during the pandemic

when we couldn't see live music. I don't even know how you survived. You can tell me in a moment, but Michael Boguski came to the backyard because we couldn't even get inside here like to record. And he had his keyboard with him and he played diamond mine in my backyard. And it was, it's like, oh, I missed this so much.

And it was so good. And I just wanted to shout him out. Oh yeah, no, he's a great guy. How did you survive the pandemic? Well, I have a studio in my backyard. I call it Tim's garage because it's in the old garage is converted. And I had already started building up. I hate the word clientele, but you know, like people would come and record with me and sometimes I would play mostly instruments or and sometimes I would just record them, you know, engineer or whatever. And so I had a bunch of people that would come by regularly and I have this large shed, cedar shed that a friend built

just before the pandemic. And I was standing in there one day during, during the pandemic. And I'm realizing like three of me could stand in here. And I was like, okay, I got it. I'm going to turn this into a vocal booth. So it was, I got my friend to drywall it, um, you know, and I put some soundproofing in there and, and, uh, we drilled a hole in the side of the shed and a hole through the brick in the garage so I could run a mic cable from building to building and I had a talkback mic in the garage. And I would just email someone like, um, my

friend Don Stevenson, he's, he was in the band Moby, Moby Grape. He's been here. Yeah. I, I'm the baby played by the Toronto tree where we'll take a picture later. I took great video, but yeah, so don't wait.

Yeah. One time, Don, I'm like, so when you get in the backyard, just go down the little slope and go into the shed. And so I just hear this rustling, you know, and then I'd be like, Don, are you there? Hi Tim, like, you know, just over the mic, right? And I would record the vocals, you know, and it was, it kept my sanity,

just to have that contact with people coming over. It's funny, because Adam Fox was just here. And I know Adam too. Adam, that night Adam attended TMLX16 at GLB Brew Pub. So I want to thank Great Lakes Brewery for hosting us there because they had free food and your first drink on the house. And everyone who came out to the Toronto Mike listener experience 16 had a blast. So I just wanted to to shout that out. But Adam Fox busks for the TTC and when

he was sharing the story with me about how he busks for the TTC, I remember Don Stevenson does the exact same thing. Yeah he does. He has an album called Busking in the Subway. Yes! And we recorded some of that in my studio. And including having Burton Cummings come over and play keyboards and sing backups on a couple songs. I remember him telling me now. I know what the common... now I see now all the pieces are starting to fit over here. I gotta shout out Gare Joyce real quick because Gare Joyce is the guy who made sure Don Stevenson got into the basement here, and we had that great chat about Moby Grape.

Moby Grape, one of the more underappreciated bands from that era. San Francisco, yes. Big, big deal when you get into the history of music. Big deal, but you don't hear about them in the wild very often, Moby Grape. Yeah, they're sort of a favorite of so many people, like Robert Plant.

And you read a book like Chrissy Hines' autobiography and she's like, I love Moby Grape. Like there was name drop Moby Grape. So they're sort of a favorite of artists. They didn't beat the world, set the world on fire sales wise, I guess. You need the big hits, yeah. Yeah, but they're an awesome band.

And Don still sounds great. He's still writing. He's, he's all over it. You know, absolutely great. Like a living legend you got there and done Stevenson. So this basement studio, it's in my garage, in your garage. Sorry. The backyard. Yeah. It's my basis. Right. The garage studio. I sounds like you've made some pretty good records. Yeah, I think my own as well. I did that during the pandemic, the one I'm just releasing. Okay, so I have song. We're going to spend the last chunk of time playing a bit of that and talking about that. But some names you dropped earlier. One big name I got to pick up. But can you tell me about Kim Stockwood? Yeah. Lovely woman.

Yeah, she has a new single that's just coming out and we recorded a lot of that in my studio. I met Kim, um, it would be about 96 and she was signed to EMI and a mutual friend of ours recommended me to play guitar with her. She was looking for somebody to tour and stuff. And, um, and so, um, And so, yeah, I auditioned and got the gig and ended up playing on her, well, actually her sort of big single Jerk. It's kind of a weird story,

but EMI put out her debut album, Bonavista, and then it wasn't doing so great, I guess. And they, in the meantime meantime she had these other two songs so they pulled the album off the shelves and revamped it with these two songs that we recorded that I played on one of which was jerk and that became her biggest hit and We had a lot of fun. I played for a bunch of years, so, you know touring mostly across Canada And she's a Newfoundlander. Yeah Okay you know, touring mostly across Canada. And she's a Newfoundlander. Yep, yep. Okay, many, many moons ago, I was like embedded into the morning show.

This will bring you back, Easy Rock Morning Show. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love Easy Rock. I remember the theme. Jeez, I used to play like syndicated John Tesh on that station, like that was really easy listening stuff. Was there some air supply in the all in the need is absolutely that's as hard as it got over there. Nice. But this morning show was four

people. I remember it was humble Howard Glassman from humble and Fred. It was Colleen Rush home. It was Rick Hodge and it was Kim Stockwood. Yeah, I remember when she did that. So yeah, I was there for one morning anyways to watch. First of all, too many people for a morning show. Okay. That's my first tidbit. But yeah, Kim was lovely. Yeah, she's great.

She's awesome. Okay. This is a good time for me to give you some gifts for coming out and then we'll hit the big name that you dropped and we'll touch on some more stuff and get to the new music. Oh can I give you one more Blue Radio story? Of course. Because I just remembered the first time I ever played an electric guitar was Greg Keillers when I was I think 11 or something up at our cottage on Bob Lake near Minden Ontario. My grandparents were good friends with the Keillers who were two cottages down and And that was Jim Keiller, Greg's stepfather. Well, actually, he was adopted, right?

