Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Tim Thompson: Toronto Mike'd #197

Episode Date: October 11, 2016

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 Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, his Olympics montages and his friendship with Eric Lindros.

Welcome to episode 197 of Toronto Mic'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 Chef's Plate, delivering delicious and locally sourced farm fresh ingredients in refrigerated kits directly to your door. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me this week is filmmaker and sports montage master that's right, that's the title I've given you

Tim Thompson. Welcome. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the title. I have been a huge fan of your work for like so many years, so it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Oh, thank you very much. Yeah, it's great to meet you. I've listened to lots of these. Have you? Well, we'll get into that for sure. But I got to say, like, and I had Down Goose Brown. So you know Down Goose Brown? Yeah, never met him, but yeah, for sure. We've talked on email and stuff.

Yeah, so I had him on and i think in that episode he did by phone he's actually the last guest i did by phone and it went well and i enjoyed it but i realized afterwards that if i'm gonna do this i need to stare into the eyes of my see the eyes yes it's very important yeah so i can when i i know when there's i know when to go for the jugular i'm just kidding i'm not going no but uh i very important, no. But during that chat, I'm like, we were talking about your work. Like we were,

our age group and us Leaf fans especially, but not just Leaf fans, but we're going to go into everything you've done and when people hear what you've done, they're going to be like,

that's the guy because you are, you are the sports montage master. Oh, thank you. Are you a baseball fan? Yeah, I was as a kid, very much so. I used to go a lot to games. I don't know what for whatever reason

I haven't gone to. I usually go to maybe one a year now, so not as diehard as I used to be, obviously. But no, still, obviously right now the city's enraptured. Are you watching? Gently? You're waiting for the World Series? you know, obviously right now the city's enraptured. So are you, are you watching? Are you, um,

sort of. Gently? Yeah, gently. Are you, you're waiting for the World Series and then you'll jump on? No, um,

I pay attention to it. So I have a very, very busy right now. So that's kind of my main excuse, but, uh, lots of other stuff going on, but obviously catch the highlights

and stuff. I, uh, I'm watching, like I'm clinging to every pitch right now. This has been, uh,

this has been crazy. So, uh, I just, the third game against, like, I'm clinging to every pitch right now. This has been crazy. So I just, the third game against Texas, the way we won. So that game, it was 6-6, I think. And just the way we walked it off in the 10th with, I guess you'd call it like a walk-off error, I guess. But Odor with the throwing error and then hustle play by Donaldson going home. I didn't realize he was running the whole time because I'm watching the double play.

They turn two, the inning ends, and I'm focused on that. And then I see the reaction of the first baseman that Donaldson's going for it. And I'm just like, Donaldson's fucking going for it. And it's just, you just watch and then you see him called safe

and then you're just hoping they don't reverse it on some bullshit uh sliding we've had our heart broken many times in this city so yeah okay can you imagine though i because you've probably seen the replays let's say so we walk it off the dome's going us there's like 50 000 in there everyone's going nuts this is over imagine if uh i don't know where it is new york or whatever but if the head office says the slide, Edwin's slide at second is illegal, so interference, double play, going to the top of the 11th.

What happens in that dome? Good Lord. That's a loaded question these days, but hopefully just a lot of screaming and yelling and no throwing of objects. You don't mean at all, right? Thank God we didn't have to face that, you know? Because the top of the inning, the top of the seventh in game five uh so before joey bats was that the seventh yeah before joey bats uh flips the bat the dome was going nuts on that

that when russell martin hits odour hits the bat and then odour goes home later i was just thinking like as they were the umpires making his call that it was all good and it's over and I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I'm thinking you can't like, how do you tell the fans and the players that oh by the way, we're going to keep playing because of some technicality like I just, anyways, luckily we'll never know. Right, yeah.

Chalk it up to that I suppose and you know, go through, run through the what if scenarios and I guess things like this and you can go from there, but yeah, hopefully Toronto's come to its senses in terms of kind of throwing. Okay. See if they're on things.

Well, let's talk about that really quickly. Cause I, I meant to talk about this last episode, but I, I was cramming a two and a half hours worth of like media updates into a 90 minute episode and it didn't quite work. So real quick,

uh, right after the beer can was tossed, this is a game, the wild card game, right? Beer cans tossed, I think in the seventh inning and then I tweeted a picture of the Amish-looking guy

from Kansas City who interfered with the home run ball. From last year. Right. And I tweeted a picture of him and I went, this is the beer can tosser, okay? Very funny.

Is that funny? I think it was funny. No one's taking that, you know, take it for what it is the beer can tosser. Okay. Very funny. Is that funny? I think it was funny. No one's taking that, you know, take it for what it is for sure. Yeah. So, you know, the Jays fans, most of them seem to get it, but it catches, it goes out of my sphere of influence. So it gets retweeted. So it gets picked up by like casual new Jays fans and Baltimore fans. The Baltimore fans think that's really the guy. They don't seem to know this Amish looking mask from KC.

So they're all like, oh, it figures it would be a neck beard or oh yeah, look, what an ass. They're going on like that. And then a lot of new Jays fans didn't seem to connect them and they thought I had identified the culprit. So fast forward like a couple of days or whatever

and the police put out a picture of the guy they're looking for, I start getting tweets that I have, I've misidentified the beer can tosser and the cops are looking for somebody who looks completely different. And I'm thinking like, I didn't even know how to reply.

Like my joke went bad on me. Like anyways, this happens. Comedian's life, I think, they're always hoping that that doesn't happen. When you do, you're never prepared, I don't think. But yeah, that's... Anyway, a lot of people wrote me to say I called out the wrong guy

and it was a joke on bad. But I still think it was funny. I still stand by the joke. That thing spiraled way out of control, I think. It was a stupid thing spiraled way out of control, I think. And, you know, it was a stupid thing to do,

obviously, and no one should do that. But, you know, people were calling for, you know, bloody murder almost and stuff. And it harkened back to when I played junior B.

I remember trainers of ours getting hit by batteries and golf balls being thrown at us and stuff. And a friend of mine played in the Quebec league for a bit and they were up north playing, I think in Rwanda or something. And someone got hit with a full bottle of beer as they were going in on a penalty shot. And so, yeah. Not to condone this. No, but that's, I mean, I was thinking the same thing. That they were going to, wanted to vote in Parliament.

They were going to open a vote whether we bring back capital punishment in this country. Because, you know, this guy threw the can of beer. But got way out of control. i think we're past it now but i had to share my my amish looking guy story but uh all right speaking of beer though so that was a originally by the way the very first time i saw the replay i thought it was a red bull the label looked like red bull to me and it's a red bull and then of course you can see and clearly it's a bud light but uh was it oh because so i was went to this uh the real statics to the thing at strombo's house the other night and martin um suggested that it was an old

milwaukee no he was he was yeah maybe they're similar cans it was definitely uh they still sell that at the skydome i i don't know where that sentence had so much in it though uh real statics at strombo's, and you were there? Yeah. So when Strombo has, because that's cool. I followed Dave Bedini on Twitter. And I mean, when these cool acts come to Strombo's house, do you get invited to take video?

Is that the video guy? No, just go. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I've known him for a long time. And Colton, his producer, and Darby, and a bunch of people that work on it. And so, yeah, kind of everyone's from this industry. That's awesome.

So to speak. And, yeah, he lives near me. So, yeah, he's doing these really cool things in his home now. And it's kind of harkening back to the old Much Music days when they used to roll up the windows and do, like, intimate and interactive. Or when bands would show up and you could just go there. And, yeah, so he's doing that on a smaller scale in his home. And, yeah, it's interesting and cool. I'm jealous right now.

It's actually, they've made a, Great Lakes has made a strombo show beer, which they provide on. Great Lakes? Big tubs of beer. Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. And they have a barbecue put out and they make food and people beer and water and stuff. And then the show happens.

And, yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, I noticed they make food and people beer and water and stuff and then the show happens and yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, I noticed they make beers like they made a Norm beer for Norm Kelly. And they make these special off beers. So they have, I gotta get my hands on a Strombo beer. Strombo show beer. So there's no Strombo show beer there but there is a

variety pack so you have everything from the you have the let me see. Canuck Pale Ale, obviously. And there should be like a... Oh, the pumpkin. Beautiful. I'm a monstrous pumpkin fan. Hey, I can score you another one

knowing that. So Pompous Ass, because I heard you were a pompous ass. That's the top secret. You have to drink that to find out what that is. Kind you go. Get while you... The Canuck and... What else we got there? Limp Puppet. Oh, I haven't had that.

