Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Tom Wilson: Toronto Mike'd #399

Episode Date: November 15, 2018

Mike chats with Tom Wilson about his musical career in Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and LeE HARVeY OsMOND, what he learned about himself six years ago, his autobiography Beautiful Scars, Gord Downie, Neil Young, his love for the Hammer and more.

Welcome to episode 399 of Toronto Mike, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Paytm Canada, Census Design and Build, and our newest sponsors, Palma Pasta and Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com and joining me is Tom Wilson. Welcome, Tom. How are you doing, Mike? That's a hell of a great voice on this microphone. I wish I sounded like that. Actually, I make a pretty good living over the years doing commercials, right? I'll bet.

So I don't know if I'm allowed to do these commercials, but I say things like, over the years, it's not what you're eating. It's what your dog's eating. Kibbles and bits. That's you. That was me. Also, I also said this. Close your eyes, Mike. You're going to love this.

There's some things in this world you can still count on. McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese. Isn't that something, Mike? Honestly, if I had that voice, I would never shut up. Well, I try to shut up. I've been told to shut up a lot. But, you know, so my voice has actually served me quite well. And, you know, my nature is, of course, to be a, what should I say, oh, a slut.

So it works out just great for me. Well, hey, no, thanks for being here. And I'm glad you fit down here. I was worried because you're a larger gentleman. You're a tall guy. Yeah, I'm, well, yeah, but I'm getting older, so I'm glad you fit down here. I was worried because you're a larger gentleman. You're a tall guy. Yeah, I'm, well, yeah, but I'm getting older, so I'm getting shorter. You're shrinking.

You know what I mean? I'm about 60 years old, so I think that I'm, you know, I can fit in here okay now. In 10 years when you come back, you won't even have to duck. You'll just come right in. Is it a pain in the ass sharing a name with a notorious NHL hockey player? Has this ruined your

SEO, as they say? No, but not at all. I really like this other Tom Wilson, though. He's a bit of a Hamiltonian, you know. So, no, that's okay with me.

He's certainly working for his notoriety, his fame, and he's a kick-ass hockey player, man. So let her rip, buddy. Well, here's what happened. I promoted on Twitter that Tom Wilson was going to be on the program, and then I got, I guess, a few people just because the other Tom Wilson had just been suspended, and he's a Torontonian. So I guess people thought, oh, he's suspended,

and he's in town because he can't play. Right. And I had a lot of comments about they were kind of, I thought it was a pretty good exclusive that you got suspended Tom Wilson on the program. And I'm like, wait, wait, no, it's the cooler Tom Wilson. I've got the... You know what?

I texted somebody in Calgary, wait, no, it's the cooler Tom Wilson. I've got the... You know what? I texted somebody in Calgary, and I forget what it was about, and it was a number that was defunct. And I said, hey, how you doing? Whatever business I had with this person. And they said, who is this? I said, it's Tom Wilson. And they wrote back, hey, Tom, how are you?

How's the suspension doing? Right. And I said, ha, ha, ha, yeah, man. I said, I seem to be making my way through it. And then we continued the conversation, and they said, this isn't Tom Wilson, the hockey player. I said, no, I thought you were kidding with me. Yeah, you thought he was. And this was obviously somebody that has,

because he had insights into Tom Wilson. It was just a shot in the dark, man. But it was like, I was actually dealing with some Calgary flame out there. Anyways. That's what I figured would happen, because, I mean, it was your name for the longest time. You were the Canadian Tom Wilson. Well, there was also Ziggy Tom Wilson, you know what I mean?

The cartoonist. Tom Wilson is a name that's almost like John Smith. Or like Mike Smith. Bill Watson or something. Yeah, there's a lot of Mike Smiths I know. Mike Smith, yeah, so there you go. That's why you're Toronto Mike, so I should be Hamilton Tom. Hamilton Tom, I will only answer to questions

being directed to Hamilton Tom. Glad you mentioned the hammer. Okay. Because I'm going to start off with a few questions from the hammer, about the hammer. Because you're a proud Hamiltonian. Uh-huh. So, Ralph Ben-Murgy. Yeah.

You know Ralph. I see Ralph because I go to pick up my grandkids at school, and Ralph's picking up his son at school. Yeah, Ralph's done that. He's done what I've done's done that uh he's done what i've done actually except he's got a he's older than i am as you know but he's so he had kids with like a marriage and then he had another marriage and had new kids so now he's like one of those like old dads as as i like to say yeah i don't know i think he'd call himself i actually haven't mentioned that to him but just you know what uh yeah so i run into ralph about once a week

i gave him a copy he asked about my book i gave him a copy of my book i know that he uh he's got a great neighborhood guy but just just to um you know the the serendipitous of uh serendipity of all this is yeah i i performed on ral Ralph Van Merge's last show on New Year's Eve with Lowest of the Low. It was Junk House and Lowest of the Low on the Ralph Van Merge show. You're breaking my brain. First of all, Van Merge's been on this show.

He's the one, we talked a lot about the Hammer because he went on in the Toronto Star and called it Toronto's Brooklyn, is what he went and called it. We had a lot of talk about that. So Van Merge's been on the show. We talked a lot about talk about that. So Ben Murgie's been on the show. We talked a lot about that program. But of course, as I mentioned to you before we started recording, Lowest of the Low

were here playing live in the basement two days ago. And that's a wonderful convergence small world story. That's amazing. But what Ralph wanted me to ask you is, he says, how come I read his book, but he hasn't taken me out for a coffee?

That's from Ralph Ben-Murray. I think he wants you to take him out for a coffee. He never asked. What the hell? I live like four blocks from here. He's shy. He wanted me to convey the message. Okay, Ralph.

You know what? Here's, you know, actually, I was just about to give my number out, but just text me, Ralph. I'm a writer and a musician. I don't do anything. I got all the time in the world. That's right.

Now, there's a Brian who says, about 1980 or 1981, I pumped gas into Tom's Chevy Chevette. Yeah. He had a cassette of Springsteen's first release, Greeting from Ashbury Park. Yeah. On the dashboard.

I wondered if he ever met Bruce. Yeah, I did. Wow. Tell me you met Bruce. So tell me about that. Oh, first of all, I can't believe this guy remembers my Chevy Chevette. I'm wondering what gas station you worked at.

And I mean, you have to be going to another era that somebody actually pumped gas into your car. You know, I mean, I'm now... Early 80s. That's when it kind of ended, I think. Early 80s. Okay, so about 90 uh I guess about 95 96 Junkhouse released Strays and we were on uh Columbia Records in the U.S. Sony Music up here

uh Epic you know that was like Columbia Epic were were joined uh with Sony um in the corporate world but Bruce Springsteen was on Columbia Records and he again guess, you know, as the story goes, he got a copy of Strays by Junkhouse and put on the first song, and it was Jesus Sings the Blues. And it came back to me that, you know, hey, Bruce Springsteen heard that song, Jesus Sings the Blues. I said, oh, well, that's pretty cool. Did he say anything about it? He said, yeah.

Bruce said, if Jesus sang, he'd certainly sing the blues. And I thought, wow, the whole thing is cool, right? That is cool. I don't expect things like that. So then he's out on this tour, right? He's doing this Ghost of Tom Joad tour, where it's just Bruce Springsteen playing smaller halls just with an acoustic guitar.

Right. And he's playing at Massey Hall, and they get a call from Sony Music, and they and they say hey Bruce Springsteen is coming to town he's kind of wants to meet you and I kind of took the phone away from my hair I thought who is this and they said well there's gonna be tickets and backstage passes for you to go and to go and see the Bruce Springsteen show right no I mean I've seen springsteen a bunch i gotta say you know i mean i don't want to sound like a dick but i'm not the

biggest bruce springsteen fan but i mean oh my god he's like he's so fantastic you know what i mean and he's such a great writer my favorite album being nebraska and the ghost of tom joe you know i like him when he's sitting around the kitchen table singing to you. Anyways, I go to the show and sure enough, I don't even ask anybody to go with me because I think this is a farce and I don't want to embarrass myself and I figure I'm going to be over at the Silver Rail probably

in about five minutes after I go to Will Call at Massey Hall. I get there and sure enough, there's backstage passes and two tickets to the show and I don't have anybody with me, so I just go into the show, and it's one of those, Mike, it's one of those situations where you go to see somebody and you're sitting too close.

You know what I mean? It's like you're sitting in the second row of Massey Hall, and it's like, oh, my God, I kind of want to get down in my seat. I don't want to be seen. It's like I'm almost too close. Springsteen comes out with just an acoustic guitar, a leather vest with no shirt underneath. And he's out there and he's playing the guitars.

In the day we sweated out on the street. And all these great songs, right? And he's doing mostly, goes to Tom Jode. And he's up there with this, with this bare chest and this leather vest. Now, Mike, I got to tell you, I'm very much a heterosexual man. I, I love, love women. I don't feel that way about men. They don't want me. And I'm looking at him and he's playing and I'm looking at his chest and it's like this chest that is like could only belong to a man who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has the time to work like this chest that is like could only belong to a man who is worth hundreds of

millions of dollars and has the time to work on this chest and it's sweating and it's hairy and i'm staring at the chest and i'm looking at bruce and he's singing and looking at the chest i can't believe this guy's chest the concert ends i go backstage and I'm standing backstage at the old, you know, the old backstage at Massey hall and it's beautiful and it's historic. And I love the vibe there. And there's a line of like people, I think Lou Reed is back there and Gordon Lightfoot's back there. Right. And they're going to meet Bruce. Right. And, uh, and I got nothing to say, I'm drinking a beer and I'm kind of minding my own business. And sure enough, it comes time. I'm the last person to meet Bruce Springsteen. I go down the hallway to this small dressing room,

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

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

you never get caught staring at another man's tits ever and here i am face to face with the boss and i'm looking at his chest and he notices and let's go in my hand and i realized at that moment all the little pipe dreams that i had because we're both working class you know blue collar guys right Right, right, right. I figured I'd be flying down to New York and I'd call him up and I'd be saying, Hey, Bruce, man, it's Tom. I'm in town. Let's go see the Rangers. Come on, baby.

