Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - #TMLX17: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1589

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

In this 1589th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike records from Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga. It's #TMLX17 starring a cast of thousands! Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Hey Mike, I just want to say thank you for putting on an event like this. This is the third live podcast event that I've been to this year. I went to the Jan Arden podcast live back in October. They charged, I don't know, 60, 70 dollars, something like that. I went to the Handsome Pod live at the Danforth Music Hall, which was, I don't know, about a hundred dollars for that ticket and not only do you not charge us for this event but you feed us, you give us beer and allow us all to participate in the show. So I just want to say how completely different this experience is to the other podcast experiences I went to and just really appreciate it. Welcome to episode 1589 of Toronto Miked. People are clapping.

People are clapping. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma P. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma pasta by FOTM Al Gregor. RecycleMyElectronics.ca committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Give it up for Ridley Funeral Home, everybody. Today we are live from Palma's kitchen in beautiful Mississauga for TMLX 17. Thank you, everybody everybody for being here. My co-host for this afternoon's recording is my dear friend Elvis, who just cracked open a, what did you got there? A Canuck Pale Ale? David Schultz Yes. And that's your Great Lakes beer of choice.

David Schult. The classic. Old school. It's their best seller, I think. Is it really? David Schultz, take off your headphones and get yourself a GLB. We'll talk to you in a moment. Let me crack open.

This is the official opening of TMLX7. OK, cheers to you, buddy. Thanks for being here. Thanks for making the drive from North Oshawa. It's been a while. It's been a while. But you're back for Festivus, right? I am back for Festivus. Yes. How many... Do we figure out how many years in a row that's been? It's about 36, I think.

I would say so, yeah. Okay, so Festivus, that's happening, of course, December 23rd. You got your beer there, Mr. Schultz? Okay, David Schultz is on one of the mics, but to my left, to start us off, to kick off TMLX17, I'm literally gonna pass the mic, Beastie Boys style. FOTM Kevin Shea everybody. Thanks. Thanks. Kevin, I just wanna hear your voice for a bit off the top.

Please, can you tell us in this festive spirit, this beautiful moment, tell us the story of Jack McLean? Well, I'll do that in a moment. But first, I just want to say how wonderful it is to see all of the devoted FOTMs and especially Mike, thanks for the invitation. A couple of friends who've been dear friends for 40 plus years, Dave Charles and Rob Pruse as well. Amazing to see them. So thank you. Wow. Helped along the way in radio career, the music career, and here we're gonna talk about hockey. So there we go. Well that's why David Schultz is to

Elvis is right because I figured I need a guy in the room who knows hockey. You still know hockey right Mr. Schultz? Up to the last five years. Good, because this story goes way back when you were just a kid, okay. So Kevin, take it away. 1933. Well, we'll find out the details. So Kevin Shea, please, tell us the story of Jack MacLean. Thanks, Toronto Mike. So this story actually will begin in 1991 with the passing of my father.

He died of cancer that year and my dad was really, really special to me as all of our fathers have been. But he gave me the passion for hockey, which is a big part of my life. And so I can remember so fondly sitting on the Chesterfield in the family room, watching hockey with my brother on one side, and I was on the other side of my dad. We'd have a little bowl of chips and a glass of ginger ale and watching Hockey Night in Canada. And dad was a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan from his youth as well, having watched and listened

to Hockey Night in Canada through the years. So it's generational, it's infused from there. So I picked up the bug from Dad and became a big Toronto Maple Leaf fan from a young man. So losing Dad in 1991 was really really challenging. He was a premature death and one that stunned us all in the community too. So as we were dispersing his various things after his passing, we found a box, really interesting box. There was something in it.

It was something that Dad had made probably in grade eight shop class or something somewhere down the road. It was pretty rudimentary. His initials were stamped into the bottom, HS, and the nails weren't quite perfect, and the box itself was pretty crude all in all, but there was something in it. And I wanted to know what was in it, but it was locked.

And my mom said, well, just pry the hinges off the back. And I said, no, no, I don't want to do that. That would be disrespectful. But curiosity got the best of me. After a few hours, I did pry the hinges off the back and spilled out the contents and was quite surprised but delighted to find that it was filled with newspaper clippings of hockey players, all Toronto Maple Leafs. And so you know I looked at them and the newspaper was yellowed through age but looking at them and there's some names that we might know if we are hockey

fans but Ted Kennedy and Turk Broda and people like that. But the one that had the most number of clippings was a guy named Jack McLean. And I pride myself on being a hockey historian and I wrote the Toronto Maple Leaf Centennial book, but that was a name that I didn't know at that point. So because I adored my father, I wanted to find out why he would have been my dad's favorite player. So I decided that over the course of some time that I would go to the library, the Toronto Public Library. And in the bowels of the library is microfiche.

So it kind of dates it, as you can imagine. But I was able to go through all the newspaper clippings and find out about this Jack McClain. He played three years with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Second World War, so 1942-43 through to the conclusion of 1944-45. Quite an unusual story. The National Hockey League was a different place at that time. For example, there was one season where if the puck went into the crowd, because of the rubber shortages, you had to throw it back onto the ice. Can't even imagine that today, of course. They go through hundreds, it seems, through the course of the day. Because of the wartime, overtime had been stopped at that point and was not to be used during the regular season.

So at the conclusion of the game, a tie was a tie, or a win was a, excuse me, a win was a win, or a loss was a loss. And so the other problem was that the rosters were decimated by the Second World War. A lot of the boys had gone on to serve their country. So it left a lot of holes in the roster, and that's what gave Jack McLean his opportunity

to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the time he was a university student going to the University of Toronto taking an engineering course and so he would show up strictly for the games, never went to a practice, couldn't play, partly because the government prohibited from doing from university students crossing the border, but he played basically just home games until the exams were over and then maybe he could travel a little bit from there. So imagine just showing up, pulling your skates on and your equipment and playing the game and saying, we'll see you the next time we're at home.

And so it was a most unusual situation. So I found out as much as I could about Jack. His very first game, he steps onto the ice between two players who, maybe some will know, but Gay Stewart and Bud Poyle. Bud Poyle's son, David Poyle, was just entered into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. But between those two boys, Jack scored a goal and got two assists in his first game, a momentous beginning. As time went on, he just showed to be a really strong hockey player. He'd had a strong junior career, but nobody expected him to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And through the course of that first season, they had a skills competition in the early

part of 1943, raising money for aid to Russia. And Jack won the fastest skater competition. Later on that season he was the youngest Leaf player to score a playoff overtime goal. He was 20 years and 51 days old at the time. To this day it's still the youngest player to score an overtime playoff goal. He also scored the winning goal in the second longest overtime game with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the fourth overtime and he scored the winning goal. So you can see that even though it wasn't

someone that I'd ever heard of and most people wouldn't have, he actually had quite a good career. 1945 he was part of the Stanley Cup championship for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But his career had gone very well. His first season he did very well. There was some consideration for the Rookie of the Year award. His linemate Gay Stewart won it that year. The next year with many of his line, with many of his teammates and including his line mates going off to serve the war, he became much more of what we would call an enforcer, he could score some goals, but he stood up for his teammates. He was only 5'8 and 160 or 165 pounds, but he wasn't afraid to drop the gloves as they say as well.

So I found out as much as I could about Jack McClain and it became an obsession. I had to find out even more about him. Was he alive? Was he dead? If he was alive, where was he living these days? So it continued on and through the course of several years I finally decided, okay I don't have an answer, I'm gonna write letters to the sports editor of all of the major newspapers across Canada. And I did that. And I said, you know, if you know anything about this hockey player, Jack McLean, please call me. I put my phone number in and put my name in.

And the Toronto Sun published the letter. Nobody else did, but the Toronto Sun did. And that day that it was published, the phone rang off the hook from probably 6 in the morning right until I unplugged the phone at about seven o'clock that evening, non-stop. As soon as I hung up one, there was another call there. And I spoke to former teammates, scouts, people who had collected his autograph through the years, his first girlfriend, players he had coached, just all kinds of people from all walks of life who all told me little bits about Jack McLean, but nobody told me whether he was alive or dead and

nobody knew much about him. I would go to autograph sessions every once and again featuring players from that era. So I would, for example, if Ted Kennedy, Teeter Kennedy was signing autographs in Toronto at that point, I would try and stand near the end of the line and catch up with him so I could have a few moments. And so I would ask him, you know, do you know the name Jack McClain? Oh, of course I know Jack McClain. He was a hell of a player, great guy, we loved him. I said, oh yeah, and find out a little bit more. Oh, he sold me a greyhound dog. It was his brother. Whatever. Silly little

stories along the way. So I said, so do you know where Jack would be these days? Have no idea, but if you find out, let me know. And no, okay. And the same story was repeated. Bob Davidson, who was the captain of the team, same thing. And Howie Meeker, who didn't play at that era, but he came shortly thereafter but he's all I remember watching him skate he kind of ran on his skates he was really fast but damn I have no idea where he was good gracious alive you know whatever he said and so I didn't know much more than I had started off with but I by putting all of the clues together I realized that if Jack was alive, he was living in Ottawa. So, I did the next best thing. And again, you have to remember the time, but I went to the phone book.

Went to the Ottawa phone book and called every John McClain, Jack McClain, Jay McClain. And about 18 in, I finally got a guy and I said, Hi, is this Jack McClain who played with the Toronto Maple Leafs? Who wants to know? Well my name is Kevin Shea and I'm a hockey historian and I wonder if I can talk to you for a few minutes? Well if you have to. Okay so I thought I'd better pull out a plum here. So in 1943 you won the skills competition, aid to Russia, and you won the fastest skater. I forgot all about that. I want to watch.

It was a piece of shit. You can swear. You can swear. Oh, good. Thank goodness for that. So it was a piece of crap. Too late. OK.

Can you edit? Anyway, so I would talk a little bit of hockey with him and I could tell that he was starting to, his interest was starting to flag a little bit. So I said, listen, Jack, can I call you again sometime? He's, well, if you have to, I don't know that I can tell you much more. I said, well, I would like to do that if I can.

And then he said, what'd you say your name was? And I said, it's Kevin Shea. He said, oh, I used to know some Shea's. I said, oh yeah, well, it's not really a common name, but it's not uncommon either. Who did you know? I knew a guy named Howard Shea. And that stopped me in my tracks. Yeah, that was my father. And I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. How would you know Howard Shea? Don't you know? No, I don't.

He's my cousin. What? Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. He's your cousin. Why haven't I heard of you? He said, don't you know? No, I don't. He said, well, years and years years ago Howard's father committed suicide and

and so my mother talked to Howard's mother, my grandmother, and said, Jesse you've got eight kids and no husband and no job and how are you going to take care of them? You got to give those kids up. And my grandmother got her back up and said, look at here, don't you ever ever tell me that again and I never want to hear from you again." And as a result, the family split. So now all of a sudden, the Pandora's box had been opened and it had been quite an emotional conversation with Jack, so I was anxious to catch up with him again and again. And as the years went on, I talked to him every month, maybe even more than that. And his, not anger, but his fear, I don't know, his anxiety lessened and he

was more welcome to talk to me. I was able to tell him some things that he'd forgotten about and he told me an awful lot of things about hockey during the Second World War, about my family, about his own career and things of that sort. So I thought, okay, I've got to meet this man. He's now part of the family. We share a little bit of DNA. I've got to meet him. So on October 19th, 1996, I can't think the names off, or the dates off the top of my head.

October 19th, 1996, I'd been speaking to him for a year or a year and a half at that point. I made plans to go up and see Jack, and he said, well sure, come on up, but Red Lobster. I said, pardon? He said, if you're going to talk to me, you're taking me to Red Lobster. Well, okay, so for a vegetarian, probably wouldn't be my first choice, but if that's where he wants to go, it would be worth the visit for sure. So I went up and we had a great talk. I knocked on the front door and this elderly man answered the door and he was quite just

stooped over. His hair was, he's full head of hair, but it was white, white, white. I would never have recognized him. I only knew him from pictures from the mid-nights, or mid-forties rather, where he was a good looking guy, 165 pounds, wavy hair, quite popular with the fans and the ladies, and I would never have known, but I could tell by the voice this was Jack McClain.

So he welcomed me into his home. He was living on his own in Ottawa, a suburb of Ottawa in the peon, and we had a good good chat and then I could see he was starting to get a little antsy and pulling his shoes on. It was time to go to Red Lobster, so we went there. So we continued this trait for a number of times through the course of the year and the course of several years. And I learned much more about my family and much more about the Leafs and much more about

a man who was very quickly becoming a dear friend of mine. So it was very much a Tuesdays with Maury sort of scenario where 80-year-old Jack McClain and 40-year-old Kevin Shea were great friends, let alone related as well. So I had started to work with the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. And around that time, Ken Dryden was the president of Maple Leafs, of the Maple Leafs, and he decided he wanted to try and pull the alumni a little closer to the team. After the Harold Ballard era, they had, there had been a bit of a chasm. And so, he decided that he wanted to find out when the Maple Leafs began giving Stanley Cup rings. So he called his friend Ron Ellis, who worked at the Hockey Hall of Fame, a player who had

played through the 60s and 70s as well. And he called Ron up and said, look, we're trying to find out when did the boys, when did the team start to giving the boys Stanley Cup Championship rings, and I want to give rings to those who never received one but deserved one and Ron turned to me and said well you're the Toronto Maple Leaf historian Kevin can I leave you with this project and I was thrilled to do it. So I found out that the Leafs started to give out rings in 1948 so that meant that the teams of 1932, 1942, 1945 and 1947 did not give rings to their players. And I went to find the ones that hadn't received a ring, maybe some of the guys who played in 45 or 47 received one in 48, 49, whatever.

But I found out there were nine players, going back to Red Horner in 1932 in the Hall of Fame as well. And so I submitted the list to Ron and Mr. Dryden and they looked at the list and they knew all the names except for one. And who's this Jack McLean guy? I said, well, here, let me show you. And I showed them a picture of his name on the Stanley Cup and I showed them some press clippings and he agreed that that would be be legitimate as well. So what they decided to do was fashion a Stanley Cup championship ring from the one that Bill Borilko would have worn in 1948 as well. Bill Borilko's sister Ann Klicinich was working at the Hockey Hall of Fame so we borrowed Bill's ring from her and they made up with the nine rings We got the sizes from the families and we

made the rings. And Ron Ellis said, listen, we're going to have the Toronto Maple Leaf alumni award the rings to the boys, but I just thought maybe you might want to give the ring to Jack McClain. I said, are you kidding me? I would love it. That'd be great. So under the ruse of just a regular visit, I called him up and said, listen, I'd love to come up and see you, Jack. Would that be OK? And he said, of course, love to see you. And then he said, or then I said, rather,

I'd like to bring some friends. He said, well, I hope they're good looking. And OK, well, I guess. So I look forward to that. And I made the date. And we decided to go from there. So in fact, it wasn't friends of mine at all, they were the media. I called the Ottawa Sun and Citizen and the newspapers in Ottawa, called the radio stations, called the TV

stations as well and made plans and pitched them the story of this Stanley Cup champion from 1945 who'd be getting his ring in 19, sorry, in 2002, so 57 years later. And so they all bid on the story, and I'd been a publicist in my music industry career, so I kind of knew what to do. So I went to Jack's place, he was now living in a senior's residence, his daughter was downstairs and kept the media at bay. And Jack, I knocked on the door and we did the bro hug. And hey, Jack, great to see you. Great to see you, Kevin. Yeah, whatever. I thought you were bringing some friends.

I said, well, they are. They're down in the lobby. Do you mind if I bring them up? No, bring them up. So his daughter, Donna, opened the door and the media was all there. And wait a minute, what's going on here? All of a sudden there are TV cameras, mic flags, everything else that are

kinda rushing into the room and Jack, what's going on, what's going on? I said, Jack, I've got something I wanna give to you and something that you earned a long, long time ago and I handed him a little blue box, little blue velvet box. He lifted the lid and there in front of everybody he noticed it was his Stanley Cup ring. And so this very tough exterior all of a sudden melted pretty quickly and the tears came down his cheeks. The media did a nice interview with him. It was on the news that night and it was the lead story on the radio stations and the next morning it was

the front page of the sports sections as well. Nice pictures of Jack with his ring and you know his his maple leaf blue eyes but with the tears on his cheeks as well. So that was 2002 and I was very very pleased and and off we went. The next year you know I continue to see him on a monthly basis. The year or so. It was about September or October, and Jack said, when are you coming up? And I said, well, I'll be there before the snow flies, but I'm just a little bit busy right now. Hurry up here, hurry up.

OK, I will. But I didn't make it in time. October 14, 2003, Jack passed away. And so when I next saw him, I was doing his eulogy at his funeral. His family was there, a couple of neighbours. A former teammate, a guy named Dr. Bobby Kopp, was there, but very few people. And off we went.

So, you know, my life continued on. I thought about Jack a great deal. I really relished his friendship and thought about him a great deal. But that was the end of that story, or so I thought. 2007, my wife called me up at home, from home to my office, and said, hey Kevin, there's a package here for you. I said, okay, that wasn't unusual. I said, who's it from? She said, I don't know, I don't recognize the address. And so I got home and we had dinner

and watched Jeopardy. And then I remembered I had a package. I better open it. I opened it up, and there was a package inside. And I'm going to read it just because I want to make sure I get it right. There was a small package inside, and there was a letter, and it said, Dear Kevin, you made our father

very happy during the final years of his life. We decided as a family that you should have dad's Stanley Cup ring. No one deserved it more than you. Sincerely, John, Donna, and Bruce McLean, Jack's children. So to this day, I still wear a Jack McLean Stanley Cup ring. It's modest compared to the ones that they give out today, but it's so special to me, and it all started with the box that my dad had and the book you know through the years I've written 21 books now but this is the one that I've wanted to write through most of my life and I just just didn't get to it I wondered if anybody would care but if I ever told people they all said oh

you've got to write that book so I finally did so I wrote a book called Jack in the Box and that's the reason I was invited today, just to hopefully entertain you, but if not at least inform you of what happened between me and Jack McClain, my first cousin once removed, as we discovered through the years. So thank you very much for putting up with me. Thank you Mike. I think on behalf of everybody at TMLX17 that's a Hall of Fame story told by like a Hall of Fame worthy storyteller. Yeah I'm in the Hall of Fame I should let you know every day from 9

to 5. Anyway all good thanks Mike for having me here today. And thanks all of you as well. No, Kevin, thank you so much. Are you selling books here? If anybody wanted some, I've got some in the car. Okay, so if anyone here wants to buy Jack in the Box from Kevin Shea, find him. You're here. Kevin, thanks so much. Thanks. Amazing.

Thanks everybody. Elvis, what did you think of Kevin's story? Oh my gosh. That was, I did not expect that at all. I know. You look like you've been crying. It's not the first time I've cried on your podcast. You cried when George Michael died. I did. I did. I usually cry about Gord Downie on this stupid thing, but yeah, that was a great story. Thank you so much for that. Can I just add a Gord Downie twist to this? Of course. We're already crying, we can cry a little more. I'm looking at this guy over here. He looks like he's ready to go too.

Like I mean, that was an awesome story. So I was the the director of promotion at MCA Universal in the early 90s and when I was doing my research for for finding out about Jack McLean and the bowels of Toronto Public Library, sitting at the next desk was Gore Downey, who I knew very well because we had the Tragically Hip on the label. He was doing research on the Bill Barilko story to do the song 50 Mission Cap, and I was doing my research on Jack McClain. The irony is certainly we were very good friends at the time. I ended up writing Bill Barilko's book through the years

as well and talking to Gore Downey about that book. So yeah, there we go. Amazing. Okay, thank you, Kevin. You're gonna bring, Dave Charles is gonna come in and sit here. Kevin, thanks so much. That was awesome.

