Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Tim Thompson KOTJ: Toronto Mike'd #267

Episode Date: September 18, 2017

Mike and Tim play and discuss his ten favourite songs.

And right now, right now, right now it's time to... Take out the jams, motherfuckers! I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get the city love My city love me back, for my city love Welcome to episode 267 of Toronto Mike'd A weekly podcast about anything and everything Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery A local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer, and propertyinthesix.com,

Toronto real estate done right. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me to kick out the jams is Tim Boundless Thompson. Welcome back, Tim. Nice to be back here. Thank you for having me. This is always a pleasure. In that last episode you did, which in a minute I'll read the description, it's episode 197. We must have discussed the nickname Boundless. We talked about the origin, right? We were just kids back then. Yeah, for sure. Remind me, can you do it in like one sentence where boundless comes from? Yeah, I always liked the word boundless.

And to be honest, there was a famous Pio Trudeau speech where he talked about the boundless and the beauty of this country and the courage and all this in one of his, it was in, I think it was farewell speech actually from politics. And I always liked that. And then fast forward to 92 and there was a Pearl Jam t-shirt

that simply had a design and the word boundless on it. I don't know, And then fast forward to 92 and there was a Pearl Jam t-shirt that simply had a design and the word Boundless on it. I don't know. I just always seemed to like it. And when I went to sign up for that thing, that was taken. So I just changed the O to a zero. So I don't know. Kind of weird, but.

No, hey. Yeah, that's the backstory. It works. No, I should have re-listened, but I didn't. So for those who want to hear about Tim Thompson and all the great stuff he's done, even if you don't know the name Tim Thompson, you might think he's a group of seven painter or something.

You've got to listen because you don't realize how much Tim Thompson you know and love. Here's the description. So in this 97th episode, Mike chats with Tim Thompson about his innate ability to marry music and sports, his time producing montages for Hockey Night in Canada, his abrupt end at Rogers Hockey, his work with Ron Hawkins from Lowest of the Low, and Gore Downey of the Tragically Hip, his Olympics montages, and his friendship with Eric Lindros. Like if that doesn't get you jumping out of this episode

to listen to 197, nothing will. Come on. There's a few things there, isn't there? And so much stuff I love. Like maybe that's why I'm a big Tim Thompson fan. So I love hockey. I love music. I love how you marry them in those montages.

I love your Olympic stuff. I love lowest of the low. I love the. I love how you marry them in those montages. I love your Olympic stuff. I love Lowest of the Low. I love the Tragically Hip. I even love Derek Lindros. Yeah, there you go. This is T-Ball. That's right. That's right.

Speaking of T-Ball, I don't know. Somebody said, hey, don't talk about the weather because someone's going to be listening to this like in three months and it won't be relevant. And I say, screw that, man. We're talking right now. This is, this is right. This is the right now. Do the right now. Do the right now. Yeah. It's hot out for anyone. It's crazy, right? Yeah. It's summer in mid-September. It's muggy and hazy and yeah, it's, there's a park here that looks over the lake. You can look back down at the skyline and you can hardly see it today. It's very,

very hazy up there. Yeah. And people complained about this summer and they're not complaining now because at this time of year, I just think I know going, and I go to soccer games at this time of year, my daughter, at night when the sun goes down,

I'm cold. Like I need pants. I need sweaters, jackets, whatever. Not now, man. Like this I'm cold. Like, I need pants, I need sweaters, jackets, whatever. Not now, man. Like, this has been amazing. Like, these are hot nights.

And, you know, I never, this is that time of year where you don't need the furnace and you don't need the air conditioner. But I've had to put it on the last couple of nights just so, you know, the kids could get some sleep. It's been really hot. Totally. Maybe elephant in the room being a bit of global warming, but... I say bring it on.

If this is global warming, I'm all in favor. I guess in the immediate right now, some nice warm days that we didn't maybe get a couple months ago is okay, but maybe not for too long. Well, see, I'll take it, man. I could get used to this. It's pretty good. But yesterday, I want to thank everybody who pledged my Terry Fox run.

So just based on listeners of this podcast and Twitter followers and readers of TorontoMike.com, the blog, I think it was about $800 we raised for the Terry Fox Foundation. And that was yesterday. And I did it with my family at High Park. Foundation. And that was yesterday. And I did it with my family at High Park. When I take that photo with you that I forgot to take last time, I'm going to, you guys can see the new t-shirt I got. It's a very nice design they came up with this year for sure. I'm trying to figure out how to get one of those. I'm sure online you can get one. It's very similar to a Blue Jay shirt I own, which has

the maple leaf and then there's like a Blue Jay logo in the corner. But this has the nice Terry Fox image in front of the Canadian maple leaf. And yeah, it's very cool. I dig it. And it was only 20 bucks, right?

And first of all, that's a very good price for a t-shirt anyway, let alone one where the proceeds are going to a good charity. Oh my gosh. Pretty much, you know, yeah. And the thing is...

It's a deal at twice the price. Right. And I'm there buying this one for $20. And then they're like, all the previous year's t-shirts are on a table. And they go, for previous year's t-shirts, only $10. There's this great one I bought. It's blue and it says Aspire Inspire.

And there's a picture of Terry on it. And $10? Are you kidding me? Like, charges more. Like, it's Aspire Inspire. And there's a picture of Terry on it. And 10 bucks? Are you kidding me? Like, charges more. Like, it's going to a good cause. We'll pay more. You don't have 10 bucks. Best deal in town.

I have a wall in my place where I've taken photos that I really love. Not that I've taken, but from the past and blown them up and put them in frames. And there's a Pierre Trudeau one up there. And there's one of Terry that I always love of him running past this, I guess guess forest with the sun kind of shining through and it gets just this beautiful angle and yeah it's just really nice to look at so because as we talked about last uh time you were here because you're buddies with my cousin mark and he's a year younger than me i'm just doing the math in my head so i think you're born like the year after me but we were the we were that perfect age when the terry fox run was happening uh like we were just so we were that perfect age when the Terry Fox run was happening. Uh,

like we were just so young and influent influenced and kind of like you buy into Terry and you learn about Terry and like Terry was like, this guy, I couldn't believe this guy was doing a marathon a day on one leg. Like as it was happening, like I was so in love with Terry Fox and the story. And then you, the heartbreaking, you know heartbreaking news when you hear he can't continue and then he passes away. I said this to Jay Onright when he was here because there was some controversy on naming things after

historical figures who have a better dirt on the resume or whatever. I'm like, just name everything after Terry. Everything should be named after Terry Fox. No kidding. Terry's gift is forever green, right?

Um, yeah, he's what a hero and what a wonderful, you know, thing that this country had and has and forever will have. Yeah, for sure. Big fan,

big fan. And, uh, since you were last here, just to catch up on a few things, um, you had, of course,

we heard your Leafs tribute, like the history of the Leafs, an homage to the Maple Leafs, and it was set to Ron Hawkins' Peace and Quiet. And it was amazing. Thank you. Amazing. I'm sure you're tired of hearing that. It's certainly resonated for sure. Is that the thing you've done in your life that maybe gets the most like, oh my God, I can't get tired of that. It's amazing. If not, certainly right there. Yeah, it's crazy how that song kind of applied to the Leafs. And I love it because it's one of my favorite songs of all time and just how it resonated. And it has nothing to do with the Leafs, but through the use of metaphor and imagery and all that it perfectly tells the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs and yeah it's

funny we last year updated the version because obviously from two years ago the team dramatically changed and that last part of the song you know fit well with this kind of new era so that's what I wanted to say so since you were last year two things happened one is I had Ron Hawkins here twice so we talked about it and he was like yeah like when i i mean it's not about the leafs he's like you said that song is not about the leafs but the way you put it together with the imagery it might as well have been like it's perfect and then when you updated it to show the kids like there's that like you know uh the drafting number one pick and then austin's there and there's you know marner and and nylander and there's this whole like it just leaves you now the new version with this sense of like, this is really happening.

Like the hope is real. Yeah, it totally was nice because the first one, obviously, you're, you know, at the time they were at and it hinted at something else. Like, is something going to, what will catapult this change? And I don't think anyone knew it was going to happen that quickly, but it did. And so, yeah, that whole let back half of the song took on kind of a new meaning in this context. And, yeah, it's crazy how it resonated in the playoffs last year and played inside the arena, you know, all last year. And just one of those beautiful things where everything just kind of worked and fit together. And I think it's going to carry on down there for years to come.

I know they're all really, really happy and excited with it, the team and the organization. And yeah, geez, that's pretty amazing. So would MLSE commission you to create something with actual dollar bills? Well, that one was done before. So we just updated some things and Ran Rung got some money for, obviously, the song.

And so yeah, there's that one that got updated. And I think it's going to continue. And then there's a second one with a different song that's in the works. So we're trying to get that ready for this year. So it's kind of my idea of what part two might be of that continuation. So I don't want to give anything away at this point. But, yeah, there should be hopefully two that are going out this year. So, yeah, pretty damn exciting.

So I can now share this story since it's kind of reached its conclusion. But I was speaking with a PR person at MLSE. And this is against my... I have a rule where I won't deal with PR people. I will only deal... I have to have a communication with the guest directly. This is my Hugh Dillon rule. And so it's only been in effect for a few months.

But that's the way it is right now. And I like it better. But I broke my own rule in that I reached out to a PR person at MLSE because, see, I went to the same high school as Brendan Shanahan and he's a Mimico guy. And, you know,

they're practicing like practically down the street all the time. So I just wanted to see if Brendan Shanahan would drop by for a chit chat, like about, you know, power and Mimico and all this stuff right it was not even too much about the Leafs but uh I was told that they have so much on their plate with uh traditional media outlets like this I can't remember the exact verbiage but basically because I'm outside the traditional media they couldn't give me any time

without compromising their uh what they owe like i guess bell media and rogers media outlets so i got screwed for not being uh like in the bell rogers family rebel media yeah so if somebody knows brendan yeah there's not a lot that is in control by those two so um well you're here now and that's this is the only thing left maybe so anyways anyways, that's my Brendan Shanahan story. Nice. But I never, I'm glad he's not coming in because it was breaking my own rule.