But none of that happened, Mike, because I got caught staring at Bruce Springsteen's tits. I was going to ask, like George Costanza, did it move? It did not move. So that's my Bruce Springsteen story. That's great. That's a great story. And if all the stories are that good, we're going to need another 90 minutes

because that was fantastic. But didn't you work with Bruce's wife? Patty Sciolfo, yeah. We recorded with her. Back in the Rodeo Kings, we were on a train going across Canada around this time of year. It was really cold. I know that.

And it was a cowboy junkies train. It was us and Fred Eagle Smith and the cowboy junkies. And it was about 100 people that had paid to go on a train across Canada and watch us do concerts. It was actually really cool. And Mike, I don't know when the last time. Sounds amazing. I don't know when the last time you took a train to the West Coast. Never.

It's just like being on a plane for three days, right? So we're on this train, and we had to be rehearsing because we were flying right back to do the, at the time, the 20th anniversary for The Last Waltz. So we're literally in this box car, Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and I, and we're playing, we're rehearsing these band songs for this show we're doing at the Glen Gould Theatre in Toronto at the time.

And Colin Linden says, out of nowhere, he says, you know, we should do an album with the women who are big fans of our band and call it Kings and Queens. I said, yeah, that's a good idea. And then we went back to playing. We took another moment. He says, you know, I'm thinking more about that project. He says, and we call it Kings and Queens. And all of a sudden I thought, you know, that's a great idea.

And we started calling up, literally calling up women that we knew were fans of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. So we called Roseanne Cash, Pam Tillis, Lucinda Williams, and Emmylou Harris. Wow. And they all said yes. Amazing. So all of a sudden it was like oh now now we're actually making this record we didn't expect we thought maybe one of them would

say yeah that sounds like a cool idea but we got a yes from all four of them so all of a sudden we had to be making this blackie and the rodeo kings kings and queens record and then we decided to call amy helm lev Helm's daughter. And we made a few other calls and Patty Sky Alpha's name came up, uh, because she is such a fantastic singer, not underrated, but not really paid attention to as much because she's married to the guy with the chest. Right. Um, and, uh, and so we called her up and she was, she was really into it too. Um, and, uh, and so we called her up and she was, she was really into it too. Um, she recorded, uh, a song written by Colin

Linden, uh, Shelter Me Lord. Um, but she actually recorded it from, uh, their Bruce's home studio in New Jersey. So we, we actually never, we never really hung out with Patty, but, um, but she's absolutely fantastic. Pretty cool. Mike Rogotsky, uh, who is a loyal listener,

but I know he's from The Hammer, because every time there's a Hamilton reference on the show, whether it be Stephen Brunt or Damien Cox or Ben Murgie, whatever, Hamilton comes up a lot. He gets awfully excited, along with Jake the Snake, who has another question I'll ask in a minute. But Mike Rogotsky wants me to ask you, what's your favorite Hamilton bar to perform at?

Oh, now? Now or then? I think you'd be happy with either or. It's up for sale right now, but this ain't Hollywood. You know? This ain't Hollywood. I just like going there. Now, listen, I had a little bit of a sickness a couple weeks ago that I won't talk about, but I had a sickness where

I actually had to quit smoking. And I loved going to the St. Hollywood because I like sitting out there on Murray Street, standing out there smoking cigarettes with my friends and people that you don't get to see. Because I don't drink, so I don't go to bars regularly. Right. But the shows at the St. Hollywood is, Mike, I don't know if you've ever been there. I've never. But it's a real rock and roll bar.

It's like giant posters of Frankie Venom, Hamilton-centric, and a long, long bar stage at the end, and a great place to see rock and roll. I saw Rocky Erickson there from the 13th, you know, Rocky Erickson, who's legendary. I've seen some great shows there. That place is great. Also, there's the Mule Spinner,

which is owned by Bob Lanois and Glenn Marshall out of the Cotton Factory. It's put together as a recording studio. But Bob Lanois, people don't know, but he built all of his brother's studios. And a lot of the fancy electronics with names that you actually can't buy. You can't go into Longham Equades or order from

Germany. Uh, he builds those fancy things. So anyways, he, he put together that studio with the Glenn Marshall in the past. Yeah. I'd have to say the Golden Garter, which was on Dundurn street. There's a Zarky's there now.

But the Golden Garter was a place where Long John Baldry, King Biscuit Boy, Kelly J, and some formation of Crow Bar, Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls, Teenage Head, The Shakers, The Trouble Boys, The Forgotten Rebels, my band, the Florida Razors, we used to play there. It was owned by Harry, who downstairs was kind of a five-star restaurant, and the home, the original home of Surf and Turf that he came up with. Harry was a survivor of a concentration camp during the Second World War, and he used to go into the bar every morning and open up the cash register,

hit it with his forearm with the numbers that they put on him from the concentration camp. And that place didn't, I don't remember it lasting that long, but the Golden Garter was run by Stuart Pollock at the time, and it was a fantastic place to see music. Do you credit the smokes? Because you mentioned quitting the smoking.

Is that part of what gave you this amazing voice? I'm hearing it in the headphones here. I don't know. Does that contribute at all? Because I've asked some people. There's a guy, Jeff Woods. Oh, I know Jeff. Yeah, so Jeff.

Jeff Woods. Yeah, he's been on a couple times. And for me, I think it might have moved, actually, listening to Jeff Woods' voice. I'll listen in the headphones, and I'm like, oh my God, I'm a on a couple times. And for me, I think it might have moved, actually, listening to Jeff Woods' voice. Like, I'll listen in the headphones, and I'm like, oh, my God, I'm a heterosexual man, too. Mike, you have got a busy dick. I can't believe it.

It's moving all the time. Now I'm wondering. I'm wondering. I'm now questioning everything. But I asked him, I said, what was your secret? And he said, well, he's been smoking since he was 13 years old or something. Well, I started smoking on the way home from football practice. Okay, listen, I'm just going to tell you, I had a stroke 10 days ago, right?

Oh, man. And I'm not going to let it take me down. But at the same time, you know, I'm not going to try to drive a nail, you know, into my coffin. So I don't drink. I don't do drugs. i've been clean and sober two weeks uh i'll be 19 years clean and sober good for you but i had a little moment uh that i wasn't going to talk about but no listen that's what people do i'm so i'm so comfortable with you mike that uh you know and you're telling me that it moves all the time like oh I should tell

something secret about me so uh yeah so I I I've been a casual smoker I'd have to say I started smoking on the way home from football practice coming from Sherwood High School when I was about 14 years old and I have traditionally one cigarette a day unless I'm on tour and then I walk off stage go out the back theater door and I have two or three cigarettes and it's my reward because I don't drink or do coke or you know where you're showing great restraints because most smokers can't do that I know but the thing the funny thing about tobacco for me Mike is that is that anything else, you give me anything and it gets right under my skin. But anything to do with smoking never was.

It's a reward system that I am missing now for the last almost two weeks now. But we'll see how it goes. Tell me, because you look healthy to me. We've only been talking a half an hour now, but you sound strong and you look strong. So the stroke, educate me a little bit. Like the stroke, was it a mild stroke? How did you know you were having a stroke?

Okay, so I've never had a stroke before. I have a heart condition. I'm already on cholesterol medication and high blood pressure and blood thinners, right? But I was driving home from a literary festival in Sudbury, Ontario, and coming down the 400, just about to get on the 407 to Hamilton, you know. And I'm driving, and my left arm fell off the steering wheel. And I was like, that's weird.

And I tried to lift it up, and it was like I had a 7,500-pound weight on my arm. Wow. Lifting it up, and I got it up and put it on the steering wheel and drove home. And I drove my piano player, Jesse O'Brien, to his apartment on Locke Street. And then I went home and had a shower because I was going to emergency. Now, mind you, I'd been having chest pains the whole weekend. So I was thinking, you know what? My cardiologist says, you get chest pains, go to the hospital.

And so if I did that, I'd be at the hospital twice a day, right? So I don't usually go. But this was acting up. So I go home, and I have a shower because Bunny? So I don't usually go, but this was acting up. So I go home and I have a shower because Bunny Wilson always said that, you know, if you're going to the hospital or going to see the doctor, you've got to have a clean bum. Don't show up with a dirty bum

because they might stick something in there. And I thought, oh my God, that's still from five... Like as a courtesy to the healthcare professionals. That's right. At five years old, I was told that, and it's still like this, you know, fear that I have that someone's going to pull my pants down and I'm going to have a dirty bum. I hope it's not moving again, Mike. Um, and so, uh, so I went home and had a shower and went to the, uh, uh, St. Joseph's

hospital and, uh, you know, they, they did a bunch of tests on me. So now, now I'm got to go for, uh, more brain scans and stuff, but, um But I just refuse to be taken down, and I'm really angry about this, to tell you the truth. So you know what? I'll come back on the show, and I'll let you know how that's going. Oh, yeah. I hope, I mean, obviously, it goes without saying,

I hope it's a speedy recovery and there's no... Well, I'm here. I'm Hex here. Here I am. I would tell you now, if I thought you were sounding a little off, but you sound strong as hex. You know what?

I'm putting together an art show, an art exhibit right now. So I've been painting for almost an entire year, putting an exhibit together that opens at the Art Gallery of Burlington on November 30th. Amazing. And it's all Mohawk warriors, Mohawk hunters and chiefs. So I've been working at that at home. I did a show in Ajax last week. I did a speaking engagement in Markham last week. I'm here today.

I was writing with Tara Lightfoot, songs for her new record, writing with her yesterday. So you know what? Don't try and take me down. I wouldn't dare. I am the devil. I wouldn't dare. I am the devil. I wouldn't dare. Jake the Snake, I mentioned him.

He's another proud Hamiltonian. But he says, he wants me to ask you what you think of the Argos. I think I know what he's hoping you'll say. They suck. There you go. That's all he wants to hear. He used to distribute buttons like Argos suck buttons. Yeah, man.

Yeah. More people should be wearing them. In fact, you know what? Toronto should be wearing them. Toronto knows the Argos suck.. Yeah, man. Yeah, more people should be wearing them. In fact, you know what? Toronto should be wearing them. Toronto knows the Argos suck. Why are they, why do they put on the facade that they don't suck? Because the Argos do suck.

Now, the best part of, there was a Grey Cup, there was a Grey Cup parade going back in the, I think the 90s, late 80s, 90s. I forget when the Ticats won the Grey Cup, and it was the Grey Cup, it was the Grey Cup came through. Anyways, there was a bunch of guys at the end

with a giant banner on the ends of two hockey sticks, and it was completely irrelevant, but it just said Argos suck. It was like that was the end of the parade. They jumped in on the end of the parade. It reminds me of Boston Red Sox fans, where it's almost like as much as they want to say Go Sox or whatever, they're Yankee suck.