That was amazing. You should just end it now. We're very lucky, Elvis, because the gentleman who saw Jack McClain play is here on the mics. David Schultz, how is retirement treating you buddy? Not bad, not bad. Although I will say we don't usually crack open the Great Lakes beer until five o'clock in the afternoon, noon Saturday just as far as that wonderful

story Kevin's told I will say this I started covering the Leafs in 1987 which was well not the height of the Harold Ballard era probably the nadir of the era so I was quite familiar with players who only showed up part of the time, but But thanks for my Mike I really appreciate it now that the golf season is over I need another excuse to sneak out of the house. So a little housekeeping Let's do a little housekeeping before Anthony Petrucci jumps on that mic Everybody here gets a free meal from Palma pasta Delicious Italian food. So I believe this table here, I believe the great FOTM Hall of Famer, Lieve Fumke, will give you a ticket and you could redeem it for, so Lucas I'm thinking of

you, oh he's got his ticket, look at this guy, he knows what he's doing. David Schultz, you're gonna grab a ticket, get a meal? I am a sports writer. I'm well versed in freebies. I've already got mine. Don't you know the motto of the Professional Hockey Writers Association? Where's mine? But it's really great to see you. It's been a while. Good to see you. Grab a Great Lakes. I know you're a big fan. What are you doing in retirement? Are you doing anything or you fully retired? I am fully retired He's in PEI half the year. I play golf and I took up golf seriously for first time this year Nice. Before that I was always three or four times a year So not even not even a little bit of writing. No that ended About a year ago. My old boss wound up with the New York Times.

So she used to call me from time to time to do a story and I didn't mind, it was US cash and I didn't have to exert myself too much. But then the Times bought the Athletic and sent, a la Globe and Mail in 1990, sent the Sports Department out the door and the globe sort of brought theirs back a year later but readers I don't think ever quite realized that but yeah I will say this as a guy who loves reading about like sports media and how you know what's going on with Rogers for example and the hockey deal and all that stuff you know there's not enough people in the mainstream

media covering that anymore I think we're picking up the slack, Elvis, but I miss David Schultz's perspective. I don't think there's there's not enough people in the mainstream media period anymore. Not enough readers. Yeah, it's a completely different scene now than even when I left, although the the media biz was going down the toilet probably the last eight years or so of my career. The 2008 recession kind of that was the coup de grace for the media. Well listen good to see you. Because of Kevin Shea's amazing story taking an hour and 20 minutes we're gonna really cycle quick. He says it's only an hour and a half. I was supposed to be the bad guy. Oh yeah. Oh Mike, I was going to say that would have been a great story for my book, Tales from

the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only it was a little too long. Mine was what I call very short anecdotes in the great bathroom book. I saw Anthony Petrucci and I eyeballed him and I pointed to him and I directed him here. Oh, he's right. He's over there. You know, he looks better with a beard, right? He's had a beard before.

I don't know. I feel like, okay. So he dies that beard for sure. David's going to give his headphones to Anthony. Anthony, come on in because Dave Charles has a message for you. Dave, what was it like seeing Kevin Shea? You knew him. Oh, it was like a reunion.

He was working for a record company, MCA. Yeah, there's a song about that working for MCA. We started a little radio station you might have heard of called Q107. Q107. Back in 1977 and two years later we started a consulting firm that went international and we would always be in touch. We loved our music, we loved our sports. And by the way, I'm sorry to tell you that I'm a Boston Bruins fan forever. Boo! No, no, I have an excuse because I'm from the Hammer, I'm from Hamilton, and my dad,

my dad bought me my first hockey kit when I was six years old, and because Hamilton is a Tigercat town, he said I'm gonna get you the gold and the black, and the only one's Boston Bruins. So I was a Boston Bruins fan, I didn't know. So I chose the Boston Bruins, and I followed their whole history.

And I went to high school. I wanted to be, Harry Neal, by the way, Harry Neal, a side story, was my history teacher at Hill Park High School. What? Yeah, Harry Neal. And Harry Neal scouted me and recommended me to the Detroit Red Wings as a young goalie. But I got an Achilles tendon injury and that was the end of my hockey career. I couldn't walk for

about a year or so. Look, I want to just say for my money, give me Bob Cole and Harry Neal calling a Saturday night Leafs Habs game. Let's give it up for Harry Neal. Okay, I also have you on the mic, not just to catch up, you're a beloved FOTM. Thank you, Dave Charles. By the way, who did you bring with you today? My wife. Is this her first time? No, second time, second time. We came for the food.

I knew I recognized her. We came for the food, by the way. So let's finish the housekeeping before I let you address the man who's hosting us tonight, Anthony Petrucci. The Petrucci family, of course, owns Palma Pasta. So before we celebrate Anthony, I want to let people know there's fresh craft beer from

Great Lakes Brewery in this blue tub I'm pointing to. So not only is there fresh craft beer, but we have Hop Pop, which has no alcohol in it, so all you FOTMs in recovery can have a drink. I'm thoughtful. What is an FOTM? Get out of here! Okay, so Anthony, thank you for hosting us at TMLX17, buddy. And thank you for feeding us. I'm looking at the big crowd we got here. Everybody's gonna have a meal. Did you make enough food for everybody? Absolutely. Still lots. So I want Dave Charles to address you directly because I was chatting with Dave and he had a message for you. So Dave, Anthony Petucci,

the man behind Palma's Kitchen, Palma Pasta, go for it. Oh look, I married an Italian, Anthony. Rita Cugini, my wife. And she knows Italian food, right? And I'll tell you, your egg parmesan is just unbelievable. We have people over and said, oh, we cooked this food, but it's not your food. But no, your food is the best. We always patronize your store in Oakville and coming here today to meet you is fantastic.

So we'll hang out later, okay? I appreciate it, thank you so much. Really, really good. And I like what you've done to the room. I saw the Godfather a few days ago and I And I like what you've done to the room. I saw the Godfather a few days ago, and I was looking for the cellophane on the floor, you know. But I think we're safe.

Anthony, really good food. Thank you. Yeah, that's a good point. Last time we were here in this very room, it was unfinished. And it was unfinished the year before when we were in this very room. It took a while to get here.

But it looks beautiful. It's almost a few years in the planning and process and everything. So we're 90% there. What is the end goal for the purpose of the room? It's gonna be the dining hall is gonna be upstairs. Everything, all the chairs and tables are gonna be

not brought upstairs, but they're gonna remove downstairs. We're gonna put groceries downstairs and just make this a food hall, eventually getting our liquor license and then retail liquor license as well. And then we'll put an espresso bar in the corner there. Are you going to sell Great Lakes beer when you get that license? Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I want to say before I let Elvis share these sentiments, I just want to say thank you for being such an amazing partner of Toronto Mike. You've been there for years now. Every guest who drops by, and Kevin Shea, Dave Charles,

these guys all know it, they all leave with a large frozen lasagna, and they all rave about it to a T. Everybody's like, this is the best lasagna. Is Peter Gross in the room? He's downstairs. He's downstairs getting more lasagna, probably. So we'll get to you.

Another sports guy getting free food. He's trying to make a deal. So thank you for hosting us today. Everybody love the new location here? So we are gonna cycle quick because we're gonna get everybody on this show. So Dave, any final words this festive season before I pass your mic to Larry Fedorik? I just want you to know that because you are so popular, I'm head of security now. You know I need that. For protection. Listen I just I think that all of us in this room are here because of one man. This is Mike. Mike. You know I have been a guest on the show. First of all I was suspicious. I said, Toronto Mike what's going on here? I you know and I thought the worst until

I got to the show. And I did a show, went for an hour and 22 minutes. Story of my life. And anyway, did two more episodes beyond that. But this guy is a legend. The way he treats people, the way he treats our industry, the variety of stories, this is real entertainment. This is real hanging out and getting together.

So I think we all owe him a round of respect and applause today. Mike, thank you. Maybe some money too. One last word before we put Larry Fedoruk on this mic. When you were a guest for the first time, I did a little guessing game with listeners and FOTM's. How old do you think Dave Charles is? They said, oh he probably is close to 50 at this point late 50s maybe he's maybe just touched 60 would you share with us your actual chronological age yeah I turned 80 this year looking good sir you look way younger than. I owe this to my wife Rita. Well you're lucky man, you're lucky man. So thank you Dave Charles, we're bringing in Larry Fedoruk. Also is Sir Jerry in the house? Sir Jerry, you're gonna take the

Anthony Pacucci spot but thank you again Anthony for feeding us today. Thanks Michael. Elvis and I are gonna try to remember to actually eat because we didn't eat last year last I've never eaten During one of these things I've purchased food downstairs as I will today, but I've never actually eaten So that's the goal right we beat yeah, we're gonna try to eat today So we'll keep our eye on the clock You know what it just bring Kevin back up for a couple more stories And we can just like go downstairs and have a whole fucking three course meal be awesome Can I say it was long, but it was awesome right? Oh it was fantastic. Yeah I mean it was epic.

Epic. I don't like using that word but it was. So thank you Anthony. You're the best. Sir Jerry's gonna take your headphones there, sit down. I don't even... one of the things... Anthony really is the best. He really is fantastic. So Larry, one of the things about having a co-host who does not listen to Toronto Miked, have you listened in 2024? No, I only listen to things that you tell me to listen to and you, I clearly haven't had any good episodes for me to listen to this year. So I'll say this before we catch up with Larry and Sir Jerry, that rhymes by the way. Over a million downloads in 2024, but none from a certain home in North Oshawa. Zero. Zero. I listen when you tell me to listen to something.

How do you even get invited to a TMLx event? I ask you that. When you ask me to come on the show, I always wonder why. Do you know what the L stands for in TMLx? Listener. Listener. Right. You're disqualified. There's too many acronyms and you don't put acronyms for everything. Too many acronyms but only one sweater like the one to my left here. Larry. There we go. A Christmas Toronto Mike tradition. I wear the Run DMC sweater. And you were even, the first

time we recorded at Palmer's Kitchen it was downstairs and it was like a small, they just carved off a little section for us. Yeah. And you, Elvis, you were my co-host But the first time we recorded at Palmer's Kitchen, it was downstairs, and it was like a small, they just carved off a little section for us. And Elvis, you were my co-host that day as well. But Larry Fedorik, I remember you at that event with the sweater, I love seeing the sweater. Right, and this is, believe it or not, where would you find one of these years ago, winners.

Like, in winners- The Cloverdale Mall. No, winners, winners, the Clover is a run. The Cloverdale Mall. No, Winners. Winners, the Cloverdale Mall one? The Cloverdale Mall one that's still there. It's the only store that remains at Cloverdale Mall, by the way. I think it's the last one there. No, to be discussed, to be discussed.

Actually, it's on my agenda, and you talked about that. But who did you bring with us today? With you today? This is my brother Greg. Greg Fedorek. Absolutely, and his partner Margaret. Margaret. Nice to see you guys.

Larry, have you ever met a beetle? Have I kind of, yes. I was in the same room with Paul McCartney once. Wait, were you at the Air Canada Center with Paul McCartney? No, that wasn't the, there was that, but. That was actually a good one.

That was good, I'll give you that. Now, I'm wondering if Kevin Shea was connected to this. Were you connected to the Paul McCartney movie and live... He had a live tour movie and an album that he put out that he was using to promote environmental causes. This is still with Linda. Let's bring him on. Have a story.

Come on. I need a fifth mic. Because you see, Kevin Shea, when I worked at CFTR, the music library was the corner. And right next to the corner was the promotions office, which was me. And so Kevin Shea would come in. And he'd bring the songs into Henry or whoever was in the music lab.

And then he'd come over to stick his head in my office and talk promotions possibly for the latest releases whatever and so he and I go back a ways before all his sports distraction when he was in the music business so that was kind of that's that's amazing so your story about being in the same room as Paul McCartney isn't gonna measure up to Sir Jerry's story probably not has anyone in this room before we get right back to you, has anyone in this room heard Sir Jerry Levitan on Toronto Mic'd? Okay, hands up, you gotta make noise there, okay, okay, whoo! Alright. So, they're doing a press conference for the movie and Paul

McCartney comes in and I get invited to the press conference, there's maybe 30 of us in a room, smaller than this room but maybe by only about half, and I get invited to the press conferences, maybe 30 of us in a room, smaller than this room, but maybe by only about half. And I'm there, I'm the only guy with a camera, and I'm like, uh, media, and I'm like, and the guy goes, yeah, everybody's media, no cameras allowed. So I put the camera away, and I'm sitting there, and like, uh, and Paul McCartney comes out, and he and I were wearing almost the identical jacket. This is my Beatle thrill story, like, that's the best I got. Members only. And he looks over at my jacket and goes and that was it he pointed at me and I was thrilled he was like he gave me the you know hey. So that's it that's the whole story. So Larry

I have to talk air fryers with you. Okay. And I want to talk for a moment about Cloverdale Mall, a particular store. Sure. But because I don't think you Larry have had a chance to listen to Sir Jerry on Toronto Mike. So this might be a mind blow to you. And I know it's a mind blow to Elvis because he hasn't listened to a Toronto Mike episode since Gino Vanelli. I know. I love Gino Vanelli. That was a great episode. Save it for later. In a

moment I got a Gino Vanelli mind blow. Can we talk about Black Cars? I don't feel like we haven't talked about it enough. We are going to in this episode. I don't know how this, my Paul McCartney story is gonna be top but give it a shot. Okay so Sir Jerry are you able to top that mediocre Paul McCartney story from Larry Fedorik? No. I never got a finger. It's a point. It's funny because he's got two Beatles stories.

So Elvis, Sir Jerry's mind blow is a John Lennon story. But he's got a great Paul McCartney story. So what I'll do is I urge everyone to go back to that episode, but maybe in less time than Kevin Shea took, are you able to share with us... In a nutshell, you met John Lennon? Really? Were you in the same room as John Lennon? In a nutshell. Yeah, it was last Thursday at Closerdale.

Shout out to Ridley Funeral Hall. And Jesus spoke to me. Oh, okay. So here's a short version. When I was 14, a long time ago, 1969, John and Yoko were rumored to be in Toronto. Chum FM, whoever the DJ was, said that someone called in.

Oh, 1050 Chum. No, it was Chum FM. Oh. It was Chum FM. Okay. And at the time, it was, you know, there'd be no commercials for a half an hour and they play half a side of an album. Anyways, it was a Sunday night.

Beatles were still together, in essence, starting to do Abbey Road and ultimately breaking up. And as a Beatle freak, I presumed he'd be at the King Edward Hotel. I'm making this a very short version. Yeah, well, the long, wonderful version is on short of mic. Totally. And went to the King Edward Hotel on a Monday morning, went to the top floor and picture this, I'm 14 and I thought I should look like a reporter and I didn't but I knocked on every door woke up a lot of people and ultimately a cleaning lady said are you looking for the beetle and I said yeah

she said he's in room whatever don't tell anyone went to that door Yoko no's daughter from a previous marriage was lying on the floor colouring, and I knew I found my hero. I waited a little bit, knocked on the door, it opened up a bit, and I said Canadian news, and I barged in, and was looking at the floor, and it was a big suite, and then I see a tripod, and I down and I look up and as close as this Elvis this is Elvis. Elvis right I did not remember Elvis. As close as Elvis is to me sat John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the middle of a CBC interview and you know I sat there for a while he thought it funny. I took movies in his face I blocked the CBC and then everybody left there weren't a lot of people in the room

And I took my time and I brought the infamous two virgins album John Yoko naked on The front and the back and he was buzzed that I imagined that today if a 14 year old kid went a pop star, you know, and they had a naked ass, like, anyways. He thought it was cool, and he did an autograph and whatever, and I took my time leaving, and I went by the bedroom, and John was trying to push up this big sea chest, and he said, lad, come over here here give me a hand helped him and we were literally nose to nose and I said hey John can I come back later with a tape recorder do an interview and let

kids listen to it yeah great Yoko Yoko comes in and the 14 year old me is in the bedroom and said kid has this great idea that's why we're doing this they set it up with Derek Taylor, you guys probably remember him, he was the Apple PR guy. I came back at six o'clock, word was now out that John Lennon was here in Toronto and the street, King Street, was pandemonium. The Chum DJ came there with a big tape recorder, because they didn't have a tape recorder.

We went up, I sat down, Derek Taylor said, John Yoko just getting dressed. And it was at that moment that I realized I hadn't prepared one question, because I was on this crazy high. Then John sits down, he says, hey hey you want a picture? Yoko take a picture of the lad. So there's a picture of me and John taken by Yoko and then he says ask away. Very similar approach to how Mike asks his questions and for 30 minutes or so I was talking to my hero about all kinds of stuff and then it I ended it and there were reporters from around the world sitting outside the room

from the New York Times and whatever because this was the first time John was on North American soil for about a couple years and air all the press were waiting for him to talk about the war in Vietnam, like to take a stand. The Beatles are going to say something. And one of those reporters were allowed in, it was just me. And after me, I sat there for a bit and we talked about stuff and he went to the airport to go to Montreal to do the bed in. He was originally gonna do it here in Toronto, but he didn't know about Palma's Kitchen. So, so.

This guy gets it. Palma's Kitchen, P-A-L-M-A Kitchen. May I have the audience, the live audience at Palma's Kitchen, we're gonna do a vote. Who had the better I met a beetle story, okay? Is it Larry Fedora, clap if it's Larry. Oh wow. Yeah.

Or is it Sir Jerry Levitan, clap if it's Sir Jerry. Woo! Clap if it's Sir Jerry. Woo! Grazie, grazie. I mean, I kind of want you to listen to this episode. Many people said it's kind of like Forrest Gump, the way the story evolves.

Oh yeah, I'm at the Walrus, this is my mind blow. This is my associate producer, Hamilton Mike. Say hello to Hamilton Mike. This guy, they made a short, maybe Jerry should tell this, but he got nominated for an Oscar. Yeah. So for years I had all this material and it's not like I showed it to that many people but a 30 minute tape and... Was it video or audio? Audio, although I had Super 8 footage, like literally going, zooming in and out of John's

nostrils. And people tried to do stuff, approached me to do stuff. HBO right at the beginning wanted to do a documentary, CBC, whatever, and I just never was comfortable with it. And then one day I thought, you know, I'm going to do something wacky for my kids. And it was right at the beginning of YouTube. And I thought, I'm going to make this nutty thing and dump it on YouTube. And I knew a couple of very young visual artists who never made a film before. And I said, hey, do you want to, let's edit it down to five minutes and do a cartoon.

And that's basically what we did. And before I knew it, within a month or so of it being finished, word got out and we were being nominated, winning at festivals around the world. And ultimately one day someone from Hollywood called up and said, you're shortlisted for an Oscar. And I said, get the... Shut the front door.

Yeah, shut the front door. Yeah, shut the front door. And then we were nominated and went to the Oscars and all kinds of crazy stuff. What the fuck is going on here? This is crazy. Yeah, I know. It's amazing. And you wouldn't believe who catered the Oscars dinner. It used to be Wolfgang Pahlmer.