Session IPA. Oh, cool. That's the beauty of that place. You can go there and get all these different kinds all the time. Great, guys. Like, I had no idea about the Strombo Show beer, but I'm going to talk to my buddy there and see if he can score me one. I need to know.

But more importantly, let Strombo know. Because Strombo's been here. I've met Strombo, but just let him know, hey, this Mike guy is such a cool cat. He should be at these sessions you're doing.

He would love to bike over and be there when the real statics play and his house. Cool. Yeah, it's very, it's a beautiful home, but once the band

gets set up and everything, it's very crowded, so it's almost people hanging off the rafters in a way, and it's got a cool courtyard out front. That's actually where the Rio is.

Is Jim Richards always hanging out? I just picture him kind of in the area. Possibly. Lots of interesting... Adam Van Couverden was there the other night. Oh, yeah. All sorts of musicians from around town. And yeah, it's just a really cool thing that he's doing.

And hopefully it continues. Yeah. And I always, whenever I hear, like I said, these are often really cool acts, like indie acts or cool acts, like real statics, and I'm always like, that's a good idea. Like, I sort of, on a much smaller scale, like I invite people, like I invite at Boundless, Tim Thompson down here, or Maestro Fresh West, I'm pointing to my 12-inch single he signed, or whatever, and they're in my basement,

but I think that what Stromble is doing is like on another level. That's a very cool thing he's doing. Yeah, yeah, really nice. And that's, you know, I think it's good for him is doing is like on another level. That's a very cool thing he's doing. Yeah, yeah, really nice. And that's, you know, I think it's good for him. He's had a tough year. Yeah, yeah. And recently the awful thing that happened in L.A. in his home. But, yeah, no, he's a really amazing guy and fighting the good fight.

So it's nice to see him, you know, back with music and stuff. And, yeah. I saw he was back in town because Jim Richards tweeted a picture. was back in town because, uh, Jim Richards tweeted a picture. I think it was Jim. Yeah. Jim Richards tweeted a picture, uh, from game five and I came five game three there when we clinched it against, uh, Texas and, uh, I saw Strombo in the background. So he's back, uh, as you know. So, okay. Speak. So that's, uh, that's your, uh, beer. You're taking that home. Great Lakes beer. Also, you know,

I gotta give you some booze, but I'm also going to give you some food. So this is very cool. So Chef's Plate and Chef's Plate is at chefsplate.com. They're going to give you a couple of free meals. So they literally, they're in refrigerated boxes, like and it gets shipped to your house or wherever you want. Ship it to your office, whatever. And it can last all day in these refrigerated boxes.

So you don't even have to like receive it right away. But like, it's like all the right portions and the locally sourced, you know, delicious, healthy food, but also like this really easy to follow, like cheat sheet, like how to prepare or whatever. Like, so even a dummy like you, you're going to be able to put this together.

So that's for you. That's awesome. Thank you very much. I'll give you a link and you can pick because they keep changing the menus every couple of weeks to change it up. So you can tell me your two favorites. But for everyone else, and this is an order from Toronto Mike, go to chefsplate.com and use the promo code Toronto Mike to get your first two plates for free. So you can save $22 by doing that. So give it a try. You'll see for yourself how easy it is.

And it goes really well with the Great Lakes beer. So you're all set. It's perfect. It was worth the drive, right? Thanksgiving continues. That's right. And of course, everybody who wants to help crowdfund this project, go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike

and give what you can. Two bucks a month, three bucks a month, I don't care. A thousand bucks a month would be great. Do what you can. I got to catch up to Jesse Brown. So patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. All right, let's move into the convergence, I call it, the convergence of music and sport that make what you do so unique. So tell me about like growing up, huge hockey and music influences that sort of shaped how you become the montage man. Yeah, I guess looking back, it seems like these roads were inevitably going to collide in my life. And I grew up in a family that had a huge love and respect of music. Always had my dad as a massive vinyl collection and parents always making mixtapes and stuff for

car rides and lots of leonard cohen lots of gordon lightfoot my dad is a ton of elvis so lots of elvis um all sorts of things harry chapin was a big one um very, live music oriented as well. Lots of concerts. We used to go to the, exposed us to a lot of, uh, uh, big shows and small shows. In fact, I think the first show I was talking about this the other day with someone that I ever saw live was at Exhibition Stadium and it was the Jackson 5 reunion tour. I think it was called the Victory Tour. Yeah.

My mom was at that show. When it was pouring rain and we sat, it was amazing. And like, what a, you know was at that show. When it was pouring rain and we sat, it was amazing. And like, what a spectacle that was. And to see that as a young kid was quite something. So yeah, I just grew up with this huge love of music. And obviously the other side, hockey was a huge thing for me as a kid. I was obsessed by it very early. Started skating at like two and played, I guess, house league from when you could start. And then as I got older, it became something that I guess I got quite good at and played double A and triple A.

Got so far as to get drafted into the OHL. Went and played there for two years. Didn't get drafted into the NHL, so went to school. Ended up playing in Guelph for four years. Won a championship and played some pro after that down in the late great Western Professional Hockey League. But at the same time, this other road, this music thing was always there, whether it was at home with tapes and concerts and all sorts of things.

And I guess in my teen years in high school and stuff, my brother, who's two years younger, became a drummer in a rock band called Nosferatu. So I got this early indoctrination into places like Sneaky D's and like great places like the Marquee and the Opera House where they played uh and these shows and I was kind of the design I was a bit older so I could drive so I was the designated uh drum carrier slash roadie slash what have you and he was very much ingrained in the Canadian music scene. So he had, like everyone in my family, lots of CDs and music and stuff. And he really got me into this whole Canadian music thing.

Learned about the Tragically Hip and Lowest of the Low and Hayden and all this great music coming out of this country and this city, a lot of in Toronto. And yeah, just these two worlds kind of collide. But I was so immersed in the hockey world that that's kind of who you are and what you do music is kind of an outlet that you listen to before games or after games and stuff but um it was just uh something that they were always kind of parallel worlds and then when i i played a year of uh pro in as i said the western pro league and i signed in tupelo mississippi by happenstance, that's the place where Elvis was born. That's the birthplace of Elvis, yes. It is.

And I always had this curiosity when I did play is when you would go on the road to go find, not just go to the mall or sleep in the hotel, but go find museums or go find local things that were interesting to where you were. And earlier on, that was relegated to Ontario and stuff, playing OHL in university. But when I got down there,

it was really cool to go to the birthplace of the home where Elvis, you know, spent his early years. And it's been turned into a museum and it's this tiny little three-room home and there's a little museum they built off of it. But you go in and, you know, it takes about 30 seconds to walk through. Sure.

Hey, but I got to take you back quickly because I cannot let this pass. But when you were at Guelph and you won a national championship, right? Is that right? We did, yeah. And you were the last team to skate with a trophy, sort of off the old Maple Leaf Gardens ice, right? Yeah.

They used to have what was called the nationals there every year in Toronto. And you would play the semifinal at varsity, and the final was at the gardens. And my first year at Guelph, we made it to the final game and we ended up losing um unfortunately uh but my third year we got back again and we were able to win uh against New Brunswick and yeah won the national title and what turned out to be the last year they did that right at Maple Leaf Gardens and it got moved on to the where they roamed around the country to different locations and then obviously the gardens shut down so oh yeah that's cool one of the nice little um things facts i guess in my career is yeah we

were the last team to skate a trophy off that ice so um do you remember your uh your at guelph do you remember your goaltenders yeah there was lots uh a few over here uh george dorian was the first when i was there he we had really really good teams there so it was almost like a glorified ohl team in many ways a lot of guys who didn't go on to pro or maybe did and then got out but uh and then i guess the year of that was matt mullen and a guy named mark gowan right i remember these guys so this mark gowan cat was he any good mark gowan was yeah He played for the Belleville Bulls. We had a lot of Belleville Bulls on our team,

specifically those couple years. And yeah, he was amazing. Him and Matt Mullen were two, and they were wonderful, amazing goalies. Mullen was all right. That guy was all right. But this Gowan cat, he was, I would say, exceptional. It's unbelievable he was never drafted in the NHL.

Yes, we called him Larry. That was his name. Is that right, Larry Gowan? The first time I ever met him. He's a strange animal? Well, yeah. First time I ever met him, I guess his first year was my third, and I was an assistant captain.

We always do these kind of ridiculous pictures, like photo shoots for the poster that they would use on the cover of the program and for different games. One year it was on horses and stuff. And that year they brought in a smoke machine into the arena and the four three or the captain of three assistants and the goalie uh who's this new guy mark uh were to meet at like 7 a.m during frosh week at the arena and we got there and it was all kind of set up with the lights and the smoke machine and we were all there and we were having new goalies this year who turned out to be Matt and Mark.