Jim. And I knew them. And then they said, our son, Greg, is in a band. And I was getting excited about music at that time. And then another visit later, they said, oh, Greg's coming up. And the next day he showed up and they all went into town to drink beer at the Rock Cliff Hotel. And Greg left me with his, I think it was a white Tala caster and a little Fender champ in the cottage. And I've just made a racket by myself

while they all went out drinking. Well, just last month I was at Massey Hall when he got inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Greg Keeler. Amazing. Amazing. And then Ron McLean inducted him and Jim Cuddy into this Hall of Fame. So Ron McLean tells a story, but I had heard it previously from Jeff Merrick, but I'm going

to just throw it here now because I don't think it's been told on this program. But because some people now heard it, but everybody at Massey Hall acted like they were hearing it for the first time. So I don't think this is widely known, but the 1972 Summit Series. Yep. Bobby Orr was hurt. Yes, he didn't play. The 1972 summit series. Yep. Bobby Orr was hurt. Yes, he didn't play. Didn't play, but they were testing them out, I guess, giving them a workout in Toronto and they

needed a goalie, but I guess the Toronto Marlburles had just practiced and they grabbed one of their goalies to just help them work out Bobby Orr on the ice. And do you know who that goaltender was? No, I don't actually. Greg Keeler. No way I didn't know that. So there you go there he's tied to the 1972 Summit Series forever so. And Ron Saxman was briefly a goalie. I heard a lot of Canadian musicians are goaltenders. Yeah he, Gordon Downey was a goalie. Ron was a goalie. He told me the story that he invited a girl

to watch him play hockey and I think he knew he would impress her and he led in 13 goals. Only 13. Yeah, the coach, I guess they didn't have a backup on that team. Yeah, he had to weather the storm. Poor Ron, because who knows what could have happened if he had to weather the storm. Poor Ron, because who knows what could have happened if he had a better.

But any other musicians? I remember, I think it was Ron MacLean telling me about the extraordinary number of Canadian musicians who are goaltenders. But maybe there's a common trait required to be on stage as a rock star and between the pipes. You have to be a little loony, right? Canary Reaves is a goalie too. Okay. I was playing house league.

Young blood, right? Yeah, I was playing house league at Moss Park years ago and we were short a goalie and there was these guys were on the ice right before us with all these really pretty ladies looking through the glass. I'm like, what? There's usually never anyone on before us. You know, I'm like, what's going on?

And I went out onto the ice and there was still this one goalie on the ice. And I said, hey man, we're short a goalie. Can you stay another hour? And he took his mask off and it was Keanu Reeves. That's mind blowing. Were they filming something? No, no, I figured he was, he goes,

he said this, what he said, he said, I have to go to work. So I think he was, he goes, he said this way. He said, he said, I have to go to work. So I think he was filming something in Toronto, but he had paid for the, uh, the ice time for his buddies. Of course, famously he spent many of his formative years in the city living in Toronto. We can sort of adopt him, I think as a Canadian, if we want, uh, citizenship be damned. Okay.

Some gifts, some shout outs, and then we'll get back to the ongoing story of Tim Bovaconti. So, I know you don't drink because I asked you off the top if you wanted a beer, but you probably have a neighbor or a friend who enjoys fresh craft beer. I definitely do. Okay, good. Because the most delicious craft beer you can buy in this province is Great Lakes beer. And the graphics alone are... I couldn't leave these behind. These are awesome. Yeah, great graphics. The guy who does... Well, they have a couple of people do it, but one of the guys used to work at the only cafe. Is that Fabian?

You got it. You know Fabian. See? It's a small world getting smaller. Fabian, I just did a gig, a couple gigs with him with Gary LaRocca, who's just put out an album that was recorded in my studio. And Fabian played bass on that. So we did a few things. And then we recorded an album last year

that never came out yet for reasons that will not be gone into, nothing to do with Fabian. The mental health of certain members got in the way of the release of their album, but I've known Fabian from The Only Cafe as well, and we've worked together a bit in the last couple of years. And The Only Cafe famously immortalized

on Shakespeare, My Butt by Ron Hawkins. And I spent a lot of nights drinking in there. You can get Canuck Pale Ale at the, I know you're pausing your drinking right now, but you can, when I was last at the only with FOTM Hall of Fame or Cam Gordon, I got myself a Canuck Pale Ale. So if I need to start up again, I know where to go. Listen, you know where to go. Come see me. I'll hug you. So someone's getting that beer. That Fabian story just reminds me how tiny this world is. Or maybe really it's the city that's tiny. But sometimes I think Toronto's a really big city

because I'll say, oh, if I want to bike to this part of the city, it's going to take me two hours or whatever. But then other times I realized, nah, man, it's just a tiny little village. That's true. All right, so shout out to Fabian. And Great Lakes is brewed right here in Southern Etobicoke, by the way.

Nice. Palma Pasta is going to host us for TMLX 17 on November 30th at noon. And anyone who can hear my voice right now is invited so that Tim, you're invited. If you come out to TMLX 16, sorry, 17, we just had 16 at the GLB Brewpub. TMLX 17, November 30th, Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga. Palma Pasta will feed you and you'll get a can of GLB Great Lakes beer as well and then we'll do a live recording. But in case you can't make it because you got a gig or whatever I am giving you a it's in my freezer I'm giving you a large meat lasagna from Palma pasta excellent do you enjoy Italian food I do

I very much do and so do my kids I know it's for dinner tonight good no seriously they'll thank you later and they'll be leftovers too it's a lot it's very good Ridley Funeral Home wants you to have that measuring tape. All right, is it to measure your Potential resting place. I think I'm trying so now I've been giving that away for a couple years now and the number one joke When I tell people they got a Ridley funeral home measuring tape is can I measure my casket with it? and it's like yeah, that that's, I'm expecting that joke now, but measure what you wish, Tim, no judgment here. I would urge you with this new wireless speaker