It was Pahlmer's kitchen. It was happening for Dowman's kitchen. P-A-L-M-A kitchen in Mississauga, Ann Oakville. So here's another mind blow for Elvis, and this is, I see Joe from TO is here. Hello, Joe! So Joe, like myself, is a new Toronto resident, okay? Sir Jerry is a new Toronto resident. And I got turned on to Sir Jerry being in my hood by Jeff Rogers. And Jeff Rogers just turned me on to this Winnipeg musician who's been traveling the country talking to students about his... He contemplated suicide and he talks about his story and these kids are giving him their suicide notes. This

is an episode from Tuesday, so I want to shout out the Rob Nash episode, because Rob was in the basement, because Jeff Rogers said, this guy's only in town for a few days, let's get him in the basement. So thank you, Jeff Rogers, for introducing me to Sir Jerry,

and Rob Nash. Why are you Sir Jerry? The late queen knighted me. For my, no, I have this children's entertainment persona. Tell us about that. Well, right when I was doing the film, I just started making these songs, created a little band, and we were regulars at the Drake Hotel and then other places, and it was quite hot for a while. I had this wacky sort of Monty Python type of band, and I was Sir Jerry with a top hat

and stuff, and we would bring joy to children. Well, we need more joy. So I'm glad I met you. Your story is... Same here. Everyone who listens, it's one of their top 10 episodes of all time. Sir Jerian, you were amazing telling your story. You were Kevin Shay-esque in the way you told that story. And I'm glad you're here, man.

You made it to the Trek to Mississauga. Hey, I'm happy to be here. One of the wackiest things, there's so many strange strange incredible things about that story I'm still in touch with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon and I've collaborated with Sean and a number of things and Yoko and they Sean says it's his favorite interview my interview is his favorite interview with his dad because he would listen to it when he was a young teenager imagining what it would be like talking to his dad as a kid. Wow, that's a good point. Because obviously John's talking to you like a kid.

Well, because he's 14 and no one else would have been that young. That's really cool. I was gonna ask you if you ever talked to John after that or I know just Yoko. I saw him twice after because there was a, you guys might know this guy, he's passed on, his name was Joe Woodhouse, he was a PR guy for Capitol Records. And he was in the room at the time, but he would tip me off. The other two times John came to Toronto, so the Rock and Roll revival, and then the Science Centre. In fact, I tried to get the Lenin organization to say something about the moving of the Science Centre because of its connection with John Lenin. So amazing. We're going to cycle fast here, but did you get some pasta? Not yet, but I will soon. Do it now, Okay, and help yourself to a beverage. But everybody sir, Jerry. Thank you. Okay, so I'm fucking exhausted already. I know we're just warm up warm up here.

So Leslie Taylor is gonna jump on for a minute because I want her on the mic when I talk to Larry Fedorik about a very controversial subject that is air fryers. And anybody here who has to go somewhere, Katie, nice to see you here. Look at you. Is Allen's wide here? Oh, he was getting food, I think. I saw him here. Is he here? Okay, because I want Katie and I want to...

So, Leslie. Yes. Thank you for baking cookies for us. Oh, you're very welcome. Please, ma'am. So, thank you. Really, that's above and beyond, your baked cookies.

And if everybody... It's what I do. If you listen to the Father's Day episode, 2024 Father's Day episode, Leslie Taylor was in my basement, we talked about her dad, it was amazing. I actually wanted to listen to that episode because I do enjoy Leslie's story about her. Elvis, you gave me my first on it well it wasn't really on air but on microphone stadium experience in Oshawa so that was a lot of fun. I got to live out a dream so always appreciate that. So Leslie you're

here right now because I'm going to ask Larry Fedorik, yes, the host of Later That Same Life which is a podcast everybody here should subscribe to it's charming AF Later that same life write that down Katie later that same life. She's writing it down. She's like a podcast reporter It's interesting. Okay, so Larry What are your thoughts on air fryers? Well, I Just entered the era of the air fryer in the last, I'd say, eight weeks. And I've gone through 63 pounds of potatoes. So it makes fries, that's what I know, and that's why I got one, because I thought I'm

going to make fries. But I'm working kind of on the script for my year-end show, which I always do a year-end review, and I'm marking down significant events of 2024 in my life, and one of them was going to be I got an air fryer. It's game-changing. Because it's changed the way I eat, it's changed the way I cook, it's changed my life. I can't believe it, and I resisted it for so long.

I bucked the trend, because I survived survived how many people survived the breadmaker fad of the 90s How many people still have one some cousin Jano survived? It's the size of the one it should survive Do you really wow is it the size of like a window air conditioner because I remember So David Schultz got a new one. It started free, but it's just much more compact. Oh my god. It's a quicker machine.

I recommend it. I survived that. I survived the crockpot era. I survived a lot of small appliance fads, but the air fryer finally got to me one day, because I saw one on sale, and I'm like, well, at this price I can't resist. And now I'm just an air fryer person. Holy shit what have I been missing? What? I mean this is the content. If it's just fries man. Unbelievable. So can I ask you so I love fries but they're very very bad for you.

Not well. So they're less bad for you when you air fry them right? Okay so Moose Grumpy says they're less poisonous if you air fry them. Right because you're using maybe like two teaspoons of oil. Okay so just for a moment Larry because I listened to your episode of Larry later that same life where you espouse the virtues of the air fryer and asked Monica here I'm like babe we're getting an air fryer okay we have to get an air fryer but Leslie what are your thoughts on air fryer? So well I wrote a post just this week about why you should not buy...

Oh, I know. Why you should not buy your spouse an air fryer. I have to say, I'm air fryer agnostic. I don't have one. I don't really see the need for one personally. But if you want to buy one for yourself, I am all for it. But I'm going to be really gender stereotypical here. Men, do not buy your wife an air fryer for it. But I'm going to be really gender stereotypical here. Men do not buy your wife an air fryer for Christmas. They do not want one. If she wanted one, she bought it for herself.

It's a trick. It's a trick. Shari, what do you think of that? So, buy your own air fryer. Everyone go out buy your own air fryer. Just don't buy one for your significant other. I don't know buying a significant other, buying a woman a small appliance. I don't even think that's should... No, it's a bad idea. Yeah, terrible. So air fryer included in that and I'm single guy live alone so and I enjoy cooking. I enjoy the flipping and the sauteing and the chopping and the thing. I enjoy all that, but with the air fryer I can still do some of that, but then it does the rest. It's just, and people say air fryer, it's a convection oven. It's a hot air convection oven. It really all it is. The technology has been around for 80 years, but about 20 years ago somebody figured out how to get it into a compact little machine on the countertop that won't burn your house down. That's all that happened and made it affordable and

and there it is. So get, are you gonna, do you have one yet Elvis? I was just gonna say that someone here has a Stanley Cup ring from 1948. I just you know. Did you buy one for your wife is what I'm wondering. An air fryer? Yeah. I'm just trying to get you and Leslie to go at it. Come on, I'm trying to create some friction here. So Leslie, you know I got to get a hundred more people on, but you baked the cake, literally. Yes. That's not a, you know, I say that as an expression to watch this record, right? So you baked the cake for my 50th, which was TMLX 15. I saw Larry there, I saw his brother. Yeah, a lot of friendly faces there. So thank you again for that. Thank you for

the cookies. Bring Elvis and I a cookie if you don't mind. And are we allowed to ask Leslie to bring us a cookie? Probably not. Probably not. Too late. Okay. Ask Morgan. Morgan, go get your dad a cookie. You know you can bake a cake in an airfryer. Yeah, you can. You can do... Okay. Okay so you can buy you can bake a cake in an airfryer for Mike for his next TMLX. Okay all right. Sorry I'm getting my cookie from Morgan. Oh thank you Morgan. Morgan oh thank you for reminding me. Morgan is selling earrings that she made with her mommy. Morgan where are you

set up in this room? Okay so. I'm wearing a pair of Morgan's earrings right now. Yeah I just bought some. They actually look really good on you. Thank you. Okay so Morgan have you made some sales? Do you want to go on the mic that Leslie's on and just tell us how it's going? Can you come on the mic that Leslie's on and tell us how it's going? Yeah real quick pass it. Don't drop the camera give that to your brother. We're gonna do this. Okay put it on on his neck Good idea now come over to where Leslie is Leslie. We're gonna get her on that mic And just a quick update here. So you can hear me Morgan right in front of that mic How is it going? Have you sold any earrings? Yeah, how many pairs of earrings have you sold?

well approximately Like a proc. What does that word mean? Like five pairs, maybe? Okay, how much does it cost to buy a pair of earrings? Five dollars. Okay, so anyone in this room right now can go to you over there and for five dollars they can have a pair of earrings

like the pair that Leslie is wearing right now. Right on the mic? Okay, so what if they don't have cash? Do you accept credit card? Okay, so you accept tap? No joke, everybody. Monica's got like an app on her phone or something. They accept tap. You're going to buy a pair for your dog? Well, I feel like earrings would be appropriate to buy for your significant other more so than an air fryer. 100%.

What if you buy both? Put the earrings in the air fryer? So thank you again to Leslie. Great FOTM, it's awesome seeing you here, you're amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you Leslie. I want to ask Larry about a certain store, but I'm going to see who's next in my list. A lot of people are still eating, I don't want to bother them. But I'm going to ask if, are you eating right now Michael Lang? Okay. But I'm going to ask if you eating right now Michael Lang? Okay.

Ian service. Come on over here. We can't do about Ian. So Larry, I just want to say with a classic Hall of Fame, Stanley Cup ring story, and a John Lennon Academy Award winning experience. Right.

I'm happy to bring air fryers to the conference. Well, what I'm more interested in... I'm happy to contribute. And Monica can vouch to this, we like going to the Cloverdale Mall to go to the home hardware. And by the way, shout out to Robert Lawson, we'll get to him in a minute, but he works at the Cloverdale Mall. So at the home hardware in the Cloverdale Mall, there's like discounted chocolate and stuff. Can you just speak to this unique experience? How many people like home hardware? I it's just this unique little place because the big the big hardware stores like the the Ronas and the Home Depot's they went big box and if you're a single person with

an airfryer living in an apartment apartment and you need a screw for the cupboard handle, try go to Home Depot, you know. I need one of these. aisle four. Where in the two kilometer long aisle four would I find this particular screw? And then they give you a bag of ten and you're like, can I just buy one for seven cents? So the thing about home hardware is which and I don't know their strategy but I think it's a great thing is that they're in malls and they're in neighborhoods where there's condos and apartments and they're because we need hardware and instead of just being this

hardware store with light bulbs and screwdrivers and shit they they have like discount back scrunchers and KitKat bars and bags of sponges for a dollar fifty. I bought a jacket there once, I almost bought a hammock because they were on sale and I was like I live in an apartment but a hammock would be because they had hammocks. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It's the most amazing living room. It's like a dollar store with a hardware store. I don't know I'll get more details from Robert Lawson in a minute, but we've been threatening that they're gonna blow up that place, right? It's gonna be a new

development and everybody has to get out. Yeah, what I heard is that it's going to be everybody out and then they're gonna build a huge condo, condos, condos? Yeah, huge condo. And then at the bottom of the condo will be the return of a Cloverdale mall of some fashion. But home hardware won't be able to afford that rent. Probably not, I don't know. Oh my goodness. We're going to get a further update on that from Robert Lawson in a moment here. But everybody subscribe to Later That Same Life.

Thank you, Larry Fedorek. Trips and Home Hardware, Air Fryers, it's all there on that podcast. Brian, I know you got to go and groom your dog and that is also not a euphemism, okay? He's literally going to groom his dog dog what kind of podcast is this yeah teeth cleaning so I've been corrected you could do that on the mic Brian come on so Brian you're gonna take the Larry Fedorik spot Larry's gonna take off his headphones here we have to where he's brushing his dog's teeth is that's what's happening yeah he's gonna explain he's gonna think I want to say hello to the man I work closely with Ian, keeping these files online.

Ian is the guy who can vouch for the fact that I've had over a million downloads in 2024. Other than myself, he's the only one who sees the server log. But you finally looked. It took you all year to look. Because Humble and Fred told me their number and I said I want to know my number. So thank you for just, you know, I pay your invoice but it's a great joy to partner with you on this. I had to choose between Spotify and Ian service and I said there's no choice to be made I want to work with Ian. I feel like Ian's been around like the longest. Possibly. I don't know Stephanie

Wilkinson's in the room. Stephanie predates the podcast. Definitely. But I was on the air with Elvis once that was cool. Yeah you came over podcast. Definitely. But I was on the air with Elvis once. That was cool. In your basement. Oh yeah. You came over for an out? Okay. That was a great moment. That was a long time ago. And then he asked me all kinds of sports stuff and I'm like, I don't know. You're not a sports guy. Not a sports guy. Okay. Well, Brian Gerstein is a sports guy. If you need to know the lines on the game

or whatever. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to actually put, I'm going to put Ty the Christmas guy. Is he in the room? Oh, he's getting food. Okay. So Ty the Christmas guy and Al Grego will be on the mic in a moment. But Al is going to take the spot from Ian. But Ian, I just want to say thank you. You're welcome. And happy holidays to you and your family. I also noticed you're broadcasting live today? Yeah. On the platform that I built.

I got the wifi login. Oh yeah. So live.torontomic.com, which is where we're live streaming this TMLX event. You platform that I built. I got the Wi-Fi login. Oh yeah, so live.torontomike.com, which is where we're live streaming this TMLX event. You built that for us. I did. With my own two hands. I look really good. You do. That's great. You know what? This partnership is just wonderful, right? And you're grew up in Mississauga. I did just up the street. So Al Grego's taking there but Brian Gerstein I have a oh gosh I've loaded up a song for Brian and here I am not playing. Oh no I know what's coming. Property in the six dot com's own Brian Gerstein.

How are you doing buddy? I'm doing very well. And before we start Mike, a bottle of holiday cheer. So there you go. Hey, Monica's smiling in the back right now because she's going to be drinking this tonight I'm sure. You can save it for New Year's too if you want. Wow.

I mean, it's amazing. Thank you so much, Brian Gerstein. I hope everybody knows when they come on the mics, you got to give me a gift. Well, that's a teaser for Ty the Christmas guy. But how are things going for you? You have a new Maisie's not new anymore. But when did you get Maisie the dog? Maisie turned four years old on November the 14th. And I will be leaving a two o'clock sharp because she's due for her dental cleaning.

So they basically do not put her under anesthetic and they just lock her in and they just go tooth by tooth and they scrape the hell out of her teeth. Have you had that procedure done Elvis? No never never I've never heard of this thing at all. Any hope for a return of Major League Baseball to Montreal? I was a little bit hopeful with the Olympic Stadium being a temporary home for them because Tampa is not getting their stadium because of what happened with that hurricane so they're delayed for a year next year but the brilliance of Montreal they are putting more money into their roof over there so they are busy doing work on it fixing it and the Olympic Stadium is not unfortunately able to accommodate the Tampa Bay team for

2025 season so yeah Brian you brought me gifts. Did you also bring a gift for Anthony or did I dream that? Oh, no, I did. Yeah, it's over there. Okay Yeah, same thing now you have to get a bottle for Anthony your supports been amazing You were a sponsor for many years property Propertyinthesix.com, that jingle by Illvibe, also the composer of the opening theme. I want to say thank you and happy holidays and thanks for making the trek here today. More sports media next year, okay? I want more podcasts. You know, I thought Stephen Brunt, I should give him a pass. Oh, by the way, breaking news. There's a flight on its way to Toronto and I think Juan Soto is on this flight. Have you heard anything about this? Okay, actually Anne, would you mind coming on and saying hi? Yeah, because I have never met you before. So as soon as Ty the

Christmas guy gets here, he's gonna take Anne's spot. Your job Al is to see when that happens. Have a seat, stick on the headphones. So is anybody in this room at their first TMLx event? Put up your hand if you're at... Okay, several people. Jim Shedden has never been at a TMLx. Oh my goodness gracious, we're honored. So that's amazing to have first timers. Hey Ty, don't start eating yet because you're gonna come here in like two minutes. Yeah, go sit over here. So get right on that mic. Please tell us, this is somebody at their first TMLx event, who the hell are you? Okay my name is Anne and I'm, this is my first event but I've been a longtime listener of Mike's, Toronto Mike and I happen to

be in this part of the city because you can't get anywhere in this city. So I thought... Those damn bike lanes. Don't worry, Brad Bradford's on his way. He's ripping him out on his way here. Wonderful. Anyhow, I was at this end of the city so it was just good timing so here I am and I'm so pleased to meet Mike. When did you discover the podcast that is Toronto Mike? Oh, long time ago. I, listen, I, it interested me because I was always a follower of City Pulse News and all of that. Well, Peter Gross is in the room. Yeah, I think I see him somewhere back there. I feel like now that you said City Pulse, I need to play something here. Hold on. The following program contains adult themes, nudity in coarse language, viewer and parental discretion advised.

Music's my ears at that age. The voice, Mark Daly. Okay, so you discovered it early on? Early on, yeah. You stumbled upon it? Yeah, just stumbled on it. You were looking for city personalities and I am your go-to. I stumbled on it online.

I don't know how I did it. It was years ago and I've listened to most of your city guests. Yeah, the Lorne Honickmans, the Harold Hussains, the Jim McKennies. And we're still waiting for JoJo Chinto. You know what, he said, um, uh, guests. Yeah, the Lorne Honickmans, the Harold Hussains, the Jim McKennies. I'm still waiting for JoJo Cinto. You know what he said? No, actually Peter will give us a little update on that. Peter had, uh, I asked Peter to personally invite JoJo Cinto on Toronto Mic. Let's just say it didn't go very well. We'll get an update on that in a moment. Okay, so I'm really happy that you made it out. Thank you. I hope you come, I don't know, we'll probably, if I do the math, this is TMLX 17, we'll probably be back

here in a year for TMLX 20, but we have events at the Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke. We had our last event at the GLB Brew Pub at Jarvis and Queens Quay. I would love to see you at more events. Oh, I plan on coming. Okay, well everybody, first timer Anne. Thank you. Thank you Anne we're gonna give you headphones to tie the Christmas guy but to my right this gentleman I don't know where to begin where are your awards right now? I left them at home I didn't think you want me to bring them. You don't wear them like flavor flavor. He actually wins awards. You barely get nominated. Well save all that for Katie Lohr who's going to be on soon.

But Al Greggo, how many awards are you nominated for this time? Three. Three. And this is for three different podcasts? Correct. Yes. Okay, everyone, let's give it up. How many of those people did you have on your podcast?

How do you, what? Like the people who run the awards, how many of them actually have been on your podcast? They've never been on my podcast. They've been on mine. That's funny because Mike has had people on his podcast that How do you, what? Like the people who run the awards, how many of them actually have been on your podcast? They've never been on my podcast. They've been on mine. That's funny, because Mike has had people on his podcast that run these awards, and he still doesn't fucking win. Firstly, the Canadian podcast award,

it's a couple, it's a young couple. They've been in the basement, I was nominated last year. Then I had them over and then they said, fuck that, he's not getting nominated again. Yeah, you should take a hint. I'm taking that hint, I'm taking it all the way to the bank. Speaking of bank, Monaris has a hint. I'm taking that hint. I'm taking it all the way to the bank. Speaking of bank, Mineris has a great podcast. Okay, bank, Mineris, well it's money.

Money's the word. Okay, thank you. Work it, Jason. Come on, thank you. Yes, We Are Open, season seven has just finished. The finale just dropped. Who is your special guest for the finale of season seven of Yes, We Are open an award-winning

podcast from Mineris hosted by FOTM Al Gregor. The gentleman at the other side of this table, Ty the Christmas guy from RetroFestive. That's me. Hi everybody. Ty, Merry Christmas. You kind of stole the show last year when we were here. Yeah. Because you brought a gun. I brought a, I brought Ralphie's BB gun, the one that was actually used in A Christmas Story. And, and Mike said, you might not want to actually bring it up the stairs through the store. So I invited people out to my truck to look at the BB gun. It was great. So people came to the truck to see the rifle, the BB gun rifle famous from A Christmas Story. Yeah,

that's right. And you've been on Toronto Mike explaining your connection to a Christmas story. Not a- I would tell you the episode if I could remember it. Well, I can't remember either, but people finally tie the Christmas guy episode at Toronto Mike.