That's as big a call. Yeah, same thing, I guess. Argos suck. I'm with you. And I mean, old world Hamiltonians feel that way about Toronto in general. I'm an old world Hamiltonian, but I don't feel that way about Toronto. I like Toronto. I love the Leafs.

George Wilson loved the Leafs. I love the Leafs. I like coming here. I like eating good food here. I also love my hometown and have been writing about it for 35 years, and I will continue to write about Hamilton. Well, Jake wants me to ask you about Sons of the Hammer.

Yeah. Can we, he wants to know if he can expect to see them play again. Jeez, I don't know. You know, that was going back to a Grey Cup in Montreal. I was walking up Lock Street and ran into Gord Lewis from Teenage Head.

And he said, hey, Tom, he said, I know, because I was playing the Grey Cup too. It was a giant corporate party. And he said, Hey, you're going to be in Montreal. He said, Do you think you could sit in if Frank can't make it to the show? Frankie Venom, if Frank can't make it to the show, do you think you can sit in and be the singer for Teenage Head? I said, Yeah, sure. I said, but what's wrong with Frank? And he said, and nobody knew at the time, he said, well, Frank's got cancer, and we don't know.

He's going through treatment, but it doesn't look very good. He might not be able to make it. Frank died about a week and a half later. I remember getting off a plane in Kelowna and getting a text message that Frankie Venom had died, and it broke my heart because he was truly a great Hamiltonian.

So I went in front of that band, and I realized that this is, to me, the greatest Canadian rock and roll band that ever lived, and they shouldn't stop playing. And so I decided to put Sons of the Hammer together kind of to front the honor of fronting Gord Lewis, Steve Mann, you know, bookending me

and me getting me in the middle. So Sons of the Hammer, I don't know. You know, I would love to do it. I think they're busy doing teenage head shows with Dave Rave right now, so hats off to them. Right. Wes, here's a question Wes posed on Twitter and you actually replied on Twitter,

but I call it a spoiler alert, but let me ask it here for the show, for those who didn't see the tweet. But Wes wrote, I think strays from Junk House is what got me into music as a kid. I'd like to know Tom's favorite music memory growing up in Hamilton. Oh man, it's playing right now. I was going up the Jolly Cut in the back

of Bunny Wilson's Austin Mini and I was 12 years old lying in the back seat. CKOC was on. This song came on, Oh What a Feeling by Crowbar and I'd never heard it before and it was like, what the hell is this amazing man

oh what a feeling and uh the song ended and the dj on cklc said that was oh what a feeling by crowbar hamilton's own and at that moment, I felt anything was possible. Because if something so fantastic could come from some guys from my hometown, I knew that it would open up the door to possibilities. And as artists, Mike, our job is not to collect gold records and Junos and all that crap. Our job is to open up the door to opportunity and possibilities to the next guy or woman coming up. Amazing.

So for the listeners at home, we're going to dive into your career. I mean, you're Junkhouse and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and Lee Harvey Osmond, and there's a whole bunch of stuff I want to get to and play clips. But first, I do want to thank our sponsors who helped make this thing happen. I've got a gift for you, too. Let's start with the gift.

Okay. This beautiful red box in front of you, that's a frozen lasagna. Oh my God, I need it. I need it so bad. You know what? I am getting ready for another stroke, baby. Oh, I should have asked your doctor if you're allowed to have lasagna.

I don't ask my doctor. I'm allowed. You know what? Thank you for this. You want to know why? Why? How do you pronounce this? Palma Pasta is the name of the restaurant.

Palma Pasta. Thank you very much from palma palma's kitchen yeah uh at uh you can see them on facebook twitter and uh instagram that's at palma pasta.com i'm going to be taking this home i'm picking up my grandsons at school today they have piano lessons at my house and i'll be seeing ralph Merge. I'm going to carry this Palma pasta under my arm into the schoolyard and let Van Merge see it and say, you know what? I'm not going for coffee

with you and you're not getting any of this pasta either. Oh, I love it. I love it. Yeah, enjoy that. I mean, it's amazing Italian food from Palma's pasta. In fact, you know what? I might call Ralph up and say, you know what? Hey, come over for dinner. Come on. It's time. There's a lot there. I don't know if you tried to lift it. You're a

strong guy, but a post-stroke, I wonder if you could... See that? That's got some heft to it, right? I know. It's good. It's good. It's good stuff. You know what, Mike? Let's not talk about the stroke anymore. No more stroke talk. I want to thank our sponsor, Great Lakes Brewery. They're a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. 99.9%

of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario. They're brewed for you, Ontario. I want to thank PropertyInTheSix.com, Brian Gerstein. He's a real estate sales representative here in Toronto. And if you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six

months, call Brian at 416-873- 0292 or get your mouse, click your mouse. Do people click mouses anymore? But get over to propertyinthesix.com and contact Brian. He's a great guy. Census Design and Build, they provide architectural design, interior design, and turnkey construction services across the GTA. So call them at 416-931-1422 or go to censusdesignbill.ca today to schedule your zoning and cost project feasibility study. And if you want $10 right now, that's right, Tom, 10 bucks for anyone listening.

What? Download the Paytm app. This is a great app. Yeah, do that. Manage all of your bills in one spot. And if you go to paytm.ca and download the app, when you make your first bill payment, you'll see a button that says promo code.

Put in Toronto Mike, all one word, Toronto Mike, and you'll get $10 right away in Paytm Cash, and you can use that towards another bill or you can make a bill payment with that. Sorry, or you can get a reward from the reward section. So go to paytm.ca and do that. And I have a... This is more fun here. Tom, this is called Remember

the Time. So on this day in 1986, the Beastie Boys released their debut album, Licensed to Ill. Yeah, man. Which became the first rap album to go to number one on the Billboard charts. Yeah, well-deserved. Beastie Boys were great. I think there's some new book they put out, the two surviving members.

There should be. You know what? They were ear-catching, eye-catching. They were not rude, but they were playful, you know? And it was really needed in music at that time because there was a lot of hair and clothes that were really too tight, and people were taking themselves just too seriously.

The Beastie Boys came around, put all their efforts into their art and had a big joke around it. And you know what? I just want to mention, I don't know the name of the album, but they made this instrumental album much later.

Mojo, is this? No, it's not the Mojo one. Shit, you know what? I'm going to be that guy. I think I do remember the instrument. It was pretty recent. It might have been just before. Yeah. It was in the 90s. Maybe late 90s.

I'm still talking, but I'm also looking on here. Beastie Boys. Take your time, man. While you look that up, I'll just tell people that Remember the Time is brought to you by... The in sound from Way Out by the Beastie Boys.

And it sounded like an album of modern porn music, right? It was fantastic. Sorry to interrupt. No, no, please. I'm glad you got that. But yeah, Beastie Boys were great. Remember the Time is brought to you by Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. They've been doing quality watch

and jewelry repairs for over 30 years. If you want to get 15% off your regularly priced watch battery installation, just mention that you heard about them on Toronto Mic'd when you go to a Fast Time location. And if you want to know the closest location to you, go to FastTimeWatchRepair.com. They have a new location in Richmond Hill that you should check out. So thank you, Fast Time. And now let's do this. Okay, so let's start with a question from Basement Dweller.

And he talks about, in your autobiography, Beautiful Scars, which he says is a terrific read. Oh, thank you. Beautiful Scars. Actually, Beautiful Scars, maybe tell me a little bit. Before, I was going to dive into the music, but I'd rather do it this way. So I'm going to talk about, I want to talk about, you know, Junk House, and I want to talk about your music, but I want to start with something you revealed in Beautiful Scars.

This is a story that's so compelling and interesting to me, and I want you to share it with us if you don't mind. But can you tell me what you learned about your uh your birth parents well it's actually the story mike and it's funny because i do a lot now i do a lot of literary festivals you know and i you know i went from hanging around rock and roll people to hanging around people like you know john irving and michael and dache and uh now i go to literary festivals and I read from the book and I'm interviewed. And sometimes the interviewer, you know, as respectful and insightful as they are, will say, this is really different for a rock and roll memoir.

And I have to say, it's because it's not a rock and roll memoir. I've been playing music, Mike, for 45 years, so obviously there's going to be some references to what that meant to me in my life. But the story is about discovery, identity, the long road home. Six years ago, I was going on a speaking tour and a complete stranger who was the handler for the tour who

got me in my limousine got me to my airport that kind of stuff you know I get in she goes your family and my family were friends and I said you know I hear that a lot but Bunny and George Wilson were really old George Wilson was blinded in the second world war he was a tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber for those listeners that don't War. He was a tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber. For those listeners that don't know what that means, a tail gunner position in Lancaster and Halifax bombers was known as the suicide seat during the Second World War. The young men, boys that sat in that seat,

they usually didn't make it home. George Wilson made it home. He was a broken man with a massive head injury, totally blind, a little bit of drinking, quite a bit of drinking. The house was very dark, and they didn't have any friends in Hamilton. The only people that got into the house

were relatives from Quebec. And she says, oh, no, my grandmother was friends with Bunny Wilson. Her name was Mary Brennan, and I remembered that name from a kid. I hadn't heard it. It came through to me from oceans of time, from the time I was four or five years old on East 36th Street

on the East Mountain of Hamilton. I remembered her grandmother. I said, I remember your grandmother, and my heart broke open because I didn't think Bunny had any friends in here. Sure enough, was this woman that I remembered, and she says, yes, in fact, my grandmother was so close with Bunny Wilson, she was there the day you were adopted. And I said, what?

53 years old, I found out that I was adopted. I found out that the woman who's been my cousin my entire life is actually my mother. She's a Mohawk from Kahnawake. I find the rest of my family, my father is a Mohawk from Kahnawake. I grew up thinking that I was a big, tall, sweaty Irish guy. I'm actually a big Mohawk man who grew up an only child, and I met six of my brothers and sisters. So I'm still on this journey, Mike, and that's why I talk about dedicating my artistic life

to bringing honor and respect and love to my culture, which I'm only just discovering. And also that story alone is a good reason why I ended up on stages playing music, because I didn't have, I didn't really know my identity. I always suspected that things weren't right. I didn't find out that I was adopted until six years ago, but I had to make my own identity. And as a result, I made a lot of mistakes in my life. And I think that I'm on a very good path now. You refer to your adopted father as George Wilson.