But if anyone knows Brendan and I can get me like a one-on-one conversation with him via phone or email, I just want to pitch him something directly. So I'm just doing that. He's an interesting guy.

I've met with him for an hour and talked about music and film and all sorts of stuff and he's a big music guy. I think he'd be perfect for this show. Yeah, for sure. But Busy Guy 2, it's a big transitional year for them. They kind of climbed one ledge and now...

Now they got to win a series. The next one's a lot harder to climb. So they've certainly got their work cut out for them, but certainly pointed in the right direction. Howard Berger, of all people, tweeted 40 times this morning. Maybe I need to mute him on Twitter, but he tweeted so many times this morning. Trumpish. Screaming, yeah, screaming the same silly statement, which is the Maple Leafs are one player away from

the Stanley Cup, okay? Like, I know he wants hits or whatever, and it's all clickbait or whatever, but it's just to me, and this whole notion that we're one player away, I think it's foolish. I think he's just trying to get your attention. Is he talking about 1982 Wayne Gretzky?

I was going to say, is it Connor McDavid? 1989 Mario or something? I don't know. I don't think McDavid's available. Yeah, no. Let's talk the Tragically Hip for a minute here. So we're both huge hip fans, but you're more than a hip fan.

You've been involved in actual uh tragically hip things like you tell me first of all are you doing anything lately with the tragically hip yeah um well it's something that just happened actually um i guess the quick backstory on that was having used a lot of their music when i was with hockey night we used to premiere songs off records all the time and both hip and gourd solo stuff and yeah developed a really nice relationship with the the band and with the man and their management through all that those that what eight or ten year period and that kind of extended to when things kind of went south with Hockey Night for me. Kept relationship, and I know them all quite well.

And last summer they asked me if I would do the opening for the Kingston concert, which, my God, was certainly, you know, like still a pinch-me moment, and I still can't believe that it all went down like that. And, of course, I jumped all over it. And it was right during the Olympics, so it was kind of like the worst possible time work-wise because it has such a grind of, you know. You're right.

It's right at the Olympics. So I was literally kind of waking up at, my shift at CBC was 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. And then this concert was happening the night before the end of the Olympics. So time-wise, it was like, oh my gosh, but I don't need to sleep. So I would literally get up. And they're so, both are so huge. Like you can't say no, you know, when it's your job, of course. the end of the olympics so time wise it was like oh my gosh but i don't need to sleep so i would

literally and they're so both are so huge like you can't say no you know no it was your job of course the olympics but the the final that was august 20 i think if i understood me correctly so the olympics ended on the 21st and so for the 17 days leading up to that there was a musical every day so i was doing one of those things to a song every day which is a pretty much a grind like to do one but to do 17 in a row is quite insane but then to do this thing on top was it was incredible like I don't you know miss an ounce of sleep that or a second of sleep that I might have missed but um I would get up around 3 30 and work for about two and a half hours on the hip thing and then I would go to work to CBC and do the Olympic thing all day,

then come home, sleep for a couple hours and then work till midnight. Like when Homer was paying for that pony, remember? At the Quickie Mart. Yeah. Yeah. But it was crazy because their cameraman and video guy,

Dave Bastido, this awesome guy, he took those infamous shots that everyone knows from the last tour, the Jaws one and the Trudeau shot. And just an amazing, he's been around with them for a long time and captured some iconic images. And so he was taking, I don't know, I saw him at four of the shows and he had like a still camera on his neck and a video camera here. Like he had all this equipment and he basically ran around the arena, backstage, front stage, up high, down low, capturing everything. And so every

two days, a new hard drive would show up with the previous concert's footage, everything from fans arriving through the show. And it was all shot in 4K. It was just really, really beautiful stuff. And so I was going through all this, and I'm that guy that has to watch every single second of every single thing.

But do you watch it at regular speed, or do you get some mass? Yeah, you never know. You never know what you might hear or miss or see and uh so yeah um so that was a very tricky time and then the final day of the olympics is the kind of the big closing montage which is like a four to five minute you know song encapsulating the entire time so it's a bit a, a bit of a to do, to do in one day, if I may say. So this Kingston concert was the day before that. And so, you know, plugged away, plugged away and plugged away and got it done. It was just such a memorable time for me to get that and to be able to do that and have the honor and the privilege of that. And then the day before that they called and invited me down to the show so i had the you

know the privilege to go to kingston wow um still having not touched the closing um montage which was going to be and ended up being ahead by a century so i ended up finishing my days of work the day of work at cbc and then drove down to kingston saw the concert stayed for the after party for a while ended up getting home at about 4.30 in the morning, had a shower and walked to CBC and made the head by century. And it aired that night. And then I slept for about two weeks after. Wow.

That's amazing. Oh, it was, geez, like to think back on how grateful and lucky I am and was to get that opportunity was, you know, something I'll never, ever forget. And that dovetailed into meeting Jennifer Bacheval and Nick DuPontier. I actually met Nick a couple of years before, but they're a husband and wife who, uh, were directing the film that has just come out called Long Time Running. So that brings me to the current, um, thing that just went down. And obviously the film debuted at TIFF and I met them at the first Toronto show last year. And we talked and, um, I obviously was seeing all this footage and had a pretty good grasp of what was being shot and what wasn't.

So when the tour wrapped up and stuff, we had dinner and they talked about this film that they were being asked to make. And so I let them in on some of the footage that I had seen and gave them some ideas and that was kind of it. And a few months later, as they were progressing, we kept in touch and did some other projects together. We do some stuff for the water, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and, um, some other things that they're working on, but they asked me, would you do, could you do the trailer for us? So again, had this other pinch me moment of being asked to do the, the final trailer for Long Time Running, which came out in August, um, to lead up to the film's it was amazing oh thank you yeah it was uh i got to see a few versions of that film you know before it was finalized and it was the first time where you know i learned quite

quickly that uh it's very tricky to edit when you have like tears streaming down your cheek you know what i haven't seen it yet okay so i won't I won't give anything away. But I just. But I can't wait because I'm a crazy big fan of the Tragically Hip and Gord Danny. It's all, I won't give anything away. I will say it's beyond beautiful and kind of a sublime,

you know, work of art. I didn't know you did that trailer. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was kind of, it was quiet. Dude, stop doing all the things I love. Like, what is this? But I would recommend if you have the opportunity to see it in a theater. Yeah. Especially in Toronto, it's playing. Dude, stop doing all the things I love. Like, what is this? But I would recommend if you have the opportunity

to see it in a theater. Yeah. Especially in Toronto, it's playing for a little bit still. I got to do this. Yeah, it kind of does everything you need it to do. It kind of brings back all the emotions of that tour and just the way they did it. I watched that final concert.

Really, it ended up being with my daughter, who was 12 at the time in Inganish, Nova Scotia. And we cried together. Like, I guess she was crying because I was crying

and I guess the whole weight of the whole thing. But I'll never forget that experience watching the final concert in Inganish. Yeah. Oh, gosh.

It was a moment, I think, for, you know, this country. And they captured it beautifully and it's a remarkable film. So I would, you know, please go see it if you haven't. And, you know, this country and, and they captured it beautifully and it's a remarkable film. So I would, you know, please go see it if you haven't in, you know, it's, uh, yeah, all the feels you might've

had going to those concerts, happy, sad, anxious, nervous. Um, it just hits you home. And then at the end you feel your heart feels really good. I'm going to, I'm going to see it say no more, but my daughter, uh, the aforementioned daughter who watched the final concert with me, she saw Gord in Ottawa on July 2nd. So she was in Ottawa for We Day. Yeah, We Day, yeah. And Gord was there because she was like, hey, because it's the second time she's seen Gord because she saw him at a Toronto We Day thing. And she's like, Dad, I saw Gord again or whatever. But I haven't seen a public appearance by Gord since July.

So now we're in September. Do you have any insight or any idea how Gord's doing? No. I know he had a prolific writing period. He was writing quite a bit and going through a great stretch. So I think obviously I don't know what it's like to live with that other than what you hear and read, but you have good days and bad days.

And yeah, just grateful though that we have, I think there's a new record coming. There was an article written about it in the Globe, I think. And there's a record he has finished with Kevin Drew that's coming out. Oh, yeah. And some, yeah, some things. He hinted at a new hip project

during the Peter Mansbridge interview that was on CBC several months ago. Right, and I remember that interview because he had to write Peter's name on his hand and then you realize that, you know, some of the effects of what he's dealing with. And that's, I guess, one thing that you'll learn from the film is, you know, from where he was to the moment they got on stage,

it's nothing short of almost like it's miraculous and kind of defies logic how he was able to do it. I won't give any more away, but it's, yeah, when you see it, you'll just be more in awe of this guy because it's remarkable. And so you were at the TIFF, what is that called? The premiere of Long-time running. Yeah, there was a gala last Wednesday

at Roy Thompson Hall. It was amazing. And just, so Gord was not there. No, I don't think so, no. Okay. All right. Hope Gord's doing okay. I just worry about it.

I always have this fear because I remember I woke up one morning and I was on the Tragically Hip email list and I woke up one morning and the first thing I do is I just check into my email and there was the email from the Tragically Hip to their list and it just said, we have some sad news to tell you. Gord has an inoperable terminal brain tumor.

And I remember the feeling when I was reading that, it was almost surreal. Like I read it again and I'm like, this is real. Like I, cause, cause it broke that way. I heard it from them before I heard it in the news, which, and I have have this fear like I'm going to wake up one day and I'm going to check my phone, and it's like Gord's gone. I just don't even want to deal with it right now. But let me ask you about Lowest of the Low. So, you know, big Lowest of the Low guy,

they were just here to kick out the jams. You're going to kick out the jams in a minute. It turns out you were at the Danforth Music Hall show where they released Do the Right Now, and I didn turns out you were at the Danforth Music Hall show where they released Do The Right Now and I didn't know you were there. I would have said hi to you. There's a lot of people there.