And you actually, I gotta say thank you to you. You introduced me to Andrew Godaro. That's right. The son of Ardo Godaro. Your former boss. Haunting my nightmares for decades and I felt like after I talked to Ardo I realized he's not that scary. I've been asked Monica I've been sleeping much better since I connected with Ardo. It's all thanks to you. He's kind of a big cuddly one too actually.

Well he's Noel Grego. Yeah. It's episode 1166. Oh so you know the site. He knows how to Google. Oh okay. He just chooses not to use it. Ty, I want you to talk about RetroFestive, what's going on over there and then again last year you brought everybody moose mugs. That's right and I brought a special gift this year as well. Okay so do this in this order. Tell us about RetroFestive because maybe not everyone has had a chance to listen to the season finale of Yes We Are Open, season seven. Elvis, have you listened to that one? Oh, I listen to that podcast all the time.

So... Comments on every episode, Mike. I mean, I have to thank you because it was because of you that we connected, Alan, I connected right here in this room last year. Last year, that's right. And I said, hey, I've been listening to your podcast. I think we'd be good on your podcast. So many connections. And it would make a great holiday episode. And it has, right?

Because you're a Maneras customer. Yeah, we are a Maneras customer and they treat us very well. And we've been doing it for 17 years. So it was great telling Al our story. Did you cuddle him? No, I didn't. But maybe next time, Al. You can do it after this little break here, okay I can't wait any longer. Okay. Can I can I just tell you what I brought for everybody? That's what I'm saying I can't wait any longer. I need to know what holiday gift are we all receiving for coming out the tmlx-17? Okay, well, it's not a moose mug But what I did is I've got a collection of Funko popsops. They're all holiday Funko Pops, even Hanukkah ones.

And I've brought them here. If you don't want a Funko Pop or collect a Funko Pop, what I want you to do is take it and donate it to your local toy drive. I've brought about 72 of them. I think that'll be one for everybody in the room. And there's Stitch, there's Grogu, there's Wonder Woman, there's all kinds of different

holiday ones and that's just a sample of the kind of great things you'll find at retrofestive.ca Canada's pop culture and Christmas store located in Oakville. And future sponsor of Trono Mike. It's gonna happen one of these days. It's gonna happen. I think I might have bought my Festivus pole from you way back. You probably did. We are the only people that sell festivus. What about leg lamps? People always want a leg lamp. Yes. We are home to the leg lamps We've got four different sizes from small to extra-large just like the one you see in the movie Ty we love you. You bring us gifts. Of course, we love you. But did your wife here by the way? No, she's not here

She's manning the store. Okay. But if anybody wants to head over there after this. She's womaning the store. Oh yeah, she's womaning the store, sir. It's at 1100 Invicta Drive, Oakville, Ontario. Okay man, Ty the Christmas Guy everybody. Thank you everybody.

Get your gift. And thank you Al. Al, I can see why you're an award-winning podcaster. Thanks Ty. Unlike some of us here. Hey ref, would you replace Ty on this? I have a gift for you, an award-winning podcaster. Thanks, Ty. Unlike some of us here. Hey, ref, would you replace Ty on this? I have a gift for you.

You just be one minute. I have a gift for you. I only brought a gift for one person. Can anyone bring me a beer? Is that possible? Oh, Lee Vefumko, the Hall of Famer herself is gonna get you that beer. Is she an FOTM?

Yeah, well, she's an FOTM Hall of Famer. Hey, Al Grego, you're gonna be on Toronto Mike next week right? That's right yeah. And you're gonna be kicking out jams tied to season 7 of Yes We Are Open, the award-winning podcast from Monero is hosted by FOTM Al Greggo. Yes. Three more nominations? I pay him to say that every time yeah. Three nominations this year? Yeah. I have a gift for the uh. I had three nominations last year though and they didn't win any so I mean. Well I'm nations this year. Yeah, I have a gift for the nominations last year though, and they didn't win any so I mean Well, I'm then same with me. I also did almost like you had them on your show in your basement. Yeah almost so I'll be wearing my produce stand t-shirt when you come by next week because that's your

podcast about letter Kenny and the letter Kenny universe, that's right and Yeah, I did an episode about that. Okay. I know. Yeah. Thank you for your support. I'm going to cycle through a whole bunch of people here. But I couldn't, I want to say this audio in the room, the reason the people in the room can hear us and not just the people listening to this as a podcast is because you literally track from Holland landing. You track the speakers, you set up the audio. I know you needed a little help from Rob Bruce. from Elvis Elvis helped to Elvis Help to is Rob Bruce here. He's here Rob. You're taking Al's spot. All right. Yeah

Is that okay? Okay, so not not doing live sound just here in the chair Maybe both maybe both so Rob's gonna take the mic over here. I have a gift for Hay ref Hay ref Thank you for being here buddy. Thank you. First time on the mic. Really? Really. Now you're an FOTM. And nice haircut. Thank you. That's Andy. FOTM Andy the barber. I have a gift for you Hayref, okay. As you know, Bruce Dobigan self-published a book with his son called Deal With It. He gave me a bunch of copies to give to guests of Toronto Mike but I held on to one. I'm gonna give this to you because I think

you'd love it. It's the trades that stunned the NHL and changed hockey. Happy holidays to you! Hey ref! Thank you very much. Edit forward by the FOTM Steve Paikin. Who sends his regrets. He couldn't be here today but a bunch of interesting people I just saw walk in. David Kynes is here. Do you know that name? No, David Kynes was much music guy much music played a bunch of spoon songs But also David Kynes is at Hollywood suite. He's here. Okay, so there he is I'm looking where the hell is it and also I'll tell you in a minute But he he took me to the movies about a week ago, which I want to talk about so

Hey ref you're an accountant, but you also referee hockey games you refereed a game today I did I refereed sledge hockey this morning actually which is quite interesting. Oh, okay Can you stay close by because I'm going to have the VP of sales Tyler Campbell and Langer Michael Lang on the mics at the same time Yes, very soon, and I need a referee nearby in case things get a little crazy. I'm on it. I'm on it Okay, so thank you so much. Thank you Peter gross. Thank you Peter gross you're taking this headphones from the hay ref so you're gonna make your way to the front mr. Gross FOTM Hall of Famer Rob get on get your headphones on buddy

I'm gonna play your thing Well, you're not even close to the mic. Okay, come on. There you go. It's your first rodeo. Oh the cat father I get over here. Okay, Rob Bruce. Hello Thank you passionately from the bottom of my heart for the new Toronto mic closing theme the playoff closing theme. The playoff. Thank you very much, man. Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions about it. Is that okay?

See, Elvis doesn't know who you are. He doesn't know you're the keyboardist. Former. You're the keyboardist from the Spoons during their glory days when they had big hit singles. He co-wrote Romantic Traffic. That part I knew. I don't need to listen to the podcast to know that. Okay, Rob Pruss, he's a prodigy. Rob, just give us a little taste. How did this new closing theme of Toronto might come to be? You asked me to do it.

But you called, you said, sweet, dear sweet Rob, would you perhaps want to compose a new play of music that won't get scanned, get caught by the censors? Okay, so what happened was Rosie and Grey by Lois and the Lowe was getting caught by these bots that found I was playing unlicensed music. And I got tired of these knocks on Spotify and YouTube and I said, hey, I want Rosie and Grey, but I don't want it to get picked up by the censor. And you basically put together a version.

I did three different versions in that one week, right? Yeah. I did, the first one I did, I just used the original track and I kept the drums and the guitar a little bit and the bass and then I played piano over top of it. Sensor, the robot picked it up. It still picked it up as a Rosy and Gray, but this version doesn't get picked up. No, because then I did another one that was too short. Remember it was like a minute and a half.

I need like four minutes. Yeah, so I extended, I did a little edit and I added more music to it. So there's Easter eggs at the end of this song, which I'm waiting for it patiently. We're killing time here. We're killing to revamp until it comes. How did you come up with the Easter eggs at the end of the new closing theme? You told me what you wanted. Well, you had a list of suggestions. Have you forgotten all of this? Why did you come up with the Easter eggs at the end of the new closing theme? You told me what you wanted.

Well you had a list of suggestions. You've forgotten all of this? But I did add a... I don't forget anything. Oh my God, the gifts from Ty the Christmas Guy at Retrofestive.ca are on the table over here. I couldn't quite hear you, but blast it into the mic beside Rob Bruce. Hold on, tie as a message. I mentioned that I brought Hanukkah pops but I seem to have

forgotten them at the shop so I'm we just unpacked them. We don't have Hanukkah but we do have holidays, just generic holidays, and if you really want a Hanukkah one come to our store and I'll give you one. Okay, sorry. Just say you're at TMLX17 to get a free Hanukkah. Invicted drive in Oakville. It's worth the drive to Oakville. Yeah. Okay. Are these jigs coming? Okay, so we'll... They're coming. They're coming. They're coming. Here they come. Peter, you're an FOTM Hall of Famer. Thank you so much. Peter Gross for being at TMLX17. Yeah, I'm getting a... I'm getting kind of an anti-Semitic vibe here.

I'm getting a I'm getting kind of an anti-semitic vibe here The Hanukkah pops aren't here, you know, jeez was that intentional time I'm gonna stay out of this one. I thought Peter was in jail I don't listen to the thing but I heard that there was some sort of controversy and that he was in jail before we put A bow in that story to find out an update, I think the Easter eggs are here. So let's listen. Listen closely. Elvis, what song is this? You're a bit young. The Muffin Man.

No. The Friendly Giant. That'd be war. What about this one? Do you know this song, Peter? Muffin Man. No. The Friendly Giant. What about this one? Do you know this song Peter? This is Alfie Zappa Costa doing the 4-3-1-0-0-0 pizza nova jingle. What's this? That's Romantic Traffic, a song he co-wrote with Gord Depp. Is there more? Yeah. That's the one you didn't ask for.

Shadowy man on a shadowy planet having an average weekend, the theme song of Kids in the Hall. Shout out to Don Pyle. Don Pyle cuts Alan Zweig's hair. Am I right about that Alan? Yes, Don Pyle and Blair Packham. They're both going to be on the mic in a moment. Your hair looks really great Don. Yeah, you guys look handsome. I love it.

Okay. So Peter, please tell us, are you in trouble with the law right now? Are you okay? Today, no. Well, it's early. Yeah. Listen, I showed up just when Kevin Shea was giving that terrific story about the Leaf hockey player Jack McLeod.

Jack McLean. Jack McLean. So, I have an equally inspiring story. I don't have a half an hour though. No, this won't take too long. Of a time that I interacted with a famous Leaf. So. Jim McKenney.

No, not McKenney. but more famous than McKinney actually. I was required to go to the hospital in the late 1980s for a thrombost hemorrhoid. Anyone ever have that? Shout out to the thrombosis. Wonderful affliction. I had a similar ailment, but in my brain. And as I was walking through the halls of this hospital, who would walk by me but boy you saw me. Wow the human tripod. And he looked at me and there was a flicker of recognition. Wow, because you were the city polster sports guy.

So that's my parallel story to Kevin Shea and Jeff McLean. So are you in any legal hot water or would you rather not talk about that? Well, no, we've gone over this before. I'm suing an insurance company because they put me on facility and they've ruined my life and We had a hearing for settlement and we recorded it in your studio and Wisely, we immediately flipped it around and ran clips from it to prove how strong my case was just for the record We record illegally recorded a court session and then aired the judge and the other lawyer and all the talking on Toronto mic'd did that get us in trouble yes it did I was immediately advised I had to show up in

judges chambers a few days later and very nice middle-aged woman shows up with the law book which is about this thick and she opens it up and she says what you've done is libeled a $50,000 fine and six months in jail. So we're gonna do a crowdfunding exercise to bail this out we need 50k. So she says to me did you know that it was illegal to broadcast the audio of the settlement and I said yes I did know. Can you believe it can you believe it because a man believe it? Because a man cannot. I've said this on Toronto Mike a hundred times. I'm choked up talking about this man cannot tell a lie.

Incapable of lying. If you're going to tell a lie, that would have been the time. They just say I did plead ignorance and hope that you get a slap on the wrist. I would argue you probably didn't know for a fact. It was illegal. By the way, and you what I was going to tell if they came to me, I was going to say he didn't know for a fact it was anyway the way and you what I was gonna tell if they came to me I was gonna say he didn't tell me that well, the problem was that you were actually looking at the video of the event, but I could not see it and

according to The information there was a crawl on the screen saying that it was inadvisable to record I did but but just I'm not even bullshitting you actually did not see that what i definitely did but but i didn't want to take both of us down because i needed someone to bring me the file in a birthday cake okay so you in the courtroom like no it was via zoom

all your views in the budget it was the assume so did you go to jail for that Oh, oh, you're... It was via Zoom. Gotcha. It was via Zoom. Now... So did you go to jail for that? No. Did you have to pay $50,000? No, we actually got away with it. We got away with it here.

So here's what I'm gonna do. You're gonna give us an update on the quest to get JoJo Shinto. This is for Anne, who loves the City Pulse episodes. That's why Anne is here today. And by the way, she might want a selfie with you. You're a big deal at the Crer big wheel at the cracker factory I am going to put Mike Apple in your spot in a moment. Okay, cuz I have a special message for him, but Can you tell us what happened when you had Jojo Chinto and you said Jojo?

You should do Toronto Mike. Can you pick up that story from there? I said Jojo you should do Toronto Mike and and Jojo said when the fuck do I want to do that? Everyone does a Chinto. We should make t-shirts. That's so long ago. Jojo says why the fuck would I ever want to do that? I'm not gonna do it. So he's not doing it? He's got no intention of doing it. Okay so everybody if you're looking for Jojo Chinto on Toronto Mike to keep looking. I feel like if there was like a you know a campaign that he was aware of to get him on you know I get I don't think goodbye and could start it she could

email him now he'll probably end up on Bob's basement like probably Jojo Cinto not McAllen Jojo Cinto speaking of Bob Willett rhymes with regret because he's unable to be here because he's on Ind the 88 right now He's on like real radio, but Rob you will be in my basement Monday Monday night. Yep after Morgan swimming. Yep, and then we're going to do like festive jam kick I'm just of December. There's a toast. Yep, and Elvis you can go to live dot Toronto Mike comm I think six o'clock or so is a start time or whatever maybe 630 and watch toast with Bob Lillette who's like coming straight from India. I'm picking him up at the Go station. You're a sweetheart. Yeah I'm

gonna pick him up and bring him to the basement. Okay shout out to the Mimico Go station. Yeah but thanks so much we're gonna stick Apple on this mic. Peter did you get a some lasagna? I did I came came for the lasagna. I had no intention of talking to you. That's why you're in the hall of fame. Okay, so I need Mike Apple on this mic. So thank you Peter Gross, living legend. They only made one Peter Gross. Who's singing this mic? That mic is actually gonna go to Robert Lawson. Is Robert Lawson here? Okay, Robert's going on this mic and Tim, you're gonna be on after Apple. I'm eating this cookie and it's like the

sweetness has been like 45 minutes. Leslie, how much sugar is in these cookies? Is it pure sugar? Is there any non-sugar ingredients? It's good, right? The cookies were great. It's fantastic. But the palma pasta is great too. Jovanny, you and Lucas together, buddy., you and Lucas together buddy. I thank you Lucas is here. Now I'm happy. I feel like it's 6 40 in the morning. Peter Gross is leaving everybody. We love that man. His mom is 101. Didn't want to come on. Hey Peter, I was gonna should we tell the your mom story? Here. So this is gonna be take 10 seconds. This is the best story Can you talk onto that mic? I'm just gonna ask you a quick question on that mic

We promote on Toronto miked in the past. We promote your mom. Oh So your mom Marilyn Gross was gonna make her Toronto mic debut. She's a hundred and one This is kind of a lunchtime letdown story, isn't it? I love those stories So what happened? I pitched the idea that we should interview my mother she's 101 she's smarter than anyone in this whole room. That's a low bar. She's in perfect physical shape she cooks regularly for a dozen people at a time. She called me this morning she drove up to her friend's cottage and overnight they got two feet of snow. 101 year old

woman is now snowed in. She's amazing, but why has she not appeared on Toronto Mike yet? I can't really give you an answer. She just thought about it. But she said yes, and then she changed her mind. And then she changed her mind. But did she give a reason for changing her mind? I think that she understood that I was gonna bring up

some uncomfortable moments between mother and son drug use gambling sex addiction kind of things and she didn't want to be caught in the middle okay cuz I heard a rumor she realized that 101 that she made it her whole life without being famous and she was didn't want to become famous she just didn't want that kind of attention okay so we won't have Marilyn Gross on Tronimike you know what Marilyn Gross and Joe Joe Chinto coming soon to Bob's basement I'll get them both eventually all right you have by the way sorry but Peter Gross your good dear friends with your former 680 buddy colleague Mike Epple, right?

He calls me two or three times a week to complain about stuff. Whoa. To rant. To rant. And for the record, you, Peter, no longer at 680. Apparently not, no. But Mike, are you at 680 still?

Yes. Okay, let's applaud that, everybody. So, Peter, that Mike's going back to Robert, but don't leave the room because Elvis and I and everybody in the room are gonna do something in three two one happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear FOTM Mike Apple. Happy birthday to you. You remembered.

Thank you Facebook. Here's a gift for you. Oh thank you. You shouldn't have. Peter, come back here for a second. Hey, let's see this hug kiss moment. Hold on. Mike Apple on his birthday, November 30th.

Oh wow. What a moment here. Mike Apple, you have two amazing salespeople working for you. I hardly see the guy because we live on opposite ends of the city. We talk regularly. I got two 5 kilogram turkeys sitting on the floor. Oh, he's got turkeys. Because no one else can hear you. He's got things to do. He's He's got things to do Elvis. What were you gonna say? Thank you, Peter

Now you're dismissed now. He's just gonna say that you have two amazing salespeople working for you One can't sell a fucking ad and the other one can't get any guests in your basement. I mean like you are clearly a good Hire of sales people but enough about Bojana. I Don't know who that is. Bojana, biggest Mike Epple fan I know. But today is your birthday. Yes it is. Happy birthday.

Thank you. I can't believe you made the trek because you're on the other side of it. No, I, regardless of whether it was my birthday or not, I was going to make this drive. You're the best. If I told you that lately. Thank you. Thank you. I like, nice to hear.

Nice to hear. Are you in North or South Whitby? South Whitby. South Whitby? Yes. The southern end of Whitby near the GO station. Oh, gotcha. Okay. Yeah.

So it's Whitby mic, Toronto mic. Nice. Does anyone here know why I'm playing Black Cars by Gino Vanelli? The recap episode was really good. It was really good. Guess again Elvis. Okay, the reason I'm playing this and Scott Turner was going to try to be here. He sends his regrets. Scott Turner not going to be here, but Scott Turner likes to go on Blue Sky,

because that's where he's at now, to say on this day this happened, on this day this happened. Today I learned from Scott Turner that it was 40 years ago today, November 30th, when Mike Epple was merely 40 years old. 40 years ago today, Black Cars was released. Really? On my birthday. This is, isn't that amazing? 40 years ago today. That's true. Black cars was released really

Amazing I know it's classic songs classic good song. That's really good No, it's not a good song. It's a great song. We get off of black cars already though Yeah, can we get off of black cars? Have you listened to any Robert Lawson episodes, Mr. Apple? Mmm, you're putting you're putting me on the spot. All right, so there's the Guess Who. We did a Guess Who, and then lately, Robert, you wrote a book about Little Stevie from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and more. Yeah, my new book about Steve Van Zandt from Sopranos and the E Street Band just came out two weeks ago.