And so Mark was, I guess, chosen as the one to be in this picture. And no one knew who he was and no one could find him because training camp hadn't started and no one had met him. And it was, I'll preface again, it was frosh week at 7 a.m. So everyone kept looking and spanning around the arena and opened a door and there was this guy passed out on the bench inside one of the dressing rooms. And woke him up and turned out to be Mark. That's great.

Did you keep in touch with Mark at all? I've seen him from time to time. Yeah, not as much as we would like, I guess. We have a big anniversary for that championship coming up. So I think some stuff's planned in Guelph in November. And it was actually on St. Patrick's Day that we won. So I think next year on St. Patrick's Day, yeah, we'll see everyone planned in Guelph in November. And it was actually on St. Patrick's Day that we won. So I think next year on St. Patrick's Day, yeah, we'll see everyone down in Guelph. I should now disclose to the listening audience that Mark Gowan is my...

Was there a reason behind that? I'm not just obsessed with this cat as a goaltender for Guelph. And you said Belleville Bulls and also Sault Ste. Marie's, I think. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, I think, is where he started. And then Belleville, yeah. But he's my first cousin. So there you go. So there you go. The great, I think. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, I think, is where he started. And then Belleville, yeah. But he's my first cousin. So there you go. So there you go.

The great Mark Gowan. That's a great story. So any more junk you got on Larry, let me know. And if it's not fit for the podcast, just tell me after. Because it'll always come in handy for sure. All right.

So I need to know how you end up doing the montages that we would always see before games on Hockey Night in Canada. Maybe I'll play one real quickly here. I picked one. You're often focused on Canadian bands, not just Canadian bands, but often. And the Strombelas, for example, recently is a... So let's start with this one here. The following is a live presentation of Hockey Night in Canada in association with the National Hockey League. I'm away, I'm away, I'm away by the fire. I'm away, I'm away, I'm away by the fire.

So this is Strombela Sailing. And of course, this is a podcast, so some of the montages will sound like songs. But there are some coming up where we actually get like, you know, Bob Cole, the Ron McClane and all that, which kind of makes it better for podcasting so i'll let this play in the background but just tell me how you ended up making these these brilliant montages for hockey night in canada i guess as i was saying when i was playing pro um i spent that year in mississippi and i got traded to new mexico and then had this crazy year and I always say it was like slap shot meets spinal tap every day something happened

that was like oh my god what the hell am I doing with my life and the NHL obviously wasn't in the cards so I went home that summer and I no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I had to move on from playing and wondered about the idea of I was always interested in film and TV and stuff and I wondered if there was something there that I could bridge with my hockey knowledge and my hockey career and my love of music. And so eventually I got a job working in a newsroom and kind of cut my teeth there and worked with, they had hired Craig Simpson, who was a sports net at the time, back when they started, to be their analyst. And I could talk his talk I guess and

they didn't have anyone that could kind of you know talk the game with him uh in the way that I could and so I kind of used my knowledge of hockey to bridge the gap that I didn't know much about tv and stuff and uh so yeah I worked with him for a while and then went to TSN the next year worked on That's Hockey 2 a show that had just started with an analyst that was just starting there named Pierre Maguire so worked with on that show with him and Darren Detition in the same kind of role because I knew a lot about hockey. And so all the meanwhile, I was kind of teaching myself in the background this idea of how you make television and then this love of kind of film I had.

And it all kind of worked together. And so I spent a year doing that. And this is leading to the NHL Network started the year after. And so I went there and I started working. And they had a ton of airtime and a little bit of money. So they had some opportunities there. So I pitched this idea of doing these documentaries, which, you know, kind of got me into that world. And the second one I did this second year, the first one was about the NHL draft. It was called Three Days in June. And it was three. It was Dan Paillet, who was a first round pick that year, Kevin Lowe,

and oh my gosh, I'm blanking on the age. Donnie Meehan. Geez, how could I forget him? So yeah, Dan Paillet, Kevin Lowe, and Don Meehan. I haven't thought about this for a long time.

And it was about, you know, the three days around the draft and what they do. And the second year, I did one on off-season training habits of three players, Eric Lindros, Gary Roberts, and Aaron Downey,

called Three Guys and a Goal. It was all about the different ways they train and stuff. And for that one, I wanted to do the soundtrack because I was really getting high on this idea of music and combining this with the sport. And I had gone to see Gore Downey and his band, The Country of Miracles, play at the Mariposa Folk Festival

in Orillia on my way to the cottage. And I was trying to, you know, we were starting the idea of this show and it was starting to get edited together. And I'm like, what does this sound like to me? And it sounded a lot like Gord's record he had just put out called The Battle of the Nudes. And I look over as I'm watching one of the opening bands and Dale Morningstar, who was the guitar player in that band,

uh, was next to me. So I'm like, Oh, this is fate. So I didn't know Dale and just kind of tapped him on the shoulder and introduced myself and said who I was and what I was doing. And I,

you know, your band, the dinner's ruined sounded like what I was doing. And I'm like, do you ever do soundtracks and that kind of thing? And he was like, Oh my gosh, yeah,

that'd be great. So one thing led to another and got a soundtrack done by the dinner is ruined for this thing and it was the first thing that started off this love of that and somehow ron mclean had seen it um i guess he had seen it on the nhl network that's how he saw it and uh don cherry and they both really took a shining to it and really you know it caught them and it meant something to them and i was out with a friend of mine at the madison bar um up in the annex here in toronto with a friend of mine at the Madison bar up in the annex here in Toronto with a friend of mine and he knew this guy named Shirely Najak who was the senior producer at Hockey Night at the time so we just started chatting and he said oh my gosh yeah Ron and

Don really love that and just started this connection with him and he's like keep in touch and you know we'll see you down the road and this would have been 2003 and so about four or five years later he called in the summer and said hey we have uh we're trying to do this new thing there and we need some more people and we really like you know the stuff you've been doing would you think about coming over to hockey night and uh so yeah one thing led to another did a three-month contract and then really started into this uh idea of music and hockey and they had done uh at hockey night musicals before they always had the chance may never come again and all these things like the closing and you remember that as a kid watching

that at the end of the playoffs every year and they would do these montages and some music uh from time to time and so yeah just started doing those there after um beginning there and just really uh built it up into something you know I think as I saw in my head, these things were long, they used to be about 45 seconds to a minute and just really wanted to make an impression on that and just make them longer and into these short little films, I guess, that combine these two things. So that's kind of the long backstory of how I got there

and they started going. That must have been amazing though when you're hearing praise from Ron and Don. Like to me, there's not much higher than that, right? This is the upper echelon of Canada hockey. It's pretty cool and unnerving and I had never met them before. And actually the first time I met them, the first time I met Ron was I was just starting at Hockey Night and I was doing on the side a project that ended up being a documentary on musicians called Born To It in Toronto

with five Toronto musicians. And he, I was on the road with one of them, a guy named Wayne Petty, who was the lead singer of Cuff the Duke. And they were opening up for Blue Rodeo. So I'd spent three shows, I think, on the road filming that and came back. And I knew Ron knew Jim and Greg from Blue Rodeo quite well. So I'm like, Oh, Hey Ron, my name's Tim. I'm just starting here and just been on the road with Blue R blue rodeo filming this thing and he was all interested in that and so it became this

little um like his friendship and thing we bonded over this idea of music and hockey and uh yeah so it's been great to you know forge that over the years and he was a big supporter of what i was doing and uh yeah just a wonderful guy well since you dropped the c word cuddy so since yeah since you mentioned j Cuddy, this one lends itself better to a podcast because at least you get some Ron and some Bob Cole, the greatest Bob Cole. So let's hear another one of your montages

for Hockey Night in Canada to a Jim Cuddy song called Skyscraper. The following is a live presentation of Hockey Night in Canada in association with the National Hockey League. These players are coming home. Score! That is it. Everyone knows it. Try not to show it. The city can bring you down. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to game seven. Feeling my heart where there once was a home

Look out my window Watching the sun go down On the crowds below Yonge Street, there's gonna be a lion tonight I know the struggle I liked hearing Paul Morris in there because they're changing up the PA right now. Do you remember the name of the cat who got

it uh yeah it's gonna come to me later mike something i think it'll come to me i've tweeted about it but it's been announced i think he did some sense games and stuff and i'm sure he's great but i was thinking uh i missed this guy paul i miss morris for sure it's a comforting voice right so when you hear these songs so let's say you hear Skyscraper. Hold on here. Bash and Bill. So yeah, just chills hearing all this, but in your head, do you see how it would fit the game?