That was packed. It was 1,500 people, I think, fit into that place and yeah, that was, yeah, kind of no seats. Oh, I guess there's seats up in the balcony. Yeah, there's seats in the balcony.

The main floor is all GA so it's, you know, you're lucky if you run into people you gotta know someone's there and then you know a ring hey i'm here by the left side of the stage whatever yeah yeah yeah yeah it was wonderful night though my gosh yeah it was good this record is uh just beautiful and um yeah it's really interesting you know listening to ron talk last week and reading some other articles and talking to him just uh the process of putting it together and it's his 52-year-old self talking to his 26-year-old

self for many of the songs and reflection on Shakespeare in those years and the city and yeah, everything that Ron does writing about community and things like that and yeah, it was nice to see such a packed house and hopefully many, many, many, many, many more. Those guys are great.

There's really, like as Toronto bands go, the lyrical content and what Ron's writing about and what they're singing about is so Toronto. Yeah, we did a thing. It didn't come out. Maybe we'll do another one or something, but we did this thing, I don't know, about seven or eight years ago,

we went around to different landmarks. We started at the Only Cafe, where they were doing a photo shoot at the time, then went to the Carla Bridge and went to Riverdale Park where he wrote a lot of those songs and then went to the West Side where the old rehearsal hall. Anyway, all these old haunts and just reliving kind of the influences and inspiration behind a bunch of things. So yeah, my gosh, he behind a bunch of things. So, yeah.

Yeah, but my gosh, he's been writing about the city for, I guess, as a character in his songs for 30 years. And yeah, hopefully for a long, long time. Yeah. Lots of inspiration here, that's for sure. And since we talked, Eric Lindrosk, you put together the video for his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Is that right?

Yeah, for the party. For the party, right. Not anything official. Okay, so it was for Eric, yeah. A big party on the Saturday night. The induction was on the Monday. And yeah, it was great. He didn't know anything about it.

And his brother kind of just introduced it out of nowhere when he was speaking. And yeah, it was great. I think it really affected him. And he's a wonderful guy.. I think it really affected him. He's a wonderful guy and I think it really hit him. So that was pretty cool to be able to do that. And leave that kind of thing for him to watch down the road.

He has three young kids now and maybe when they get older, that'll help give them a bit of a snapshot of who their dad was and what a force he was on the ice. For sure. And I have a question about George Strombolopoulos. Are you involved in any way with Strombol's house?

I've been. Nothing other than going to... Nothing other than you're just a spectator? Yeah, they invite me graciously to a bunch of these things that are going on, and it's amazing what they're doing. And a small guerrilla group of friends of his that have worked with him for a long time, and he's opened his home to these concerts and inviting people into his home

and there's a courtyard out front and they give you... Actually, they made a beer with Great Lakes Brewery called the Strombosho Beer. Is that right? How come I don't know about that? I don't know. I got to talk to my buddies at Great Lakes. They're the first ones to tip me off.

Yeah, so they have coolers of those out front and a Brazilian food truck barbecues food and you eat and you drink. This guy, this George, man. Let me tell you because I have like a micro version of that going on. Did I mention the lowest of the low played in my basement? I told George, watch out. I've got the micro version.

But like what he's doing is like it's the same spirit in the sense that he's, yeah, But like what he's doing is like, it's the same spirit in the sense that he's, yeah, he'll invite over Blue Rodeo and they'll play like in his home and he'll record it or whatnot and share it. And you know, he invites, I guess, some select friends and people that get chosen to go from like a fan club and then you invite some friends and family and uh things like that like actually the night of the hip uh premiere at roy thompson hall emily haynes was in um starting her new solo record and i as the timing worked out i could drop by for a bit and then before i could get to or had to go to the to the film premiere and funny just walking is about halfway his house from my place to Roy Thompson Hall and so dropped in there got to see a bit of her play and then went you had a good life bud ran into Max from the Arkells on the

way and ended up at Roy Thompson it was just like this weird like Toronto musical odyssey so yeah that's where all the action is See George gets Emily Haynes I get Avery Haynes That's the difference between our shows That's where we're at Alright I want to tell you So you're here to kick out the jams

Tyler Campbell is a listener of the podcast Who loves the kick out the jams episodes So what he decided to do Was document everybody's jams In a google sheet uh and i've asked him nicely like to wait one week between the uh podcast coming out and him updating the spreadsheet because to me it's a spoiler like i'd want to i'd want to be all over the spreadsheet but i also want to hear the jams like i want to be surprised by what jams tim

thompson chooses or whatever so he says okay cool's going to wait a week before he updates his Google Sheets. But there's a link on my site. So if you go to torontomike.com, I just wrote about this. You'll find the link to this. But I want to thank Tyler because it's amazing. Yeah, very cool. And he's also documenting how many times each artist is represented. Right now, the Beatles.

Of course. I guess you could have guessed that, right? Although you might have guessed the hip. But the hip are tied in second with The Beach Boys. We'll see if that stays the same in this episode. I don't want to get any spoilers. I will say this was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to 10 artists, let alone 10 songs.

You're not going to make any last second changes, are you? I don't know. I tried to make it more, maybe a bit of a chronological snapshot of my life in a way or something like that. So it's going to be fun. Some things that I, you know, from a long time ago to now. So it's going to be fun. Tyler Campbell, back to him.

So not only does he put all this effort into maintaining this Google sheet that I think is just incredible. Then he goes and sponsors this podcast by giving some money to my Patreon account. So Tyler Campbell, you're a good dude. Thank you very much. He's a saint. He's a saint. He's a saint. And if anyone else wants to follow Tyler's lead,

patreon.com slash Toronto Mike is where you go to help crowdfund this passion project. Some people are like, hey, there's too many kickings of the jams. I miss the deep dives. And I just want to say there's a lot of deep dives coming. Okay, I got Stephen Brunt coming. John Moore from 1010 is coming.

Ron Nelson, DJ Ron Nelson, who's like the godfather of hip hop in this country. He's coming. I got some incredible deep dives coming in the next month. And some more kick Out the Jams. You should do a Kick Out the Jams with Brunt because that guy's legitimate when it

comes to music. See, he's got to come in for the deep dive and then if all goes well, he's going to have to come back and Kick Out the Jams. Damien Cox and Steve Simmons

have both given me their 10 jams. They just have to get their butts in here to actually play them with me. So they're coming for sure to Kick Out the Jams. A lot of stuff coming up. So give what you can

at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. You mentioned Great Lakes Beer made a Strombo show beer. They got to make a Toronto Mike beer. Right? They should. You should get on that. It's a good thing I know people over there. I'm going to talk to some people. In the meantime,

while I wait for the Toronto Mike beer, you've got a six-pack in front of you you're taking home with you. I do. It looks delicious. Pumpkin for the first time too this year. Right. The pumpkin ale is out. The Canuck. I like to call it the dark Canuck. For the hip reference, absolutely.

Oh, a 30th anniversary one too. Wow. It's a good variety pack, if you will. It's a good variety pack, if you will. It's a good easier. Thank you very much. So enjoy the Great Lakes beer. Always do. And now I'm fixated on the Toronto Mike beer

we're going to have to make. Got to come up with a label and the name. That's kind of key, I guess. I'll outsource that. Not only are you getting the six pack from Great Lakes beer, but Brian Gerstein from propertyinthesix.com would like you to take home a pint glass. Brian is a cool guy because on Friday, this last Friday,

he came over here. I think he lives in North York or something like that. He doesn't live around here, but he drove here with his bicycle. He didn't drive. He drove a car and the bike was in the car. Because I do a lunchtime ride on Fridays and he wanted me to show him, so basically like be a tour guide and show him one of my regular routes or whatever. So I'm like, okay, yeah, sure, whatever. We did a 30 kilometer ride this last Friday.

We're basically along the waterfront and then along the Humber Trail and then back through High Park, back on the waterfront. It was really nice through a few of West Toronto's better trails. And I think he did great. For a guy who's just starting to bike, he averaged 20 kilometers an hour, which I think is really good for a guy who's just starting to bike because he did 30K. And I think he had a good time. We took photos of the new art installation. You have the Toronto sign. Oh, yeah. And now you got a new one. It's called the heart in Spanish,

which I can't remember how you say that. But it's like a giant who's like lounging on the waterfront. A brand new one, like being unveiled this week. Oh, cool. We took photos of that. So, had a good time with Brian.

Brian's giving you the pint glass. And Brian has a message for everyone listening brian gerstein here proud sponsor of toronto mic and sales representative with psr brokerage with offices in king west and the annex psr specializes in new condominium sales with the hottest projects in the city including Kingley, Inking West and 2-1 Bloor West. For VIP Toronto Mic Access just call me at 416-873-0292 for renderings, floor plans and pricing. Any real estate consultation in person with me will also get you my property in the six dot com pint glass and a six pack of GLB.

Quite the jingle. Do you like that? Who did that? Illvibe, who's a local composer, producer, rapper guy who, by the way, fun fact, also wrote my theme song, the Toronto Mike theme song you hear off the top. And is going to come in and kick out the jams himself soon.

So we'll hear from Illy soon. Cool. Tim, are you ready to kick out the jams? Let's do it. Back in the old folky days The air was magic when we played The riverboat was rockin' in the rain Midnight was the time

for the rain Oh, Isabella Proud Isabella They tore you down and plowed you under. You're only real with your makeup on. How could I see you and stay too long All along the Navajo Trail Burnouts stub their toes on garbage bales Waitresses are

crying in the rain Will a boyfriend pass this way again Old Mother Goose She's on the skids. The shoe ain't happy, neither are the kids. She needs someone that she can scream at. And I'm such a hero for making her feel

so bad I guess I'll call it sickness gone it's hard to say the meaning of this song an ambulance can only go so fast of this song An ambulance can only go so

fast It's easy to get buried in the past When you try to make the thing last Ambulance Blues It takes a place, doesn't it? When you try to make the thing last. Ambulance Blues. It takes your places, right?