Did Tim buy a copy? Yes. Yes, he did. He picked up a paperback today at Cloverdale Mall. Okay so you you work at the Sunrise Record at Cloverdale? That's right. And you manage that store? I'm the store manager, yes. When do you have to get out of there? Do you have an update? Me and Larry are worried about Cloverdale Mall disappearing. Yeah I don't think they're breaking ground for another two or three years. Oh Larry we got lots of time buddy. Two or three years he says for the Cloverdale Mall. Even then when they start it's gonna be in installments. They're gonna start at the far end that used to be Target.

So by the time they get to the middle where I am, that could be like eight years from now. Or more. Love this guy, you know what? Do they still have a Ticketmaster inside the Sunrise? Thank God no no That was the worst part. Those were the good old days. I love those days So I'm gonna use much easier to buy tickets for anything back then even though I had to line up for it At least you don't have to deal with you know they were reasonable prices

Yeah, right like I remember all it's gonna cost me twenty two dollars for this show even with my inflation Calculator that the prices have exploded. Yeah, and maybe a scalper would hit you for double the face value, but that was it. But you worked for Rogers. Did anybody ask you for Taylor Swift tickets? No, not me personally. I was trying to find those tickets, was unsuccessful in every attempt, and then the idea of paying $4,000 on StubHub for a seat you couldn't see from was just asinine. But you have Apple money.

I feel like with Apple money you can do that. No, no. That is not a thing on any level, unfortunately. No, even if I could afford it, that's ridiculous. The whole thing anyway. I don't really want to get into it. Don't get him started. Don't get me started on the resale market for tickets.

What are your plans for your birthday night? Dinner with family. My kids are coming home. What time should I be there? Well, come on out, it's seven o'clock. Is it Whitby? Can you come to me? It's in Whitby.

Can I bake there? You have to cross the city as I did for this, yes. My daughters are home from university for the weekend. Oh, great, that's amazing. Okay, so we love you on this show. We root for you. I can't wait for your next appearance. Bujana sends her regards, says happy holidays. So Tim is gonna take your spot because I want Tim and Robert.

Can I ask a question? Yeah, you want to ask about Sid Sixero, right? No, no, no, not at all. I did have a question about Sid, but I realized I would put him on the spot and he wouldn't want to answer that. Oh, he's okay with it. Peter just threw him under a bus. It depends. No, I don't know. It wouldn't have put you in a good spot. Do you prefer doing, this may sound silly, but I have a reason for asking it.

Do you prefer doing it the spot from your house or from the studio? Oh, boy. You know, when I was working from home for the better part of three years, I would have said then, before we came back, that I would have preferred staying home all the time But then being back in the camaraderie of the newsroom it actually does lend itself to not every day necessarily

But most days you said because yeah Sometimes there's a difference in the way in which people sound in different places who ever set you up Did a really good job that was that was really really good between did a really good job of your house. You sound really, really good at home. That was between myself and actually Richard Southern was the mastermind of how we figured all that out when that all came together. But do you remember when we touted the fact

that you were Bojana's favorite personality on TV from breakfast television and then Richard Southern and you and I went over to say hi to Bojana and it turns out Bojana was way more excited to see Richard Southern than you. Richard Southern than you. Richard Southern, absolutely. Absolutely.

How did that make you feel? Well, very, very much like a second fiddle, I have to admit. Yeah, no, it was fine. Okay, that was too funny. And just before you go, just to clear the air here, so what is your current role in the Rogers universe? Like, are you still the business guy? Yes, same as it was.

Same as it ever was. Yes, we have had some changes but I am still doing what I was doing adding a couple of new things to the role. What are those things? Well one is a podcast interestingly enough. You're coming for me. I am getting into the world of podcasting. No I think there won't be any direct competition. There isn't any direct competition unless you're doing some Rogers cannot compete with TMDS we're doing a lot of podcasts about economics and things like that from home or from the studio from the studio I find I find that does actually work better in a studio's environment will Rogers have a podcast about tears are not enough no I can pretty much say

that guaranteed not. So you've got that area covered. Okay, thank goodness. We won't have a crossover. So happy birthday, Mike Apple. Thank you. 56 years young, thank you very much. How many years?

56. Honest to God, I thought you were 76. I get that a lot. I do get that a lot. Just kidding. Just kidding. I love this guy. Man, if I'm still going at 76 and doing what I'm doing, that'll be good.

Peter Gross is 86. He's doing all right. Okay. Thank you. Honestly, thank you. Tim, get in here. Thank you. Thanks for the hospitality. We are so... Look at me. You're my co-host, okay? Yeah, yeah. Everybody buy earrings, get your gift here. Make sure you get your palma pasta meal. Hopefully, you're taking some home with you today. We love palma pasta. We want to support them. The Great Lakes beer, there's still some left grab a can That's the housekeeping that I wanted to do but I just want to tell you we're going to cook with gas

Do you know what that means? Yeah, I see pairings. I want to get done. Okay, no more. We got to move We got a move a Brad Bradford is here everybody Brad Bradford FOTM Brad Bradford. Okay, Tim. Yeah couple of things Brad Bradford, FOTM Brad Bradford. Okay, Tim. Yes? Couple of things. You went to Cloverdale Mall today to pick up Robert Lawson, and while you were there,

you bought a copy of his new book. I sure did. Paid cash, hard cash. Gripping stuff. It's, I'm helping to promote your book here, buddy. Come on, come on. People can still get copies of your book. Yeah, I actually, I brought it. Well, it came out today. No. Didn't it? No. here buddy come on come on people can still get copies of your book yeah I

actually brought it today no didn't it no did you say it's oh it's available today no I brought some today I've got some paperbacks and some hard covers but you can get them at my store and see Tim I want a review of the book okay little Stevie book I want to review when you're done okay when I'm done yeah so Tim I want to tell the people I was at the Joe Carter classic Yep, and you were my driver. Yes. Okay, and what I loved about that was that yeah great people like Wendell Clark Joey bats, I know both of those Josh Donaldson. Yeah. Yeah, Tom Cochran. Yeah know him Rick Vi Yeah, I know him Jack Armstrong. Yeah know him. Hey

him. Rick Vibe. I know him. Jack Armstrong. Yeah, know him. Hey, hello! Yes he did. He still comes from Buffalo for those games. That's, that's, you know what they pay him the big bucks. He needs a driver. That guy loves his Great Lakes Bay. He must have a driver. But Tim, what I, what I thought was interesting, first of all, I love the fact you drove me, I would love it if you drove me to the next Joe Carter classic. Oh, Joe Carter. Okay, he forgot the best one, yes. There was only two broadcasters on the premises for this cattlecade of stars, cattlecade. One table belonged to the 590. Yes. So Sportsnet Radio 590 were live on Terrestrial Radio and they're Rogers. Did you know that?

Oh, I knew that. I knew that. Shout out to Mike Epple. Okay. But there was one other broadcaster on the premises. You. Isn't that amazing? And how much did you pay for that, Mike? Did you get the swag bag that they were giving you? No. Okay, now they did not. No, these are shoes. Yeah. And the top and the golf club and

the sleeve of balls and all that. No, I did not get that. And things are good with you? Very good, very good. I haven't seen you since then, but you didn't make the last TMLX. That's right, that's right. Did anyone say no at that event to talk to you? Yes, Paul Henderson.

Oh my God, I forgot about this. Yes. I've interviewed Paul Henderson. Paul Henderson said no. He had horrible breath when I interviewed interviewed Paul Henderson Paul Henderson said no he had a horrible breath When I interviewed him, thank goodness. He said no he had really bad. I can't handle that And it was a lot it was a long interview and it was very nice man But in the wings I need because we're cooking of gas now, you know like that expression

I watched Conan O'Brien from day one. Yeah, was it 93 it debuted sure in his first episode He said we're cooking with gas and now how many years is that I've been saying this expression because I heard it once on I don't think he invented it though. No, I don't think he invented it Michael Lang and Tyler You're up next so I need you waiting in the wings. Are they fighting? You'll see you stay tuned here Robert Lawson. I need you in the bushes If somebody tells a lie on these mics will you leap out and fact check them? I gotta get back to the shop actually. Robert Lawson everybody, you're a good guy. Oh you didn't wear your GLB hat. You, like I don't listen but I'm on the periphery. Dave Charles is leaving.

You caused a quite the kerfuffle with whatever it is that you did or didn't do on the episodes. There's a lot of chatter about you. I don't know what it is, but I did get some breaking Guess Who news late last night, but I'm not allowed to share publicly. What are you talking about? Of course. Come on, tease it a bit. Come on. Something's taking place with Randy Backman that we don't know about It's regarding future guess who plans, but that's all I'm considering. They're gonna do a tour no They're not gonna do a tour I Heard he wrote imagine what you love them up a bit

You know do me a favor just grab them by his collar and we're gonna go back into the bushes do something I don't understand the concept of the bushes mean with him but I just know he likes to go because if somebody it was Robert Backman came on Toronto Mike and told some tall tales and Robert Lawson came out of the bushes to fact-check Randy Backman you can't give us a scoop no get off my mic as soon as I can get out of here as soon as I can I'll call you get out of here Robert Lawson. Tyler get over here. Tim I value your support. Just one last thing before I go is you asked me when we were driving out what brought me and and why did I go about doing this and and I said because I never know who I'm gonna meet or

what's gonna happen and and you said the same thing we did not know that day how successful it was going to be. We didn't know if anyone would talk to us. Yeah. We've got to get it. Where's Tyler? Yeah, Tyler you got to get you got to get a banner of some sort for Toronto Micro. You got to get a you know this kind of thing. I like how he's telling you that. A tablecloth. You got to get something. I'll get on that. Yeah. I want it.

And I found the same thing today when I came out with Robert is, we really have a love of concerts and also all things Cleveland. So, and I know that you did an interview with the woman. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you say Cleveland? Cleveland, yes.

No Bowie. No Cleveland, no Bowie. Yes. No Bowie. No Cleveland. No Bowie. Yes. Tim, thank you so much for driving Robert Lawson here and for driving me. This is a big moment. Okay.

So these names are not world famous names. Tyler Campbell. I know these names. Yes. Because they're not world famous. Because I've been around. I mean, I listen to the thing. But for the true FOTMs who are in the know know this moment here that's why Hey ref is on standby go put on your

zebra outfit come on firstly congratulations am I congratulating you for this I'm sure congratulate myself maybe I don't know but no no be this is the 17th Toronto mic listener experience. 17. Where has the time gone? I don't know. Okay well done. Okay. 17. How many of these 17 Toronto mic listener experiences Michael Lang have you attended? 17. 17 for 17. Ruin 17 TMLX's in a row. What do you think of that VP of Sales? You know it's impressive to a point, you know we all have to go somewhere. Being present is I guess an accomplishment so congratulations Langer for that I guess. I do like my attendance award, yes. Yeah, yeah. Last year Mike you had me on with Stephen Brunt. This is quite a downgrade. So, shame to be on the mic with Langer. Was I at the first one? I don't know. How many have you been at?

I don't know, like maybe 10. Only 10? Yeah, he's busy selling. Always be closing. The sale cycle on this thing is ridiculous. Like there's deal, like negotiations, I got people, there's backroom discussions all right two notes on that one is just this morning we went to Great Lakes brewery to pick up the beer in the hot pop and get the bucket there and the ice the guy says you took ice too Mike and Mike got a really hard time at GLB because it was a guy named Alex who didn't really know who I was and then he's and I said oh this is okay put it on Troy's tab or whatever and then he goes what discount do you get and I said 100% and

then he's like well I can't just like I can't just take your word for it. Who can verify this? He said who can verify this? I said I don't know it's Troy here and then we did we got the bucket we took the beer or whatever and then on my way out I grabbed the ice and then Tyler went back with the dolly we used and he goes you took ice too? Yeah man we took ice. And I told Tyler because of that attitude I said he's lucky I didn't take the light fixtures you know. He's very lucky. He had no idea who you are. He had a semblance maybe. He no sold you. We robbed the place but all this is a way of saying we saw Mike Majeski. We did. And he's selling or giving away Christmas trees and Majeski. We did. And he's selling or giving away Christmas trees. And Majeski was one of the rare sales by the VP of sales. It was one of multiple sales that I closed. Thank you.

But you know who else, you know who closed the deal? Langer closed the deal, Ryobi. I did close one deal. So I just went behind you. Yeah, congratulations. Once again, congratulations Langer. So thank you. And I just went behind you. Yeah. Once again, congratulations, Langer. So thank you. And I did a pro-voto. That's, you know, I think Monica got a Ryobi tool from you. Good. Yeah. How long did they sponsor you for?

One month. So here's a true story. Ryobi's, there's Monica, she got the tool. One month deal and then I thought they'd continue but Becky pulled the plug or whatever even though it was hugely successful. So that's when I made the rule, no more one month. You commit to three months. I'm not even going to say your name unless you commit to three months. Right Tyler, hi the Christmas guy. Three months, get out of here. Okay. So thank you so much. I love the sweater. Thank you Langer for being at all 17 events I wouldn't even have these about is there anyone else who's in the 17? No, no, no, I miss it anyone in 16 Okay, so Oh 16. Do you want to pop on X?

Okay, so we're gonna do this. So they're heavy you too. Oh, yeah Okay, they're the edge of 17. I'm like I'm way down the list Tyler thank you. Thank you Tyler Tyler, for the drive here today. It was my pleasure to drive you. We got some quality. I can drive you back if you want. This guy's the best. Everyone, give it up for Tyler.

Not a great sales guy, but a very good driver. Lieve Funke, please. Listen to FOTMcast. Moose Grumpy, please. Thank you, Langer. Thank you very much. Love this guy. What supportive listeners.

OK, Dale Cadeau has arrived. Those two have been around supportive listeners. Okay, Dale Kado has arrived. Those two have been around for a long time too. Dale Kado? No. Oh, these two. Oh, let's talk to, oh yeah. He had to be to be at all 17 events. These two ladies as well.

So, I have so many words to say to these ladies. My goodness gracious. Here, let me brace myself. But, let's start with Lieve Fumka, who other than Peter Gross is the only FOTM Hall of Famer to show up today. Yes. This is the big question everybody. How many, hold on.

Oh my goodness. I'm having an emotional moment here. How many Hall of Famers are there? There's Cam Gordon, there's Stu Stone, there is Ed Conroy, there's Mark Weisblot. Right. And then there's these two that showed up today. That's it. One day you'll get there, Elvis.

So what's that, six? But you have to listen to a fucking episode. I've listened to one. So that's six Hall of Famers. That's an exclusive group. Yeah, and maybe one day Kevin Shea will get in because he had a Hall of Fame story. Lieve Fumka. Yes. Please give us an update on your health. We're all thinking about you. I did drop off the wire DVD set. That's how much I care about you. How are you feeling? Give

us a health update. So I had a PET scan about three weeks ago and it showed that I was cancer-free. Thank you. My god, you know, I want to cry. I haven't wanted to cry this much since I heard the Jack McClain story. Great story, by the way. I'm not even trying to make fun of it. I loved it. I'm so happy to hear this. Thank you. And you know what? I thought you were were sick so I put you in the Hall of Fame. Oh, okay so now. But you don't look sick. Jesus Christ. Is it awkward? For fuck's sake. Is it awkward if maybe you're out of the Hall of Fame now? Whatever you want to do, Mike. I'm kidding with you. I'm glad you brought your other half not better half. No, you're clearly the better half

But one good to see you. You've been there for our leave a bump there through this Journey. Yes, you know Elvis is a survivor. What's the terminology? Is it a journey? Okay, Elvis he's choked up still he's not a journey journeys are fun you're going somewhere fun, but this is not a fun journey Okay, but so now it's so far so good. Yeah, what's next step? Like do they just like what's give us an update? Hip OB damn, let's hear it. So I have compression fractures in my spine and so I've lost like an inch of height and so I've been referred to a doctor that works on your spine. And they put cement in your spine into the vertebrae that have been collapsed and just

to shore it up. And that's what I'm waiting for. So you'll get that inch back? Supposedly, yeah. While you're there, why not just get a couple more inches? Oh, yes. I'm asking for Elvis and I'm not talking about his spine. Oh, yeah. While you're there, why not just get a couple more inches? Oh, yes. I'm asking for Elvis and I'm not talking about his spine. Oh, yeah.

No, of course. That's a fair. He's seen it, so it's fair. It's totally fair. So we're so happy to hear this great news. Thank you. And I'm so honored you're here again. You've only missed one.

Yes. That's why you're on next. Okay. And you were in Holland or something. Paris. Paris. Even better. Yes. So thank you, Lieve Fumke, FOTM Hall of Famers.

Any words before we give up your mic? Well, I don't want to embarrass him. But someone at this table has been with me throughout the whole journey and always there getting my back because he's been through it too. I don't want to make you cry, but Elvis, thank you. Elvis has been there for Levi. I thought you were talking about me, but you're talking about Elvis. Any words to say to Levi? I mean she's a remarkable woman.

With everything that she's gone through, we text back and forth, and there's good days and bad days, but she's always way more positive than I would be in that situation. And you're just an inspiration, and you're gonna keep kicking ass, I know it. Thank you. Love you. Love you too

well you're okay ladies and gentlemen at home there's a big embrace between Elvis and leave a thumka honestly we're happy for you leave a keep us to fucking times now you didn't know how wonderful the Toronto mic experience could be. I, yeah, I, to be fair, I came because I wanted to see her. I'm not sure that that's why you're here person to be the co-host of this, especially after all this time. But I asked you to be. But I came for. You came for Livia Fumka? I did. I wanted to see her. She's lucky to have you. We're all lucky to have you. You, I was joking about taking you out of the Hall of Fame. I just want to make sure people know that before they throw...

Save your tomatoes for Brad Bradford when he comes on the mic. Don't throw them at me. But, Levi, thank you so much. Welcome Matt is going to come on because I have welcome Matt's mother, proud mother, to my left. And this will be a quick little... And we'll get back to many great people. Coming up in this episode, of course, Simon Rakoff is here,

Alan Zweig is here, Katie Lohr is here, of course, Brad Bradford's here. There's some other great FOTMs, like Joe Louis, he's here. Dan, we gotta talk to Dan, he lost like a million pounds or something. So, Moose Grumpy.

Yes. Elvis and I have been supporting Levee Fumke, but I just wanna shout you out because I happen to know through a certain grapevine That you have been super supportive of Levi Fumka as she battled cancer. I just wanted to echo Sorry what Elvis had to say for what You've gone through this year

we talk all the time and When I'm having bad days Miriam has helped me and for what you're going through, I try not to go off on you, but it's a very special friendship and anything I can do and I'm glad to have been through this knot journey with you, that you're a very special friend. Thank you, Moose, for being such a great friend to Lieve Fumka.

I know I would get updates from you, like, oh, I visited Lieve Fumka in the hospital. I'm going, what a sweetheart. This Moose grumpy is next level sweetheart. Because this other guy here, Juan, he is also there for every minute of the day for Miriam and he needed time off. So the least I could do is come to the hospital and carry some of the load so he could go and take a breather. Although I know he was running errands and doing everything else and not taking a breather, but. Well thank

you Moose, thank you Juan. Moose,'re there for Levi but there's another gentleman you've been there for for how many years but you're the proud mother of this young man. Welcome Matt. Did we, please you are an intern for Toast. Get right on that mic there. Okay did we decide you were welcome Matt? I decided welcome Matt because doormat sounds rude to me Because you wrote on your name tag welcome doormat who's calling you doormat actually his mother I'm gonna bring in the dr. Joyce brothers come on over. That's my go-to reference when I want to think of a therapist Do I need to update my references? She's probably been dead like 20 years. My goodness.