I'm giving you, that's from Monaris. Monaris would love it. And I would love it if you subscribe to Yes, We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast that they produce. Al Grego is the host and he does a great job. And Al went to Winnipeg, Manitoba to talk to small business owners and collects their inspiring stories in season seven of yes, we are open. So you can listen to that with your new speaker and then you can listen to some,

uh, Ron Sexman, if you like this the latest episode I'll just read the description real quickly here things get spicy in episode three when Al visits Nikhil Dutt owner of spice circle his family opened the restaurant in twenty nineteen despite having no prior business experience so let's find out Nikhil's story that's episode three of season seven of yes, we are open and last but not least a piece of advice if you have A drawer a room a closet full of old electronics old tech old devices old cables tim You don't throw that in the garbage because the chemicals end up in our landfill go to recycle my electronics dot ca

Put in your postal code and you'll find a place you can go to drop that off to be properly recycled. Sounds like a plan. You got your marching orders Tim, you didn't know this, no such thing as a free lunch. Okay, I'm being told. You're getting told here. So I know I want to get, I very much want to talk about Bird and Cummings, but we did go by very quickly. What exactly do you do with Fergus Hamilton? I think he's a very talented and a great conversationalist. Yes, I've known Fergus. Fergus at one time lived on Wards Island. When I was a kid, I was too young to get into the dances in the Wards Island Clubhouse, which sadly burned down last year,

unbelievably. I used to watch Fergus through the window and then I used to watch Fergus through the window and then in the 80s the Algonquin Island, the other part of the island community of people living there and stuff, it burned down in the 80s, I think 89 maybe. And there was a guy on Ward's Island named Rick Simon, he still lives there, who sort of spearheaded this benefit which was at the old bamboo club on Queen Street West when it was there. And he brought different people together and he knew that I was an island kid and that Fergus had lived there as well and he brought us together to play on this show. And so we'd never done that and it just sort of went from there.

You know we've done a lot of gigs together and for years I played with the satellites. We had a residency at the old orbit room on Call of the Street for like 15 years. Got to have guests like Taj Mahal showed up one night and played with us, sang with us. And Brinsley Ford from the band Oswad from the UK reggae band. So it was like, they called it reggae night and it was just a great party. Lots of people would come by. One night Colin James played my guitar. Wow.

You know, I played the tambourine then, you know. It was just, you never knew who would show up. Love that guy. Yeah. Love that guy. I heard he had an accident or something, I don't know. Did you know this? Yeah, I think he had a car accident or something. I don't know. Did you know this? Yeah, I think he had a car accident or something.

I hope he's okay because he's a sweetheart. You know, anytime a guy of that level will visit the basement, you know they're a sweetheart, right? He's a great musician, man. I hope he's okay. By the way, it's funny, I didn't check in on the livestream, but I see now we got a definitive listing

of the members of the Supers already. I think there was a name you were forgetting the name to. So, Maury LaFoy. Yes. Bass, vocals, Jeff McPherson. That's McPherson. That's who we're going for. It's early in the day.

I know his name, but I just, you know, you're blank out, especially when you're a father of nine-year-old twins. I can imagine. I have an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old, and I feel like that's difficult enough, but having the nine-year-old twins, that's a double whammy right there. Okay. So, so Graham Powell singer and

He plays with Jan Arden now That's a fun fact. Yeah, okay Yeah, and Jeff I don't know what he's doing, but he's he's done a lot of shows like Broadway shows He's in the pit band. He does a lot of that kind of stuff. I mean, Maury. I think is doing some production Stuff around Toronto fascinating and in some guy named Tim Bova, Condi, guitars and vocals. Yep. OK. So by the way, I have a now I also

just heard from Blair Packham, who wants to tell you how you guys met. You ready? OK. You were in a band called The Love Cows. Oh, right. My trio, yeah. So who's in The Love Cows?

OK, that was Shane Carney on drums and Bob McKittrick on bass who plays in my band these days. What's your band now? Is this the Enablers? What's your band now? It's just my name essentially. I just sort of go under my own name. Who the hell are the Enablers? Oh, that's sort of an on-off name, but depending on our mood, I suppose. Okay, it depends on your mood. Yeah, but that Hughes Room is just built under my name and I've got Bob McKittrick on base for that one, actually.

So when are you going to be at Hughes Room? Sunday, November 17th, from seven to nine p.m. and we're going to do play most of my record which is called Again and I'm going to have vinyl on site and it'll be released for streaming the very next day. So vinyl will be for sale as well at the gig. And I've got a great band together. My friend Blake Manning is playing drums and him and I played with Kim Stockwood years ago and Bob McKittrick as mentioned on bass and my friend Patrick Alcock on acoustic guitar

and vocals and Robbie, Robbie Grunwald is playing keyboards. He's got all the Melitron sounds and the psychedelic stuff that I need. Amazing. Okay. And shout out to Jane Harbury at the, the Hughes room. Yes. The legend herself. Okay. So obviously I want to talk birding Cummings, but I did get a tip that you had a meeting. You met Brian Wilson. Oh yeah. We went with Ron in 2003. We did this tour with Coldplay.

It was six weeks and it was amazing. So Ron Sexsmith was like opening for Coldplay? Yeah, it sort of came from... That's wild. Yeah. We did a London show maybe 2001 and I found out later that Chris Martin was in the crowd. Like he was a fan of Ron. Wow.

And then around 2002, I believe we were playing in Australia with Ron in a theater. Oh, actually, no, what happened was we had a gig in Sydney, Australia, and then we had the next night off and somebody from Coldplace team got in touch with Ron and said, we're playing this theater tomorrow night. Do you want to open? It was like one of these last minute because they were such fans of Ron's writing and everything. And so we did this theater gig and then and that bloomed into the next year.

They they asked if we would do a it was two three week segments, you know, so the first three weeks they were doing half arenas because they were just ascending and then like there was a month off and we're doing like the full. Oh, that's when yellow broke. Yeah, exactly. I remember that in real time. It was their second album though. There was this, you know, that's Russia blood to the head. Yes. That's the one with that single in my place. Right. So that has like the scientist on it and a whole bunch of that's when they just totally blew up. So the second. With that single, In My Place. Right. So that was- And that has like the scientist on it and a whole bunch of hits. Yeah, that's when they just totally blew up.