I didn't actually want to fade this one down. I am so, honestly, if you go up to the hallway upstairs, and this is your jam, not mine, I should shut up, but my Neil Young portrait I have in the hallway, I've always loved every syllable this guy sings. Like, always. But please, tell me why you chose Ambulance Blues by Neil Young. It was, I guess, the first one of a long line of tricky ones to pick one song, how do you choose one song that can symbolize this person who's a huge, I'm a huge, huge, huge fan, I always have been.

But this was the first song, I've always kind of been drawn towards these songs that are story-based, that take you into the lives of some character or some thing, and it's this kind of long song that you can just listen to, and it takes you to somewhere. And that somewhere for this song, to me, was the first one that I can recall when I was a kid

that referenced Toronto. And it was this thing that to me was the first one that I can recall when I was a kid that referenced Toronto. And it was this thing that, oh, I know that, yeah, wow. And there's some lines coming up. Sorry, sometimes you get lost in it a bit. But I'm from a very musical family in the sense of we were huge music fans. None of us really, my brother's a drummer in a rock band, but outside of that, no one really has a whole lot of uh you know no one really played music um but just huge you know listeners and

lovers of music going to concerts uh mixtapes in the car and you know drive up to the cottage as kids and my dad's got a monstrous vinyl collection lots of all sorts of stuff there's a staple of like leonard cohen and gordon lightfoot and and Harry Chapin and all these people growing up, the Beatles. But Neil was someone just that kind of, because he was from Toronto, my brother and sister went to a school called Lawrence Park Collegiate, and Neil had gone there, so there were all these infamous stories of him, like, getting kicked out for riding a motorcycle down the hall. I don't know if these things are true, but one of my brother's classmates'

father was the music teacher there, and he had gone with Neil to school at Lawrence, and they were in a band together. So there were all these kind of ties that when we were kids, it was really, really cool to hear. Like, wow, this is this giant international superstar that's from here,

but we have this kind of local tie to this neighborhood we grew up in. And this song, my mom tells me stories of going to this famous cafe in Yorkville called The Riverboat. That's the first line in the song. The Riverboat was rocking in the rain. And so when I heard that, I'm like, oh, that's that place where, yeah, my mom was talking

about it. And she used to go see Joni Mitchell play there. And this magical place that Neil and Joni and Gordon and Bruce Coburn played at back in the day. And so, yeah, it was the first time, I I guess that I, and there's a line later, a verse later that's, I'm up in Teo keeping Jive alive and out on the corner it's half past five, the subways are empty and so is the cafe. So it was just kind of these naming of places that I knew of and these are parts of my

life and just this story you can get lost in, especially with headphones on. You listen to that song, and it's just this, I don't know how long it is, maybe eight or nine minutes. Yeah, over eight minutes for sure. Yeah, and it's on the record on the beach, which is an amazing, amazing record of his. And yeah, I don't know. And there's also the line about,

oh, here's the line here. Yeah. Keepin' jive alive And out on the corner It's half past five But the subways are empty And so are the cafes Except for the farmer's market

And I still can hear him say, you're all just pissing in the wind. You don't know it, but you are. And there ain't nothing like a friend In that voice, right? Yeah, and this line too. This is what he says right here. Who can tell you you're just pissing in the wind

There ain't nothing like a friend Who can tell you you're pissing in the wind And as a kid, hearing was kind of the first time Hearing like, well, it's not really a swear word But as close to, you know, it's like, oh my God Do you feel a bit you know sheepish or something but it tickles you a bit that uh he said that but yeah just you know i bandied around maybe using helpless for this or after the gold rush or hey hey my my or something but i've always

this song has always just been one that i've always listened to a lot and uh i guess maybe it laid the groundwork for my love of people who tell stories in their songs. And this isn't poppy lyrics or something. These are things that people observe. And going out, and I guess Ron Hawkins talks about it a lot, but writing about community, and all of my favorite writers seem to do that. They write these snapshots of people in places maybe well-known, but maybe not.

There are people living in the shadows. I never knew a man. Just interesting characters that you come across in day-to-day life, and that's what this song did for me. It was the first one that I can, you know, consciously remember as, you know, I can identify with that kind of theory of listening to music. And, you know, for me, voice and lyrics are the first thing.

If I don't, you know, connect with that, I kind of get, you know, maybe gloss over it a bit. But for me, you know, a great lyric and a voice that hits you is what grabs me. And as a kid, Neil was certainly right there with everything. And again, like that local connection that kind of gives you that thing, you know, when you hear a song that references a place you're from or you know, it just like gives you that little bit of like more meaning to it than you know maybe uh something else would one day i'm going to put together a like 10 the 10 best toronto songs okay songs about toronto

this one's on the list yeah it's yeah it's an under you know maybe not a lot of people know about it but uh you know it's certainly when you hear it it gets you in its grasps and it's doesn't let go it's great it's been your reaction to hearing hey that's uh you know it's certainly when you hear it it gets you in its grasps and it's doesn't let go it's great it's been a year reaction to hearing hey that's uh i know that's toronto i live there like i had the same idea with helpless when it's you know in the town in north ontario and it's like i know where ontario is and that song reminds me of cottages in the summer being up there and i used to bash out really bad versions of heart of gold on an acoustic guitar. Nice.

You know, just remember that and people saying, you guys sounded like sick cows or something. But it didn't matter because it was just kind of liberating and cool. And Neil was kind of like that for, I think still is to this day. He's just this epitome of cool, I think,

and writes beautiful, heartfelt songs and a lot of references where he's from. And I've always loved that about a lot of references where he's from. And I've always loved that about, you know, a lot of writers. And you'll hear more coming up. When I, in the late 80s, when I started really getting into Neil Young, I bought the double, it was a two CD collection called Decade. That was, yeah, that was the first one that kind of, yeah, that we had. So that's how I, that was my like, so I have Decade,

which I understand when it came out on vinyl it was like three, three records, whatever, but the disc was two and every cut on that, and funny, I just talked to someone

about the Rolling Stones kicking out the jams and for that I had Hot Rocks. So like my, between Hot Rocks giving me kind of the whole background on the Rolling Stones

where every cut was great. For Neil Young it was Decade and still every single cut on that double disc, Decade, was just phenomenal.il young it was decade and still every single cut on that double disc decade was just phenomenal i think it was the like 64 to 74 or something like it is uh his first decade of rock he was one i have a quick hockey night story with that if i could um i was one of those artists that couldn't get a song license forever i don't know for whatever reason some

people don't want them on tv or what have you. And apparently there had been something happened with CBC over years and years and years ago that, you know, didn't jive well with him. I don't really know. I never could uncover what that was, but I've always wanted to get Neil on there. And I woke up one day during the finals and it was Chicago playing Boston.

And I had Hey Hey My My in my head and I couldn't get it out for a whole day. And I woke up the next day, I'm like, I have to try to get this. And we ended up, I wrote this passionate kind of plea to our business guy and said, can you just send this

to whoever's involved with Neil and see if we can get it? And I went online that morning, and he was touring Europe, as it seems, and he was playing a show in the Netherlands the night before, and I clicked on a photograph from it, and he was wearing a CBC T-shirt

at this concert. So I thought, oh, my gosh, this is the stars aligning. Yeah, yeah. And an hour later, the song had cleared, and we got it. And so I finally got my hands on able to use one of his songs. And that, yeah, ended up using his father, Scott, in some of it. So he kind of weaved this thing in. And, yeah, apparently he really, really, really liked it.

No, don't hesitate to share those stories. And that's that's great. But let's hear your second jam. One, two, one, two, three, four. guitar solo I shed a tear cause I'm missing you I'm still alright to smile Girl I think about you every day now There was a time when I wasn't sure But you set my mind at ease

There is no doubt You're in my heart now Said woman Take it slow It'll work itself out fine All we need is Just a little patience Set your gun, make it slow

And we'll come together fine All we need is just a little patience Guns and fucking roses. Patience. There it is. That was, sorry. No, I mean, I realize now, they're your jams.

Mike, they're Tim's jams. I want to talk about each of these jams because this is one of my favorite songs of all time, my favorite Guns and Roses track, and I love Guns and Roses. Yeah. But you go. Yeah, no.

I guess Appetite came out when I was in grade eight, I think. of all time my favorite guns and roses track and i love guns and roses yeah but you go yeah no um i guess appetite came out when i was in grade eight i think uh and it was just at the time the musical landscape you know for the because there's lots of stuff out there but a lot of like hair metal and a lot of like flaky stuff like poison yeah and this band came out and it was just like oh my god like no just this like it wasn't about how came out and it was just like, oh my God, no bullshit. It wasn't about how they looked. It was just about these songs that were raw and had this realness to it. And this just magic, I guess, the whole record from cover to cover is incredible. Yeah, but this is not from Apathy.

Exactly. So that one kind of hit. And at the time, which I was trying to get at, was that I was cognizant of that record and it was great and all that, but it wasn't until this album, G and Our Lives, got released and I heard this song that my full-on for this band kind of hit. And then I went back and revisited it and became obsessed with Appetite and all that.

And it was like, I guess maybe when you're that age, 12, 13-ish, you're discovering your own musical identity, I guess. and this maybe would be considered the first band that i you know when you claim one as your own so to speak and i used to buy like t-shirts and magazines and bootlegs i used to there's a store at young and eglinton called edwards record world and they had these bootlegs and they were 34.99 and i did not have 34.99 the time to spend but i bought a lot of these things um there was bootlegs from all these different things and you ended up hearing like one of them had a just a leaked demo of November Rain that was just Axl on the piano and things like that and everything like live concerts as well but it was just this song was the one that

just you would play I call them 10 players it's like you need to play them 10 times over and over and over before you can move on to something else. It was just something unique about his voice and especially, you know, when it pops at the end here. Well, if you don't mind, can I pause you for a second? Sure. Because I need this, man. guitar solo I need a little patience Yeah, yeah Ooh, yeah

I need a little patience Yeah, yeah Just a little patience Yeah, yeah Some more patience, yeah Some more patience I've been walking the streets at night Just trying to get it right It's hard to see with so many around You know I don't like being stuck in the crowd

And the streets don't change, but maybe the name I ain't got time for the game, cause I need you Yeah, yeah, but I need you Oh, I need you Oh, I leave you All this time All this time Holy shit, that's good. Seriously, buddy.