Is that sort of intentional? You refer to him as George Wilson because you don't... No, he was my father. But my actual biological father was a man named Louis Beauvais, who died in 1991. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't... Listen, I'm not disrespecting George Wilson as a father figure. I'm just clarifying because I'm telling a story that has a lot

of ins and outs and a lot of characters popping up for anybody listening. It's like I kind of got to make it clear for them. And I get asked that question a lot, Mike. So do you not consider George Wilson your father? No. He was my father. He was my hero. And, you know, but just for the sake of telling this story I call him by his name.

And I wasn't even jumping to that conclusion except I just wanted to clarify because sometimes I think that would be you would refer to a parent

by their full name in that regard but of course to tell the story you gotta you gotta to cut to a chase there. By the way

there's Lancaster Bombers I see flying over the city sometimes I do a lot of bike riding on the waterfront trail. Yeah, this is what I was told. It's coming from Hamilton, right?

Yeah. I think it comes from, someone told me it's from Hamilton. It's from Hamilton. So I think it's the last, the last working flying. I heard that too. You know,

which by the way, if it's the last one, I wouldn't necessarily want to be flying around in it, you know. But yeah, it's the last one and it's at,

it's at, it's in Mount Hope at the Hamilton Airport. They have the, the warplane and Heritage Museum there, which is worth visiting, I've got to tell you. Ride your bike out there. I actually did ride to Hamilton. In fact, speaking of Mohawk College for the Ride to Conquer Cancer, we all rode out there and camped there overnight and then rode back. Excellent, Mike.

Now, that's a story. Now, that's to find out at the age of 53 that you were adopted, and then that's one thing you need to kind of process, and it's another thing to realize now that, you know, like you said, you thought you were this big, sweaty Irish guy,

and it turns out you're a Mohawk. So, that, is this what's inspired? You referred to the painting you've been doing. And so have you been, now you've been exploring this cultural identity that you only learned about six years? Well, yeah. Let me just tell you, I get asked, there's a couple of things people say, which is one,

one thing is, you don't look much like an Indian. And I'm getting too old to punch people in the throat, Mike. For the record, I did not say that. You did not say that, Mike. And another question is, so how does it feel to be a Mohawk, Tom? And they asked me that question like I just hopped a fence and landed in a reserve, you know what I mean? And the fact of the matter is that I can't feel my culture around me the way my ancestors did. I can't even feel it the way my brothers and sisters did.

I haven't lived a life on a reserve as a Mohawk person. I have grown up on the East Mountain of Hamilton. So for me to be able to embrace my culture, for my culture to be able to embrace me, it's my job to be able to do it my way, which is through my artistic vision, through the art that I create and the books, the next book that I'm going to write and the music that I make.

In fact, I even brought you a symphonic. That's an album. This is really funny that I bring a vinyl record to an interview. But you know what? What the hell? It's a symphonic score. It's also available on iTunes.

But it's songs that have been inspired after writing this book. And it's also readings from the book performed with a full orchestra. Is that your artwork? Yeah, that's one of the paintings. If you open it up, Mike, and you don't have to do this right now. But I will. And I want to tell people, I will take a picture of it and tweet it. Yeah, there's inside. You said that you sometimes put album covers up on the wall. But if you open it up, there's a book inside with a bunch of the artwork. And I don't

have a guitar pick to slice that open. But we'll do that later. And we'll have some fun with that. But take a picture. Well, thanks so much. I mean... It's available on iTunes and also, you know, if you don't want to pay for it, it's nine bucks on iTunes. Just get it on Spotify. I hope that your listeners enjoy it. It's going to live here and this is music inspired by Beautiful Scars and this will inspire

me as I do this. So it's going to live right there. Good, thanks. Forevermore. Thanks so much for that. Note to future guests, bringing me gifts is a nice thing. Yeah, because you end up with a lasagna. And, oh, my God, I swear. And, you know, for those of you that never get to come to Mike's place, this is fantastic.

It's like, you know, there's so much here. There's like a lot of beer here. And there's also a collection of sleeping bags and different balls. You can do your laundry if you feel like it because the laundry's here. You know what? And I know how many listeners you, I don't know how many listeners, but I know that you have a great listenership. So the quality of your work speaks for itself.

But it's kind of, coming here, it's kind of like when Kramer gets the set of the Merv Griffin show. Of course, which is one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes of all time. Oh, it's so great. So it's kind of like that, only, you know what, you got the goods, buddy, so keep

delivering. Oh, man, I'm going to cut that out and maybe make that my ringtone. Tom Wilson, you got the goods, buddy. I'm going to cut that out and maybe make that my ringtone. You got the goods, buddy. I love it. Now I want to talk about a band here. Let me start with... Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. That is a two-chord rock and roll song. It was written while we were making the record, and at the time, the record company had quite a big budget for things like dinner. And us being a bunch of knuckleheads from Hamilton, when the dinner bell rang, man, we all headed for the door. So everybody was going out to dinner, and I didn't want to go out, so I stayed behind and went into one of the big boardrooms at Columbia Records up on Leslie Avenue.

And I wrote this song instead of going to dinner. And they came back from dinner and I said, I got something here. And what I wanted to do was write a song with a chant in it. This is way before bands started putting in like you know english football chants and things into their songs and i i thought that that was a good chant and it turned out to be a song that took a bunch of idiots from hamilton all with criminal records around the world you know i put it took us to japan and aust and Australia and all over Europe and everywhere I went. For a while, I'd be waking up in a hotel room in Belgium and turning on the TV,

and this video was on. I was on TV, I was on MTV everywhere I went. And that kind of does a number on you, you know. When you're just a guy that thought he was going to be playing, you know, the Corktown and Hamilton all his life, that was quite a change in atmosphere. Well, let's do that. Let's take you back to the Florida Razors. So tell us what happens with the Florida Razors

and how Junk House comes to be. Can you give us the origin story? Well, the origin story was both bands were put together out of personal desperation and a change in life. I was in Los Angeles in 1979 or so and I thought I was going to take

on the world, but the world kind of took me on. Hollywood definitely took me on. I was living in an apartment with my friend Bruce Cameron, a block off Hollywood Boulevard, a block from Groman's Chinese Theater, and I went down there to kind of feel it out, and I thought that I had something to offer with my songwriting, and I guess that it wasn't the right time. I ended up surviving by selling hash to tourists in front of Groman's Chinese Theater

and living off chili dogs, and I just gathered enough money to be able to get myself home. When I got home, I was going to a gig. I was kind of like doing a folk singer kind of thing, kind of like what I'm doing now, and I was going to a place called Grapes and Things, some shitty name, a f, 70s Fern Bar. And as I was going to this gig on King Street,

the bar next couple doors down was called Bannister's. Used to be Diamond Gyms, but they turned it into Bannister's. And there was this lineup of people waiting to get in to Bannister's really early in the evening, 7 o'clock at night and the bar

started you know at like 10 or 11 so it was really happening and they all had ripped t-shirts and and safety pins in their nose and wild haircuts and i was kind of like this goofy looking guy 18 years old going to my gig and they were all lined up to see this band teenage head and uh i knew that my friend friend Stuart Pollock who I was in high school with was was their light man and also was kind of managing them at the time so I knew about Teenage Head but when I got stung by that band there was no looking back and I realized that what I was doing playing playing fern bars, trying to write songs and doing folky,

more folky music wasn't what I wanted to do. I was a young man. I had a lot of testosterone and, uh, I wanted to use it. And so I put together the Florida Razors and, and we, you know,

for a little independent band, we sold like seven, eight, nine, 10,000 records of everything that we did. And that, that was, you know, that was not considered successful in the late seventies, early eighties.

If you sell 10,000 records now. Well, you'd be in the charts. You're on the charts, buddy. Yeah. I actually sell more books than Blackie and the Rodeo King sells records. You know what I mean? So there, there's, there's what goes on in the

music business. So that's how I put the Florida Razors together, and we were basically, except for some shows, we had a following in Cleveland and Buffalo and Albany and Rochester and stuff, but we were a 401 band, which we went from Detroit to Montreal, and then we got to Montreal and turned around and went back, you know?

So every stop off the 401 we did and we survived. We sold Speed and Weed and got to play rock and roll and got really sweaty and it was fantastic and we had a good time. And it's so funny that you mentioned the Florida Razors because in the last two weeks going on these literary festivals that I'm doing, I'm signing books and people are talking to me about my

book and four people have brought the original Florida Razors vinyl for me to sign. Amazing. And it's so funny to come across these because I don't have any of it. So they find them in used record stores and they bought them back in the day. It's a band that isn isn't well known but i think that it had an impact it resonated with the people

that saw it which is a great reward you know looking back to 1982 83 84 in fact there's a story here that i have yeah that um that i just might read to you. Oh, please. Because we're taking some time, okay? We're taking some time here. And we used to play in Kingston, Ontario. And all these young kids used to sneak in to see us. And this is a true story from my book. Rayvon Gord Downie.

Gord was just a kid. Hell, we were all just kids in 1984. I first met him when I answered a knock at my hotel room door at the Prince George Hotel in Kingston, Ontario. And there he was with a couple of his high school buddies. It was the middle of the afternoon. We were drinking beer, playing cards, and that knock came to my hotel room door and standing out in the hallway were these really fresh kids shuffling from one foot to the other. They told me that they were fans of my band, the Florida Razors, and they had seen us at Dollar Bills and had bought our record. And they were in high school and they had a band too. I said, oh yeah, what's the name of your band? One of them said, The Tragically Hip.