So the second leg of the tour, I'll never forget, I got the tour book and I'm like, oh my God. Bucket list, bucket list, bucket list. You know, we played Madison Square Garden, we played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl, we played two nights at Red Rocks in Denver, we played the Molson Amphitheater in Toronto. It was nuts.

It was such a great experience. And after the first night at the Hollywood Bowl, there was a huge after party right behind the stage. And you turn your head, there's Gwen Stefani. It's just Hollywood, right? There were people there that I didn't even see that some other guys in our band, Steven Spielberg, Iberg, I said, I do him and you know, all this stuff, right? And then, and Ron came up to me at a certain point and said, Tim, Brian Wilson's here.

And I was like, no way. And he grabbed, we like literally ran to the security entrance and they were holding Brian up because he didn't have a pass. But he's like, and this young kid didn't know who he was. You can't come in. They finally realized, you know, they got to let him in and he was with his wife, Melinda, who sadly passed away earlier this year. And, uh, and we had a chat, uh, and, uh, and Melinda said, Oh, Ron,

um, Brian and I were talking with Paul McCartney and he said that you're his favorite songwriter I'm standing there hearing all this stuff and then Brian kind of walk wandered off to to the dressing room Which is below ground you have to go into the earth literally And so I just kind of went down there and when I when I got down there the door to Coldplay's dressing room It had been shut and I wasn't going to just barge in even though I knew the guys and Then the door opened and it was Guy Berryman the Coldplay's dressing room had been shut, and I wasn't gonna just barge in, even though I knew the guys. And then the door opened and it was Guy Berryman, the Coldplay bass player.

And he said, Tim, come on in, Brian's here. And I knew he was there, but I was just being polite. And I walk in and everyone's kind of tense because Brian's in one of his sort of, I'm not really here, like, you know, sitting there like stone silent. And there was a bit of tension. And to break the tension,

Guy passed me his little Martin acoustic, cause he goes, I know you know some Beach Boys songs. So I picked up his guitar and I put my foot on the couch and Brian's like sitting right next to me. And I sang the warmth of the sun. It was from 1963. I love the Beach Boys. And I just remember looking at the floor

and not looking at Brian, because I was so nervous. My heart's going boom, boom. What's that like playing a song back to like one of your musical heroes? It was nuts. That's nuts. And what made it even crazier is that

after a few bars, I heard his voice. He sang with me, like in unison. And yeah, it was just, it was very emotional for me. Tim, now you know how I feel when I sing Last of the Red Hot Fools to Blair. Exactly, I hear ya, I feel ya. One of my eight year olds favorite jams. It's a great song.

Cause Blair played it live at a TMLX event and she still, and it's catchy AF, as the kids would say. That's a hooky song. But man, you got to meet Brian Wilson. Yeah, it was like a, yeah, very emotional for me, for sure. Does Stephen Page know? Did you let him know?

I think we've talked about it, because I've played with Stephen a few times, actually, filling in for Craig Northy. Like we did a winery in DC last year. It was so much fun. Oh, in the trio. Yeah, yeah, I did the trio with Kevin Foxx and Steven. And another time I did Q with them when Craig couldn't make it, I learned a few songs.

Wow. Brian's got a lot, Brian, Brian, Steven. Brian, I don't know what Brian's up to these days, but Steven's got a lot going on. He's got the Trans-Canada Highwayman. He's a busy beaver here. Yeah, they're working. They're working, man.

Well, that's what you gotta do in this country, right? That's what beaver here. Yeah, they're working. They're working, man. That's what you gotta do in this country, right? That's what you gotta do. No dull moments for you. I try not to have many. It sounds like you're busy. Okay, let's talk before we hear your new music. Bert and Cummins, so yesterday,

just yesterday my guest on this program was a gentleman named Robert Lawson who wrote this book, Wheatfield Empire. Yeah about the guess who I've read it He'll be glad to hear that. It's funny because great just before you arrived. I had a like every six months I get this the checkup at the dentist and my dentist is in Cloverdale mall And I literally just got back from bike into Cloverdale mall for my checkup And that's where you'll find the Sunrise that the sunrise records that Robert Lawson manages. Yes, I see his posts.

Okay, so shout out to Robert Lawson, but mainly the episode yesterday we did a little fact checking we like to fact check. Randy Backman, have you ever met Randy? I've played with Randy when I joined it was Bachman Cummings. Oh, okay. Let's get the audience okay enough about Robert Lawson. People can find that we do talk a lot about Stevie. Can I say one thing about Robert?

Yeah, he'd love it. I ran into him in a bookstore on at Spinein and Blur. And he's like, are you Tim? Like he recognized because he was writing the book at the time, so I ended up giving him some information. I was quoted in his book and so I'm kind of in the book. And the only reason why I mentioned is because it's the first Time that my name was spelled correctly

In a publication, but I did butchered I find it easy yeah, but there's a book about Moby great and I can't even I can't even be butchered in to tell you the spelling. I can't even remember it was so off Well, listen Robert gets those details correct? But so we'll get to. So I need the origin story of you being Bird and Cummings guitarist. But to put a bow in the Robert Lawson thing is. So Randy Backman came on this show.

I'm still trying to get Bird in on. OK, maybe you can help me with that in a minute. You're right. But Randy came on and he tells you, you know, he's a great storyteller. And sometimes the flavor is more important than the the facts of the matter when it comes to Randy's. He likes to embellish the odd story and it becomes a bigger story. And then Robert will fact check these stories.