Does that all come together quickly in your head? Very quickly, yeah. Like that Strombella song, Sailing, and Skyscraper's Soul. I had done two years before that went to air. That was the first home playoff game when Toronto played Boston, so the first home playoff game in a long time. Yeah, very long time.

So two years prior to that, I had done a series during the season about famous musicians and artists and actors and stuff who loved hockey, and Jim was one of them, and his solo record at the time was just coming out and so they sent it over as kind of little promos we could use it within the piece itself and second I heard that song I'm like oh my god okay the first time Toronto plays a home playoff game that's the one and like instantaneously and yeah so obviously they made the playoffs a couple years later, and that was, you know, just kind of tapped into this feeling that I think perfectly exemplified what the city, you know,

the mourning and the bittersweet and the melancholy of the heartache of what's gone on, but also this kind of revelation at the end, the celebratory effect of what had gone on in the past. And yeah, just kind of really, I think, perfectly set the stage

when i my son my uh my firstborn was a timbit and they were their timbit crew was gonna do the intermission game at uh air canada center so as a parent i got to stand uh right where uh that where you go onto the ice i got to stand there for the first period. And the anthem singer was standing right beside me because he was going and it was Jim Cuddy. So there's my Jim Cuddy. And my mom wishes Jim Cuddy had become my stepfather. I think that was my mom's wish because that's her band. Amazing guy and awesome hockey player himself. And yeah, just really been fortunate to work with his solo

and Blue Radio stuff over the years too. Now you favor, without a doubt, you favor CanCon, which is cool. And you've mentioned a lot of bands I love. Like you mentioned Tragically Hip and Lowest of the Low. And we'll talk more about those two bands later. And you mentioned Hayden, who I love. But you don't just do Canadian bands. But I'm just going to play a song, another one real quick here.

You've given me a good excuse to just play tunes. But some songs are like made for montages, right? This is one of those tunes that's just made for montages. Some good Bob Cole in this one, too. This is the stuff that you see and hear with your heart and your stomach. There's nothing like it, folks. Heavyweight championship fight. And so the battle has begun again.

The pressure mounts by the minute. They're all ready for the face-off now. You don't need to see this montage to get the chills. Anyways, fantastic. Bubba O'Reilly by The Who. Fantastic. And don't call it... I notice a lot of people want to call it Teenage Wasteland.

Come on, it's Bubba O'Reilly. Get it right. Get it right. It's shocking how much of that gets mislabeled. Now, so Hockey Night in Canada was... CBC did Hockey Night in Canada forever, and then it was taken over by Rogers. Was that like 2013? Does that sound right?

A couple years ago, yeah. So maybe before I ask you about sort of the end of your times at Hockey Night in Canada, you didn't just do, like it's not just those great montages where when people see these things, they'll love them. But here's Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. So let me play a bit of Bubbles here. I've been watching hockey since, as long as I can remember, since I was, you know, a little wee guy.

I've been watching hockey all through the 70s and 80s. I mean, that's all I did. You know, even before my parents deserted me we used to watch hockey together yeah apparently my dad was a pretty good hockey player I never saw him play but he was a they called him the hammer that was his nickname he used to you know he used to put a lot of seats people in the seats apparently because as soon as they dropped the puck he just grabbed somebody and started beating them. It's 10 minutes, so I won't play the whole thing.

But just to say, okay, so Bubbles is Mike Smith, a musician himself. He used to be in Sandbox. Right. And I came across that. I watched the whole 10 minutes. It's just fantastic. But yeah, Bubbles from Fairlard Park Boys.

That was part of that same Jim Cuddy series. And I just saw Mike actually at the after party for one of the hip shows in Toronto this summer. And he was like, yeah, we should do another one of those. Yeah, this is great. And I was never a big Trailer Park Boys fan, but I had J-Rock on my show. And I'm talking all Street Sense and Jono Vision.

And then everyone's like, he's J-Rock. And I didn't appreciate the J-Rock thing. So it's like I retroactively had to kind of go back and revisit all that stuff. But that's pretty cool. Okay, so let's get you to, you're doing these montages for Hockey Night in Canada. Hockey Night in Canada belongs to Rogers

because of the big deal they signed with NHL. And I know I read an article somewhere where it said that Rogers Senior Vice President of NHL Productions, Gord Cutler, reduced your role. But at some point, your role is eliminated. So could you just share with us what happened there? Yeah, I guess the short answer is also the long answer, which is also the truth.

I have no idea. I was never given a reason why i was let go um so to answer any more it would be speculation i guess um cbc had told me that they were making a change and getting rid of me and uh so i went back to cbc and oh so rogers told you because no cbc told me yeah i've never heard a single word from them as to why um i worked on what they were doing for five six months and uh um yeah i don't know they you know obviously were trying to make something vastly different with what that show was and uh i guess my stuff was pretty popular and that was one of the the only thing i know is i read what he said in a newspaper article was that they were only

going to keep the good stuff so I suppose they didn't. So our deductive logic says your fine montages that we all adore was not in the good stuff pile. That's the only, you know,

thing on record that I've seen or that I've heard to, you know. Well, were you making a million dollars a year? No,

far from it. It had nothing to do with money. I've heard some people suggest that. It was nothing to do with that. The music doesn't cost that much to do. And not that I was just doing that. There was lots of openings and stuff that didn't have commercial songs. Like I said, the musician features, I've done lots of features.

I make documentaries and all sorts of things. So I don't know to be honest I that's is you know I just am kind of left to think and wonder and uh and it's too bad because those things were really really they got quite popular and I put a tremendous amount of work into them and from you know when I started to when I finished there you know built them up like I spent not to sound precious or anything but like I won't even suggest how many hours I spent in the archives in the basement just going through old footage and old tapes that didn't have any shot lists. And you'd find 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour of things that maybe hadn't been seen before or hadn't been seen in decades.

I found an alternate version of the Bill Burrillco goal that was filmed from the stands on some old Super 8. Wow. I actually used that in the Jim Cuddy piece, I believe, and probably also in the Bubba O'Reilly. But yeah, I don't know if that had ever been seen before, or at least not for decades and decades. And so little things like that and little gems that you would come across,

old newsreels from the 30s and 40s and stuff. And also the flip side was spending a crazy amount of time finding and listening to music going to concerts meeting people finding things like you mentioned the strombellas one the first time i saw them they were opening for lowest of the low at the horseshoe and i had never heard of them before and this would be just the first record was out but the second one was not yet right um so maybe four or five years ago now and i knew one song and i'm like oh my god these guys are going to be stars.

And ended up a few months later, the second record was coming out and Sailing came upon. And that was one of those songs where instantly it's like, oh, yep. And it just fit. That was a remembrance day one. So it just really kind of fit this thing that I was doing there, which was kind of taking these openings beyond the game itself and injecting a lot of humanity and a lot of culture using a lot of metaphors and a lot of symbolism to try to project what this game is and what it means to people and also to kind of set the stage for what you're about to see and to find that perfect song that really um kind of grabbed that emotion and ran with it and let you feel

something whether i get a lot of people saying you know these things make them want to climb a mountain or run through a wall yeah or bother or bawl their eyes out and that was kind of the goal I guess like I treated each one with like a piece of art and you know I think for me that is to try to make people think and to make them feel and if you can elicit that and get the emotion of wanting to climb a mountain or cry your eyes out, then you've kind of, I guess, become successful in what you're trying to do with that piece. So if I hear you correctly, so somebody at CBC tells you basically your services are no longer required, essentially.

But no reason, they just tell you that. Yeah, I started the year there. They said what I was doing wasn't going to continue, so I did exactly what they asked of me. I ended up working on, I think, from about November till February on Hockey Day in Canada, which was in Halifax that year. Did a pile of features for that, went out to Halifax,

produced a concert that Dave Benigni does every year called, or what's called Stolen from a Hockey Card. Everything went great and got home, and the next day they told me. So, yeah, I'm as mystified as in terms of why but uh sure yeah that's a question for someone else i guess yeah i mean it's it's terrible that that happened uh now one thing i can tell you as a fan that there's no way this was uh work related this was not due to poor performance or not you're not making great videos that inspire people that's for sure and uh i know

so gourd cutler he subsequently he lost his job right i guess yeah i read that you probably read that in the news okay i don't really follow what's going on much anymore so um now this explains that yeah um so but you do know uh that so when Rodgers takes over Hockey Day in Canada, Gord Cutler, who I believe, and this is me talking, not you, but Gord Cutler, I believe he's a TSN guy from back in the day, I believe. And I believe from David Schultz sitting here talking to me about the Rodgers hockey stuff, he told me that Gord Cutler didn't like the CBC way of doing hockey games. And a number of things were put in this whole, like, oh, that's how CBC did Hockey Night in Canada bucket. It needed to be eliminated. A lot of things we all knew and loved, whether it be Coach's Corner,

or Ron McLean being the host is a big one, and several things, and your montages are probably in that bucket. So completely based on my conversation with David Schultz, it sounds like a lot of these changes were made to DCBC Eyes Hockey Night in Canada.