Dr. Joyce Brothers, come on down. How is your schooling going? You were an intern for Toast with Rob Pruse and Bob Ouellette. Because you were going to go into, please tell us about your studies. How is it going? Well, for starters, I am a journalist student at Sheridan, the one in Oakville. OK, that's exciting.

A program which is being gutted right now, but that is not the topic right now. I have heard such things. It's good. It's been going well. It's just I'm starting to think the program might not be what I'm planning on going into in the future. But where would you like to go into like if you could be king for a day and this is where I'm gonna be? I would love to

be like working on a TV show or like a movie. Camera work. Yeah, camera work. You know who you need to talk to? David Kynes. He's your guy to talk to. Or you know who might need help? Maybe Alan Zweig. He makes wonderful films. We're going to talk to him in a moment. Mike Epple is here. Rogers is always looking for young bright interns. He's nodding with his Canuck Pale Ale there, but you've got a lot of connects in this room right now. And it all started with toast. And how come your internship lasted about 28 minutes? What happened? you know the people

They yearn for an intern as I smell bullshit As as dedicated as me so dedicated I fled as soon as that was gone I noticed Okay, nobody gets me my coffee on that show. Yern. Yern. I can't even spell yern. I want to talk to the mom for a minute, Moose Grumpy. How you feel about your son's journey, which is a much happier journey than the Viva Femcust. I'm very impressed with this boy. It's been a hard year and learning all the ins and outs of college and he's been doing

great at it and Mike Apple being in the room and talking about Richard Southern there was a episode I believe a year ago when you had the three gentlemen on talking about the history of city Macca with the other one and Scott Metcalf Said that he would be available anytime to talk to Matthew which hasn't happened yet. But he's a good guy. It's nice to see the older journalists that are willing to support these new kids. As tough as they're making it with the schools right now to get into the marketplace that there's still

kids that want to do it and that you guys are willing to support them is amazing. I'm pausing for dramatic effect. Sometimes you've got to let these shows breathe. But well said there Moose and you're proud of your boy. So keep it up Matt. Anything we can do the FOTM community, the TMU as we call it, the real TMU. We're here to help you so keep at it. Don't give up and don't be dismayed by these news of shutting down this program and there's no future in radio. There's no one's hiring. That may be true but don't give

up damn it. I think Dormat's got a couple of FOTM's to shout out a thank you to that have helped him out. Let's hear it. This guy here? I let... Mom's always moming. Mom's got a mom. Come on. I'd like to thank our wonderful host Toronto Mike a few days ago I talked a friend of the podcast Bob Bob Willett Bob Willett rhymes with Gillette yeah for an interview actually about the future of radio he's on radio right now really tune in in the 88 for me I want to hear how he sounds just like me you want me to tune in? Just kidding, okay.

Yeah, no, Bob Willett's a good guy. Lifer in radio. Me and him have something in common. We both produced the Humble and Fred show. Yeah. Humble and Fred send their regrets. They can't make it today, but good to see you here. Welcome, Matt.

So what does it... Does that make you the co-producer, then? No, he was on real radio producing the show. Oh, gotcha. I thought you meant now He was the last pretty when they were at mix 99.9 I think he was there and then he was the last radio producer of humble and Fred and I might be the last Podcast producer of humble and Fred. We'll see how it goes. But nice to have you back here. Welcome at nice to get the update Moose your good woman. Thank you for being there for welcome at my intern and thank you for being there for leave a FOMCA FOTM Hall of Famer. Okay, so

what I would love is I would love Brad Bradford on this mic and I'm David Kynes. Would you sit on this mic for a minute? There we go. I like your trans Canada highwaymen. Hey Jim Romanco, we saw that band together. I was with Jim Romanco at the horseshoe. And Jeremy, you're waiting. We saw that band together trans. I was with Jim Romanco at the horseshoe and Jeremy you're waiting. I got a I want to get Allen's why gone. We're gonna burn How you doing Elvis? He's Brad's got a Costanza wallet It's a big one. That's that's thick isn't it? That's a big one. Yeah, that's nice I get inundated with Facebook ads that are telling me basically calling me a wussy because I have an old man wallet and telling me to like what like basically it says what's

wrong with you there's new slender wallets for the modern man you got to get it everybody wants it on the phone now but the coupons if you're a coupon guy you got to keep them in the wallet ready to go when you get head to the grocery store so you're a coupon man you know trying to say money man okay I got the flip app I'm saving a buck or two. Okay, I am. They should sponsor the pod for that kind of promo. So Brad, I do have a question for you about Bill 212. You heard of this, Bill? Sure, but let me... Okay, so Brad Bradford loves his Great Lakes beer. Let me crack a fresh one here before we get into that. What's the name of your...

You're the city councillor for, what's the name of your? Beaches East York. So I had to stamp my passport coming all the way over here at Tobaco and then beyond. Well, you're not even in the city anymore. That's right, yeah. We're out in Mississauga. I was looking at the address and I had to double check

that I was in the right spot. But yeah, East Ender and great to be here with all you folks out in Palma Kitchen. Well, this is your third, your third Toronto mic listener experience? I think so, yeah. Yeah, that's right. We've been at the brewery, we've been here, and kudos to the team on the renovation because

I think there was some boards up and some plywood and stuff last time. It looks great right now. Lots of light in the room. Heather Purdin. Am I saying this name right? Yeah, that's her name. I've only ever read it. Okay, so she, is she here today?

She's not, no. Okay, so she is she here today. She's not no, okay She was on 640. I used to have Mike Stafford and stuff over and Mike always sang the praises of Heather perdant Now she's now working with you right like so there's like a really believe it but radios shedding Shedding beef I was gonna say but that's Dan. Jeffrey. We'll get to him later He's shedding beef but radios cat like losing good people, but you're picking up some of that... Yeah, she's helping run the office and she's super organized, which is a real deficit on my end. So you're always trying to find complementary skill sets.

She's on it and she's always been in the 640 morning show capacity with Greg Brady. It's all about booking people in sort of five minute increments. So very good on Stacking the calendar and she's just been fantastic five minute increments. So you'd never booked Kevin Shea for an episode Brady appearance Yeah, no, but yeah, she's come over. It's a lot of fun. It's going well. Okay, so Brad I'm coming right back to you. I want to hear about bike lanes Well, that's coming, but I just want to say, I was invited to see Gladiator 2 at a Hollywood Suite employee.

Well, tell us what that was, David. It's a little private screening for people who love films and people who love Hollywood Suites. And I somehow got on the list, because I was there. You're a big fan. But not all of us. You're a big fan of the suite. Yeah, but not all.

I'm a big fan of the suite. Future sponsor of Toronto Miked? Possibly, yes. Are you willing to commit on this program right now, David? I think there's a minimum three month commitment. Are you willing to commit on this program right now David minimum three month commitment are you willing to commit to three months of sponsorship in 2025 and guessing whether it's a safe space because I heard some dick jokes just a few minutes ago it was subtle though because my eight-year-old cancer it was interesting mix but for the record, we're anti-cancer in this room. Okay, I'm gonna put that on the Republic record.

Awesome. And we're subtle enough with the dick jokes that the eight-year-old has no idea what's going on, because I'm looking at her right now. Morgan, you're selling a lot of earrings? Okay, how many pairs do you have left? I think Perry Lefkoe is gonna to buy up your remaining stash there. Great stocking stuffers. Perry, there you are, buddy.

I need to get you on because you never have two Perrys in the same room, right? It's true. Well, have you ever been in this? The only time that I'm in a room with another Perry, if my name was Perry, is with Perry. Because Perry Como, is he dead? No. He's alive. He's alive, right? Is he here? Isn't he?

I'm looking at the other Perry here. He's relaxing right now. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. He's not there yet. OK. So David Kynes. Yes. What did you think of?

I'm rocking the Trans-Canada Highwaymen because Sloan tonight, Masonic Temple. You know what's funny? I'm not, you know I'm moderating a panel discussion at the Masonic Temple tomorrow. Gary Taub's book comes out and I'm like the, they picked me to be the moderator. That venue is amazing. I only had to pay 500 bucks for the gig. What'd you think of Gladiator 2?

It was great. They did a fantastic job, but I gotta say, that same day I went to see a Nora in the evening. Oh yeah, my son loved it. And that is a ride. And that's some real. Why don't you have an event where I can see a Nora for the evening. Oh yeah, my son- And that is a ride. Okay. And that's some real- Well, why don't you have an event where I can see a Nora for free on the Hollywood Suite tour?

Now that I know how good it is. Have you seen, I know the answer, but have you seen Don't F with Ghosts directed by FOTM Hall of Fame or Stu Stone? I have. What's your review of this program? And you can see it on Hollywood Suite. What can we see it- That's also a ride.

When can we see it on Hollywood Suite? Tomorrow? we see? That's also a ride. When can we see it on Hollywood Suite? Tomorrow? Is it December 1st? Yeah, it's December 1st. I just put him on humble and Fred. December 1st, yeah, it'll be December 1st. So go to your television, go to Amazon Prime and look it up tomorrow.

And also the free preview starts December 1st so anyone can watch it if you've got Rogers Bell, Amazon Prime. We love Hollywood Suite in the TMU. Do you bike? From time to time I do bike. Okay so you bike the city of Toronto. I use these city bikes. Oh yeah they're great. They're fantastic. They're fantastic. Another guy I know because I'm his friend on Strava. Brad Bradford you you bike long rides man I'm always looking at your rides thinking there's a guy who bikes. You love biking. Yeah, you you bike a lot too, though. Let's let's

acknowledge that. And for everyone who's not on Strava, Toronto Mike great follow you put some miles into Yeah, I'm over 13,000 clicks for 2024. And I get a month left. Yeah, see like that's that's not I'm gonna I'm gonna hit 10, 10K. I'm mentally ill. I'm gonna hit 10,000 kilometers, but 3000 kilometers short of you. So there you go.

So we both have some mileage. I bike more often, but you do longer rides. Yeah, yeah, perhaps. Although like, you know, with a 18 month old and a four year old at home, the days when I could sort of F off for five hours Saturday morning are kind of done. But yeah, there was an era when I was riding longer distances, but I'll still hit 10,000 kilometers this year. That's amazing. Now, I

happen to be personally a big fan of the Bloor bike lanes. Okay, I also, when I left Young at Eglinton Theater from Gladiator 2, I took Young down to Bloor and then Bloor across to Royal. I bike home from that school. I was doing, I'm thinking, this is, I feel safe. I'm loving this. So for the record, what is your stance on Bill 212, which I believe right now as we speak,

bike lanes in Toronto are being ripped up by the provincial government. I don't know if it's happening yet, but I think it's going to happen. I think that there are bike lanes that work really well. It's not a political answer, but there is nuance to this conversation. And some of them work really well. And you know, Richmond, Adelaide, Danforth, Sherborne, like these are great bike lanes that have thousands and thousands of people that use them every day. And then we have other bike lanes that are less effective. And you know, you're trying to balance with limited public right-of-way

What the uses are and what that space looks like? So when you say Bloor I would be more specific and talk about Bloor West Which I have written and you have written and I've been out there and I think that those bike lanes are not working very well It's definitely 2 to 2 1 12 Significant provincial overreach and I've said that time and time again. We don't need the province. The city should be in charge of bike lanes in the city. I agree with that but I think the frustration for a lot of folks out in Etobicoke is that the city hasn't been listening and the city has been telling them time and time again that these things are

not working well and rather than being responsive to that feedback, we've kind of doubled down on that take. And the challenging thing, and I say this to the cycling activist community, and I know a lot of folks there, time and time again, when you go out and you sort of defend some of these things that in the bell curve of public opinion are not necessarily seen as effective, safe, sensible, it makes it so much harder to do the next bike lane. And so I would just like elected officials across the board

to have the humility to acknowledge when something's not going right, we can change course. In fact, in politics, people are like, oh my god, flip-flopper, like, you know, what are you doing? But in fact, actually, if you have new information and experience, I think it's OK to sort of pivot and say, look, we tried that, not working, let's try something else. Blur, though, when you say blur, there's lots of huge sections of blur that I think are phenomenal.

Certainly, really, it's that last section, blur west as you head out to... That abber foil, you're talking abber foil in East. Is that where it goes? Yeah, like... Abber foil, so I usually get on it at Royal York, but if you go a little bit further west, you hit abber foiloy that's kind of where it is. Yeah so here's my beef okay so far away. I like again a guy a little civil and we're not gonna do half an hour on bike lanes here because I don't have the energy but at some point you got to come back for the deeper dive because I have so many questions but all I'll say is this because I was chatting with the great VP of

sales Tyler Campbell on our way here we both live in southern Etobicoke so we have the same MPP Christine Hogarth is her name, okay? She's a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. And Tyler had an email exchange of her explaining that, you know, we need, the thing about the Bloor Lanes in the West End, the one thing is there is no side street parallel, like you got to go up to Eglinton, which is 5k north, or you drop down to the waterfront trail, which is 5k south. So you're 5k, that's why down to the waterfront trail which is 5k south so your 5k That's why the bluer lane was so important. It's because that there was this 10k between these two bike lanes, right? So but here's the lesson so they went back and forth and Tyler because he's a not a good sales guy

But he's very clever by delivery fedora. He's a sweetheart. Bye bye to you. So There's Tyler asked her Can you point to any data like any science any data anything that suggests that congestion will be alleviated by ripping up this bike lane that are taxpayer money, this infrastructure we paid for taxpayer data, all the studies suggest this will not alleviate. So all you're doing is you're just riling up this progressive conservative base that just hates cyclists because it's been politicized for some reason, but it's not actually going to. I'm not going to have time to be on this show.

You know, shut up about the fucking podcast. Zwag, you got your own podcast. Zwag's got. Well, you're on next, but Zwag, this is the different podcast. And Katie you're in the wings too here, okay, thank you. So ZWIG doesn't like us talking about podcasts but this is Toronto mic, it's not the worst podcast.

But I'm just saying there's no data to suggest that ripping up these bike lanes, sorry I'm hitting Elvis on the head, I'm so passionate. There's no data. If you could point to data then I'd be like oh you make a good point mr. Bradford I can point to data and I can point to data that shows that it's in increased vehicle trip times and that's true so like when you take 50% of the capacity for vehicle lanes you cut it in half and you're moving 35,000 vehicles a day west into Mississauga and you eliminate four lanes down to save the two, but you know people will die

because of this decision. Well this is the sort of binary view and you could have the same thing about harm reduction, safe injection, same thing, it's always like people will die and I think the point is, first of all, it's very difficult to prove a negative. In fact, we've had more fatalities on Toronto roads this year, cycling related, than we have in a decade. And you know what, we have more bike lanes today.

A lot more cyclists. But yeah. No, no, no. More cycling deaths this year than any other year. And we have more bike lanes than we've ever had. So it's just like when people try and take a empirical binary interpretation of this data, the data that was done on the Bloor bike lane, which was all done during the pandemic. And so like not really a normative baseline. Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I don't want to upset that guy. No, Alan Zweig, great filmmaker, but he...

I gotta, I gotta, it sounds like my time is done here on the mic. So Brad Bradford, you'll come over to the TMDS studio so people can cherry pick the app in here. We're gonna have, we're gonna talk. I do want to talk to you deeper. Do you have any, before I say goodbye to David Kines and put Alan Zweig on this actual mic, because I want him to reply to this.

Any festive sentiments to share with the TMU? You are an FOTM after all. Yeah, I love it. Love the pod, love all the work. The guests are fantastic. And I would just say it's been a tough year for a lot of people out there. And so hang in, brighter days ahead.

Toronto's a great city as much as like, you know, sometimes I get worked up about it. It's cause I care and you care too. Even East York and beaches. Even the beautiful beaches East York. We love to have you out there. I'll see you in Etobicoke. We'll come to the basement and have a beer.

Okay, thank you, Brad Bradford for being here, buddy. Honestly, I do need Alan Zweig on this microphone. If he hasn't left in anger over the bike lane discussion. Alan Zweig on this mic. David Kynes, future sponsor of Toronto Mike, thank you for inviting me to all these events. Honestly, you sent me the box of much music stuff. Two boxes. Two boxes. I basically went on Twitter because that's before I moved to Blue Sky and I said who wants this, who wants that and I would bike, speaking of biking, I would bike to people. Yeah, with that stuff. And deliver it. And I said this is part of the David Kynes box.

Amazing. So you're amazing. I have about a hundred different MuchMusic t-shirts, which you may have seen on my Instagram, and those will be auctioned off soon. I thought we weren't allowed to talk about boxes and... So thank you. So Katie, you're coming in here. I can't believe you're here. It's amazing. So David, I'm booting you because Katie's gonna take your headphones. Alan's why people couldn't hear you. I'm leaving you with a very special Hollywood Suite cell phone wallet. Oh my god. Thank you. David Kynes, everybody. Hollywood Suite future sponsor of Toronto Mic. Alan, you yelled me, but no one could hear you because the mics weren't

You because it was really boring and you let a politician no offense make a speech for 10 minutes on what probably closer to five minutes talk and I On the other hand I didn't know I did understand what he was talking, which I haven't understood a fucking thing since I got here. But I'll just say this, thank God we have Doug Ford whose decisions are all driven by data. It's not, you know what? People from Etobicoke are complaining about bike lanes not because when they're on their bike They hate being in the lane, but because when they're in their car. They hate that. There's a bike lane. Yeah big fucking deal Anyway anyway yes You know I drive too yes, it's it's harder to drive but I'm you know

I imagine a day when there are more bike lanes and they're all safe and there's lots of people driving bikes and if you Take longer in your car take the fucking TTC. That's what honestly Words of wisdom so Alan I'm not here to First I'm glad you're here you the politician. I Should have had Brad for I should have had Owens Wagon. That would have been Langer Campbell sort of ask. Anyway, there's Katie, my co-host, on our basically defunct podcast called The Worst Podcast.

Is that breaking news though? Is it defunct? Well, it's not, you know what? When somebody doesn't call you for a year, you can start to assume that they're not renewing you. So that's basically. Okay, let me set the table. I have not gotten the official word.

I just basically like, when the producers ghost you, you kind of get the idea after a while. So let me set the table. Canada Lant, and Katie, welcome to Toronto Mic'd again. Thank you, thank you. You're amazing. Katie, you were the producer of the worst podcast. Yeah, co-producer.

There was like eight people working on that. There was two producers. I was the one that sadly got the mic. And your voice was on the show. Yes. Because I listened in and oh, there's Katie. Yeah, that's me. I needed a sidekick and I couldn't have done,

they, you know, that sometimes happens in life. They assign you a person, you're saying, oh, like, what the fuck is this? And then we were great. We were like, not quite Sonny and Cher. I thought you truly hated me at first. We had a Sonny and Cher vibe going. Well, Katie, was it love at first sight? Uh, no. I would say, um, I was like probably 98% convinced Alan wanted, well, like preferred if I didn't exist at all. And then we did our first interview and I was like, wait, I think we could actually be pals.

And then we did become pals and it's been a beautiful friendship ever since. But you quit the show. Yeah, cause I don't like Alan. Well, she didn't know. Wait a second. She didn't quit the on air part. Yeah, she's still on the air if the show existed. But you haven't recorded in a while. What you have not recorded in a while. Mike, we were contracted for six episodes.

We did six episodes. And now we're wondering what the heck is going to happen. How long has it been since the last recording? Are we talking like six months? What do we care? It's over Mike that's not the worst podcast Once again, come on, you know, okay over a million downloads Alan, okay Yeah, Ian somewhere in the room. Can we get Brad to appear to get his? I know, but that's 1,500 episodes.

And if you love this kind of banter, you should 100% listen to the worst podcast. Okay, so why is it defunct though? Katie, I'm gonna talk to Katie first. Katie, you're no longer with the company, so you left Canada Land. Yeah. And you're working somewhere else now.