So that's kind of, because yeah, so I guess that, and I've never met Burton either, but he's more matter of factly than Randy who likes to lather on some flavor and stuff. So let's hear about you and your relationship with the two of them. Give us the origin story of how you became the guitarist with Bird and Cummings. Okay, it was 2007 and I was still touring with Ron Sexman at that time and Nick Sinopoli, the lead singer of a band called the Carpet Frogs out of Toronto area, he asked if I could do the tour. I didn't audition.

I had filled in with them at some of their club gigs. So he liked what I did. And so I didn't audition. I was just asked if I could do the tour. So I said, of course. And they just sent me a live disc, like some CDs, and I would shed it like crazy. And then I just jumped in,

like I think we had one rehearsal without Burton and Randy there. And then I was thrown into the fire. The first gig was like a private gig in Edmonton with Burton and Randy. I remember staying there when Burton launched into the intro of These Eyes, and I had to do the little chit on the guitar.

And I was like, don't screw it up, man. I was nervous. I was like, don't hit the wrong chord, man. You'll never work in this town again. I put a lot of pressure on myself, but it worked out. And it's been great. I played on Burton's solo album, Above the Ground, 2009. We worked on that in Los Angeles. I was there for three weeks. Joined a gym next to the sportsman's lodge and used to see Joe Walsh come in there on the treadmill. You know, it was like crazy stuff like that.

And actually Burton has a new album called A Few Good Moments and I played on that as well. And it's just been, you know, touring around with him for years and we just got off an amazing tour in the US, three and a half weeks where Burton's, you know, reclaiming his turf. Well, let's talk for a moment about that because I did discuss this with Robert Lawson, but Burton and Rand, they won. Yeah, they won that whole thing. And listen, my take on it is people got to work,

musicians need to work, but there's no way that, you know, no original members in a band should. Well, there's one, right? Yeah, but he's not even, he's there sometimes. Okay, yeah. So to me, it's like. But that's the legal link. Yeah, yeah, I have no trouble with guys going out and playing songs, but it shouldn't be called the guest theater. That's my only take on it.

I'm not dissing the people that need to work as musicians, because we all do. If you're a player, you know. And as Robert pointed out yesterday, when they would be playing some festival in the Midwest or something, the promotional material surrounding it would always play like the studio version. Which is garbage, you can't do that. That's a lie. You can hear American Woman with Birding Cummings. Yeah, and then he's not on the gig. You know, let's ask Jordan's husband. No, I know, I know, I don't know him.

And again, I don't wanna poop on anybody. I just, I think, if they had a gone out as you know Uh, you know the play you guess who can play play the music of the guess who or something, you know Like an homage to the guess who then you know, you can then you would it wouldn't be a mess, you know No, so but that is so that move that uh, they Randy and uh, well burden was main guy behind this I I suppose, where they were prohibiting the covering their published music, I guess, whatever they own publishing rights to. That's kind of like, that move does end up working

because you paralyze the guess who if they can't go out and play these eyes. They can only play their own self penned original songs. They have a couple albums, that's right. Yeah, I know. And also the other thing that Robert pointed out yesterday that if you, like let's say Spotify, for example Like it was all mixed up, right? Like you go to let me stream the guess who on Spotify and you get yeah, you'll get

The classic guess who? But you'll also get those two albums. Yeah, and I also think that the I'm not on Spotify But I think the the image was a picture of the original guess who on the Spotify page for that band is come on so Congratulations to Randy and Congratulations, of course to your friend bird in there for winning that and that sounds like this new this new band Can't use the name the guess who is that exactly? Okay, exactly interesting any I know Randy's busy with BTO, although

he, that's another story. So Randy was on this show talking about Fred Turner was going to be a part of this new BTO. But according to sources who have talked to Robert Lawson in Winnipeg there, uh, Fred Turner has no intention, no plans at all to play. No, he's not. He's retired.

That's what I heard. Yeah, that's what I've, that's what I've heard. So, uh, well back to the flavor of a story, but any chance of Randy and Burton going out as the guess who? You know, we'll see what happens next year. I'm sure there's some discussion, but I haven't heard anything, you know.

I think that'd be awesome. Well, time's ticking, if it's now or never. Yeah, I know. Burton's in his 80s. I mean, Randy's in his 80s. I mean, Randy's in his 80s. Yeah, yeah. Burton's going to be 77 I think it is.

Yeah, I mean, they're still able to do it. I mean, if it happens, it'd be great. It'd be great to be a part of it too, you know. So when was the last time you played with Burton Cummings? A few days ago. Jeez. Yeah, we just did a three and a half week run in the US that was great. And great response, great crowds. And then we did a Caesar's Casino in Windsor. We

did Caesars in Windsor and then we did one more gig in somewhere in Michigan. I forget where it was. Amazing. Can you get Birding Cummings on Toronto Mic'd? I would even do it via Zoom. You know, I could throw it at the wall and see if it sticks. That's all I ask, you know? Like, I'm a big fan, so this will be a very respectful,

no regrets, you won't look bad doing it, but I would love to talk to Birding Cummings. Also, my mom was a massive Birding Cummings fan, like the solo material particularly. Yeah, we do a bunch of the solo hits and. Stand tall and all that. Yeah, we do stand tall, yeah. Yeah, we do that one.

He had a song, he would know better than anybody, but when I was younger in the primary school yard, when I'm talking like grade one, kids would link arms and walk through the school yard and they would say this Hey, hey get out of my way I just came from the USA like this was a chant in grade one and then this thing was like implant a man then it Changed schools this long long pressure long fast forward the internet gets invented. Okay

Yeah, and at some point I'm finally what the hell is from? And the only source I can find for this is a solo Bird and Cummings effort where this is like the chorus. Like that's the only thing I can find. That's from the album Above the Ground that I played on. Okay, but I wonder if he also took that from like the Schoolyard Chants. I don't, you'd have to ask him. That's why I need a Montreal Mic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'll be my first question. That was called We Just Came From the USA, that's the song. I knew I had the right guy for that. So, I need to ask him the origin. I did the solo on that one. Jeez, Tim. Where you been all my life, buddy?