We do know that some of them have been reversed since because Strombo, we mentioned, he's a great guy, but he seems to be sort of, he's a bit of a scapegoat for the low, even though no Canadian teams are making the playoffs, there's a million reasons why viewing is down, but he seems to be a bit of a scapegoat. He's, even though no Canadian teams are making the playoffs, there's a million reasons why viewing is down, but he seems to be a bit of a scapegoat. He's no longer with them.

Ron McLean's back doing it. They kind of have gone more on Ron and Don, I've noticed. They've given him back some minutes or whatnot. And I actually tweeted when Ron McLean was announced as the new host again. I said, well, and I tweeted that while Rogers Hockey was righting wrongs, it's time to, we need Boundless back doing it

because they haven't been the same since you left. This is, this is my opinion as a viewer. And I know you, you get to be careful here and you don't know what happened here, but it sounds like you were eliminated because you were associated with the old CBC way. And this Gord Cutler was trying to make it his look like it's his baby now with Rogers. This is what I believe. You will never know. Yeah. You're not the first to suggest that. So,

um, yeah, I don't know. Like it was, uh, very confusing time for me. Um, still kind of is in a way.

Cause how long ago this is, I mean, how long has it been since, uh, you worked with, uh, Roger with, uh, Hocken and Kevin?

It's two years. Like the last montages were the playoffs of 2014. Okay. Yeah, so yeah, I guess things, we knew early in that year, November, that things were about to change.

No one knew what was going on. And yeah, it's kind of a mystery as to why things went down. But yeah, I think you're right. They wanted to change things and yeah, I don't know. Specul would be any anything else on my part to say but yeah it's too bad because I think people really seem to gravitate towards those and it's not as easy

you know a lot you see a lot of things out there that if you use a popular song and you just put a pile of footage of their you know to it right it's there's a lot more to it than that and yeah well listen on that note and this this is going to duct tail nicely with something that to it. There's a lot more to it than that. Listen, on that note, and this is going to ducktail nicely with something that Ron Hawkins, the lowest of the low, said about you in episode 175. So this unfortunate news is delivered to you, and unfortunate

for us as hockey viewers, we don't get to see your excellent montages on Hockey Night in Canada and your videos, but you do put together something for the Toronto Maple Leafs set to this fantastic Ron Hawkins song, Peace and Quiet. Maple Leaf Hockey Club have been champions, and they will be champions again. The legend will be back. Hey there, tragic one

I saw your ghost in Kensington The sly sentry of the alleyway A wounded soldier from the bad old days I run the club, I pay the bills So I got a chance to talk, right? And it took me somewhere When I had Ron Hawkins here for 175 I started playing this

Because I was going to talk about you in the montage And I got lost in the song when he was here And it's happening again because And it's even better when you hear like Harold Ballard and Punch Him Like whatever all these guys in the back but I gotta say the song you know maybe I'll let Ron talk so this is Ron Hawkins I'll bring this down and then I'm gonna let Ron Hawkins spend a couple of minutes talking about your work with his song on the Maple Leafs video which every leaves

that I'm a Leafs fan, every Leafs fan adores that video. And I know they were playing that before games. I saw it at the Air Canada Centre. So it's been embraced by, you know, Brendan Shanahan and the new regime at the Maple Leafs. But let's hear Ron Hawkins talk about it here. And I'll shut up for a couple of minutes.

But I think that's uh that's Tim's uh the genius of Tim right is that um as he says like we met because he did a doc about a bunch of different indie musicians and then I've gotten to know him over the years he shot a couple of videos for me and um and I'm at a point with Tim like you know he sent me an email and said you know I've got this thing uh I've I'm doing and uh and I and I wanted to use peace and quiet. And, you know, my answer is just always go for it, Tim. You know, 100% trust. It'll be great.

Because that's his real forte. He's got a very sensitive ear for that matching, especially like indie rock music with sports, which is, you know, and just seeing, you know, not to put too fine a point on on it but seeing the ways in which the struggle is similar for both and and yeah i didn't write it for the least i wrote it about kensington market actually and and again uh the same the uh hey there tragic one i saw your ghost in kensington is the same character as eternal fatalist so it all comes full circle you know and that these people come back in my lives. And, and so it was about Kensington Market and about the ghosts I see in

Kensington Market and how much I love that place and how much that no one would consider it a quiet place to be. It's pretty, pretty raucous and got a lot going in it. But for me, I lived there for a very long time and I could walk among those people and have that sense that people, you know, alone in a crowd kind of thing, I would always find a great deal of solace in Kensington Market. And so I think, and then, you know, and again, there's a, there's the varying different kinds of day that Kensington Market has had as a Jewish ghetto, as a, you know, as a punk rock hangout, as a, you know, then Jamaicans and Vietnamese and just the wide swath of people that have come through there and made that their home, and the ups and downs. And then Tim starts to cut it with the Leafs, and then he did some stuff that I think in the last, he got pretty cheeky with it, the last line about, is it funny how you seem just like a rumor now,

and he's cutting to the glory days with the Leafs having Stanley Cup. It matches perfect. Yeah, it's almost as if I wrote it for the Leafs, right? It's almost as if Tim made the piece and then said, right? Or wrote it for... It's almost as if Tim made the piece and then said, Ron, can you write a song for this piece, you know?

But it's actually the other way around. And so, yeah, it's an amazing thing. And Tim's been able to do this a couple times once with the... I think with the Habs,

he did something about Bellevue. And so he's been doing some freelance stuff in the way that he used to do them for Hockey Night in Canada. And they...

I've never seen a person not be touched by them. I've had the famously crusty bass player in the Do Good Assassins, Derek. He said it brought a tear to his eye. And he had an uncle who played with the Leafs. And so it really moves people. So there you go. Thank you, Ron.

Ron Hawkins, who I adore. I close every episode of this podcast with a song by Lois Lillot. Thank you, Ron. Ron Hawkins, who I adore. I mean, I had to have my... I close every episode of this podcast with a song by Lois Lillow. I love that band. And it was amazing that I got to sit down and talk to Ron Hawkins. And there was no doubt I was going to talk. I would play it again, but I'll get lost in it again.

But so peace and quiet. So could you tell me a little bit... So now we heard Ron talk about it. Could you tell me a little bit about like how that came to be, that you wrote sort of the definitive montage for Leaf fans as we rebuild with Austinin matthews and mitch marner and uh yeah i guess that was you know a nice thing that's come out of the whole not being on hockey net anymore was being

contacted first by montreal uh i did a bunch of videos for them a couple years ago and then boston i did one for the winter classic last year and then last summer I was just you know like thinking oh wow yeah nothing I'm not working towards something for the fall and uh it felt so foreign to me and so strange uh so I thought hmm and so I went to work on thinking about something to do for the Leafs and uh you know had tons of just started watching YouTube videos and old footage I had and old hockey night pieces and um as often as probably you listen to Ron a lot in the background and low to low and amongst the, whatever you're playing. And Peace and Quiet was a song that he had actually released about 10 years ago on an album called Chemical Sounds. And then re-released that version on a record a couple

years ago with the Duke of Assassins. And it came, it came on just as I was, you know, um, going through some stuff, reading some articles and thought, Hmm, wait a sec. And then a song I had heard, you know, hundreds of times, uh, you know, word by word, verse by verse, chorus by, as the chorus went by, like, Oh my gosh, this tells the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And, uh, so literally just sat at home and started piecing something together and I got about halfway through it. And that's when the email he talks about when I contacted him, just said, Hey, I'm working on something. I didn't tell him what it was or what song or anything. And he's like, yeah, go for it. And then about a couple of days later sent him

rough cut, maybe it was 90% finished or something. And yeah, he was blown away by it. And, um, so I finished it and just posted it online, thinking, you know, whatever, I'll just do this and put it out there and see if people like it or whatever. And it kind of went bananas online. And one of the Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coaches, Andrew Brewer, messaged me on Twitter and just said, this thing has caused a stir here.

And I guess I got to Babcock and then Lamorello and up to Shanahan. And fast forward a week later, they asked if they could run it on the scoreboard of Jumbotron or the Air Canada Center. I'm like, oh, of course, yeah. That's amazing. And I ended up meeting with him for an hour one day.