I said, wow, that's a great fucking name, man. You ought to hold on to that one for sure. I think I might have kept them out in the hallway because there was a card game going on. The room was full of money and local colors hanging around. And privacy was the utmost importance. So we talked through the doorway about music. They told me that they played old Rolling Stone songs, did a few monkey covers. And I asked them if they wanted to come down to the bar that night, do a set before us, open up the show for the Florida Razors, like maybe half an hour or 45

minutes. And do you guys actually have enough songs to do a set like that? They said, yeah, sure. And I closed the door, went back to the card game, didn't think anything of it. That night, they all showed up. Some of them were younger than the ones that showed up at my hotel room earlier that day. We brought them downstairs and into this damp basement we were using as a dressing room. And we gave them some beers and we smoked a joint with them, I think, and we kept them out of sight because they were way underage,

and they all looked like Boy Scouts. One of them actually looked like a girl guide. We let them use our amps and our drums and basically kept them out of sight. 9 p.m. comes. They go up on stage, plug in, and start playing these really old British invasion R&B songs, songs that I had never heard around the post-punk Canadian music scene. And they played them with some kind of awkward precision, like they had actually rehearsed. We never had time

to rehearse. We just made it up as we went along. And I was really surprised that these young guys were actually sitting in this great rock and roll groove. I can't remember all the songs they played, but there was a version of Baby Please Don't Go by Van Morrison and them. They also did Off the Hook by the Rolling Stones. I mean, who does Off the Hook? Nobody than Hammer, nobody that I knew. And it was all fresh. It wasn't old geezer style rock and roll because he's basically children playing guitars, playing ancient R&B. And the singer was another story. He wasn't like the gob-soaked, foul-mouthed, street-corner knuckleheads I ran into trying to prove something. He was more exotic, kind of rare.

Not your average cock-swinging punk front man. He really loved singing those songs, man. And I thought he was brave to stand up there in a room full of boozy-faced princess street rounders and allow himself to be fully exposed the way he did. He didn't hide behind ego the way so many of us did. And as Alex the Large from A Clockwork Orange would have said. It was like a great bird flowing into the room. And maybe he was just innocent. He was innocent then, and somehow, to my eyes, Gord Downie managed to stay that way. Because when I think of him in 1984 in that shitty little stage, the Toucan in Kingston, and I think of him a few summers ago when we shared a stage at the Interstellar Rodeo in Edmonton.

I know that I'm looking at the same guy. A lot of us try to cover up who we are, but Gord acted out what he was for all of us to see. His cells never changed. His innocence stayed intact despite the 33 years between those two performances, and his bravery still raves on. He reminded me a bit of Mick Jagger on the Tammy show back then but he ended up as something that I mean none of us had ever seen before. He was all his own creation and it was compelling and honest and it was like a live wire that burned a hole into our imaginations and voiced the soundtrack to two generations of Canadians, all Canadians, who partied in kitchens and in the parking lots before hockey games, songs that blasted from car windows and DJ booths everywhere. Who won the Grey Cup in 1994?

I don't have a clue, but if I had to take a a wild guess I'd say it was Gord Downie in the tragically hip September 17th Did you notice behind you? Yeah. Cheney Wenjack. That's the illustration of Gord. Beautiful, yeah. Fiddler's Green, by the way,

is my favorite tragically hip song of all time. Me too. Is that true? Yeah, you know what? Like I say, I knew these guys Tragically Hip song of all time. Me too. Is that true? Yeah. You know what? Like I say, I knew these guys since they were doing like monkey covers

and stuff. And by the way, when I talk about the Tragically Hip, it's not like I was, you know, it's not like we were best friends,

but I do remember them as kids and we brought them to Ottawa to play the Rainbow Bistro and they were fantastic and dedicated. But this was a song I heard out in front of Sherman's Music on King Street.

I was waiting for the bus, and I guess Road Apples had just come out, and I always thought of the Tragically Hip as a really great rock and roll band. But when this song came blasting through the speaker out in front of the record store, I knew that there was something way deeper going on. And there was like a wild heart inside that band that was really going to be our soundtrack, Mike. And this is you performing Fiddler's Green. Where were you performing this?

Do you remember? I've been doing it. We started doing it Blackie and the Rodeo Kings a year ago. We're finishing a tour in Ontario and we all fly in from like we all live in Nashville. I live in Hamilton but Nashville and Victoria and all over. We got on our tour bus and we were heading to the first gig and we weren't really thinking about where we were going. We were just in the groove of playing, and we asked our road manager,

where are we going tonight? And he said, Kingston. It was right after Gord had died. We said, well, we've got to do something, and that night we were at that beautiful theater on Princess Street, and our special guest that night who was playing with the band was Dan Aykroyd.

So we figured we had to put something together, and I said, you know, I wrote something for my book about Tragically Hip and Gord, playing with the band was Dan Aykroyd. So we figured we had to put something together, and I said, you know, I wrote something for my book about Tragically Hip and Gord, and it might be really appropriate. And then the band said, well, we should do a song too, and we sat on the bus, and we learned Ahead by a Century, and we performed that every night on the tour because it felt so right.

And recently, I was asked to do the Gord Downie Windjack Foundation benefit to bring awareness to residential schools and what Canada has to learn about itself. And I did that reading, and this is a thing I do with Jesse O'Brien now every night in dedication to Gord Downie. And also, while we're on that topic, I think that what this is doing and what I'm trying to do with my art as a Mohawk man is to open up hearts and lead with love, Mike, because the indigenous community and the colonial community, there's a gap between the two worlds,

and that gap can be shortened. It can be made smaller if we lead with love and we don't yell at each other. We get off Twitter. We turn off CNN and Fox News because they're influencing us in a bad way. And they're taking away our belief in ourselves. They're taking away our confidence that the love in our hearts can make a difference in this world. So I go out and I try and do that every night, whether it's a speaking engagement, a lecture at a university, or a concert that I'm doing, or a literary festival. I try to do that. And Gord Downie, even though he's

gone, he's influencing that. He's bringing this country together a little bit. And I think it's our job as artists and whoever we are to do that job. Well said. And by the way, reading that excerpt from your book there about Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip, all I could think of is, man, if this guy had a, if you had a podcast or something where you just even just read stuff you wrote or whatever,

I'd be your first subscriber. I'm telling you, amazing. That was amazing. Well, thank you, Mike. Man, Tragically Hip, I'd be your first subscriber. I'm telling you, amazing. That was amazing. Well, thank you, Mike. Man, Tragically Hip, I mean, all your bands are great, but the Tragically Hip, due respect to you, Tragically Hip is my favorite band of all time. No kidding, eh?

Yeah. And it's funny that you love Fiddler's Green, because, I mean, that's such a vast catalog, and that's my favorite Tragically Hip song of all time. It's a song that's too heartbreaking, it was too heartbreaking for them to play live. They played it in their last show in Kingston, I believe.

And there's a nice cover by Stereophonics, I want to say. You have a great Fiddler's Green cover. No kidding. You can dig that up. Yeah, they're big fans too. But I want to talk to you now. So, by the way,

does it ever strike you that we got that note from Wes, who was like, no, your story about how you were listening to Crowbar. Yeah. And that was like, and then Wes's story is essentially the same story, except he's not hearing, Oh, what a feeling he's hearing out of my head. Like, does that ever strike you that you're, you're doing what, you know, crowbar did for you? Yeah. Well, like I, I think I've mentioned it a little bit earlier and I'm not going to, uh, harp on about it, but, uh, our job, our job is to, uh to open up the door to possibilities and make people feel that anything is possible.

So we played Out of My Head, which is from Strays, the 93 debut album by Junkhouse. And then, of course, that was followed up by Birthday Boy. I have a suitcase in the back Washing the restrooms at the shell Get my meals in the Taco Bell Eating parking lots from a paper sack Man, I don't even want to talk over this. It's so gorgeous. But I had a question from Avery.

Okay, so Birthday Boy is the album you put out at 95, Junk House. And then Avery had a question about this song, Burned Out Car. Yeah. And he points out that this is, I guess you say co-authored. It's based on a Murray McLaughlin song, right? Well, hold on just one second. Yeah. Sarah McLaughlin starts singing here.

Oh, yeah. I live in a car that doesn't go nowhere. It's one small step to a shopping cart in a twilight world that has no heart. I watch the sun go down from a burned out car. Hey, I got to start doing this song again. I haven't done it for years. It is so poignant.

Like, just coincidentally, I was at a homeless shelter yesterday visiting a friend who, a social worker friend who works there. And this song, it's so perfect. I actually today for the first time listened to Murray McLaughlin sing in Burndozer. I never heard it until today. Well, we wrote it together, right? We got together to write songs. Murray and I liked each other.

I've been a fan of Murray since, you know, since Songs From The Street. My art teacher in grade seven brought in Murray McLachlan's Songs From The Street. It was like, just, it was fantastic. And so I always was a fan of his. And then, you know, I guess I, he, we just became mutual admiration and friends, and he's a wonderful guy. And this is the first song that we ever wrote together. And Junkhouse recorded it with Sarah McLachlan. And I guess it, I don't know what kind of, you know, a hit it became, but it definitely became something.

I mean, I saw how much music all the time. Yeah, I got a Juno at home for putting the video together, Video of the year, which I guess is okay, you know. And, but I wanted to, it was right around the time in the 90s when I was driving into Toronto,

people were under the Gardner Expressway living in boxes and coming to your car for money, you know. And I realized, you know, that I was like this rock and roll guy, and I got to, and the life I was living was so different, you know?

It was, I was getting on, you know, private planes and, you know, fancy cars, doing all that stuff. I was flying with Junkhouse to castles in Scotland to share stages with Oasis and Jeff Buckley and Iggy Pop and all this crap, right? And here I was driving my car into the Gardner and there's people living in cardboard boxes. And I realized that I had to do something besides handing them five bucks or 10 bucks out my window. I wanted to do something that would bring awareness to the fact that this is a part of our society and it belongs to all of us, just like everything out there. We're not islands, Mike.

We're not, we're not, we're individuals, but we don't stand alone. We're people all together in this world and in this universe. So we have to help one another. The juxtaposition between your voice and sarah's is unbelievable like please give us an album of duets how do i make this happen i don't know make a phone call i guess there's not to be a prick mike i guess there's some money involved in that i ran into sarah we did a benefit at uh roy thompson hall, actually about a month ago, for our cancer clinics here in town. Our mutual friend Mark Howard, who has melanoma, is being treated there. Mark Howard

was an engineer for Daniel Lanoine. He produced Sarah McLachlan. He produced Joni Mitchell. He produced Lucinda Williams. It goes on and on and on, the amount of people. He has a book coming out, Mark Howard. Mark Howard is somebody that you should have on your show by the way mike i would do that be wonderful you'd really you'd really dig him he's a hamilton guy he started his his kind of musical engineering career working for uh luther linetto who had a sound company back in the day where you would have to not only do the sound and lights, but you had to drive the truck, load the truck, drive the truck, and then carry a Martin PA system upstairs, set it up,

and then some shitty band would come in and five people would show up. And that's how we met Mark. And he hurt his back, I believe. And then he got a job making coffee at Grand Avenue Studio. And I guess that Lanois got him behind the board. I don't really know. It'll be in his book, that's for sure. And then he became this engineer, went to New Orleans, set up the...