Pretty powerful stuff, eh? And first of all, I'm sorry for being an asshole. I was going to jump down your throat when I thought you were suggesting this was an appetite. And what an asshole move that is, right? No, no, not at all. Because of course, come on, you're a musicologist. No, not at all. It's just the point that it had come out and this is the one that kind of brought it full on.

And then you go back and get more into something than you were before. But yeah, this was in 89, I think. And I guess it led to the whole. I feel it's earlier. 87 in my mind. 87 was Appetite. Okay,

here's WGNR Lies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lies itself. 88, 89 is kind of when

it started to pop out or come out. Used to Love Her was another track on that freaking, and then the Mummikin cover. Yeah, Mummikin.

Because I didn't know, I wasn't familiar with the Aerosmith Mummikin. Now I am, but I wasn't at the time. That was fucking heavy too. Yeah, Reckless Life and all these nice boys and all this and it led to this lead up to the Illusions records which were this

big monumental moment they were coming and coming and then I remember the first time I got to see them play live was before those records came out they did a tour called Get In The Ring Motherfucker the name of the tour and they put that on the back of the shirts and you know for a kid it's pretty impressionable tour called Get in the Ring, Motherfucker. Kick your bitchy little ass. The name of the tour and they put that on the back of the shirts and you know, for a kid it's pretty impressionable.

I went with my sister to the first night and my brother the second night and remember there was no set lists. They would come out and Axl would call songs out and there was just this you know, they would come on stage when he was ready to, which at the time it's like, wow, there was a realness to it and just this kind of vibe.

Like they seemed dangerous in some sense. Very dangerous. You never know what was going to happen. Well, obviously there was some riots and things that happened. But an honesty, too, to that kind of danger. And I guess that's kind of required maybe hand in hand. But it was just kind of refreshing that it was like this was something that meant everything to him and to them, I guess.

But I guess Axl being the focal point. But this wasn't just about playing a show. This was like, I want to give you everything that I have. And it was, yeah, just this realness. And one thing that I really liked about that whole period, too, was kind of the bands that I learned about. Much like from the Tragical Hippie, learned about other people down the road with them. Like we're talking 91 and they had on tours,

then Nine Inch Nails was opening for them and Soundgarden was and Blind Melon. And I became fans of all these other bands because of hearing it through them. Faith in the Moor, the big show they played with Metallica as well at Exhibition, the late great Exhibition Stadium. Man, that was a good place to see concerts.

But yeah, it was just a really interesting period. And then the Illusions came out and I've seen the, you know, various incarnations since then. And, you know, I don't listen as much as I used to, obviously, but, you know, from time to time you put those songs on and Estranged was a big one off the Illusion, the user Illusion 2. Oh, but I always make fun of the video.

The dolphins, so pretentious. Got a bit weird jumping off an oil tanker. And yeah, but as a song, it's brilliant. And, you know, another one where he sings in different voices throughout it. And yeah, and you hear lots of stories about them and what they were about and all that. But I got to meet and do a piece with Mike Smith, who people might know as Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys.

And somehow he and Axl met about, I don't know, within the last 10 years and became really, really good friends. What was his band? Sandbox. Right. At the time. And I wonder where you are. That one.

Yeah. And Bubbles, I think, went on tour with Guns N' Roses and played uh that song liquor and horrors and stuff anyway he was telling me that you know despite what you might hear that axl was one of the most kindest sweetest most loyal people he's ever met in his life and that he would i'm glad to hear that shirt off his back so it's nice to hear that kind of thing too because you never know what to believe when things get out in the media and there's at least one pick of axl wearing a leafs jersey. Yeah, I was at that concert.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. But yeah, no, just, you know, you put those songs on and you remember back to being in high school and listening to that with your friends or your family and brother and sister. And patience. I mean, I'm no musicologist, but patience to me,

like if I'm going to throw on a Guns N' Roses track, that one really holds up to me. Like that sounds great today, as great as it did then. And there's something about it where it's sweet and acoustic, but it still has a, like I had to,

you know, bring back the level for the kind of Axl's going to do a bit of yelling or whatever. Like it's got it, best of both worlds and it's just a great song.

And I guess that goes back to this idea of, you know, when you have a full band and lots of noise in front of you, you know, but the greatness of a song is when you strip it back and it was, you know, maybe

someone on just a piano or someone with just an acoustic guitar and you realize, wow, like there, that is an incredible song when it's just so bare bones like that. Um, and that's something I always like too. That was like that version of November rain. I was talking about it. I think it's on YouTube now, but it was just literally him and a piano and you could really see without all the orchestration and drums and all that, you can just see at the heart of it, this song is really something. And yeah, I guess there's a bit of magic

with patients like that, but yeah, it certainly holds up for sure. Nice hearing it in headphones too. Yeah, it makes it even better. All right, let's kick out another jam. In the cities and the gutters Where our burdens all surrender To the pressures of poor weather and the pressures of one another

Along the sidelines of the city where the buildings block the light The hours tend to linger as the winter discounts the light And the hopelessness of our descent and the pressures under which we went are buried in the shadows of a parkdale basement i see history repeat itself but stutter from the lies they tell use a war for distraction while the politicians cash in Now emotions grow in rows and rows Regurgitate the TV shows The understatements that they sell Confuse the youth who guide themselves

Weakened by the loss of faith Their vision blurs while they concentrate Discard all your feelings Killing time while you wait For life To pass you by For life To pass you by Cuff the Duke Confessions from a Parkdale Basement

Looks nice, doesn't it? Steel guitar, take you home There you go take you home. Now, tell us from this new Toronto basement what you love about Confessions from a Parkdale basement. I never made that connection. That's why I chose it. We're not far from Parkdale here. No, not at all.

I guess that song, the band Cuff the Duke and the singer Wayne Petty is a really, really good friend of mine. It's kind of like this idea of, I guess, lineage or something like that. And that when I finished university, I went and played pro hockey for a year.

And all I wanted to do growing up was be a hockey player. And never did I realize or see a life without it. Because obviously when you're growing up, you're going to play in the NHL and have a long career and make lots of money and do all that stuff. And for most people, you realize that's not going to happen. And when I got back to Toronto, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And I somehow stumbled into TV and film and all that. And music was obviously,

and will ever be a huge, huge part of my life. And that band, Hearing Cuff, was just one of those things. I had gone to the University of Guelph and a band that came out of there, it was a band called Royal City, and they were a really influential band around there, and they started playing in Toronto. So when I came home to Toronto to start this new life,

I would go see Royal City play as much as I could. They played around Toronto a lot at the time. And I remember one night in specific going to see them at Lee's Palace. I'm really excited. I went down with a couple of my friends and we went and this opening band came out and blew our fucking doors off. It was this band Cuff the Duke from Oshawa that we had like, who are these guys? And Royal City came out and they played incredibly. it was a wonderful show but at the end of the night all we could talk about was this band cuff the Duke and so you know they were part of this small indie record label called three cut records and I think at the time the launch was cuff the Constantine's gentlemen Reg I think in Royal City so they're all part of this kind of like small communal indie

label that were doing these great things and And, uh, I ended up getting into TV and film. And, uh, one of my first things that I got to do was, you know, trying to find a way to make music a part of this life. And several years in, I started doing this documentary about independent musicians in Toronto. And my idea was to do five people at different points of their careers and to get this thing of, you know, someone maybe starting out, someone a few records in, and then a few people, you know,

have been around the block quite a bit. And Cuff had this new record coming out that was called Sidelines of the City, which is where Confessions is from. And it was, I think, kind of a pivotal record for Wayne. There were three records in, and he was at a point in his life where he was

writing a lot of like, they had lost a few drummers, a few band member changes and stuff. And he, I think he was kind of, you know, I think like anyone, and especially in the arts in this country, wondering about the future, like, how is this all going to play out? And, you know, are we going in the right direction? And he wrote this record, I think that kind of reflects that. And that song specifically lyrically, I think talks about someone who's growing up and, you approaching 30 and wondering like you know where am I going what is all this about and but he's seeing he was living in Parkdale at the time obviously and saw you see

lots of things and again maybe name placing like Ambulance Blues did and you just get a sense of that with that and anyway so Wayne uh came on board and he was in my film called Born to It and just really really sweet guy that's writing all these great great songs and for some reason that song just always hit me and it was on this you know record of theirs that was just such a incredible album the third one in their career and sadly they're kind of on long-term hiatus right now and I hope they come back because I you know the world's better when they're playing. Very fun shows,

very communal, lots of sing-alongs and Wayne would go into the crowd and just a lot of energy, a lot of guitars. That's maybe one of the quieter songs they have. A lot of them are pretty high-end and are pretty loud and proud

and lots of singing and hand clapping and violins and all sorts of things. But yeah, it was just a band that brings back memories to that period of my life when I was trying to figure out, you know,

what I was going to do and landed in this crazy TV and film world. And just this idea of always trying to get music involved. And, uh, it just kind of makes me smile when I, you know, think about cuff and, uh, um, you know what they did and what, you know, hopefully they might do. Nice. Nice. Uh, fun fact is I was born in Parkdale, just to bring it full circle here. Maybe in that basement.

Maybe in that basement. But again, if I could, like, there's also like this idea of Hayden was a big influence for me too. And, you know, without Hayden, you're not getting Cuff the Duke. Without, you know, Lowest of the Low, you're not getting the Strombelas or the Arkells or things like that. So this idea of speaking earlier, lineage and how one band might lead to another and, you know, the ones that came before you, so to speak. And so, yeah, it's just neat to

kind of just see this. It's funny you mentioned Hayden because I picked up Everything I Long For, which I love. Oh, yeah. I still love, like, and September and Skates, all the whole thing, the whole thing. Loved it. And I announced to anyone who would listen, I told them, this is the next Neil Young. This is the next Neil Young. He's had a successful career and

done a lot of great things, but I always thought he'd be bigger. I thought Hayden was going to be massive. Every record, the recent ones he's put out are incredible. There's a quick story on that. His manager for a long time, who's no longer his manager, his name was Skinny. He was. His man, his manager for a long time, who's no longer his kind of name. Um, he's no longer his manager. Uh, his name was skinny. He was actually managing Ron in the low for a bit. Um, but yeah, his name is skinny and he was managing him through that

period. And when, uh, all that kind of stuff hit with Hayden, I think he was on spin magazines at the time, like out of the blue, like top 40 influential musicians in the world. But there was a, uh, you know, a lot of people vying for, to sign him to their label. And one of those at the time was Neil Young's label. And he ended up, Hayden and Skinny went down to Neil's ranch and met with him to talk about, you know, what Neil might have seen for him and all this. And so Skinny tells this crazy story of Infamous.