Holy smokes here. We gotta get to your music, but I thought we should just explain something for dummies like me, because there's a listener named Dan Jeffrey, who many, many years ago was trying to get the carpet frogs on man. The carpet frogs are great. And I was like, what are carpet frogs?

Like what's going on here? Can you explain like the carpet frogs and how burden comes into that? Like that whole thing, I'm not sure I even have to grasp on it. There's an interesting night that happened in, I believe it was 1999. And I was playing with Kim Stockwood. It's a weird thing that happened. It was a corporate gig and it was Kim Stockwood with her band, which I was part of, we played, followed by Burton Cummings solo.

It was for Canadian Airlines, that's what it was. And then to close out the night, they had a band called the Carpet Frogs play. And that's the night, like, isn't that weird that we're all in the same room? And that's the night that Burton heard the Carpet Frogs play. And that's the night, like isn't that weird that we're all in the same room? And that's the night that Burton heard the Carpet Frogs. He was backstage apparently, and he was like, who are these guys?

And that's when they met, and he hadn't been doing any full band shows, he'd been doing solo piano gigs, right? And that's the spark right there where they linked up. And then years later, I'm added on, but we're all there that night. It's pretty weird. Like we said, it's a small world after all. Yeah, and there's another song about that.

Yeah, I will. And there's another night that also by the airport, because that's where that Canadian Airlines gig. Yeah, shout out to Bradley Funeral Home, Canadian Airlines, yes. Yeah, I was playing with a trio for a corporate gig and it was just in like this bar right by the airport. I forget what it was called.

It was in a hotel though, like you know on the ground floor of a hotel. It was like close to the public and I'm playing and I look at the glass door and Burton Cummings has got his face, before I ever met him, he's got his face against the glass, he's listening to us. And then seconds later, this other face appears

looking above Burton's head and it's Randy Bachman. So they were like, they were coming from a gig or something staying in the hotel and they're like, who are these guys in here making a racket? And I was like, did you see that guys? That was Burton and Randy, that was so weird. That says Canadian rock royalty right there. Right. That would, that would, that was huge.

Okay. Speaking of Canadian rock royalty, you want to hear some new music? Sure. Okay. Let's listen. Maybe tomorrow, or was it yesterday? You get your bearings, then they just melt away Time moves on, but not fast enough Love cool down when it takes a rough I get a feeling, but then it shifts on by Try to grab it, but then it shifts on by, try to grab it But then it floats too high, time moves on But not fast enough

Regard the planets, if only they'd align Look out your window, you're searching for a sign Tim, what are we listening to? We're listening to the title track of my album again, and there will eventually be a chorus. Well, I was waiting for it, but then I got impatient here. I can bring her back up. Is this it? Okay. Yep. Give me a little story. It sounds like you've been working on this for a while. Yeah, it was all done during the pandemic and the title song that we're just hearing now, again, it was sort of me going, am I ever going to see any of my friends ever again during COVID? So it was mainly about that isolation. But how do you feel when you hear a song about that isolation that many of us experience during COVID?

Does it bring you back to a bad time, a frightening time? No, I think it's like, wow, we made it through. I I mean there's still a lot of mess in the world but we made it through and there are other messes but this mess we're making it through yeah now it's just a psychedelic nugget like to listen to I guess. Two minutes until that chorus eh? That's yeah I know that it's not the kids struggle with that you know I know it's not it's not commercially minded that's for sure it's not the kids struggle with that. I know I know it's not it's not commercially minded. That's for sure. It's not well I guess we're not gonna hear this on kiss 92.5 no or

I love easy rock that that billboard for easy rock gore down he saw in Toronto here and it was Your music at work was the billboard for easy rock and that's you use that and it was your music at work was the billboard for easy rock and that's you use that when you wrote my music at work oh is that right that's your fun easy rock fact of the day nice okay shout out to John Tesh and who the hell's the other woman from entertainment tonight that was using the at Lisa Gibbons right like it's like we imported

these US you know why are we doing that? We got Tim in our own backyard here. Okay, I'm gonna play another one, okay? You can't stop me, it's my show, man. Get your own show. ["As It Was"] This one starts with the chorus, see? See, you're learning, you're learning. That's for TikTok. As it was, don't count on it

But it'll be alright It'll be alright Am I nuts? Do I hear like a little surf rock thing going on there? Possibly. There's many... Is Don Pyle playing on this? Actually, I'm playing everything on the whole. That's gonna ask. I did it all myself in isolation.

You're the Dave Grohl of this. You're the Billy Corgan of this outfit here. How about someone different? Like maybe... Prince. Prince or Todd Rundgren. Todd Rundgren. Shed out to Moberg in the Pursuit of Happiness. Yeah, big fan. We already talked about Trans-Canada Highwaymen so that's two. What do you like? Do you like Sloan? Love Sloan. Me too. Okay, let's... and why am I blanking? Who's the fourth guy in Trans-Canada Highway Man?

The guy from the west. Why am I blanking on it? Jeez, Mike. Craig Northy. Yeah. Come on. I know. I've only seen him a couple of times.

Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Now I, and he's been on Toronto Mike too, so that's embarrassing. Dig in this vibe very much. Okay, now I can interject right here. This moment in the song the lyric is actually was inspired by Andrew Scott from Sloan the drummer

because during when we couldn't get together because we play a hockey game every Tuesday morning and Andrew's there and I'm there usually when I'm not touring and we were just emailed about something and right when the pandemic set in, for real. And March 2020. Yeah. He said, let's all be brave and get through a crazy time. And that's the lyric. I sort of paraphrase that. See how this smaller world we live in. I just mentioned Sloan, because I mentioned Moe Bird, because you mentioned Todd Rundgren, and here we are.