He's had a wonderful, wonderful career. And I hope that his health is... He's feeling okay. I texted him last week. Mark Howard, everybody. Look up Mark Howard online. It's worth doing. Anyways ran into sarah there so and we we got to hang out we had a beautiful moment together and uh we didn't do burned out car but we definitely are our friendship from from many

years ago was rekindled in a second she's one of those people that you run into and it's like you just it's like you just went around the block you know and came back she's one of those people that you run into and it's like you just went around the block, you know, and came back. She's your friend for life. And how did that happen, though? I mean, it's such an interesting coincidence that you co-author a song with a guy named Murray McLaughlin and then the wonderful Sarah McLaughlin is singing with you. But how did it come to be that you and Sarah...

No, no, there's a lot. I mean, you know, everybody's kind of driving on the same highways and everybody's, you know, passing the same trees and we all get to know each other. I mean, back in the day, I mean, it's funny because now that we're all just a little bit older, you know, we run into each other and the people that we run into, you know,

it's like how many people did we tour with Junk House? You know, we shared stages with like We shared stages with all the Canadian bands, Big Sugar, the Tea Parties, the Headstones, the Odds, 5440. We were all in the same family, and Sarah was just outside of that, but she was aware of Junk House. Junk House kind of had a couple of big hits there, man.

Yeah, we're going to play another one in a minute. I always talk about my two sources of music Junkhouse kind of had a couple of big hits there, man. Yeah. So I guess that we were... We're going to play another one in a minute. But yeah, you got... I always talk about my two sources of music in the 90s where I listened to 102.1 The Edge, okay? And I watched much music. Right. So from my perspective as a teenager in the 90s,

Junkhouse were a big fucking rock band. Like great, great tunes all over much. I heard them on CFNY. Yeah. Big deal. Yeah. I mean, that was a nice era. It's something that

I wouldn't want to do again, but something that I... Well, that's for other reasons, though, right? Something that's a pleasure to look in the rearview mirror and see. Now, I mentioned earlier

Stephen Brunt, who is a very proud Hamiltonian himself. Oh, yeah, man. I love Stephen. Stephen Brunt. So, I do a thing where people who come on the show, because Stephen came proud Hamiltonian himself. Oh, yeah, man. I love Stephen. Stephen Brunt. So I do a thing where people who come on the show, because Stephen came on the show,

and we did like 90 minutes talking about his great career in sports media, and then they come back to kick out the jams. So essentially, you'd send me your list of your 10 favorite songs of all time. I queue them up. You sit where you're sitting now, and I play the song, and then you tell us why you love the song. Was I supposed to do that? Nope. Okay. You did not miss a homework assignment. Don't worry. That's the

return visit, which I'll bug you about later. But my point is that Stephen Brunt did that. And one of his 10 jams, one of his 10 favorite songs of all time is this ditty I'm about to play, which, I want to get the name of the album right, 1997's

Fuzz. We live around the hydro towers Listen to them singing in the park Wind the clocks to And all the radios Are blowing in the dark The mothers lie down In the daytime And dream about Hollywood I know that they'd get there if they could It's just a matter of time before we get to shine

It's a matter of time before we get to shine. It's not a question of when or who does it cry. Tell me anything you can about Shine. What a beautiful song. Wow, I haven't listened to this recording, Mike, for years and years, okay? First of all, the production, I co-wrote it with Colin Cripps,

who's in Blue Rodeo. Now he's in Blue Rodeo. He was in Junkhouse then. It is a great combination of classic Glen Campbell-style guitars and, at the time, modern technology. This drum loop, brilliant drum loop that was created by Ray Ferugia, the drummer with Junk House, still my drummer today. So it's beautiful.

I think it's a beautiful recording because it's not all just technical synthetic sounds. It's this beautiful guitar sound. Wow, man. I like that recording. Yeah, I know. After years. I wrote it after, let's see,

I was at home with Colin Cripps, and my friend's parents had just died, Alison Liss and Dave Liss. I believe their mother was struck with cancer and a few months after, their father got cancer, actually died before her. They lost both their parents anyways within weeks or months of each other. And they lived under the Hydra Towers in the West End in Hamilton. And I just wrote about that dreamlike quality that death brings to us. The people who survive are kind of left in this frozen state. Sometimes we feel claustrophobic.

Sometimes we can't breathe. We're anxious but the whole theme of this song what I tried to build this song into was that state the dreamlike state after death and now that you listen to it

you said it's been years since you listened to this recording are you filled with pride that you listen to it, you said it's been years since you listened to this recording. Are you filled with pride that you created this piece of art that guys like me will listen to today and still... Yeah, I mean, I try to keep moving forward, which is why, you know, if I wasn't here with you today, I'd be at home writing songs or painting or starting another book, which I'm supposed to be doing soon, by the way. But you know what? Once in a while, this is a moment that you and I are sharing together that I'm happy. I'm happy I did this.

This is something I'm proud of. Yeah. Worthy of Stephen Brunt's kick out the jam. Yeah, I got to thank him for that. I got to thank him for that. By the way, he's on the board of directors or he's some kind of decision maker with this Newfoundland Songwriters Festival.

Oh, no, it's actually a writers festival. Writers Festival. Writers at Woody Point. I was just talking about this earlier today because I did it because I am now an author. I was asked to go to Woody Point this year, and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings actually performed, but I'm going to tell you,

Woody Point, you are in the middle of fucking nowhere, man. You are sitting out there on the Atlantic. It's on the North Shore, which is actually more East in Newfoundland, not to, you know, I guess North is actually East is actually North for them. I don't know. Maybe the West. How's this? I'm from Hamilton. I don't even know what direction it's in. It's in like almost like a fishing village. Um, and, uh, you can't drive the roads at night

because of the moose. So you're, you're there're there. And I believe that Stephen had a place there, a summer house, and there was, I might be paraphrasing the story. No, he does, yeah. But there was an old maritime community hall in this very, very tiny place. And this old man was restoring it. He didn't want it to fall apart and Stephen Brunt got involved and I guess that Stephen Brunt

looked at the good work that they had did renovating and restoring this old hall and thought that he should do something with it and they put together this Writers at Woody Point and over the last maybe 50, I was there with my wife at the time, Kathy Jones, who is on this hour's 22 Minutes.

Of course. One of the most brilliant comedians from this country. Anyways, we performed there years ago, and then I just went back for the first time after 10 or 15 years, and it was a fantastic experience. It reminds me that I got to get a hold of Stephen Brunt and tell him I want to go back this year.

Can you take me with you? Yeah, Mike. I mean, here's, okay. Because I want to go really badly. Okay, so that's how, but Gord Downie performed there. Yes. It's like a thing that you can go for a walk in the woods with a musician and a writer and they go out.

And it's funny because the editor of my book, Martha Kenya Forstner, she says, oh, it's magical. She goes, where else can you go stand out in the woods and hear Gord Downie sing Bob Cajun to you with an acoustic guitar? It's magical things happen there. So he gets great performers. It's a wonderful place. And Newfoundland, if you haven't been to Newfoundland, you've got to go because it's like nowhere on the planet. You know what Newfoundlanders say?

They say, if you ask a Newfoundlander for a chair, they'll give you their arse and never sit down again. They're so giving and open hearted. So my wife and I are thinking that we want to go. I want to take her for a drive to the coast. I want to take her through, you know, this incredible landscape. But we don't have a car. So I asked somebody in town. I said, hey, is landscape but we don't have a car so i asked somebody in town i said hey is there a place we can rent a car they go yeah sure here come on with

me we'll get you a car i go to this gas station this car rental place and they say this is tom wilson he's one of the writers here at woody point he wants to get a car for the afternoon is that okay oh yeah yeah we could set you up with a car. Come over here now. Okay. Tom, Tom, I think we got a car right out here for you. All right. This one looks good. Yeah. Do you need a, here's my credit card and my license. What do I need your license for? You know how to drive, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. I know how to drive. Okay. I don't need your license then, do I? Okay. Well, here's my credit card. Oh, no,'s my credit card oh no no no no tom tom tom you won't be paying me for that no no no you won't be paying for the car oh wow thanks a lot well then uh when time do you want it back oh it doesn't matter bring it

back whenever you're done with it well uh you know uh this afternoon oh no no no keep it for for as long as you want keep it for as long as you want. Keep it for as long as you want. I'll bring it back. I'll bring it back in a day then. Oh, you don't have to bring it back. Just park it wherever it is. Leave the keys in it. We'll get it.

That's Newfoundland. I want to go. I want to go. And now a couple of summers ago, I have four kids, and we had to borrow a car to fit us all. So all six of us got in the car, and we drove to Prince Edward Island.

Yeah. But I didn't have the time. I got close. I got close. So close. But I didn't have time, because, you know, you have to do that drive. So all six of us got in the car and we drove to Prince Edward Island. Yeah. You got close. But I didn't have the time. I got close. I got close. So close. But I didn't have time because, you know, you have to do that drive. You can't, you know, it's not, you have to do this around, up and around thing. Yeah.

I ran out of time. So I kind of bounced off PI and then I made my way back. But I was close. I want to get to Newfoundland. You know what? Just get on the plane, get to Newfoundland. It's definitely worth the trip. People are magical. It's like nowhere get on the plane. Get to Newfoundland. It's definitely worth the trip. People are magical.

It's like nowhere else on the planet. But I want to go to this Writers... Witty's Point? Writers at Witty's Point. Writers at Witty Point. And I want to go when you're there, so can we coordinate this? We'll talk off-

Yeah, well, you know what? I'm getting... After this, I'm getting Brent on the phone, and I'm going to tell him, listen, get me there. I need to be there. Do it up. Do it up.

You mentioned Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, because that's the last time you did this Woody's Point thing. So let's talk about why Junkhouse ends its run. No, Junkhouse was still going. So Junkhouse is still going. So explain to me the Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, how it's different from Junkhouse. All right. So tell, explain to me the Blackie and the Roadie and King's House different from Junk House. All right.