They go into this room and there's nothing but a piano in there. And Neil and Hayden go sit down at the piano and Skinny's watching and he's taking a photo of this but Neil's like, yeah, let me play this new song that I've just written and it was Philadelphia from the soundtrack and so the two of them got to witness Neil play that

and yeah, anyway, but yeah, same as Ron and Lola, these people should be filling the Canada Centre and stuff. But I mean, you're, same as, you know, Ron and Lola, like these people should be filling their Canada Center and stuff. But, I mean, you're talking to a guy who, on Groupon, I spent 15 bucks to get tickets to see Public Enemy at the Sound Academy of all places.

And, like, I don't know what that holds, like 1,500 or 2,000 people, whatever. It's kind of like the Danforth Music Hall. And, like, maybe the best concert I've ever seen. And, like, I don't understand why some of these acts I think are so unbelievably good and are not bigger. I always have this phenomenon with bands

like Public Enemy, for example. Why is Public Enemy barely having trouble selling out this 2,000 ticket venue? One of the finest concerts I've seen in my entire life. Unbelievable. I don't get it. It seen in my entire life. Like, unbelievable. It's just a weird thing. I guess it was a bit of luck and a bit of time. And the low is another one like that too. Low should be, why is the lowest of the low

where they're at? Anyway, it's just, this is going to be a three-hour tour if I don't get this rock in. The mystery of it all, I suppose. Yeah. I guess we're grateful and lucky that we have them in some capacity. That's right. That's right. Let's kick out another jam. Yeah. I guess we're lucky that we have them in some capacity. That's right. That's right. Let's kick out another jam. Right.

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Or a fortress strong With chains upon my feet You know that ghost is me And I will never be set free, as long as I'm a ghost you can't see. If I could read your

mind, love, what a tale your thoughts could tell. Just like a paperback novel The kind the drugstores sell When you reach the part Where the heartaches come The hero would be me

Heroes often fail You won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take Gordon Lightfoot, If You Could Read My Mind Another one of those ones where you just get lost in it and conjures up all these images. Classic. I hear that line about the drugstore, I immediately transport it to this drugstore on the main street in huntsville

where our cottage was near him growing up and uh yeah for some reason to the book aisle it just kind of takes me there every single time and we just listen and we still do with my family a lot of gordon and a lot of mixtapes and a lot of his stuff and i think my dad has a story of like when he first time he heard the song sundown he ended up looking up in the phone book like gordon's uh record company and he called them he's like i just heard the song sundown on the radio you need to release that as a single oh that's great that song was number one you know you go to those websites to see what song was number one on the billboard 100 the week you were born so that song was number one on the Billboard 100 the week you were born. So that song was number one the week I was born, Sundown by Gordon Latham.

Oh, you're in good company. But yeah, so just very, you know, these stories of this country and just this voice that kind of haunts you in these lyrics that's so beautiful. And I guess my connection to that, I guess growing up, you know, about five years ago, I was doing a series on Hockey Night.

It was about artists and musicians who love hockey. And we did Jay Baruchel and Matthew Goode and Jim Cuddy and Alan Doyle and Sam Roberts. And that's where I met Bubbles. Mike Smith, we did that. And the very last one I was hoping to get all year was Gordon Lightfoot. And it was confirmed that he would do it

because I knew he was a Leaf fan. I didn't know to what extent, but I knew he had been a long-serving Leaf fan. And so we got, we'd done all these in a studio at the CBC. And for that one, his manager emailed me back and said, is there any way,

is there any way you could come up and do the interview at Gordon's house? Okay. That was Bernie, right? No, this, it's escaping me the name right now. Anyway, I'm like, oh my gosh.

So we got to go up to his home near the bridal path, which is apparently just down the street from where Drake is building his house. So that'll be an interesting street party. When they collaborate, it's going to be off the hizzle. Yeah. So we go up,

drive into this like long driveway up to the front of this house. And he's, there he is sitting on the porch in a lawn chair. It's just like all these like memories and images from my past and you know my parents were freaking out when i was gonna go to meet him and do this thing there and uh we go meet him he's just this really sweet guy and we go inside he's like where do you want to do this and uh i'm like well what do you suggest he's like well we could do it in the music room and there was right off the front hall this like

stunningly you know dark wood-paneled room that had guitars everywhere and set up and amps and CDs. Oh, man. All these blank CDs that were like Massey Hall 1986 Wednesday set two and 93 Thursday set four and all this stuff. And then he had another pile of CDs. I remember this clear as day that were other people's CDs. And the very, very top one was Battle of the Nudes,

Gore Downey's second solo record. And anyway, we ended up doing this interview with him. And he's like, before we get going. So I had the cameraman set up there. And he's like, let's go make some coffee. So I ended up walking into his kitchen with him. And in the living room, he had this kind of replica-sized, incredibly detailed model of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

And yeah, we did this incredible like 60-minute interview about the Leafs. That's incredible. And I was shocked that he could tell you as much about Turk Broda and Bill Borilko as he could as to why he was hoping the Leafs would have gotten Rick Nash that summer. It was that summer a couple years ago.

So yeah, it was just this pinch me moment. And I always feel like we're in, for some reason I feel with Gord, we're in bonus time because of reports that he had died, right? So we all thought Gord was dead. And of course, he's not dead. He's, you know, still... He told a story of like hearing that on the radio while driving down Mount Pleasant Street, and he called the radio station, and he's

like, well, no, still here. What is it? Samuel Clemens or whatever, like reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Yeah, but he's still playing 50, 60 shows a year. And, you know, man, God bless him. Keep going, please. Keep going. We need all the gourds to keep going. I think that's safe to say. There's a beautiful shot at the Blue Rodeo show last winter.

The Sadies opened up and they invited three gourds. And it was Gord Downie, Gordon Lightfoot, and Gordon Pinsent. And there's a three shot on the backstage. And that's really beautiful, yeah. Yeah, they're just missing Gord Stie, Gordon Lightfoot, and Gordon Pinsent. And there's a three shot on the backstage and that's really beautiful, yeah. Yeah, they're just missing Gord Stelic and Gord Marno. All right. All the Gords I know.

Let's kick out another jam. I'm not a child, but I believe Paint it opens in the dark I would hold you there and fall apart Now I chase you from the morning rays I pray it fades I'm not a child But I believe there is beauty We're alive, so I can see beauty

passion is a sweet one turns and turns forever just to feel left you alone inside and others all that you hear for the first time and it hits you over the head and heart. Again, you just get caught up in it and it takes you places.

I remember hearing that. It was this thing that I loved and listened to music with filters on for my work and like what's the next project or what might be something. And when you hear songs that hit you and the first time I heard that, it was just like, oh my my god I need to find something for that and uh you know months go by months go by and a year ago almost to the day uh last September was the Paralympic Games in Rio and um Terry Fox Day was going to fall on one of the days and I thought wow if we open the whole day with that song and just harry uh so i went and dug all this old footage out of the archives at cbc and uh started crafting this thing at home and uh took about a week uh

and it was just yeah just everything just kind of fit and worked so well and i tried to get a hold of jada because i met her briefly years before but didn't know her at all and uh so i sent her found her email or something and sent it and she never got the email till after the fact but she'd been tipped off that it was going to open the Paralympics but she didn't know in what capacity so she tuned in with my co-writer Peter Katz on the song and they both unbeknownst to me were like like I guess like everyone the huge huge huge Terry Fox fans but they had no idea that this song was going to be set to that. And I guess they were both just a puddle of tears at their feet at the end.

And it really took off. It hit hundreds of thousands of views right away. And Jada had this beautiful story of a couple days later getting a message from Daryl Fox, note of the blue, Terry's brother. And he basically outlined how this video hit him in a way it hadn't done before to him and saw his brother in a whole new light. Just something in the song and the images brought out

this thing that just caved him, you know, in a good way. And so they've become friends and stayed in touch. And this video is being used for the Terry Fox Foundation which is incredible at some of their events in that and yeah I just found out it's being nominated for a Canadian Screen Award so oh wow yeah just geez man I mean even hearing you talk about it over beauty someone's cutting onions in here you know what I mean like it's just really well you see those images and her voice is so beautiful and the song is so beautiful and it's just one of those moments when they meet you know music meets image and it just uh works so so well and

yeah just grateful and that's your specialty it's when music meets imagery but with i would say to borrow a line from taggart and torrens withity. Great question. All right. Just put that in a bucket and there's Tim Thompson. Yeah. Why we need you to keep doing what you're doing. What an honor that was for sure. And I'm so grateful. Yeah. And let's kick out another jam.

We, the undersigned, put forth his name Whereas Reggie Leach was born and played Minor hockey back in my hometown The rifle fired his first 500 here Slapped his way into the NHL

We, the undersigned put forth his name whereas some of us weren't always fair to the native kid on borrowed skates chippy ghoulies and ukrainians In the corners with our elbows out We, the undersigned, put forth his name Whereas Reggie on a playoff run Could make a dad go buy the new TV And put his youngest by the window To play the split antenna in her tiny hair

The undersigned put forth his name Whereas photos from the old tribune Reggie smiling with the Stanley Cup Curled their corners Dropped off bedroom walls Left a square of where they used to be Me, the undersigned Put forth his name

To the hockey hall of fame Me, the undersigned Put forth his name To the hockey hall of fame John K. Sampson. Let me try this, okay? John K. Sampson. Let me try this, okay? www.ipetitions.com slash petition slash Riverton

Riverton Rifle. Slash. Slash. That's the name of the song. John is a national treasure. People would know him as the lead singer of the Weaker Thans.