Shanahan? Yeah, just sitting. Went to my high school. Oh, did he? He's older than me, but yeah. And yeah, he's a big music and film guy and just, it really touched him. And yeah, they ended up running it before every game last year, which was really cool. And yeah, it was something like I'm a, I was, grew up around Young and Eglinton and a huge Leaf fan growing up.

And, you know, Wendell Clark was the first guy that really kind of connected and hit, hits a good word, I guess, but hit it with me. Me too, bud. So, you know, you just start thinking back to your childhood and then the city and what it's gone through and then through the Hockey Night years of what went down and stuff. And yeah, it just was this nice thing to kind of put together. And it shows the, you know, the genius of a guy like Ron and how incredible he is as a lyricist,

that he could write a song about his love for Kensington Market and for a friend of his who passed away. And take that, you know, his lyrics are so rich in imagery and metaphor and so beautiful that, you know, you can apply it to other things and it kind of perfectly tells the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So, yeah. So that, you knew Ron Hawkins. So the reason, I guess, you earned his trust because you did that documentary with him. The five Toronto indie musicians, what, born to it? Yeah. So he was one of them.

Yeah, he was one. The story of Lowest to Low was kind of a thread of it all. Gotcha. And then it was five people. There was a girl, Alyssa Mielka, who was just starting out, and then Wayne Petty,

who was about 10 years in, and then Ron and Steve from Lowest to Low, and a guy named Alan Piggins, who were kind of the grizzled old veterans who had been through the ringer. And it was just kind of the life of an independent musician and what they have to do

to sustain their artistic existence. And it's funny how they're all very different people and at different stages of their careers but they all kind of ended up being pretty much you know it's the same in terms of being an artist for the right reasons and making music for the right reasons and uh you know putting up with any struggle just to you know make their art now uh we just came off the Olympics in Rio and, you know, great Olympics. I love Olympics anyways, but it was a great Olympics for Canada, whether it was Penny in the pool or whether, you know, Andre de Grasse, for example. And as I've mentioned, I happen to be a big Maestro Fresh West fan anyway. So there was one montage

I saw. It was Maestro Fresh West's The Distance featuring Socrates, and this was for Andre de Grasse. So let me play this, and then I want to ask you about the work you're doing with the CBC there. Sure. Four, three, two, one. Here I am Standing on two feet

And where I'm going That's up to me To go the distance I found the recipe And where I'm going, that's up to me. To go the distance, I found the recipe. And it ain't too far away from me. The greatest challenge of my life is right in front of me. Nervous as hell, I'm shaking, about to see who want to run with me. Standing on the starting blocks.

So there's Maestro. So how did you end up working again with CBC? So after, I guess, two years ago, I guess, when things went how they did with Hockey Night, I moved back to CBC Sports. I was always employed by the CBC. There was about 20 of us who just kind of were still employed by CBC but went to work for the new Hockey Night, I guess. And so, yeah, I went back to what CBC Sports had become,

which is essentially kind of the Olympic channel. There's a show called Road to the Olympic Games and then the Olympics themselves. So every weekend there's this kind of show that led up to it and then Rio itself. So I had done the Olympic montages for Sochi a couple years ago and had done some in previous Olympics. So, yeah, just went back.

And the big thing last summer was the Pan Am Games. And at that time, I got a call out of the blue from this number. I didn't know who it was. I answered it, and it turned out to be Maestro. He's a resourceful guy, and he had found my number. And so he's like, hey, I'm working on this new song. It's called Underestimated, and I'm going to send it to you soon. Looking forward to the Pan Am Games and thinking maybe there's a fit there.

So we finished this great song, and we ended up using it. We did a piece that led into the 100-meter final when Degrass, so it literally played and then went to the starting line, and Degrass wins the gold at the Pan Am Games. So it worked out really, really well. Amazing song, perfect fit and stuff. And then, you know, about five, six months ago, he called out of the blue again and said,

hey, I'm working on something for the Olympics, which it turned out to be this song, The Distance. And yeah, I ended up using it for Andre as he was hit in Rio just before his first race. And yeah, and obviously he had an amazing Olympics. And, yeah, it was one of quite a few that I got to do this past summer. It was nice to get back into that and ended up opening the Olympics with this drum bell

as one of their new songs, We Don't Know. And ended up using a new R. Kelly song and all sorts of City in Color and Ruben in the Dark and the big Three Pistols by the and, uh, the big, uh, he's three pistols by the hip. Finally, I finally got that song in and then the big closing to head by century. So yeah, it was nice.

It was a really, really busy summer, but, um, you know, everything went really well. And, uh, it was an interesting Olympics too, because there was so much going on outside of the actual sport leading up to it. So that first big opening with the strombellas was a seven and a half piece monster that kind of touched on a lot of the problems sport leading up to it. So that first big opening with the Strombolas was a seven and a half piece monster that kind of touched on a lot of the problems there

and in the world and kind of just the idea of hope. Everything kind of culminated with their song and yeah, it worked out really, really well. I want to talk to you about Gore Downie from the Tragically Hip. Yes, please. I don't even know where to begin, but you seem to... So first of all, I guess I want to know, how do you know Gord?

And then I want to talk about your involvement with the Hips... I was in... Oh, in Gord We Trust. Yeah, nice shirt, nice shirt. I almost wore my hip shirt too, actually. That's great. I was in Inganish, Nova Scotia on August 20th, and I watched the final show from Kingston there.

Very emotional experience for me. I want to hear how you were involved in that, and then we can talk about the Waterkeeper Gala and your film there. So please tell me about how you know Gord Downie. Yeah, I guess it goes obviously back before meeting him and just the hip, being a huge music fan and that and first connecting with their music.

And he was kind of the first guy, first musician in a way that really connected with me on, I guess, the same way that maybe Wendell had as a hockey player, but in way many more levels and stuff. but the first person that kind of speaks to you and you just get it and that voice is extremely comforting and the lyrics are they teach you so much and they make you feel so much and getting to see a ton of concerts I think I'm over 55 now I think probably around around 70, actually, if you include his solo work, because I got to see that quite a bit over the years. And just someone that, you know, before

meeting, obviously, he was the lead singer of the biggest band in the country. And this very, very unique and engaging and incredible front man, you go see live, and it's like nothing you've ever seen before. It's like, oh, my God god you see him going up there ranting and dancing and doing what he does and the band being so amazing and they have all these wonderful songs that kind of tell the history of a lot of this country and these stories that you don't know and so in many ways you know he's I often say he's like a you know a great great great teacher that you have and that you've learned so much um from someone you know i got introduced to hugh mcclennan and al purdy and you know david milgard and makes you want to read more into jacques cartier and um all these things that you make you i took history in school as well um so i was obviously very interested in that kind of

thing in this history of this country often gets a a bad word but there's so much so many interesting characters and so many interesting events and so many interesting things that have gone on and he brought those to light and in in the form of a rock show and i was talking about this the other day and it's funny the first time i saw them was at another roadside attraction and there was 40 000 people there or you see them in a bar in the state somewhere or they are candidates and there's 20,000 people but more here like the 40,000 outside of the 20,000 inside he's up there singing these songs and the crowd it's like you're back shouting back history lessons in a way like all these really you know Bill Berroco obviously all these things that just come to mind all the time and just

obviously an incredible amount of respect and love for that guy. And then I got to meet him. His brother Mike was doing a film with Dave Bedini actually called The Hockey Nomad. Then they had a screening, and I think this was in 2002, at a place called the Arts and Letters Club, which is around Yonge and Dundas. And it's an old Victorian where the group of seven used to drink and stuff. So they had this screening, and then there's a bar in the front part of this house, and about 20 people or so stayed after.

I was talking to Dave, and we were just talking about the film and stuff, and it was a really beautiful thing. Then we started talking about hockey like we always do, and I knew Gord was a goalie and stuff, and so I turned to him like, what kind of goalie is Gord? And I said, literally as I said that, Gord turns the corner and is like three feet from my face. I had seen him obviously in the room at the screening, but I'd never met him. And so Dave just turns to him and goes, hey, Gord, Tim wants to know what kind of goalie you are.

And then he walks away and leaves us. So, yeah, I ended up having this 20-minute conversation with him. I just retired from hockey, too, a couple years before. So, yeah, I was just really just getting into the TV and film thing and so yeah I got to meet him and spend time with him then for the first time and I don't know him incredibly well but over the years you'd run into him and stuff and have just these really inspiring and awesome conversations and it's just you know someone recently said as amazing as he is as a frontman and incredible musician

he's even more impressive off the stage and what kind of a human being he is and what kind of a person he is and he's very very warm he has these eyes that kind of you know illuminate in a way and they just kind of bring you in and he's just he's very he wants to know about you and he wants to he's you know as a songwriter I guess he writes about people and stories and things so he's very interested in what makes people tick and stuff. And yeah, just so that's kind of where I got the backstory on that. And then as Hockey Night came on, I got the honor to do some world premieres of hip songs and some of his songs.