Well, first of all, it's 1995. It's around this time, 1995. And Junk House burned out cars on the radio.

In fact, burned out cars getting to be a bit of a hit and people are liking it and me and Sarah are singing in everybody's car.

That's nice. And I get a call from Colin Linden. First of all, let's just flash back because there was this great Canadian songwriter that nobody really knows much because he didn't really want to be known named Willie P. Bennett, who kind of changed how we all thought

about songwriting and music. Now, Willie was in a time when, remember I was telling you I was a folk singer going to play at that Fern Bar? Well, before that, we used to go play coffee houses, which imagine this, there was no booze, you could smoke inside, and the coffee houses were about the size of your living room, maybe like, you know, 20 to 50 to 70 people could fit in these places. And you drank tea and coffee and smoked cigarettes and listened to people playing music right in your face. And that's where I got to see Stan Rogers. I got to see Doug MacArthur, John Allen Cameron, Brent Titcombe, David Whiffen, David Essek, and Willie P. Bennett. And Willie P. Bennett just knocked me right to the ground. So he was a big inspiration on me. And Colin Linden called me. I had just gone to see, I believe I went to see

Rankin File at Lee's Palace. And I was walking to the bus terminal to get the bus home. And I got a message on my machine at home. So I went to the pay phone. That's how 1995, right? And called him. And he says, we're putting this Willie P. Bennett tribute album together.

And I said, oh, I'd love to do a song. He goes, no, no, no, we're putting a band together. And Stephen Fearing and I are doing it. And we're going to put a band together. We're going to record a bunch of Willie songs. I said, okay, I'm in. And that was 1995. We made one record called Higher Hurting and uh we did it at grand avenue studio and i finished the recording there in january of uh 1996 and literally a car came and

picked me up at the studio i was filming a movie down in costa rica and took me to costa rica and i thought okay that was great blacking the rodeo kings that's uh this is going to be a great album i didn't think anything of it and i thought that that was the I thought, okay, that was great. Black in the Rodeo Kings. This is going to be a great album. I didn't think anything of it. And I thought that that was the end of the project. And that was almost 25 years ago. We made one record and weren't going to do any live shows. And we've been playing live all over the world for 25 years, including the Grand Ole Opry, which I never thought I would play in my life. Amazing. I was going to play the lucky ones. But actually, you pointed out, I have a photo, a painting of Neil Young upstairs that you saw when you were coming down here. And then I remembered, of course, they did this two albums.

They were called Borrowed Tunes, tributes to Neil Young. Yeah, yeah, right. And Junk House was on the first one doing, why do I keep fucking up? Yeah. Which is great. And then Blackie and the Rodeo Kings were on the second one with this ditty.

Unknown Legend. And I was curious, what kind of an inspiration was Neil Young to you as a singer-songwriter? Well, along with Bob Dylan, you know, they were kind of the bookends. Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Neil Young, For me, we're the whispering guy. Never saw a woman look finer. Hey, this sounds good. I like that you're playing these songs.

Good. And music sounds better in headphones, I find. Yeah. Something about that. She grew up in a small town. All right. fine yeah something about that all right well so Neil they were the Holy Trinity junk house played with Bob Dylan so I got to kind of meet a little bit you know I got to be around Bob Dylan a little bit I didn't get too close to a Colin Linden played guitar for Bob Dylan on a tour,

which is an interesting story. How much time do you have, Mike? Well, it's you. I'm trying to be... Well, stick to your 90 minutes, which means... How about I go to... I talk about Neil Young a little bit, and then I'll tell you the Bob Dylan story with Colin Linden.

Well, listen, if you've got the time, I'll make the time. Are you kidding me? This is fantastic. Okay. The first time I read in public, I need to tell you that I'm dyslexic, so me reading that piece of my book is really hard on me. I have to really concentrate. And I also voiced the audio book for this, you know, also available on iTunes.

So my very first time I ever read in public, Mike, was just over a year ago. A year ago, September. It was past September. And my first reading in public ever, besides reading stories to my kids, you know, and grandkids before bed, was at Massey Hall

for 2,800 people at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and I was reading from my book about Neil Young to Neil Young, who was sitting in the seventh row. And it went over really well.

We went to a party later, and I got a tap on my shoulder from a security guy. He said, Tom Wilson. I said, yes. He said, Tom Wilson. I said, yes. He said, Mr. Young would like to say hello. So I thought, oh my God, I've been waiting my entire life to meet Neil Young. And I go over to meet Neil Young, and he's got his girlfriend with him, who's Daryl Hannah.

His girlfriend is a mermaid. That's right. And I go to meet Neil Young, and it's like, I keep looking at Daryl Hannah, right? Because I can't believe that I'm talking to Splash, right? So that was, I got to meet Neil. He sent me a beautiful note that I have actually in my living room on this shelf with these awards, right? with these things. But I got this note from Neil, and it says,

Tom, thanks for reading to me at Massey Home. But there's a deeper story, Mike, I'm going to tell you now. And it's about my drummer, Ray Ferugia, from Junk House, who I mentioned earlier, who is happily married for several years to Neil Young's sister, Astrid. And the funny thing about Ray being married to Neil Young's sister, Astrid, is that Ray's the only guy I know who has never owned a Neil Young record. Oh, wow.

So he'll be sitting on the bus after a show and Neil will come on the bus and say, I don't know, he'll say something like, Hey, Ray, how you doing, man? And Ray will say, Ah, fuck. He says things like, I gotta spend 3,000 bucks getting my car fixed. I don't know whether to

scrap it, Neil, or buy a new one. And Neil says things like, Yeah, I hear you, Ray. Which, by the way, Neil does not hear him. Right? So Ray has this relationship because he never breaks down, Mike, like you and I would do. Right. And say, oh, my God.

There's no hero worship. There's no hero worship, right? So I call Ray up five years ago. I say to Ray, hey, man, how you doing? He says, I'm good. I said, where are you? He goes, I'm at Juno Awards. I said, the Juno Awards?

I said, you hate the Juno Awards. When we were getting Juno Awards, you hated going. You always complained. He goes, yeah, yeah, I know. But Neil's getting a Lifetime Achievement Award. I said, wow, that's cool. I said, well, where are you? He goes, I'm at a hotel room in downtown Toronto. I said, oh, cool i said well where are you because i'm at a hotel

room downtown toronto he said all right whose hotel room you in i'm in neil's room what you're neil young's hotel room yeah who else is there nobody just me and neil what you're sitting alone in neil young's hotel room and you're talking to me on the phone. What's he doing? I don't know. He's sitting on the bed playing guitar or singing. What? You're alone in Neil Young's hotel room,

and he is playing guitar and singing songs to you? Oh, my God. And I said to Ray, what song is he singing? And Ray said, I don't want to ask him in case it's one of his big ones. Cinnamon Girl or something. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Just remember that. Oh, for sure.

That's a great story. But Ray is from Malta originally, and he is a true East Mountain Hamiltonian. And you're going to stick a guy in a room with Bob Dylan or Neil Young for real, that's the guy to stick in there. Cause it's not that he doesn't respect the art and he doesn't respect the person. He doesn't give a shit. You know, it's just like, I don't know. I don't know what song he's playing.

Tell me about Lee Harvey Osmond, if you don't mind. Lee Harvey Osmond. Blackie and't mind. Lee Harvey Osmond. Blackie and the Rodeo Kings were supposed to go on a tour, and Colin Linden called me up one day. He says, Tom, I got the call I've been waiting for since I was 14 years old. I said, what's that? He goes, Bob Dylan called me and asked me to join his band. I said, oh my God.

He said, well, we got these Blackie shows coming up. I said, I said, I'll deal with that. I said, you got to go play with Bob Dylan. And so now all of a sudden I had six months off and I'd run into Michael Timmons from the Cowboy Junkies and the Cowboy Junkies Trinity Sessions, along with Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. A couple other records, Muddy Waters, Folk Singer. Those records was exactly what I wanted to do originally with Junk House, but nobody paid any attention to us when we were kind of more introspective and a little more mellow. So after all those years, 10 years ago, maybe about 11 years ago now,

I got together with Mike Timmons, who was responsible for the Trinity Sessions, and we started making music together. Members of the Cowboy Junkies and the Sadies and Oh Susanna and Andrea Ramelow. It's kind of like a middle-aged artist collective that we're now, a fourth record's coming out in January, actually, Mike of Lee Harvey Osmond. So it's a project that I truly love, and it's a character that I've been wanting to bring forward in my music, that this is the first chance I've been able to do it.

And man, I'm going to tell you again, Mike, I haven't listened to this song. I usually don't listen to my records after they're finished. Right. This is a beautiful recording. Darcy Hefner on horns. This is Blue Moon. Blue Moon Drive.

Blue Moon Drive. Blue Moon Drive. Hey Jim, where's your ride? Where'd you finally run and hide? Your hotel and your girls are old. The storm's passed and the night is cold. Lay your sickness down. Hang your sins on the night is cold. Lay your sickness down. Hang your sins on the bonnet crown. Yeah, yeah, dead or alive, every night we take that blue moon drive.

Yeah, yeah, dead or alive, every night we take that blue moon drive. I get a Leonard Cohen vibe. Yeah. Well, it's music. Let's just say this simply. The way Bob Lanois once said to me in the studio is, it's performance um without showing off so everybody on these records are outstanding players and it's all not necessarily understated it's just nobody's trying to show off it's everybody's playing the song which um for many years in rock and roll was

missing because the people were wanking and jerking off on their instruments and, you know, it wasn't really, it didn't really serve the purpose of communicating the song. So Lee Harvey Osmond is put together to communicate the song. And I guess that I'm the narrator of that band. And, uh, I, I sing low like Leonard Cohen, uh,

naturally. So yeah, it's just, I'll take that Leonard Cohen, naturally. So I'll take that Leonard Cohen compliment completely. Well, we did the Neil Young chatter, now the Leonard Cohen. You throw in a little Joni Mitchell, you got the great Canadian trifecta. Oh, that's true. She just turned 75 years old, I think, last week. Yeah, that's true. So we're out of time, but I have a few rapid fire questions for you.