He was in Propagandhi before that uh propaganda um and a solo career uh john k samson in the winter wheat now just um one of those my favorite writers just again takes you to a place um writes about stories and characters and places that maybe aren't that well known maybe or a bit a bit in the shadows, maybe, you know, the undertold stories are, um, the interesting ones, you know, for the most part writes a lot of, he's from Winnipeg, writes a lot about Manitoba, um, just lots of interesting people in places. And this particular one, that was a song he wrote as a petition to try to get Reggie Leach to be nominated or inducted

into the hockey hall of fame. Uh, and he got all really interesting. I'll try to make it short here, but he, the whole, so the whole idea of a song, the song was the petition. So the lyrics all kind of spell out, you know, here are the reasons why. He hired a stats guy to compile a stats book to go, okay, here's Reggie's stats. Here are comparables.

And he got all these nice images together and his impact on the game, not only in the NHL, all the goals he scored, the cups he won, but his impact away from the game and helping First Nations kids kind of learn how to play and skate. So all this kind of thing, which is what the Hall is supposed to be about, your total contribution to the game, and he compiled this package, so to speak, and the end game on it was basically this thing. And we ended up,

he had called me and asked me if we could film it and do a short film out of it, which we ended up doing. And so we were going to march over to the hall of fame and he assembled a bunch of friends. So we met at the CBC and they rehearsed the song a couple of times. And then we walked over about the six or seven blocks to the hockey hall of fame, sat on the front or stood on the front steps outside of it. And him and about 12 people sang the song, and then walked in and presented the package to the lady at the front of the Hall of Fame, and there were some security guards wondering,

who are these people? It was very peaceful and very lovely, and that, in his mind, was the end of the song, and he hasn't played it since. It was like that song was for this moment in time, and it's such a John thing to do like just just a really beautiful way of um you know telling these stories of people you know Reggie's obviously well known but there's all these other stories uh that he writes about

and things and someone said once that you know there's a novel in every line that he writes and it's so true it just takes you you know you places again. I guess that's the recurring theme for me is it just, uh, you listen to these things and you get lost on them and the countries of images in your mind. And for someone like me that kind of does that makes films and videos like that for a living, it's, uh, you know, it's just wonderful to be able to immerse yourself in this kind of stuff. And, uh, yeah, just, uh, what a treasure he is. And, um, yeah. And I love the fact that the name of the song is the URL where you can access the petition.

Which reminds me really quickly that in the last episode with Mark Weisblatt from 1236, we talked about there's a current top 10 single right now on the Billboard Hot 100 where the name of the song is the suicide prevention hot Hotline number 1-800 and I was thinking this is almost the same thing yeah it's a similar concept

I guess it's the idea of the power of music too if you come back to the 60s and stuff and what Dylan and Phil Oakes and Harry Chapin were doing and the protest songs and protest songs can be about big monumental society events or they can be more localized things,

but it's someone basically standing up with a voice saying, you know, I don't think this is right or I think this should happen or, you know, standing up for maybe people who can't do it for themselves. Reggie Leach should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Yeah, things that mean something to you. And that's, I guess, you know, one aspect of the power of music. And if you have a voice, you should use it. And, you know, that's the power of music. And if you have a voice, you should use it. And, you know, that's the power of music.

I enjoy that. In fact, there's no natural place to fade down that song. And it's so darn short. You're best to just play it and then talk about it. And if you go find the lyrics, like he's such a brilliant, his website has all his lyrics. And just to read through them, I know just, you know, it's just incredibly, incredibly beautiful.

Awesome. Let's kick out another jam. Give it up! We are ready to get some machines from Los Angeles, California. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! The movie ran through me, the glamour so to me The tabloid untied me, I'm empty, refill me

Mr. Rancor assured me that bad gas is purring That poison is so soothing, that cunning vines are uncanny I need you, my witness, to dress this up so blacklist To melt me and purge now A thought so plain to you Yes, the car is Our wheelchair My witness No cost, man

All these diamonds Must've laid list We travel now We're crossing door No corner And sure we see that We've found your weakness And it's right outside your door

Now, get the fuck Rage Against the Machine, Testify, live at Finsbury Park in London. Yeah. My God, I guess to continue that line of social protest or political protest, sometimes you need to really get loud to make your voice being heard. That song

was always one that especially this day and age makes people want to stand up and scream and yell and get the truth and, you know, here we go. Yeah, what a band. We need them back, I think. Now more than ever. And, you know, songs they wrote 20, 15, 20 years ago apply just as equally now as they ever did. Just giving a voice to social equality and political awareness. You know, when Zach Dallarocha sings these lyrics, if you watch the video for this, you can just see in his eyes, he means every single syllable, every single word.

And it's just like, it's not just a concert for him. This is a life. And just, yeah, I remember seeing them. I got to see them at Maple Leaf Gardens with my brother on the Battle of Los Angeles tour. And we had gold seats about 20 feet from the stage, about five rows up. And I've never seen a Losh pit. This is a really good part. You should hear this.

Mine is from George Orwell yeah I've never seen a pit more insane in my life and we had a great view where we were away from it a bit but you could see it it was just like a sea

of people jumping up and down together as one I can only imagine because when I would go to the Phoenix for example like for Strange Paradise

and Killing in the Name of would come on I remember the mosh pits at the Phoenix like back in like the early 90s was just, that was intense. I can't imagine. I was supposed to see Rage with Beastie Boys and they canceled the concert

because of an injury to one of the Beastie Boys. I never did get to see Rage Against the Machine. Well, I hope they came back. Well, this particular show, the quick story was, there was someone in the UK that was upset with that Simon Cowell's

X Factor song was always becoming the number one song at Christmas for like five years in a row so they started they sat there

these two people one day had this grassroots campaign and said enough of this shit so they basically built up this campaign

to the point that Killing in the Name was the number one song about Christmas and this was 2010 2009 it must have been because this concert was 2010 so that I remember have been because this concert was 2010.

So that, what a better Christmas song than that, you know. How incredible, they just, I guess it shows you the power that,

you know, two people can topple a, you know, a big corporate, you know, thing like that to get this voice heard and Rage made good

on their promise and went and played this free show which is what this is from and just, if you watch it, like, my God, the video, it's 67,000 people.age made good on their promise and went and played this free show which is what this is from and just if you watch it like my god the video just it's and it's on their official YouTube so go to the official Rage Against the Machine Vivo

yeah you can get the whole show on iTunes I think and then but on their particular version just it's worth it just to see the crowd and them and just like energy and again the power of music on the opposite side of like you know just a voice and a guitar this is like a full-on cry for you know helping people and standing up for people

and having your voice heard and uh on a side note they came to do an interview in toronto once and chart magazine interviewed them but they didn't have the person that had the chops to do it so they asked ron hawkins if he would do it so he got to interview rage against the machine for chart magazine so awesome um anyway so that's great now now let's change the pace a little bit they asked Ron Hawkins if he would do it. So he got to interview Rage Against the Machine for Chart Magazine. Awesome. Anyway, so. That's great. Now let's change the pace a little bit. Yeah.

Kick out another jam. La la la la la la Dance me to your beauty With a burning violin Dance me through the panic Till I'm gathered safely in Lift me like an olive branch Be my homework dove And dance me To the end of love Dance me

To the end of love Let me see you Dance me to the end of love from his live in london album let me feel your moving like they do those words uh yeah one of my all-time all-time favorites uh just a brilliant brilliant writer musician poet musician, poet, human being. A staple of our, you know, growing up that I used to listen to with my family. And I got to see him play twice live. And the last time he was here in Toronto, I took my parents and we had third row at the ACC.

It was a three-hour show. Just absolutely what a force of nature he was I guess it is and always will be and that song a couple things again hard to choose one but that song always sounds like Montreal to me uh there's something about it that just does that I got to use it in a Habs game against Boston in the hockey night days and that was really a real thrill um and just going to Montreal my dad is from there so so I go, you know, I like to go there a lot. There's an energy about that city that you just,

you can feel it, whether it's the winter or the summer with all the festivals going on. Just walking around, there's some energy about that place that I just love. And I was back there this past February to do a story on Tessa Virtue and Scott Moyer, the figure skaters, ice dancers. And I just went early and wanted to walk around the city a bit. And I had never seen his house.

And when he passed away, there was this great memorial set up, and it was up in the plateau off Saint Laurent Street. And I was staying in old Montreal. And in February, uncharacteristically, it became 18 degrees and sunny out. So I took that as a sign and left my hotel and walked up to Saint Laurent and found his house and these haunts where he would go have his coffee and where he would go have dinner and this little parkette across the street parked the Portugal as the street above next to it no kidding his name Rue Marianne and someone had put like a so long and then Marianne

and Leonard at the bottom of it and there were some flowers and notes in the door of the home where he lived and again one thing about him him was he was from a family of wealth, but he never really lived that kind of opulent life. Even as a kid, he would go into the underbelly of the seedy clubs of Montreal and just people watch and see what was going on to these poets, hear these poets speak and musicians play. He was interested in that and people and community and that's I guess another underlying theme of all these people that I love is that

they have this thing where they want to write about you know where they live and the people they see and the interesting stories around them and so yeah I wanted to tie that into Tess and Scott's piece because they had moved to Montreal on their comeback in the lead-up to the Olympics and going up to his house really inspired it and I ended up licensing that song for the piece and we did this really nice interview with Tess and Scott at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts where they talked about being athletes and also artists and just weave this whole thing together and I found all these clips from Leonard over the years, various states of him talking about his creative process. And it was very much similar to Tess and Scott's. And so I ended up using Leonard in through the whole piece

and then this song in the middle of it. And yeah, it was just really cool. It was just, I don't know, it just all seemed to really, really work. And it was just a nice way to get, you know, the spirit of Montreal, I guess, into that and to pay homage to Leonard. And, yeah, someone I'm grateful to have the opportunity to experience

and always will, you know. With your last two jams, we've kicked out Rage and Leonard Cohen here. You've been very specific with this specific live version, both of them. So I'm just curious, like when you pointed me to, I want the version from live in London, is there any particular reason why that's the one you want, or just a personal preference? Yeah, preference is the studio version, which is beautiful,

and there's something, I guess this was from 2010-ish, 10, 11 maybe, and something, as he got on, his voice got a bit deeper and a little more, I don't know what it is. There's something beautiful about that recording that I just really, really like a lot. Just how it sounds. The band he had, it was flawless and incredible.