So I want to ask you about one of those. So it was your work, it'd be awkward if it's not your work, but the Lonely End of the Rink. Was that your montage, the Lonely End of the Rink? Yeah, there was a bunch. There was Love is a First as well, At Transformation, The Crater from the Sadies, Retrace from his third solo record, and then a bunch of Blow It High Dough and Fully Completely and

Narco Disaster I ended up using in that last run that Montreal played Boston. So yeah, just there was many times this was the first time people were going to hear played Boston. And, uh, so yeah, just, uh, there was a, many times, this was the first time people were going to hear that song. And so great amount of pressure, but also a great honor to, to be able to do that. And, uh, then started doing this work with the waterkeeper. So we got to meet him or, you know, not meet him, but talk with him a lot more and stuff. And yeah, just, uh, but you were asked, you were asked to make the opening for the hips,

uh, show this summer? Yeah, so I guess that's where it's leading. And then I have to get back to Lonely End of the Rink, but please tell me about the Hip and the Kingston show. Yeah, that was... I don't even know how to describe it. Obviously an incredible, incredible honour for me and it fell right at the very end of the Olympics.

So it was a very right in at the very end of the olympics so it was a very very busy time um but obviously what happened and with gourd this year and what um you know his illness uh caught everyone you know it gutted me i think like most people and just just a real horrible thing that's going on um but they went on this tour that it was just a remarkable remarkable thing you know i don't know still don't know how he did it and um but that's going on. Um, but they went on this tour that it was just a remarkable, remarkable thing. You know, I don't know, still don't know how he did it. And, um, but that's him. He's able to rise above. And, um, about maybe a month or so before the show, I was asked, um, I guess the hip had called CBC and wanted me to do this opening for the, for the show. And they were a bit reserved because of the Olympics were going on, but they'd let me do it. Um, so it started this thing where after every concert, about a day or so, it started at Weston, Victoria, about a day and a half to two days after each show, a hard drive would show up

with another couple hundred gigabytes of footage from the previous show. Um, so I was basically working at, you know, almost through the night on this thing. Um, and yeah, it was just, how do you encapsulate this? And I guess from the start of the show to when the timing worked out to be about a minute. So they say you have about a minute to do this thing. And, uh, um, it was just one of the greatest honors that I've ever had. And to be able to know, I guess, Ron McLean threw it from Rio to Kingston and then my piece played and then it faded to black and it came up on them in the hallway before they walked out on stage and had the hug and kiss thing

before and so that was the only kind of element in that show other than the show itself so which you know I still have to pinch myself to say did that actually happen that might be the highest honor I can't even imagine I don't even know what to say like that moment for that band on that station for this country,

that's as big as it gets. It was remarkable. I'd seen the three Toronto shows, so it was something to see video of all this stuff and then go and experience that. And I think most people didn't know how to feel going into it. And then they come out and launch in, and it was spellbinding.

I was at that Friday show, And then they come out and launch in and it was spellbinding. And just, I still struggle to find the words. I was at that Friday show. So I went to the one in the middle and you nailed it. It's almost like you've been, for you, dozens and dozens. But for me, this was my 12th hip show. But you've done it 11 times and this was so different for obvious reasons. And you go in and you don't really know. And the next thing you know, Gord's's doing what Gord does a tremendous rock show. And it's just amazing.

And it's, you're just hit with these emotions and there's a bittersweet element there, but it was like a, yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. It was just something I don't think we'll experience that again in that kind of a setting. And it was, you know, and now what he's doing with the secret path in his, this new solo album is just absolutely commendable and remarkable.

So the day before the Kingston show, I got a call saying, hey, is there any way you could come down? And I'm like, knowing that I had the closing montage, which is like a four-minute piece to wrap up the Olympics that would air the next night, which is a daunting task. But of course, I'm like, of course. What are you going to do? I'm like, of course.

What are you going to do? I ended up sending a car and I went to Kingston and they gave me tickets. And walking around downtown there, seeing the market and people fill up. And then this little procession come down and down Main Street, which ended up being Trudeau and all these people. And he walks down and you just,

you realize the weight of what was going on that day. Yeah. That this was something incredibly special. That's amazing that you got to be there. And unique. That's incredible. Yeah. and then to experience the show there um was yeah it was it was beautiful i ended up getting home at 4 30 i had a shower and got dressed and walked to work and then did the closing to a head by century um for that night and yeah it was just it was i was beyond exhausted but beyond uh gratified and honored to have been asked to do such a heavy thing for me.

Earlier, you told me your Mark Gowen story, my cousin who played with you at Guelph. His father is my uncle, and he lost him. He was 58 years old. He had a heart attack, and it was tragic. But when Lonely End of the Rink, when I hear it now, in fact, I like to sit at the Lonely End of the Rink to watch my oldest. He plays house league at George Bell,

and I always sit there, and then the song goes through my head. And when I hear the song, I always think about Big Bruce, Uncle Bruce, who would sit behind his son, who was a goaltender, at the lonely end of the rink. And just, like, the hip songs mean so much on so many different levels to so many of us. Our national...

I know he's not really our national poet laureate, as somebody once called me out, but that's not really the point, because he is. Oh, definitely. And I see this nice thing going around now, a petition to get him the Order of Canada, and he kind of is the Order of Canada. So, you know, he's written a handful,

maybe half a dozen songs about hockey, but also so many other things that touch on the history of this country and obviously right now with the First Nations thing going. And just so ingrained in what we are and the sound of what this country is and just such a unique and wonderful human being. And yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, great. No, and I'm glad you got to meet him and I'm glad you got to do that. Yeah, please. I will say the last one I used was Nautical Disaster for Hockey Night on my time there and it was Montreal-Boston and there was a 1-0 overtime game the game before,

so it was this kind of battle that went on, and I thought, it just made me think of that song, and I don't think that's a song you would necessarily associate with being a sports open. Yeah, but I actually, so this is when we found out Gord was ill, and that this concert was happening,

and then a lot of songs, when I hear certain words in the songs, they had resonated in different ways, and that song kept coming to the And then a lot of songs, when I hear certain words in the songs, they resonated in different ways. And that song kept coming to the forefront of my cranium or whatnot because headed for home, like this whole notion of them going back to Kingston and doing that show and everything.

And yeah, that's one of those haunting songs. Like in many ways, as I mentioned earlier, him being kind of a teacher, he made the art of hockey possible for me. Like as a player, when you're doing that and growing up through that it's just who you are and what you do and then when I changed occupations in life you know after I retired um he was the one you know that made me see it as an art form and made that kind of possible for me and which was kind of fitting I guess in a way that maybe nautical was uh something you wouldn't associate with but it kind of perfectly encapsulated what that was and

i remember seeing him at the um i guess a year later at the waterkeeper gala and we were chatting and stuff and we'd never spoken about my work at all before and he turned to me and looked at me and said that and quote your work is very beautiful and that was just i don't even know so you had ron and don already blessed your work but then when. And that was just, I don't even know how to deal with that. So you had Ron and Don already blessed your work, but then when Gord comes in, when Ron, Don, and Gord all agree, then yeah. Yeah, for him to say that was, you know, wow. I still don't know how to properly figure that out,

but wow, what an honor. Awesome. Now, before we close this episode, I want to talk to you about the big E. Okay, so guys our age, right? We're about the same age, I think. And, you know, so I'm like, I'm a teenager when this teenage phenom is coming up, and they were calling him, you know, the next one, I think we were calling him, because we had Wayne Gretzky, and of course, there was Mario Lemieux, and then there was this, you know, he was playing for the Oshawa Generals, and he was just this huge guy, but he had agility

you didn't see in that size, and Eric Lindros was coming up, and of course, we all know, you know, drafted by Quebec, didn't want to play for Quebec, and held out, and then gets traded to the Flyers, and the mega trade, and involved Forsberg, and some big parts, you know, but he was recently, he's, well, basically, he's going into the hall of fame i guess that's happening in november so can you tell me a little bit about like how you know eric and what your work you're doing for for eric lindros now and then let's have a quick big e-chat here yeah um i guess his family moved to toronto from london and they moved about four or five blocks from where my family where i grew up and and ended up going to school in grade 9 and 10

at North Toronto Collegiate where Jim and Greg from Blue Rodeo, ironically, went. But yeah, we met through, I guess, I didn't really know him before that because he'd gone to a different school in grade 7 and 8. But in grade 9, we met and became really, really good friends. And his walk to school was by my house. And we had this amazing driveway that didn't run along the house, But in grade nine, we met and became really, really good friends. And his walk to school was by my house. And we had this amazing driveway that didn't run along the house, but in the back, it opened up to this like perfectly sized place to play road hockey.