Is Dave Badini a part of these hockey games? Dave is the coach of the Gas Station Islanders, a team that I played on in the Exclaim Cup years ago. So I know Dave a little bit. I'm trying to think of the guys who come by and tell me about these hockey games. Cuddy says he was Mr. Elbows in the corners. Yeah, I only played against Jim once. That was a pickup game at Bill Bolton years ago. And I just remember his stick was a little high. Oh, yes.

These are the fun facts we come for. Tim, quick sad note here, not to bum us out. I'm going to play more of your music on the other side. But I did want to mention that yesterday I received word that an FOTM had passed away. So a previous guest of Toronto Mic'd had died at the age of 49. Who's that? His name is Scott Carefoot.

And if people would like to hear my conversation with Scott, it's episode 938. So go into the feed. If you subscribe, you can find the feed. Scott Carefoot, episode nine thirty eight. And I'll just read the description at the time. Scott Carefoot. And this was three years ago, we recorded this and we talked about he used to write for this is called Raptors blog.

He was a pretty good, a pretty damn good sports media journalist in this market. And he would write for the Raptors blog. He also had stops at the Toronto sun, the score. He worked for bell media. He worked for the hockey news. He worked for Rogers radio. So I just wanted to take a moment to, uh, give my sincere condolences to all who knew and loved Scott 49 is way too young, man.

And I just got this sad news yesterday. So sorry to hear about Scott Carefoot. Let's spin another Tim Jam here. I once knew a place where dreams they were born And life was never planned Enough to go around for all in this place We all can understand Not like the snow putting weight on the branches of trees Outside my door Your unquenchable grease

Hurling us down and still you're always Wanting more Always wanting more Always wanting more Are all those voices yours? Yeah Nice! You write a nice pop song my friend. Thank you very much.

You know this song is called More but you know in Can Rock Circles that title belongs to 13 Engines. Oh damn did I forget that? They were a loud band I remember seeing them. More sounds a little different than your More so I think well I don't think you can't even copyright a title of a song right? than you are more. So I think, well, I don't think you can, you can't even copyright a title of a song, right? No, you can't. So get out of here, 13 Engines. I got Lorne Honigman on line two. He says, we're good here. We're good here. So if someone's listening and they want to support you and acquire this new album,

what's the album called? It's called Again. Again, right? The self-titled song we played off the top. Mike, take better notes, okay. How would you like somebody to acquire Again? Well, they can come to my release show at Hughes Room on Sunday November 17th, 7 to 9 p.m. I'll have vinyl for sale and it'll be available for streaming the next day, as I mentioned. And you can... I'm paying attention now, too. You can find me through Instagram. I don't do the Facebook. I'm not chatting more about... What's your Instagram handle? Timbo Vacanti. How convenient for me because I'm gonna... You know the way this works is when we're done, I gotta get to the freezer to get lasagna. Oh yes. We go to the Toronto Tree,

so named by Dave Thomas. We take a selfie together. We say goodbye. This thing is in the feed approximately 90 seconds later and yeah, so this thing's going to go live. I can't even remember. Why am I telling you this? What the hell are we talking about, Tim? Um, I'm not sure. Okay.

I'm telling the listenership how it works, how the sausage gets made, but I was going somewhere, but now I've completely lost my... I'm lost in the music as they say. So you play all the parts, you do the singing, you wrote this thing. Yeah, played the drums, played the bass, played the keyboards. Hugh's Room coming up 17th of November. Cool. Did you ever meet Chantel Kraviyashak? Maybe. And why do you ask? I'm asking because I just went, I like at the end of this, which is a moment, I shout out the next episode and I will do so. It just so happens the next episode is a Halloween special, but then I saw the episode after the next so two episodes

from now is a visit to the basement by Chantel Kravizajic and I think it's cool that she she's at a level where she'll still visit some guys basement in South Etobicoke like she's kind of maybe because she was on the Armageddon soundtrack and I feel like oh maybe she doesn't do that because maybe she's too big big for her breaches there but she's not she's still one of us. Right on. I can't say I know her. Okay, we're gonna get some inside info. You know because Blair Packham's like do you know who I am? I'm not going to some guy's basement in South Etobicoke but I talked him into it but one more song then we'll wrap

him. This has been awesome. So From knee high to waist high You're coming along so fine But when minutes are hours, hours are minutes. So hard to be patient when you're so wrapped up in it. Only then can it happen. Move over Ron Sexsmith, okay? This is nice. Thank you. A chance to grow.

That's the Boeuvre choir there in the background. Only then can it happen. over Ron Sexsmith, okay? This is nice. Thank you. A chance to grow. That's the Bover choir there in the background. Only then can it happen. And even playing field, a chance to grow. Try to think outside the box this time. Yeah, digging it very much. And I noticed you kind of blew it. That second track I played is called As It Was,

but the other three songs I played are like short one word, like again. Subscribe to something new, some life in the future. And this song is called Grow. Grow, yeah, it's not intentional. It's just something that happened, I guess. But when you saw the trend developing, did you ever consider, let's go back and rename these longer titles?

No. It's too schticky for you. Yeah. All right, amazing. So other than Hugh's Room, you're just going to keep on rocking with Bird and Cummings? Yeah, we've got a lot of touring coming up and well into next year and including a cruise with Alice Cooper and and Colin Blundstone from the zombies and She was gonna be on a boat with Alice Cooper

18 I loved the greatest hits of Alice Cooper. I loved it so much. Oh, yeah No, no question. Yeah elected. Yeah, it's in February muscle It's in February. Muscle, you know, that muscle of love. You know what that was, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Tim, that's amazing. And you know, he's a hell of a golfer. Yeah, I don't golf though. And I play hockey, but a lot of my friends that play hockey, they say, Tim, why don't you golf? You play hockey. I don't see any relation. I'm sorry. It's funny. yesterday I mentioned I had this gig at one Yorkville and one of the guys I was talking to is a guy named Danny King is his name and he's like the fifth ranked Professional golfer in this country. Oh, yeah, which is like I mean I had no idea because I don't really know what's going on golf

You know, but that's a fun fact for the golf heads out there hanging with Danny very important and pertinent But that's a fun fact for the golf heads out there hanging with Daniel. Very important and pertinent. Cause Alice Cooper golfs man. That's right. Dude, that's awesome. Any like on your way here, were you thinking, Oh, I hope I have a chance to share this anecdote or this story. Cause now's the time.