Yeah, I was a freelance podcast producer, so Canada Land was one of my many gigs that I had and yeah, we are contracted for this is This is how the podcasting industry works This is not like a shocking revelation but sometimes I just work will hire you to do a specific amount of episodes for a miniseries to see how it goes and then After that, they're like what do you want to do now? I know know why I came today but I didn't come to talk about fucking bike lanes and how my show failed. So you brought it up Alan. Actually I didn't even know your show failed. And I'm starting

I'm starting to understand Jojo Chinto now. This is a pay-per-view portion of the show really so Alan knows could we check quite a bit Alan No, I'm a big Zweig fan Okay, when I mentioned the Rob Nash episode when Jeff Rogers turned me on to Rob Nash He spoke about Steve Foglio and he started talking about Steve Foglio on one leg ran across the country Yeah, you go to up any random Canadian who with one leg ran across the country. This is a story about you. This is a story about how he mentions not Stefano and then I chime in. And you mention my film. And I say there's a great. That does not you know that's nothing for any of us to comment on. There's another. No literally you literally made the movie.

That I referenced. Anyway go ahead. Thank you. This is me saying to Rob Nash there's a film you need to seek out to watch about Steve Fonio I said it's an excellent film made by FOTM Allen's wife you know what I get hard every time you shout me out so Katie do you miss working with Allen's wife? I feel like it'll never, like, it's just, I get this thing called, like, Phantom Alan, where I feel like I'm just, like, waiting for some sort of cryptic email to come from him

maybe once a week that's like, so do you think this is still happening, or did you see this? I kind of hated that, and when I don't get an email like that, it's actually pretty sad. Well, you think he's dead. Yeah. No. No I've given up I'm not waiting anymore. Yeah. It was it was an interesting experience whatever. Would you like another season? Yeah well first of all you know I got paid okay so yeah I need a job always

need a job I just finished something the other day, and I said, like, if I don't work for a year, that'll be great. If I don't work for two years, that'll still be good. Because I might not work ever again, so, yeah. A job would be nice. No violins, please. That's just a reality of whatever, so yeah.

I enjoyed doing it. I'm so yeah, but you have a family can doing it I'm a ham do you say you have a film in the can in the can I? Heard one the other day something he's not just a ham he's the whole pig, but that's not and that's not me Yes, I have a film in the can Which will come out maybe at hot dogs this year Do you want to tell us what it's about? No. No, there's nothing good will come of that.

But it's called Love Herald, and if you hear about it, I'd love you to come and see it, if it ever comes out. You're a charming man, Mr. Zoy. Well, you know what, I can't, you can't hear, why, why, why, why, first of all, why are the headphones on? Yeah, so you can hear. You're not coming through, I'm not coming. You don't hear anything? You can't hear anything?

At first I thought I'm gonna be, put the headphones on, just so it'll get a little fucking quieter in this room. But anyway, I can't hear anything, so, I'm just guessing what you're asking me. How did you, is it louder now? I did turn it up. Is it louder for you now? It's louder. Yeah, okay That's because we had to lower the mix so that we could not get the also your goal is just fucking laughing It's like Ed McMahon here all

Anyway. Hi-o! Right-o! This is way better than the fucking Stanley Cup story. Way better. Katie, what's the newsletter that we should all be subscribed to to be in the know when Al Greggo wins another award? Yeah. It's a newsletter called Pod the North.

It's a newsletter that I write every two weeks about the Canadian podcasting ecosystem. Yeah. And I just do interviews and write stories and report on cool stuff happening in Canadian podcasting. Did you enjoy your Toronto mic'd experience? Yeah, very, very much. Alan doesn't like it when I talk about myself on Toronto mic'd. On the show called Toronto mic'd.

But you enjoyed your experience? Yeah, this has been really fun. It's been cool seeing everybody come up. Has she done a long form thing in the basement? Will Allen's Wig return for a one on one? Because you and your brother came over last time. He was fantastic. I don't like to admit that I'm a whore enough to return, but I probably will. But I came up here with Blair and Simon. I want them to get on the mic next. Yes sir, yes sir.

And Jim Shedden, I think you should, let's enough of me. Katie, thank you for being here, honestly. It's amazing, because you come from a ways, right? I come from Brantford, Ontario. Home of the great one. Yeah, Trump supporter. Big Trump-er, right? Yeah.

Have you taken down his statue yet? No. I haven't had the time yet. So Blair Packham from the Jitters is going to take your headphones, but thank you Katie. And before you give up your headphones for, because I do, I also want Simon Rakoff on here. You're going to take that next. But I'm going to put Blair Packham. I want to know who was in the car Blair when you drove to Paulmas kitchen today? I was in the car with Simon Rakoff who was driving. Simon Rakoff who will be on the mic in a minute. And with Alan Zweig who

was fetching. Did you record the conversation as I requested? No I didn't. I feel like that would have been intrusive and also. Can I just say what's interesting about this? Simon has a license, but no car. Blair has a license and a car, but he had surgery so he can't drive his car. And I have a car, but no license. I don't know. I think that's it. That's a perfect trio. Yes. I'm not sure that that's the most interesting thing, but okay. So Simon,

you're gonna take the headphones from Alan's Wig. Alan's Wig, everybody. The great curmudgeon. An acquired taste, I'll admit, but I have that taste. I need a cigarette. That's how messed up I am. What's wrong with me that I love that guy? That's fair. Is Dr. Joyce Brothers here to talk about that? Okay, so Simon. Some love is unrequited. Simon, good to see you buddy. You too, always a pleasure to see you. You know I'm gonna be with Jeff Silverman tomorrow. Lucky. Is that true? No, it's not lucky at all, but you know he'll be there and you'll be there So that's how it goes now. This is the home of real talk I won't say this to him tomorrow because it's really Gary tops

I'm not gonna be talking about Simon Rakoff, but what was your experience like at yuck yucks working for Jeff Silverman? Well, it was 34 years ago when I was last there so, you know, I was a I was a very young person and I left for a reason is how I'll put it I don't have to get into it I don't care about you know you gotta go I want to comment on your on your conversation earlier about air fryers yeah yeah I'm a fedora me too yeah because the first time I heard about air fryers, my first thought was, man, those Americans will fry anything.

Yeah. You know, I always miss the point of new technology. It's like when I heard about 3D printing, I said, aren't books thick enough? Where can we see you perform, you hilarious FOTM? Actually, I will be at the Spotlight Club in St. Catharines on Friday night. First time there, so I'm looking forward to that. But most importantly, you can hear me whenever you want. Here's an interesting thing about how the world works now. It's lazier and lazier to enjoy your entertainment.

I used to have to sell my album surrounded by idiots on CDs and then people had to download it off of a site and put in a credit card and now you can just listen to it streaming wherever you stream streaming stuff and you know what's a great thing about the streaming is I Get paid every time somebody listens or doesn't. You can download it and just play it on mute and I'll still get paid. So that's what I recommend. Just loop it overnight while you sleep. Yeah. What's it called?

And just don't even hear it. Elvis is going to start playing it now. Surrounded by idiots. That's my album. And you are surrounded by idiots here today. Well, I wasn't going to gonna say you know, that's rude You're a host and I got a free sandwich. Did you so how was the palma pasta sandwich? Delicious I had the the veal parmesan sandwich. It was fabulous. Of course. I mean, how can you not love that? And are we still at war with just for laughs or is that calm down a bit? Well, they were out of business

So it's actually completely about of business. You know what, I'm out of the loops, what happened? They apparently owed a lot of people a lot of money and couldn't pay, so. Right, oh I remember now. They're gone completely, but yes, no I won. You won. I won the radio part before they even went out of business. Okay, Simon, what, you beat Just For Laughs. I know.

I know. Who knew? It's a good deal. A real David and Goliath story, I'll tell ya. I'm telling you, I wish I was in the car with you, Alan, and Blair here. I bet you the convo... How was the convo, Blair? I would pay money for that. It was great. We talked about all kinds of things.

We talked about the jitters reunion that happened. Yeah, so tell everybody, are the jitters back? The jitters are back, baby, and we're looking for a record deal. No, I'm joking. The jitters, it was a one-off, but it was a really good one-off. It's one of the greatest one-offs of your life. How was the cataract surgery? Cataract surgery is very interesting.

One eye, I'm not kidding, the new eye, well, I'll tell you about the old eye first. This is the old eye. And now, by comparison, everything looks sepia-toned, as if we're in the 1920s or something. And this eye is really bright and white and bluish almost, and I actually prefer the new eye. That sounds like a successful surgery. Yeah. Okay, so when can you drive again?

Like, when can you see enough to drive? I didn't want to tell Simon and Alan this, but I can drive now. Bastard. It was only 24 hours from the operation, and I realized after we made the arrangement that that would have been just when you were picking me up, 24 hours from the operation and I realized after we made the arrangement that that would have been just when you were picking me up, 24 hours. So I could have driven. It was my pleasure.

It was a real pleasure to drive with you and I'm sure it'll be the same on the way home. Can you live stream it at live.torontomike.com? I'd pay for it. I will be surreptitious in recording it. When I was talking to Brad Bradford, it took five minutes. We're giving Brad a lift home too. Brad, you're biking home, right buddy? Okay.

Oh, Brad's coming with us. I thought... Oh, okay. So, I don't know how... I recorded it. I'll find out how long the bike lane discussion. It might've been six, seven minutes. I don't know, okay?

But when you saw Allen Zweig get out of his chair and come up to me and yell, what were your thoughts sitting and watching Alan Zweig? Well, I enjoyed it because I thought, I did think, no offense, but I did think the bike lane discussion, I thought, yeah, you know, we could move on. It's a three hour recording. I know. We gave it seven minutes. Yeah, I know. But I did feel it could move on and I thought, okay, now something good's gonna happen. And it did. Alan didn't let me down. It was great. And do you know what his next movie is about? Because he won't tell us. I do, but I won't tell you either. Yeah, but I actually do. Is it about the jitters reunion?

It's not, but I'm hoping to sneak some of that in there. Okay. Big question for Elvis, my co-host. By the way, Elvis, you're doing a great job. You really are. We're going rapid fire with a few people here. In that Ed McMahon style. Hi-oh! Keep laughing at my jokes and you'll get this gig every fucking year, okay? Yeah.

That's all I have to do. Sure. That's all he asks. Do you know any jitter songs? Not off the top of my head. Come on, baby. What about Last of the Red Hot Fools? Do you know this song?

You'd know it if you heard it. Sure. Exactly. Do you know it, Blair? Can you sing a little bit? No. Morgan heard it. Sure. Exactly. Do you know it, Player? Can you sing a little bit? No. But I always... Morgan knows it. I describe it as a Canadian hit, which means you don't quite remember who did it or how it goes. I would play it. I would play the song, but

I have this shitty comedy album playing on my phone right now. Oh, I appreciate that. We're gonna make a few bucks for the great Simon Ratkoff here, okay? So thank you, Simon, for being here. It's not shitty, by the way way I'm saying you don't have to hear it but you should. I'm kidding I'm kidding but I am actually playing it. I really do appreciate that. How much does this worth? Come on the mic. Cousin Jano is gonna come. So cousin Jano is gonna take your spot Blair. Yes. Afterwards I want a photo with you. Love Blair Packham everybody Blair Packham. Simon Ratkoff we freaking love you so it's gonna be you Lucas here and then Giovanni you're gonna be here as soon as you'll come on right you have to go well come now come now come into the Simon Rackoff spot

here and you Lucas come here this is quick this will be before he has to go hey my ways like across the street right it's that long way you came holy smokes my ways across the street yeah jeez okay do you know we're doing this real quick street right it's that long way you came okay so we're doing this real quick this is Lucas this is Giovanni Mike Gapel birthday boys leaving I'll give you regards to Bojana okay see you Monday morning okay so oh gosh before you guys say a word. Oh, are you queuing it up? Well. Oh. Oh. Let me put this in my mic. ["The Little Mermaid"] Lucas with the lit off, you came into my life

because you, brother Neil and Giovanni came to a TMLX event at Great Lakes Brewery. Yeah. And just like now, near the end of the recording, you came on the mics and I'm like, who are these wonderful people? And you're back back so your buddy Giovanni's gotta go yeah well let him go first yeah Giovanni how you doing buddy? I'm doing well how are you? But you're working for MyWay I thought you'd be on like Kiss 92.5 or something. That's a backup.

So the MyWay is the backup backup. My way is current right now. Okay. Is radio is a tough business to crack, right? Oh, it is. It is. Yeah. Well, Bob Ouellette can write a book on that one. Please, like, I don't, when was the last time you were at a TMLS event? It was actually here.

Was it like two or three years ago? I think three. It was downstairs. Yeah, it was downstairs. That was pre-pandemic. That was pre-pandemic. 2019. I was at that one. Elvis was there. Yeah, that was pre-pandemic. That was pre-pandemic. 2019. I was at that one.

Elvis was there. Of course you were. But you were here last year too. I was. I think you were. But only for five minutes. So have you given up on the radio dreams? Somewhat, to be honest.

Yeah, it's difficult to you. It's a difficult business. How do you feel about that? Like when you had high hopes for radio and now you're like, I can't even crack. Honestly, it just sucks. This is a safe space yeah but he does like my way like I can't speak as well I'm not gonna talk about the bike lanes but yeah I love trans how do you feel about the bike lanes Alan wants to know the only good

thing for transit about the bike lanes if on Bloor it's like the subway shuttles when the subway is down and me make more space for the buses that's all i'm gonna say he's gonna leave it at that bike so Giovanni thanks for coming out the tmi thank you but Lucas give us your update you still you haven't given up on radio no i'm in radio i'm working in in London, Ontario, as an activation specialist for Rogers. That's amazing! What's the station called? We have three in London, two of which

are going to be sold soon, but Jack, Jack1023, Easy1013, and Country1073. Okay, so look, honestly I could spend 90 minutes with you guys, love you guys, but Lucas, thanks for being here, make sure I catch up with spend 90 minutes with you guys love you guys Thanks for being here. Make sure I catch up with you after the recording. Don't Know no, I'm not you're still in radio. Yes. Yes Giovanni is enjoying working with the public transit Yes, that's what I do now and you're both great great FOTM My joke Channels coming in here because I want to laugh at my jokes. They're nice guys. That wasn't funny.

So cousin Janos coming in here, because I want to get some people. Andy, would you come on? Okay. So we're really- I really got to pee. Go. Can I pee? Yeah.

You can pee. Dan, you want to take this seat? Oh, you sure? Okay. Well, congratulations on your fitness journey. Dan's lost 250 pounds. I'm not joking. That's not a joke.

That's real. That's incredible. That's incredible. That's incredible. Where do you pee? Here. Right? Just, just pee in a corner somewhere, okay? Cousin Jano, you are a cold- Maybe don't pee in a corner.

You're called Cousin Jano because Leslie Taylor is your cousin. Absolutely. Are you going to be at Lowest of the Low at the Rivoli on Tuesday? I'm just asking because I know you're a big Lois of the Low fan. Yeah, of course. Didn't even know till now. No, is that true? Didn't know till now.

Okay, she won't be there. I don't think so. It's okay. They didn't pay to promote the concert or whatever. So talk to me, how is life? Good, good. So talk to me, how is life? Good, good. But what I wanted to actually say was,

I saw the Jitters, Menkler Auditorium, 1981, 82? Yeah. 82, so 1982. Huge Jitters fan back in the day, huge. And I was like, wait, what? Did you know they had a reunion recently? No, did not. I was like, wait, what? Did you know they had a reunion recently? No, did not. I was like, wait, what?

You should have come on Toronto Mic to promote the reunion. There you go. You got, oh, there you go. Oh, he sold out. Because you're the Led Zeppelin of Jitters. You know, they... You're the Led Zeppelin of Jitters. Yeah.

Blair Packham is a bit like the Taylor Swift of the East York. Yeah, maybe. Is that where he lives? Yeah, I think so. I've been to a party at Blair Packham's house. Yeah, maybe. Is that where he lives? Yeah, I think so. I've been to a party at Blair Packham's house. Okay, there you go. It's quite a day.

There you go. In fact, Kurt Swinghammer's wife, Lori Cullen, who I met. Yeah, she was my neighbor. Do you know, this is a mind blow for you. You ready? Today is also her birthday. No kidding. Lori Cullen's birthday is today.

She is so lovely. She lived around the corner from me at College and Gladstone. Not sure she's still there, but she is lovely. Well, you're lovely. So cousin general, thanks for popping on the mic. We're going to just pick up because Joe Louis would come on just to say hi please. Joe Louis. Jarvis, you can come on right after Andy. Andy Pandy. Yes. The greatest, the biggest, every time Degrassi comes up on Toronto Mic'd, I reference you, do you know that?

Thank you. And also, I just wanna say a big thank you to Neil if he's still here. Is it brother Neil? No, Neil Jays. Is he here? And Dale, I want you to get Dale on too. I'm gonna show the, so Dale, I need to get you on.

Anybody in the Josini camp? Did you want to... You young lady I'm looking at, did you want to come on? No, she just shook her head. Jeremy and Jim Shedden, oh we're gonna bang this off here. So... Yes, so Neil picked up a Degrassi book for me and brought it for me today as a gift along the way. What? I know it was so nice of him. Neil Jays. It's taken all of my power to not start reading it while I was here. So did by Jovanni did brother Neil bring you anything? No. No. Okay brother Neil you got to get a gift for Andy. Step it up brother Neil. You got to buy a gift for Andy. You put a thumb up there here. So Andy I wanted to say thanks. I see you at so many of these events and you've come a long way from the first event

when you were too shy to say hello. I have. I remember that. Yeah, she came out and it was too shy because I'm intimidating. You are. And it took a lot for me to get here. I wanna say I was here before a lot of people

who are always making fun of me for sleeping in all the time. Yeah, but you have missed events at noon because it's too early for you. The first one here. You said I can't wake up that early. Yeah. Noon on a Saturday is a stretch for me. Do you work nights?

No. No, she's just lazy. I'm like a middle-aged teenager. Oh my god. Anyways, but I have been to this one and the last one. I made it here before, well maybe right at noon today. When you say stay up late, like how late is late? On a Friday night usually like between three and four. That is late. That is late. Is anyone else here awake at three or four? No. All coupled? Okay, all right. They work the night. David Schultz. He's gonna have to go pee. He's going.

That was good. Two good jokes, Mike. So Andy, you're in the WhatsApp FOTM group here, and with us there is, I'll use your pseudonym here, Joe Louie. Joe Louie. Joe Louie heard me say the word, and I can't remember the episode anymore, which is wild,

but I said Nona? Oh, who did I say it to? I can't remember who you said it to, but you said Nona oh who did I say it to? I can't remember who you said it to but you said Nona in reference to an Italian grandmother. I said Nona and I say like that Nona? You said Nona. Nona. Nona. Because my kids have Lola because they have a Filipino grandmother Lola if you have Italian grandmother that's Nona. No. Right well here can, can you please, no, Elvis's dad shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. That's right. Do you know that's when we

invented that? For my dad? I think so. Really? That's cool. I think so, yeah. I doubt it. Yeah, really? And then I said shout out to Ridley Funeral Home and you did a big laugh and then we started. Yeah, okay. So, cool your did you have a Nona to John from East York because... Is John here? Yeah, John's right there. It's a fellow Italian brethren. And... Does John want to jump on the mic?

Because we're going to do rapid fire. I want to get Dale on. He's going to confirm that, but... He doesn't want to come on the mic. Okay. You should do the grandfather version too. No, no. There you go.

So what am I doing? I'm going to... Because I know Alan thinks we need to move on from this. says this is not good content, but this is not the worst podcast Swig is probably the angriest person on the face of the earth He's actually right there Fuck was why I had a complete and total flashback to my first TMLX, TMLX 11 when Liz Brio went off and I'm wondering if Zweig and Brio are somehow related. Could you imagine if I had Zwaig? I'll need Hayref for that episode. If Steph Wilkinson was here

she's probably triggered in the background. She's probably freaking out. Oh there she is. So it's now now now. Would you stop now you no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no that Hamilton Mike and that'll be it. Is anybody? Oh and Dale. So you're amazing Joe. Say any final words for us before Dale. Final words. Oh and Jeremy. And Jeremy. Shout out to Carlo D who couldn't make it today. He's the guy who introduced me to this podcast world. Pleasure to be here. I love you in this community. Even though you want to rip up bike lanes too.

I'd love to rip up all the bike lanes. You know what? Fuck you guys and your bike lane ripping. But the problem is if I rip up the bike lanes then I can't ride my motorcycle in them so that doesn't work for me. What a dick. You know what I'm going to do, right? I'm gonna take the fucking lane, and you guys will just be behind me honking,

threatening me, and I don't give a shit. I'm the Allen's Wig of cyclists. I'm gonna split the lanes anyway with the bike. And shout out to Rob Del Mundo. Rob Del Mundo, good FOTM, couldn't be here because he's at the PWHL opener. You following this? So in this group that we're in, I've only ever seen like a confrontation once and it was between you and someone else where they were like, I don't even want to talk to you. And I was like,

I like this guy. Yeah, it was Jill. I like this guy. Jill Lumsden, who's been to a few events, and I did not like Joe Louis and basically said, stop talking to me. Yeah, I don Jill. I like this guy. Jill's been, Jill Lumsden, who's been to a few events, and did not like Joe Louis and basically said, stop talking to me. Yeah, I don't want to engage you. Right? It was awesome. It was fantastic. Oh, he was smart.

No, move on, Joe Louis. It wasn't even insane, it was bad. Jim Shedding, would you say hi? Okay, so Jim's coming on here. Jeremy, you're going to come on here. Jarvis, you're my son. How did the photography go? Good, amazing.

Okay, did you get lots of good photos? I got everyone. Really? Because I saw you chowing down over there you still managed to get everybody did mommy help you yeah she's doing it right now so that's you doing it is you get mommy to do it how was the content did you like the bike lane chat nevermind oh yeah I liked it okay cuz I used the bike lane like three days a week to get to but not

three days okay but those bike lanes, wait not three days, like two days. Okay, but those bike lanes are not being ripped up. So I know the bike lanes you take to get to LCI, they're actually not, they're going to leave those alone. It's the bluer bike lanes. But you love biking everywhere, right? Yeah.

And we'll be biking Tuesday and Thursday next week to get you to soccer. Just quickly before I say goodbye, you want to update everyone on your soccer career? How's it going? Well, uh. Because you're in competitive developmental league now, right? And you play... You have a game tomorrow in Woodbridge, right? Yeah, and after we're going to Swish LA with the whole team.

The team? Is that true? Mommy's... Because I'm actually going to be at 888 Young moderating the Gary Top thing, but I'd rather be at Swish LA with you. Do you think they'd miss me if I just didn't show them? Yeah they would miss you. Okay we love you, great photographer, great soccer player, just for the record, how many World Cups do you promise to win for Canada? I said three didn't I? Yeah. No you actually, I

think he said four. So Elvis is a big soccer fan,'s excited for World Cups with Jarrett Jarvis. I'll go I'll be there. I'll go. Thank You Jarvis. Jeremy Hopkins is he here? Jeremy Jeremy get on this mic here quick Mr. Dress Up Shirt love it. Jim guess where I'm gonna be Friday? I have no idea. I'm gonna be at the Art Gallery of Ontario. What's there? Mishimi. Oh of course. And I'm gonna be at the Art Gallery of Ontario. What's there? Mishimi. Oh, of course. And I'm gonna be there with Cam Gordon. Alright. For the opening of The Culture. Is that what it's called?

The Culture. I just heard when I heard Mishimi was there, I loved that woman. I said, tell me where to go. Right. So that's, I worked the AGO and that's a new show we have on hip hop and visual culture. Love it. And how are things going, man? It's been a while since your last, but do you still do a podcast with Alan Zweig?

Right, we've done 15 episodes, which is nine more than the other podcast, and 1,500 fewer than yours. So when Katie Lohr, who's still here, yes, okay. So when Katie Lohr and Alan Zweig are on the mic, and they're like, well, this is how, well, Katie said it, I think, this is how podcasting works.

You commit to six episodes and then you see how it went. Does that sound right to you? Well, I mean some things are a business and some things are not. So we're not running a business. And some things are neither. We're just kind of fucking around, which is kind of, it's kind of like guys getting together, you know, playing records in the basement or something, you know? What's the name of this podcast? A Thousand Songs. So people can subscribe to A Thousand Songs and they can still hear new Alan Zweig content because we're, sounds like

we're not getting another season of the worst podcast. They can't and they can hear full songs sometimes, because we haven't, except for one instance, we haven't been taken down by Spotify or Apple yet. But I think it's because we have no listeners. I now get emails every week or so from Spotify saying, oh, we're going to destroy this 100, batch of 100 that you, where you played like Bruce Springsteen or whatever But this only started in October for me the only episode of ours that was taken down

I think was when we played all of Alfie for a Burt Bacharach episode with Kurt Swinghammer Kurt Swinghammer husband of Laurie Cullen whose birthdate is today who I met at Blair Packham's house Everything's connected everybody. Give yourselves a round of applause. So Jim, you're at the Art Gallery. People should come out and support.

Anything else you want to share before I talk to the official historian of the Toronto Mike Podcast? Just because everything's connected. Both Kurt and Lori have also played in a music series that I do a live music series that I do with my daughter Meredith called Tavern or song so it's really all connected. It really is and we love you in the community Just love having you on and just being a friend of yours You're a valued FOTM and I'm really honored you were here because you were here on time You were here for 12 o'clock. You were here for the full Kevin Shea story.

I was. What did you think of Kevin's story? The only hockey player I know is Ken Dryden, so I actually had a glimpse of that years ago from him. So that's kind of an amazing thing. You're not a hockey buff, I take it. No. But my wife works for MLSC.

Really? Yeah. Did she get free tickets? No. Well, like. Then. Did she get free tickets? No. Well. Then you're dead to me. You know, exactly.

Thank you, Jim Shedden. Jeremy Hopkins. Hi, Mike. You might be the final guest. Is there anyone else? I'm scanning the room. Oh, Hamilton might come over here. Well, if you want, no, come on.

I'm going to close after you say hello. Just wish us all happy holidays or something like that, okay? This guy came all the way from Hamilton, okay? And then we're going to wrap. I'm a little over time, but we started a late because of the something like that, okay? This guy came all the way from Hamilton, okay? And then we're gonna wrap. I'm a little over time, but we started a late because of the audio issue here, okay? Jeremy Hopkins, it was at Palmer's Kitchen one year ago that I met you for the first time.

Yeah, at TMLX20, or TMLX14? Sounds right, yeah, yeah, because 15 was my 15th. Yeah, and it was a lot more barren in here back then. They did a great job. I almost didn't find my way up this year. So you come on the mic, because anybody's invited, I don't know who's going to show up, right? You come on the mic, and I'm like, I like that you had a, you dressed nice.

You had a, you didn't dress as nice today, but I like that you dressed up t-shirt. I just had a hoodie on that day. But who would have thought that you meeting me would mean that you would make four appearances on Toronto Mic? Yeah. Katie Lohr, lore by the way pod the north And a lot of it was thanks to Kevin Shea who I met today for the first time He apparently is the one who like he said have you ever been on Toronto Mike before after I? hear this story, and

And yeah, he said have you ever been on before and I said no and he goes oh let me see and next thing You know I get this confirmation that I'm coming on the Toronto Mike Show. But Jeremy, I met you at this event. You met me at this, but then when Kevin saw that I was at this event, he said, have you ever actually been a guest on the show? So then I reached out to you to book you based on Kevin?

Yeah, that's what I don't know. He never really told me. Oh, well, Kevin's a sweetheart. Let's go with it. But we've been following each other online for a long time because of the Hockey Hall of Fame and the history connection. And one day I posted a photo of a gas station just south of the, oh what is it, the music

hall, which is where I guess where you're going to be tomorrow, right? 888 Young, Davenport and Young. And it was Charlie Connacher's family that had that gas station. And he said, I've never seen a photo of that before. before so through that I just got to know him and found out that he was in the Hockey Hall of Fame and I just thought wow this is really cool I'm connecting to people I never thought I would and and then finding out about Kevin's music history as well with Nirvana and weird out over the years it just weird out my mind motley crew yeah. He was in diapers to promote Smells Like Teen Spirit to radio.

That's a true story. So like you said, a lot of things are connected and got to meet him today because of that. And now every quarter, which for Elvis, that means every three months. Thanks. Every quarter, you come on Toronto Mic'd and we do a different theme, Top Ten This, and it's been going very well. I love those episodes. and you'll be back in the first quarter of 2025. I'm so glad I did because I had imposter syndrome right from the bat because he said, this guy knows everything and he knows everything off the top of his head. And I went, I'm not rain

man. Please go easy on me. But it's been great ever since and I've had a great time and I love, I've loved meeting all the FOTMs and this community is just incredible. Well, thank you, Jeremy. You're a welcome addition to the community. I love I've loved meeting all the FOTM's and this community is just incredible. Well thank you Jeremy you're a welcome addition to the community I love it when you're on the live streams I love it so keep popping on the live stream. I will I will. I have Hamilton Mike to my left we're gonna say hi to him. Monica just sit there in Jeremy's spot yeah come on come on who's the boss? It's Angela Bauer that That's a rigged question. It's always been Angela. She literally cuts him a check. So Monica, you're gonna sit here.

You could have Morgan with you maybe, but you guys are gonna sit there because I'm gonna turn to my left and say hello to Hamilton Mike, and then we're gonna finish with you, okay? So go over there. They're going over there. Monica, my wife, everyone say hello to Monica.

And Monica birth, this angel. She looks so thrilled. You're both on that mic though, okay? Hamilton Mike, good to see you again buddy. You too, glad to be here. Hugh Dillon is still yet to make his Toronto Mike debut. He worked for MCA, he couldn't work something up, his old contacts, they're on the same label. He was in the calendar, I had the notes in front of me. I was expecting him in mere hours

in a PR email said, he's busy, he can't make it. It never ever came back into my calendar. Hugh Dillon has never appeared on Toronto Mike. You know what? There's still legacy media who still think broadcasting, literally the word broad is where it's at, where it's like, no, narrow casting. A million downloads in 2024 you're better off in a small quote small podcast that serves very dedicated people I mean small hill thousands hundreds of thousands versus millions no you don't reach millions on global or what not anymore you reach more on

Toronto Mike or any other podcast they can do any of these media conglomerates would you be my VP of sales because Because that's the kind of talk I'm looking for for my VP of sales. Speaking of which, let's thank Palma Pasta. The food was amazing. Everybody, Dale, Dale Cadeau, you're gonna sit here when Mike leaves because you came a long way. Okay. Well give me two minutes to talk about that because I want to talk about that two minutes after Hamilton Mike. I want to say thanks to Ty the Christmas guy for the gifts again. He's amazing. That's awesome. Welcome addition to the community. And a shout out to Al Gregor because they're both wearing Canadian

culture reference shirts. Letter Kenny and red green. Yep. And there's a red green episode of Toronto Mike with Steve Spence. That's correct, another Hamilton person. So the reason I brought up Hugh Dillon to put a bow on that, because not everybody knows what's in my brain right now, is your son who I've met before, he was at the first one at Palmer's Kitchen. 2019.

Yeah, we've only made Ableton, because on my work schedule, I can only make the ones that are on the weekends, otherwise we can't make But here he is, five years older and his name is Hugh Yes, and you named him Hugh after Hugh Dillon in my mind. Yes, I'm wife has other ideas But that's who I need him. I was thinking I love the name Hugh. Okay. Thank you Hamilton Mike for being here I hope the pasta was good and here so Dale though Dale two minutes two minutes two minutes come on Dale Dale came from British Columbia that's further than North Oshawa it's further than now he'll tell me he came to visit his mom and I'll say

bullshit you're here for tm-lx-17 is she under in one hold your mom he's a streetsville guy as I recall okay so Dale you bought a book from Robert Lawson right get right into that mic here I, Dale, you bought a book from Robert Lawson, right? Get right into that mic here. I got some questions. You bought a book from Robert Lawson. Two. Two now. This guy's a great supporter of the program from the get go. I know you like ripping up the bike lanes, but I'm not going to do that. Alan says enough is enough, okay? But what brings you to town? You here to see your mom? Exactly. Yeah. I come, she lives on Bonneville now. I grew up in Streetsville and she's 87 years old. 87! I gotta come out and see her as much as I can.

And it just so happened you got to make it out to a TMLX event. Exactly. Usually you have these things the week before the week after. That's on purpose. That's because of your bike lane. Is there chatter over there? Hey children just mute for like 10 seconds and I'll get to you in a second. Okay. And your mommy has to get on too. So Dale, that's amazing there. You mentioned you were trying to get three people to this event today, right? Who are the three people?

Ron Mike Richards, Gene Vallettis, and Lawson. But I heard he was here earlier. Well, Tim got Lawson, so Tim Heron drove Lawson here. He was here. Yeah, he was in. Can I ask you about these two? So I got a note from Mike Richards, who was here at the last TML X event at Palma's kitchen and it was quite something He said he was gonna be an Ajax or something like that. He couldn't make it

But what's going on of gene the lightest cuz gene the lightest moved to BC. Yeah to be near you exactly Okay, but then he came he came back. He's in Burlington now to be near Rob Bruce or his mom anyway But then he came back. He's in Burlington now to be near Rob Pruse, or his mom anyway. So Rob Pruse is in Burlington, Burlington boy, but Gene moved to Burlington, so Gene could have been here today. He was also at that TMLX event, the first one we did at Palma's Kitchen. Do you know why Gene's not here? I know I'm putting you on the spot. You can tap out if you want. Well, he did post it on Twitter, the reason why he wasn't coming. I didn't see this, so what did he post on Twitter? Trying to avoid Twitter.

That there was a certain person, a certain FOTM that said some discouraging things about Gene at one time, and he didn't feel comfortable. You know I missed this tweet. Did anyone else see this tweet from Gene Vilaitis? So Gene Vilaitis? So Gene Vilaitis said, I'm not coming to TMLX 17 because somebody will be there who said discouraging things about me. Did he say who? He just said someone with a letter F.

But in the first or last name? He said last name. So I only can think of one person who was here today and this person worked at the same radio station at the same time as gene the latest and he was Wearing a Christmas II sweater with run DMC on it Larry fedoric right he's why don't you ask him that I forgot all this until right now So Larry fedoric who may have I don't know I'm not gonna put words in Larry's mouth I don't have any recollection of this. I don't think it was on my podcast because I'm a big gene velaytas fan I love Jesse and gene, but gene didn't want to be in the same room

as Larry. Well, I don't know the answer to whether it was Larry or not. Alright, so you can't say it's Larry for sure. I'll see if I can dive deeper with Gene. Find out. I just need to know where all the old radio grudges are. I need to know who's beefing with who, how many people want John Gallagher dead. I need to know the list. First of all, I'm surprised Gene came back here because I know he's had a, he's pretty tight with Jesse still. And Jesse's got a big, huge, huge company in Vancouver. Well, maybe Gene got a gig. Like he might be here, I don't know. If he was here, I'd ask him. So we don't have Gene, but we have Dale and Dale, thanks for coming out again,

buddy. Awesome. I'm glad to be here, see some of the friends that I've met over the years. Yeah, you're a good man, you're a good man. Now I'm gonna close the show quickly here with Monica. So you're gonna be right on the mic over there. So, and Morgan. So Morgan, do you have any earrings left? Yeah.

Yeah, right on the mic. How many pairs of earrings do you have left? I don't know. I know. I know. Does mommy know? I know. I know.

How many? How many? Five, seven. I see seven. Is it seven? Yeah, it's seven. OK, well, you can say it in the mic, buddy. OK, so really, you have five bucks a pair?

So you do the math for me. What's seven times five? Wait, no, I don't. Oh, geez. I see this guy looks like he's a member of Hell's Angels. He just came up those stairs and I'm wondering... 35, 35. Okay, so 35 bucks will buy Morgan out.

Okay, no pressure, but 35 bucks buys my fourthborn angel out. So, I'm going to throw it into the universe right there. Morgan, are you happy with how things went today? And you happy that Leslie was wearing your earrings And you had a good time here. Yeah, once again Elvis. We forgot to fucking eat. Oh, yeah, that's right We said we and we better Anthony better feed us on our way out. That's all probably out of food So last words to Monica Monica. Thanks for being here. Thanks for the support Thanks for saying yes when I said I want to spend 1600 bucks on a studio back in 2012. Was that I think? I don't think I said yes.

You just did it. But I definitely mentioned it. I said I'm thinking of doing this and that would be your moment to say we don't have 1600 dollars. Yeah. Well, you didn't stop it. Look where it got us. So it's all good. But you are the one who said, you have to leave this bedroom now. I'm having a baby and they're going to sleep in this room. Right? Because originally I was up in Jermis's room. We interviewed someone together. In Jermis's room?

Yeah. I started there. That's where Jonathan Torrance was. That's where Alan Cross took that phone call. We interviewed someone over the phone. I can't remember who it was. Was the crib already set up while you were doing the interview? Jim Richards. Jim Richards. Jim Richards. Yeah, but we had to get out of there. That's when I got, I went to the basement where people hit their head. I had a lot of people hit their head down there. That's all your fault. But just want to say I love you very much, love your support, and I'm really glad that you're here at TMLX17. How do you think it went before I play the song? How do you think it went? It was great. Thank you everyone for coming out. The great food, drinks, the gifts.

Lastly, I need to order some of those salted chocolate chip cookies. They're amazing. Well, why don't we just tell her to bake us some every couple of weeks? I'll bike over to Leslieville or wherever I have to go to get some of these cookies. Elvis, so thank you, babe. Thank you, Morgan. Thank you, me. Thank you, Jar cookies Elvis so thank you babe thank you Morgan thank you me thank you Jarvis and thank you to Elvis who came from the North Oshawa you were amazing today I don't think so but thank you appreciate it I think this is your best performance yet it's always fun thanks Mike should I recorded Kevin Shea story

You need Al back. Seriously. We need more Al. I just want... Al Grego? No. The old grumpy boomer guy. Oh, his name's Alan Zweig. Yeah, that's it. I'm still a big Zweig head. Fantastic. Hey, put him on pay-per-view. Hey, thank you to RecycleMyElectronics.ca I was gonna put Cliff Hacking on but I didn't see him show up so Cliff didn't come on but go to RecycleMyElectronics.ca and you can

find out where you can drop off your old electronics to be properly recycled. You know this right Elvis? Can we move on from this? This is boring I don't want to talk about it. Can we talk about bike lanes? And Brad Jones did not show up but Ridley Funeral Home have been amazing partners. I've met him before. He's a very nice man. He's very nice. And that, where's Stu Stone? And that brings us to the end of our 1,589th show. Live from Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga.

Thank you everybody for being here. Yeah. Woo. in Mississauga. Thank you everybody for being here. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, Minaris, and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all. I'm recording live from 888 Young Street tomorrow. This will be pretty good. Colin Brunton, Jeff Silverman, Ivor Hamilton, Gary Cormier, and Gary Topp.

See you all then! Music