So we ended up, would end up playing road hockey every day after school. And went to school together and his, we would rent ice, North Toronto Arena, which is an amazing arena, just a couple blocks south of there. So we would go at six o'clock in the morning before school a couple of times a week. And his dad would run drills and there'd be a few kids from the neighborhood and we'd just, uh, yeah, I would do that before school. And, um, yeah, I guess kind of kindred spirits and stuff and just really connected and became really good friends. And, uh, so yeah, I had this kind of interesting, um, position to, to watch his career and what happened.

And we used to see him play. He always played several years. He's a bit older than me, but would play several years above his actual age. And but seeing him as a 15-year-old play for the St. Mike's Buzzers Junior B team and playing against 19-year-olds and just it was you knew this was really, really special. And then when he went to he played a bit in Detroit, a tier two team for half a year before he was traded in the OHL to Oshawa. But then just seeing an Oshawa, you know, what he was able to accomplish. Um, remember my mom, my grandparents lived in Peterborough, my mom's parents, and they got us tickets to game seven against the Peets the year they went to the Memorial cup and won it. The year Oshawa did, excuse me. And, uh, off the opening face off,

he literally threw the cent man to the side, grabbed the puck, split the defense, went in and scored top shelf. And my mom was just like, oh, my God. The first time she had seen him play live, but knowing him well and stuff. And, yeah, so it's been really cool. He's gone through the ringer, I think, a lot of stuff. If anything they could do over again, I think they probably should have got a better or a PR person to navigate through that because, you know, what got reported for the most case was 99% bullshit. And he did things for the right reasons.

And I think for, you know, a lot of people saw him as selfish and whatever, but he's a very honest, trustworthy, and true human being. I remember in grade 9, we'd go, and very generous, he'd go by Mr. Sub or something, and he'd go, I've got to eat something. So he'd go in and be like, are you going to get anything? And I'd be like, I have no money today. I remember this clear as day. And he was like, oh, remember that $5 I owe you?

And I didn't owe him $5, and he would buy me a sub or bucks i owe you and he i didn't know five bucks and he would buy me a sub or something it's just the kind of guy he's always been and um i think you know most people close to him would say that same thing like he's a real wonderful human being and so it's nice to see what's happened this year with the hall of fame because it's you know it was ridiculous the weight and and that and um you know people who saw him play and played against him you know you've never seen anything like that that's that package of size and skill and um you know i don't think the nhl has ever seen that complete a package and i probably maybe never again who knows but uh um yeah he was uh you go back and watch old uh you know the old highlights and

stuff i was fortunate to do a video for his retirement party, and that was really cool to do that and doing some stuff for his Hall of Fame party and stuff. Are you going to put that on your Vimeo? Because that's where I can find your Maple Leafs montage and your Vimeo account. Yeah. Does it ever get to go there?

It goes between that and YouTube. The old one isn't. The actual file I had it on was on a hard drive that blew up when I moved apartments one time. And so that one is kind of, it's on a DVD somewhere. The retirement one. Gotcha. Or the retirement one.

Yeah, but you're doing a video for his Hall of Fame party, right? Yeah. So you got to do it again. You got to put... He was divisive. Just a divisive kind of figure. I think a lot of people, you know, managed by his dad.

His dad was managing him, right? He was his agent. He had an agent for a while and there were some things that went on and stuff. His dad took over. His dad is an accountant and stuff. And I guess that's... Yeah, I don't know.

But this whole notion that like, you know, play where you're drafted, just, you know, like this whole, that whole concept. And it wasn't, I know we also did in the OHL. So I think that they, maybe there was people, the backlash was some, an unfair, they felt some sense of entitlement or whatever. Like why, why would he refuse to play for Quebec?

Like it just, so it did rub some people wrong. Not me though, because I always rooted for the guy. In fact, this week when the news came out, Crosby had another concussion. So my first thoughts were of Eric because pound for pound, best player in the game but career cut short due to the health issues, especially

concussion issues. Imagine if Eric had a long healthy career, what would he have done? Yeah, I often say imagine he played under these new rules where the obstruction wasn't there because he was an absolute force. I remember we used to skate in the summers and Brian Muir, who played for a while,

he won the cup with Colorado and stuff. And we were doing this drill where you had to basically skate across the ice, stop, hit a pile on, stop, like basically a lot of agility and turns and then grab a puck and go in and,

and shoot on the goalie. And Eric went and Brian was after him and I was after him. And Eric went and was just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, stop. Like lightning speed, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, like this monster. And then he goes in, grabs a puck and goes top corner on this goalie. And I remember Brian looking back and goes, thank God I'm in the West. It's true. But yeah, you know, I think.

Well-deserved Hall of Fame honors, in my opinion. Well-deserved. Yeah, it's going to be nice. Now, since you do, I'm going to just... I'm going to close with my lowest of the low, as always. But when I think of sports montages, and I don't believe you put this together, but there's one that my son, when he was younger,

was obsessed with. I'm a big Wendell Clark guy like you. In fact, I'm supposed to skate with Wendell Clark at the new Maple Leaf Gardens in a couple of weeks because I have this advanced copy of his book, Bleeding Blue.

Right, right, right. And I had this invitation, if I can make it, I'm going. Like, I'm going to go skate at the new Maple Leaf Gardens with Wendell Clark

and it's like. I have a quick story if I could. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I haven't been to the new one and I kind of don't want to only because when his number was honored by the Leafs,

I did a piece for Hockey Night that was, we basically went back at that point. Some of the seats were still open, the, it was still there and there was still lots of seats there. And I went and I brought my brother and actually Davidini came too. And, um, we walked around the floor, basically the ice surface. And he talked about all these moments in his career. So we went where he fought McSorley, where he fought Ben Wilson, where this goal happened, where that. He told some stories about the bench and all this great thing. So we spent about two hours there with him walking around,

hearing about all these ghosts from the past and stuff. And I kind of don't want to go back there. Don't go shopping there. Because that was perfect. No, I can see that here. So, okay. So, of course,

there's the fan-made All Heart video with the Metallica song, which I'm sure you've seen. Yeah, yeah. And then there was this one that Maple Leaf, this one that aired at Maple Leaf Gardens

for Wendell, okay? And I was thinking when I, this song, is it the, is this the ultimate montage song Errol Smith's Dream On

in some regards? What are your thoughts on that? In some ways, yeah. I actually used this for the Montreal piece I did and mixed that with scenes from Robin Williams' movie,

Dead Poets Society, and back and forth. It's pretty awesome. It has all those things you want, the rises and the falls and great lyrics, and it pops at the right times. So yeah, it's a pretty, it's kind of a perfect song. I don't know if it's the perfect song. No, just my buddy Elvis, he's a big Aerosmith guy.

And this is early Aerosmith. In fact, he doesn't really sound like Steven Tyler to me. There's a whole falsetto thing here. A bit different sound or whatever. But there's another, Sports Illustrated has a video of the best 20th century sports moments or something like that cut to this song, which just leaves me breathless. I think anything set to this particular song is enhanced because of the song,

especially sports montages. Yeah, totally. It's one of those songs. It takes you places. Yeah, and it just builds up, and then it's slow, and then it gets all heavy and exciting. It pops at the end, and madness ensues. And this one. i used this one for

do you toronto buffalo a couple years ago uh we shot with lowest of the low and we did some stuff kind of paralleling a band getting ready for a show and players getting ready for the game my original co-host in this show was a rosie so the plan was from episode one was uh we both love this band local band great band and it'll be rosy and gray as I'm going gray here. So there you go. Hey, Tim, this was amazing. I always wanted to meet you because those montages, I may be, oh, Mike, they're just stupid sportsmen. No way.

They mean a lot to guys like me. This is the reason we love sport. And it's amazing to see it put together with music and sport kind of merging the way that you you marry them and it's great cool thank you yeah hopefully we can get some more done down the road and invite me to this um guelph uh anniversary of the championship yeah we'll find a band of dressing rooms that's right and that brings us to the end of our 197th show you can follow me on twitter and and Tim is at Boundless, but be careful, that first O in Boundless is actually a zero.

Don't get tripped up by that. He's trying to trick us. And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer, and Chef's Plate is at Chef's Plate CA. See you all next week. Everything is kind of rosy and gray See you all next week