And just, yeah, I don't know, something in the spirit of it. Thanks so much. In both, I guess, in the Rage one and that, I listen to a ton of live music and really get off on that kind of stuff. So when you hear versions of songs that really stand out, you know, maybe in six months it'll be the studio version.

But, you know, right now, like, that's the one that's doing it. And again, really, really hard to choose one of his songs. But, you know, that one certainly takes you places. That sounded great. And like you said, in the headphones especially. This is a treat. I think I said this on a previous episode. I'm going to start listening to more of my music

in the outer headphones like this. It's something about it. Yeah, it's a different experience for sure. Now we've kicked out eight jams. You've got two more to go. And six of the eight are Canadian. Which is awesome. Now I'm going to cross my fingers and see if we can go eight for ten because 80%

would be amazing. But let's hear your ninth jam. All right. their tragic one I saw your ghost in Kensington The sly sentry of the alleyway A wounded soldier from the bad old days

And it took me somewhere I haven't been for years and years Old appetites like souvenirs I turned around, you disappeared Into a stream Ste steeped in silence By the sweet peace and quiet The lights never go down Ron Hawkins, Peace and Quiet. The lights never go down The lights are shooting stars in Channel Town

Another Roman But you know, you've taken this from Ron Because now I hear it And it's on my iPod It's on my phone all the time Ever since you introduced me to it Through your montage But now when I hear this song

I see Maple Leafs. I see my Maple Leafs. Yeah, it certainly seems to have embedded itself in the folklore. And, you know, that's, I guess, the beauty of music too. As we touched on a bit earlier, like writing that song is about Ron's love of Kensington Market and about a friend of his who passed away. But it also perfectly tells the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs and you know I guess that comes

down to the you know the genius of a writer and why I love all these you know lyricists and songwriters is that they have this ability to write these songs with so many layers to them that can mean something to each individual person who hears it and it takes you to somewhere in your life a person a place and experience a time or something you can just get lost in and um you know that it applies to that really tickles me like it's getting kids have friends who like five-year-olds are like play peace and quiet play peace and quiet uh because of that video and that's really sweet and just really uh you know

ron writes about community and and you know you can take something on a local scale but apply it universally and the opposite as well. And I think that's the beauty of someone like him that can do that. And I remember the first time I ever heard this song was 2007 at the Rivoli. He was doing a show. It was just him and his acoustic guitar. And it was a Friday night. And I was filming for my film Born To It at the time.

And it was sold Friday night and I was filming for my film Born to It at the time and it was sold out beyond belief there were people like literally sitting on the stage because there wasn't any room and I was at this incredible luxury of filming from the side of the stage I'm sitting on a monitor filming and so it was basically in front of me was Ron and his guitar and then to the right was this packed packed packed packed room and he launched in the final song of the set. Now this is one o'clock on a Friday night of a packed, drunk room. And he launched into this song called Peace and Quiet.

And the place, it was pin drop quiet. And it was just had the command of, everyone was just transfixed by this. And that was the moment when I was filming that, you know, being an independent artist or musician is a really hard, difficult thing. And it's not easy to sustain over a couple of years, let alone a career or a lifetime. And so the whole idea of that film was trying to understand, you know, what keeps people going? Like, what is it that,

you know, allows you to do this for a living? And it kicked into me at that exact moment when he launched into this song and you can see the reaction and just the hair standing up on everyone's arms is just like, this is why they do it. You know, this is the moment, you know, that connection where everyone's on the same wavelength and just immersed into this beautiful song and this voice that soars. And so from that moment on, like that song, I knew one day I had to try to do something with it. And serendipitously, it just came up with the Leafs a couple years ago. And so, so yeah it's really amazing I think and again shows you the power of music and the power of a you know a

genius songwriter it's a gorgeous song too and you know the dude right now the new low record is stunning and beautiful and it's just a testament to someone that I think he's 16 records into a career now that you know is vital and urgent as the first record was it's the same on the 16th and the same on the 9th and the 13th it's real and it's honest and you know it's takes you it takes you I keep saying that but it does it just gets you through things and it you know shines light on characters and people and places that that your life is comprised of and that's not an easy thing to do. So when you do it in respect for something like this,

it's, you know, again, I keep going back to the idea of grateful too. Just, yeah. Well said, man. Just this idea, yeah. And we're now seven for nine with Canadianity. It's low for me. I'm usually like 109. Not weirdly just going, oh, I need to listen to that.

It's just the stuff that resonates the most with me. Right, especially if you want to hear stories that you can relate to. Well, you're Canadian, of course. Canadian storytellers like Neil Young and Leonard Cohen and Ron Hawkins are going to resonate with you. Take those and they become universal as well. So yeah, there's a great history in this country too

and a great thing going on here. It often gets slagged as kind of a boring history or whatever, but there's not. It's just you need to look for those stories and those people and those places and it's all there. And there's thankfully people cataloging and writing about that. There's one band in particular who has always brought these

Canadian stories to light in their music. And let's say no more. Let's listen to your last jam. I had this dream where I relished the fray And the screaming filled my head all day It was as though I'd been spit here Settled in, into the pocket Of a lighthouse on some rocky socket

Off the coast of France, dear An afternoon for a thousand men Tied in the water, here And five hundred more Are crashing madly As parasites Mine In your blood

Now I was in a light boat To sign for ten Ten only And if then Now it's in a light bulb Designed for a ten Ten only Anything That's systematic Would get you hated It's not a deal Nor a test

Nor a love Or something Hated Yeah The selection was quick The clue was picked In order And those left in the water

The kid of a pamphlet And we had it for home The tragically hip Nautical disaster That was, uh, I feel wrong to talk about it. We don't have to, man. We could talk after.

Okay. Most days and nights When only a fool would complain Anyway Susan If you like A conversation Say no sound In my memory A conversation Just faint a sound

In my memory As those fingernails Scratch out of my heart We'll be you next time. guitar solo I have this thing where when I listen to music, films go off in my head and all these things happen, and that one just never fails to just have those really intense uh moments and uh i guess that was a really tricky or difficult decision to choose a song and that one i guess always i had this conversation the other day with someone it's like if you had one song to play to someone about any band that you know you had one song to hook them or this is what this band is.

And, you know, for someone with a long career, that's really maybe an absurd thing to try. But I always thought this song, it was like, it's, you know, it's not really the bluesy rock that they started with. And they certainly went in a lot of different directions and experimental. But there was something about this song

that was just, it's kind of strange in its composition, beautifully strange. Like there's no verse, chorus chorus verse chorus uh structure to it it's just this thing that starts and the music rises and falls and swells and crashes and then this beautiful poem gets unraveled by gourd throughout it and it can mean lots of things to lots of people people talk about the sinking of the bismarck and you know a a war battle. Um, also the metaphor for, you know, a relationship that's over, um, and just anything that kind of hits you in your life. And, uh, that's a battle. Um, and I guess that's many ways that the genius of Gordon, it's really hard to talk about, but like that, you know, speaking of like Guns N' Roses being

a band that got me when I was 13 or something, but it wasn't even, you know, this, my connection to this band was like a million times more. Like it was just something that everything about it just made sense to me and I got it. And musically and lyrically and his voice is just something that it feels so, you know, a lot like home or something like that was just very comforting, comforting. And I remember seeing them for the first time live and just thought this was the greatest thing i'd ever seen it's like there was at molson park and barry on a roadside attraction there's 36 000 people there and here's these songs rocking out by this incredible band and this mad poet that's essentially singing history lessons to us or you know rants uh the stuff he used to do in songs and or his

does in songs and works out i had a job before this yeah from killer whale tank to the nuclear submarine to the double suicide to you know you would go to song or shows and you would hear uh snippets of what would become the next record in lines from uh songs that he was working on it was just it was like a workout thing that he could do you know at the end of songs in in middle songs to kind of try out some new material or whatever was on his mind at the time. I remember just at one point, like, at the end of Grace 2, like, he just blurted out, a Ford Taurus sure is a good car. Like, just all these incredibly, like, things that,

I remember, like, Aretha Franklin, what's she doing here? Like, seven grizzled veterans in a lifeboat at sea in Aretha Franklin. Just, like, amazing. And, oh, man, it's just, I don't know. It's really just, you know, in many ways the soundtrack, if I had to choose Desert Island Discs, it would be that. And yeah, what do you say? It's just genius.

The rare times you meet somebody who says something like, oh, the hip are overrated or I don't get it or whatever. I always think to myself, it's better for us if you don't understand. That's what I tell myself. Well, there's so much to it. And Gord's solo stuff is so beautiful. And there's more to come. And just meeting him, getting to know him, he's such an incredibly beautiful soul.

And just gives you so much energy. And he's just such a lovely, interesting guy. Again, who writes about community and about people and places and about this country. the story is not often told maybe some that are in the shadows and stuff and yeah again grateful to you know have that to listen to it always will be i enjoyed the shit out of this man i'm just telling you those 10 jams but hearing you tell me because you mentioned you know you see the images with the music and i think that's your gift and having you tell me, because you mentioned, you know, you see the images with the music, and I think that's your gift. And having you tell me why these 10 jams matter to you, fantastic experience for me. So thank you very much for doing this.

Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. That was fun. I hope, yeah, there's a hundred of these things. But we'll have to come back for a sequel. Yeah. And that brings us to the end of our 267th show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. Tim is at Boundless. But that O is a zero. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. And propertyinthesix.com is at Brian Gerstein. See you all next week. Rosie and Grace Yeah the wind is cold But the snow Warns me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine

And it won't go away Cause everything is Rosie and Grace