One is, I can't believe, first of all, I can't believe we talked all that Hamilton talk, all the Hammer discussion, without mentioning Michael Moniz, who is a proud Hamiltonian and a loyal listener of Toronto. Yeah. Michael Moniz had a question for you. I'm going to ask him this question from Twitter. He's excited you're coming on. And then he says to ask you about writing a song with Hugh Dillon

on the Headstone's Greatest Fits. Yeah. You know what, Mike? Thank you for remembering that, because I don't. I know that I'm on, I mean, I love the Headstones, and I love Hugh. Actually, I love Mr. White and that band. I love that band. And I think Colin Cripps was producing that album and I got involved.

But I'm sorry Mike, both Mikes. Lots of Mikes. The song escapes me. Now that you've mentioned it, when I get in my car to go to the next interview today, I'm going to dig that up. Well, when your next book comes out and you come back here to kick to the next interview today. I'm going to dig that up. Well, when your next book comes out and you come back here to kick out the jams with me, then you can remember that story. You can tell that story.

Oh, I'd love to come here again sometime. You can come every day if you want because I'm just enjoying the conversation. Nadia S. wants me to ask you about the money from Party of Five that you blew on drugs. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I make this joke that, Shine, you know, I mean, that song was kind of everywhere. It was, I guess, considered a hit.

Everywhere I went, that song followed me. And it was, I guess, in the Party of Five. And it was, I don't know, some movies and stuff. And I joked that a big pickup truck used to come up my street on Stanley Avenue with ABC TV written on the side and back up and dump money on my front lawn. And I took that money and spent it on drugs, which is why I'm here today. No, so, but as I mentioned, you know what? I was, you know what?

I was, I'm a guy that, this is not a sob story at all, but I'm a guy, I didn't grow up with much. I made some money. I got all excited. Everybody wanted to fuck me. Everybody wanted to give me drugs. Everybody wanted to party with me. And I took advantage of all that.

And, but I fixed myself. And as I mentioned, what's, who asked me that? Nadia? That's from Nadia, but I fixed myself. And as I mentioned, who asked me that? Nadia? That's from Nadia, yeah. Nadia. So Nadia, I tell that story, and it's way, way behind me on the road, all that person that I was. Now, like I said, I'm celebrating 19. On December the 12th, actually, I'm celebrating 19 years being clean and sober.

Good for you, man. So, you know what? All's well that ends well, I guess. And now that you're not smoking, you need a vice. Oh, my God. We have to work on that. And you know why? Maybe lasagna.

I got to tell you, Mike, the smoke is really the reward for me. So when I usually leave a 90- minute interview with somebody, it's like, all right, I'm going out to your front of your house and having a smoke. Oh man. I, uh, yeah.

Sorry in advance. How's that? But, uh, Tyler Campbell, uh, he wants me to ask you a little, could you speak a little bit about the late,

uh, Dan, uh, Aiken? Danny Aiken was, um, oh my God, he was a storm with a little bit of red hair on top of him.

He was a guy that it's fabled that he avoided jail, jail time in Regina. Got on a, I think a Kawasaki. I think it was a, I don't know, maybe Kawasaki or Suzuki, some kind of ninja bike. Right. And rode from Regina to Hamilton and met Colin Cripps, and they became best friends, and they got in the guitar business. Dano was a guy that loved playing guitar,

although he didn't really know how to play guitar. If you were to get together with him on a jam and say, okay, key of E, that didn't mean anything to him. He just put his hands down and found some notes and played, which is why, by the way, out of my head, that opening guitar lick, try to find somebody to play that. I've had Colin Cripps try to play it.

He does a really good job. Colin Linden, you know, try to do it. Not really. Aaron Goldstein, you know, kind of, you know, but nobody plays it like him because Dano put his hand on the guitar and just played whatever, wherever it sat. And the magic that he had was in his left hand.

He was able to make sounds that you just don't hear, man. Dan, there was nobody like Dan Aiken. He was tenacious as hell. He was a wiry little guy. I think he played junior B hockey, prairie hockey. He got the shit kicked out of him all the time, played against all the, you know, all the Crees and played on the reserves. So deep down, he believed, I think, that he was way bigger than he was. And as a result, his loving heart reached so many people. I remember picking up the phone from Andy Curran, who was in a band. I can't remember the band uh Coney Hatch and he called me and he said

Tom Danny's dead and I thought that they were I thought that they were fucking with me Mike I thought that they were wanting me to come down to to have some chicken wings or something with them right and I said what do you yeah what do you, he says, Dan, Dan, Danny's dead. He died playing hockey. He got on the ice and he dropped dead of a heart attack, which when I think about Dan, you know, Danny was dying. Danny was coming, fucking Danny would come to my house and throw himself on my couch and say, I think I'm dying. I think I've got AIDS or cancer or something. Right. He was always, he was, he was very dramatic, but he refused to go to the doctor. I think he was afraid of the doctor. And I think that that caught up with him, but I'm going to tell you that he was the guy on the tour bus while we were staying up for days, snorting Coke

and drinking beer. He was the guy that would get up at seven or eight in the morning while we were staying up for days snorting coke and drinking beer he was the guy that would get up at seven or eight in the morning while we were still in the front lounge and have his yogurt and his banana you know what i mean and right he took care of himself and you know what as ray faruja said he said dan aiken was a pain in my ass every day and now he's going to be a pain in my heart for all eternity. We miss him all the time. When he died, Ron McClain dedicated the opening of Hockey Night in Canada to him. That was a great moment. So Tyler, who asked that question, worked with Dan's wife Judy at the Hamilton Spectator.

Judy's wonderful. Judy's fantastic. I think she's living in Australia now. Yeah, Judy, Judy, at the Hamilton Spectator. Judy's wonderful. Judy's fantastic. I think she's living in Australia now. Yeah, Judy. Judy, you know what? Judy was able to tame that beast, Dan Akin. Here's a question from me, of all people here. All right, so just the, I want to say three weeks ago, Moe Berg was here.

Yeah. Great chatting with Moe about Pursuit of Happiness and everything. And Moe Berg and you both show up in the video for Eat My Brain. Yeah. So how did that just, I'm just curious because I, this is, we talked about Much Music kind of influencing all the stuff I listen to. Man, did they play Eat My Brain a lot on Much Music. Oh my God, yeah.

It was a great video. Yeah. And we got to chase them in a, I was, I don't know, driving some 4x4 with a skull and crossbones on the side and Ray had, Ray sat in the front seat with bicycle chains you know, we were, I don't know, they came up with this concept

for this video, then they included other Canadian rock and roll bands who all wanted to kill them and uh once again as i was saying earlier mike i said we all kind of we all kind of were traveling the same roads and ended up in the same halls playing stages you know um when we did bigger shows like arenas you know or or convention centers or agricultural centers you know big you know five ten thousand seat halls you know would often be the odds and junk house or big sugar and junk house or the tea you know it'd be like you know a couple bands yeah so we all got to know each other and i mean we all liked

each other we were all working hard doing the same thing cool man great video though man great video Cool, man. Great video, though, man. Great video. And you know what? People saw that video and asked me for years seriously, so is that really your truck you were driving? Man, this is like great 90s CanCon lore here. So, yeah, the odds. And I think that came up because, you know, Moe Berg has this side project called Trans Canada Highwaymen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fantastic.

And, uh, Craig Northey from The Odds is in that project. Yeah. Craig Northey, Stephen Page, and, uh, a guy from Sloan. Chris Murphy. Chris Murphy. Yeah. I don't know Chris Murphy, but I know Stephen Page really well. Um, I know Craig Northey and I have written a lot of songs together and he is truly a brother.

I'll close by reading a question that came in from Sid V. I don't know if that's Sid Vicious or not. It is definitely Sid Vicious. Tom Wilson is a remarkable artist who embodies the best of his hometown, Hamilton, and heritage, Mohawk. I cannot think of anyone whose music and art has evolved to cover so much ground. Maybe Neil Young, Mohawk. I cannot think of anyone whose music and art has evolved to cover so much ground.

Maybe Neil Young, he adds. But Neil's path has been somewhat circular rather than linear. I would love to hear, he says he wants to hear you talk about what comes next. Are there any more Lee Harvey Osmond releases planned? And are there any up-and-coming musicians or artists that you think are doing great things

oh i work with one of the greatest voices i think in canada today tara lightfoot uh we wrote a song yesterday and uh i got her to sit at the piano in the dining room and sing it and uh it's it's really it's really great just i just want to see what the hell you know what i hate playing on my phone when i'm talking to people and my battery battery's dead. So that's even the worst thing. So Tara Lightfoot is definitely one of those people. They're going all night long Just like you and me We wish to stay up late Oh, I don't want to see Little by little

We'll go to the gravel Bit by bit Love took us through the crowd. We disappeared like the last light of every day. We were beautiful, but losers. The time took away. Well, there's a writing demo. Beautiful.

We wrote that yesterday. Anyways, I shouldn't have done that, by the way. Oh, no. But what the hell? What were the other questions in there? Because I really love terror. You've actually, through this episode, you've answered these questions because you've got the Burlington Art Festival

in Burlington. Okay, yes, things that I'm doing. What's next for you? There's going to be an exhibit opening of my artwork, Beautiful Scars, Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs, and it's all the painting that I've been doing for the last year, representing Kahnawake, including 12 painted guitars that I've also been working on.

But these paintings are big. They're like six and eight feet wide. And I write stories from the book inside the paintings. And when you open up that album, you'll see a bunch of those paintings, Mike. So also the Symphonic Scars show, which we just did a couple weeks ago at the National Arts Centre with the NAC Orchestra. That's something

I love doing, performing with orchestras and I do songs. The album, Tom Wilson's Beautiful Scars, Symphonic Scars is available on iTunes and it's on Spotify right now so if you can't find it, please go get it. Also, Lee Harvey Osmond

album's coming out in January. I'm keeping busy. For a guy that just had a stroke, I'm in. I'm pushing the envelope. That's all I can say and I'm starting another book for Penguin Random House soon. And hopefully you won't be ticked off. I stole an extra 15 minutes from you. It was just going too well.

Hey, that's okay. This has been really fun, Mike. Thanks so much for doing this and I will harass you at some point to come back and kick out the jams of me. So yeah, MC five style. Yeah. Well,

that's right. Yeah. And that brings us to the end of our 399th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto. Mike, Tom is at Lee Harvey Osmond. Our friends at great lakes brewery or at great lakes beerinthesix.com is at Raptors Devotee

tough night last night Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair is at Fast Time WJR and Paytm is at Paytm Canada see you all next week.