Oh yeah. There was one other thing that, well, there's a few things, but I did get to play with Rodriguez at the old mod mod the mod the mod squad yeah the one on mod club never no the mod club it was on college yeah I was like blanking it the mod squad no I that was kind of crazy for Sisto is that his name six dough six dough yeah passedto. He passed away, right? Yeah, he passed away last year. He was playing solo at the old mod club and

Fergus Hamilton and his wife at the time, Victoria, was doing PR for him, for Rodriguez. And she's like, I can't get you into the show. She knew I was a big fan. I had both of his albums on vinyl and, you know, and it was right when the documentary was coming out. And so his stock had risen greatly. So he could have played Massey Hall,

but they had already booked this mod, a smaller show. And he was playing by himself. And she said, I can't get you on the guest list, but why don't you meet us for lunch? So we went to Cafe Diplomatica on College Street near the venue. Yeah, Clinton there, yeah. Yeah, and got, and they told him

that I played with Burton and he was from Detroit, of course. And so he's like, Oh, I love the guest food. And then he says, why don't you bring one of your access to soundtrack? I'm thinking, really? Like, and, and his daughter was there and her husband who are in the film, they go, yeah. So I went home, I had two hours. I, I put on both of the records. I'm like, I could just, I play by ear anyways. I could do, I had two hours. I put on both of the records. I'm like, I could just, I play by ear anyways. I could just play any of these songs, I knew them. And so I showed up at Soundcheck

and we jammed for like half an hour and he just goes, just stay up for the whole show, man. Like that, it was like. That's amazing. It was crazy, yeah. And I saw people on the street like an hour before the show time. Are you going to Rodriguez? And I'm like, yep, I'll be there. But I didn't tell them I was playing, yeah. And I saw people on the street, like an hour before the show time. Are you going to Rodriguez?

And I'm like, yep, I'll be there. But I didn't tell them I was playing with them. So then they see me up there with them, it was fun. I often do that at the end. I'll be like, I'm gonna play this guy out, but I don't want him to leave a story on the, you know, the cutting room floor. And then, you know, I got nothing or whatever,

but that's a great story. It was fun. And then it cut to 2017. I'll just finish up by saying that I didn't hear from them. They wanted me to do a couple more shows in the States, but there was no time to it cut to 2017. I'll just finish up by saying I didn't hear from them They wanted me to do a couple more shows in the states But there was no time to get a work visa and I couldn't jeopardize the working with Burton going down there But you know, then you screwed you're on a blacklist exactly so I had to say no which was hard to do but

2017 they reached out and they were they had a gig booked at Massey Hall and he asked if I wanted to come and guest on a couple songs. And then that turned to the next day, another email saying, would you like to open for Rodriguez at Massey Hall? So I did my own stuff. No one knew my stuff, but it was like, I brought a four piece band. That's unbelievable.

And it was so great. Like it was such a great experience. Well, I'm sorry that we lost Rodriguez and I'm sorry for your loss there, but what a like, what a moment for you to. Yeah, it was pretty magical for sure. Well, this was fucking magical, man. I enjoyed this chat, Tim. Thanks for having me.

I enjoyed it too. And maybe I'll start drinking beer again. These look delicious. I'm going to drink your beer. That was even that that beer with me, man. Fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And I got to thank Tim, not Tim, you're Tim. I got to thank you, but I got to thank Blair Packham too, who kind of brought us together here. Thank you, Blair. Just a weird coincidence that I did kind of a Randy Backman fact. He was telling a story about how the guests who were asked to play Woodstock,

but were busy recording American Woman or something. And then Robert lost and contacted Burton, and Burton says that, no, we were never asked to play Woodstock. So that's what we're dealing with here, Tim. Okay. Somebody's got to... I'll just stay out of that, Frey. Stay out of that. You've got too much to lose.

Somebody's got to, you know, I'll just stay out of that fray. Stay out of that. You got too much to lose. And that speaking of the only, the only, uh, we talked about Shakespeare, my butt, the songs on Shakespeare, my butt, shout out to Louis to the low. Yes. And that in show the Fabian from Great Lakes Brewery. Hello Fabian. And that brings us to the end of our 1571st show. Not 1671, okay? Robert Lawson just jumped out of the bushes and said, Mike, it's 1571. Always fact checking me.

You can go to torontomike.com and follow me all over at Toronto Mike. Tim, Instagram is the place to go to follow Tim. Tim Bovacanti. T-I-M-B-O-V-A-C-O-N-T-I. Bovacanti. Like it sounds. It sounds like a guy who would enjoy palma pasta lasagna. That's what it sounds like. Oh yeah, you know. Much love to all who made this possible. That is Great Lakes Brewery Palma pasta

recycle my electronics dot CA Raymond James Canada Monaris and Ridley funeral home The next episode is the Toronto Mike Halloween special when the official historian of the Toronto Mike podcast Jeremy Hopkins visits, oh shout out to Dale Cadot on the live stream who says shout out to Lawson. Dale you're a good man, the weather's nice in BC. Hope you're you're not flooding out like in Coquitlam there. So Jeremy Hopkins is going to be

here on Monday to share the 10 top Toronto ghost stories, the haunted Toronto stories, so that's gonna be amazing. And then the episode after that is Chantelle Kravyažek, live in the basement. That's a bit of a mind blow. See you all then! I'm picking up trash and then putting down rogues And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn Because everything is coming out Rosy and gray

Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy and gray I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain.