Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Mike'd #5

Episode Date: October 10, 2012

Can you say regression therapy? The gang talks CFNY and about Martin Streek.

Welcome to episode number five. Hey guys. That wasn't too wooden. Try it again, Mike, please. Welcome to podcast number five. That had it for me. That was awesome. So you can hear me?

Because I can't hear you. What if I did this? Now it's too loud. It's great. Is it good now? Yeah. You don't complain much, do you? Have you been noted as a complainer?

It's my first complaint in five episodes. So that's pretty good. Number five, Bash and Bill Borilko. How are you doing, Rosie? I'm doing good. How are you? Good. Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? I did. I had a great Thanksgiving.

I'm glad it's over, though. It's too much. Too much family. Too much family. Is that wrong? They're awesome, but I'm done. So how many Thanksgiving dinners did you have to attend? Three. Wow.

Mm-hmm. Plus, it's my birthday coming up. Wow. So, yes. And my birthday gets rolled into it all. So it's a lot of stuff. You have a terrible life. Too much celebration.

Too much celebrating of me. Too much food. Too much gathering of loved ones. You have a terrible life no it's uh it's it's it's great it's um i think it was actually all fine until monday monday yesterday at my mom's place or something about being at my mom's house for more than an hour where i just regress to being a teenager again was it too much. My mom's house, too, it's just all contradictions.

There's Wi-Fi, but yet, you know, bottles of liquid paper on the desk. I'm like, why? Why is there liquid paper? It's her business if she wants to have liquid paper.

But I don't understand what she's using it for. And what's the point of asking, really? It's there. So it's like a regression. It's a lot of regression. That Albert Brooks movie, Mother, sort of, when he goes home. I just know that my brother and I were pouting in his room,

and it felt like 1995. You know what's funny? Yesterday I was at my mom's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and, yeah, we talked about the 92 Blue Jays, and we talked about Pearl Jam, and yeah, you know, it's sort of like the early to mid-90s when we get together. It's like you're stuck in a time warp.

Your mom wants to talk about Pearl Jam? No, me and my brother. I should point out, my mom, no. My brothers and I, that's the topic. The 92 Jays was the big topic. I was actually thinking of you yesterday because you had on your blog your list of the 102.1 songs

and you had an issue with Come As You Are as number one. It's flabbergasting. These guys are fist pumping. Absolutely. You can't see it. There was a fist pump just now. Let me introduce the greatest producer

a podcast could have, Mike Wixon. How are you doing, Mike? Good, buddy. How are you doing, Mike? Good, buddy. How are you doing? Hi, Rosalie. Good. Hey. But my brother, so we're, you know, again, after an hour, we're pounding in his room

and there's Kurt Cobain's and Eddie Vedder's solemnly staring at me from years old posters and it reminded me of how when we were younger, my brother just felt that I wasn't, you know, my taste in music wasn't cool enough. And if he wanted, if I wanted entrance into his room, I used to have to recite lyrics from certain songs. And I really did. I really did. I had to remember. And then if, you know, if I messed up, then I'd have to wait. Yeah, but he picked something.

What was so good? How good was the pot in his room? You had to get the lyrics. At least he was into some good music. He had Kurt Cobain and it could have been worse. He could have had some pretty bad stuff. No, no, he listened to all that, but there was, come as you are, there was one particular lyric.

I used to always mess it up. Something about being doused in bleach or something. I used to have to always recite that one. But he disagreed. He thought it was a good choice for number one. I don't want to repeat my... Somebody who told me I can't say what I blog, which I never agreed with because it's, like I said,

the same source of material. But how can Come As You Are be the greatest new rock song of all time? Hold on a second. You can't say what you blog. What does that mean? You can't use your show to talk about the same thing. This is a whole separate... Too much feedback. I think I have feedback say what you blog what is that you can't use this you know i talk about this is a whole separate too much feedback i think i have feedback overload so okay what was that feedback just out of curiosity repetition like they read the blog so they know

what i write and what i think from what i write so when i do the podcast i need to have different thoughts well there's no way to be indoctrinated at all unless you read both and hear both i mean come on and so yeah at the risk of repeating myself uh that album never mind the seminal track we all agree the seminal track would be smells like teen spirit right and the potentially you could have a contrarian point of view and say in bloom maybe that's the big track maybe it's in bloom maybe it's not smells like teen spirit uh maybe it's but after you go through a few of the big tracks, Come As You Are is one of the big four tracks

on Nevermind. But when did Come As You Are become the clear cut from Nevermind that would become the new rock song of all time as per 102.1 The Edge? I don't understand. It doesn't compute. I think it should have been Better Man.

I love that song Well Okay I like Better Man too Where was that on the list? It was quite far down Sure Because they got to do Jeremy first

And they got to do Even Flow And Alive And Black They have to get The 10 songs out of the way Because they go heavy on 10 And Nevermind

I know what 102 is up to These days And they go heavy On these certain albums Including Nevermind But I just can't I can't on these certain albums, including Nevermind. But I just can't, I can't imagine Nevermind,

the song from Nevermind that they picked to be the number one would be Come As You Are. It's interesting. Great track. But how can Smells Like Teen Spirit not be the one they choose? If you're going to do that. Otherwise, go with something off OK Computer. Like, go ahead, go with Radiohead.

I thought Karma Police was way too low that i was shocked that radiohead wasn't they weren't even in the top four were they no i don't believe so and if you're 102.1 you play red hot chili peppers every single segment oh yeah so go under the bridge is your number one and oh that's right it was part of the uh it was part of the the what do you call it imaging for the station for a long time too they used that

under the bridge yeah they play it every hour so why not but I don't want to go down this road because although I have a topic

my little note I bring to every podcast it's so cute Mike has this little crumpled piece of paper that he pulls out of the back of his lunch bag so can I go here now

since I what the heck intelligible writing yeah i make the rules so this is what we're gonna do i have questions and he doesn't know i'm gonna do this but i want to hear more and our listeners want to hear more about mobile mike and cfny like i i know you're shy and you don't want to talk about this vehemently. Mike Wixson. You are Mike Wixson, correct? Yeah.

Okay. And were you not known as Mobile Mike? This feels like a setup. What years were you known as Mobile Mike? Oh, okay. First tough question. 89 to 94. Okay.

So from 89 to 94. 93. You were employed by. No, earlier. 87 to 93. Okay. You were employed by the station, well, it was a previous incarnate, but the same station, 102.1 CFNY. Okay.

So tell us a little bit, if you don't mind, please, about what Mobile Mike did and some of the people you worked with at cfny because a lot of the listeners what let's face it the demo of toronto mic listeners it's a lot of it is 30 something year old guys some gals just some gals some gals but lots of guys who who grew up listening to cfny 102.1 go ahead well my job there was to drive around a willy-nilly and i'm not even kidding i was given a schedule on there was to drive around willy-nilly. And I'm not even kidding. I was given a schedule on occasion.

But to drive around willy-nilly and do a report from various locations and give stuff away and be an ambassador for the station, which was a lot of fun. And I guess that changed a lot over the years. We used to have a boom box when I started. And in the end, we had cool cruisers and a totally different moniker. I think we were Toronto's Modern Rock when I started, and it was Edge 102, I think, when I left, or FM 102 when I left. You're iconic. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

If I didn't include that already, I should have said something. But you worked with a lot of, yeah, Oh, yeah. If I didn't include that already, I should have said something. But you worked with a lot. Yeah. Well, we assume that much. You worked with some pretty cool cats that we know and love from back in the day, like Martin the Streak, for example. Oh, yeah. God, I miss Marty so much. And in fact, just before we lost him,

he was developing a series with us called Martin Streak's Backstage where he added, I guess the last one that we did was an interview with Seether. And it's online. If you want to check it out. It's on YouTube. Marty, he was so much fun. One of the funniest guys I've ever met. Well, you'll remember when that tragic day,

that tragic night when we alerted that news that Martin had taken his own life. That was pretty much the first time you and I had connected. I was already friends with Humble Howard and Fred, but you and I never really interacted. And then you were suddenly on my site because when people were finding out this shocking news, they were hitting up Google and they all ended up on my page because the only place that was writing about it. You were the first. You were the breaking news on it, I believe, right?

Yeah. It's not something I wanted to ever break. Like you say, it was a resource for a lot of us to find out what was going on. leave right and you have yeah yeah it's like it's not something i know but i never break like you say it was a resource for a lot of us to find out what was going on and i know people were were reporting back to you at that time but i remember communicating with you not realizing you were the mike wickson who was pals with humble howard and i remember the the world's all colliding at the time yeah and it was just a bizarre night it was it was uh charming that we were all able to come together at that time and And a lot of us did.

But he's missed. And certainly I think about him all the time. Yeah. And there was a lot of cool people there. You know who was here recently? Earl Jive. I heard. Yeah.

Yeah. So he's a good cat. Now he's house sitting. So that was in that era. Who else? Hal Harbour. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. He sticks out in my mind. He was a lot of fun. Craig Venn. Oh, yeah, Lobster Boy. Lobster Boy, yeah. Who, by the way... Who I don't remember at all

from CFNY. Well, I don't think he was on the air all that much there. It was when he hit Q107 that he really... I remember he did a Derringer thing for a while.

Then did a long stint as the winning morning team in Windsor. Okay, yeah. And in fact, he was the guy who got me my gig there. They offered him the job and he said, actually, you know, my buddy Mike,

I think would be better at this. I'll never forget that. That was a real honorable friend. And in fact, we've been, we still remain good friends. Craig Van, cool. He was a good friend. Neil Mann was there.

Neil Mann, who I remember he was here for a while, right? He was, yeah. Alan Cross. Yeah, I heard of that guy. Yeah, and I'm trying to think who else was there. Oh, Deadly Headly Jones. Yeah, absolutely. We come again.

So there was like a real cast of characters there at the time. Reiner Schwartz was there in my era, and he was a real interesting guy. But it was very cool. So you were at Edge 102 until 94, you said? Is that right? I think it was 93. 93. And then where did you go from there?

Then I spent a year writing TV shows. Oh, actually, I got hired away from CFNY to do the same job at CFTR and work with you. Right. We mentioned that in a previous podcast, right? With Tom Rivers? Yeah, with Tom Rivers and Jesse and Gene and Cat Spencer and Tarzan, Dan. A totally different crowd, but it was a lot of fun. Those are names from Toronto's past.

I love CFTR. I used to have a CFTR bumper sticker. I loved it. I just remember the side of the station vehicle said, all hits. And people couldn't resist taking the S off the end of hits and putting it at the beginning. Naturally. And it was great. I would come out two or three days a week and go, God.

Probably the same kids. Those Coke bottle kids. Naturally. And it was great. I would come out two or three days a week and go, God, probably the same kids. Those Coke bottle kids. Yeah. And it was just a cool era. I often brag that I've seen over 400 shows. I can't hear out of my left ear anymore. I met everybody from Bowie to Midnight Oil to

U2 in their early days. Well, not early, but in their prime, I guess. Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree was the time. That's the prime, yeah. Yeah, not early, but in their prime, I guess. Joshua Tree? Joshua Tree was the time. That's the prime, yeah. It was pretty crazy. And then after CFTR, I started writing kids' TV shows and just headed down the TV path after that.

I did not know that. Yeah, I wrote Video and Arcade Top 10. Get out of here. And Clips and Destructo Brothers on the run. And then I got into the variety and comedy side of things. Cool. And that's probably why I reconnected with Howard, was because he just always came to mind as sort of an amicable,

disarming host who didn't really understand why he was on TV, and it made me laugh. So he was a first choice when we got back into making game shows. And as a guy who was at Edge 102 or whatever it was called at the time for those years, what do you think of the station it's become? So what's your honest opinion? I know you're going to tell me how you don't listen. Yeah, I don't listen.

But you probably tuned in a little bit over the last few years. Funny enough, I tuned in today and thought, wow, this music seems not new. Yeah, I noticed that too. It seems every time I tune in, it feels that way. And I think that that is a lot of programming that is trying to beat out the iPod and, frankly, some podcasting. And I wish them luck doing that. Pretty narrow, I suppose, because I noticed they'll pick a song like I Will Wait from Mumford & Sons, for example, which is a song I actually am digging right now,

so I play it a lot. My kids love it. I love the Mumford & Sons. It's a new single. Do you think that Dean Blundell is a decent guy? I know he doesn't like me because I wanted to sit in on the morning show and my hookup was always Jason Barr

because Jason Barr is pals with Freddie P. So I used to get Edgefest tickets and Caspi tickets and stuff through Jason Barr because Freddie P owed me 100 favors and they took it up that way. And I was trying to get on the show just to sit in on it and then write about it because I did it for the Easy Rock show.

Okay. And Jason got word from Dean that I wasn't invited because I don't like the show very much. And he pointed to a bunch of blog entries I wrote where I basically wrote the truth, which is I'm not a big Dean Blundell fan. Is he in the room next door? No, no, no. And I mean, if he was, I'd invite him in. I'm just curious because I've caught the show a few times.

And I think he's a pretty funny guy. But I get a lot of mixed reaction to him out there from people. A lot of guys seem to like him. I've never talked to a female that has any desire to listen to him again. I don't like it. I remembered when George Strombolampoulos took over for like a week or two. This is a bunch of years back. And then I wrote an entry about, I called it Dean's Substitute,

if you want to search my blog for it. And I wrote about basically, like it was like the morning show was, it was listenable again. It was interesting. George had, this is back in the day before George had a CBC stuff going on. It was good, yeah.

It was a good show again. The music, I always liked the music. It was compelling. But it was interesting stories and you had an interesting perspective on stuff. And I remember thinking like, it was like that Simpsons episode where that substitute teacher who was played by –

I'm walking here. Who's the – Oh. Samatic is how he was credited. I'm trying to think. But little guy. Come on. What's wrong with us?

The Graduate Plastics. Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman thank you if you had to say Kramer vs. Kramer yeah I was getting there I was getting to Kramer I would have bursted I was about to pick up Rosie

like when Johnny Narcoleptics Johnny Fiasco the narcoleptic movie reviewer why is he sleeping over there is sitting on the bench over there

he didn't even come out he had a little snooze I guess we got him at the wrong moment you know okay so regarding George when I left to make TV is sitting on the bench over there. He didn't even come out. He had a little snooze. I guess we got him at the wrong moment. You know, regarding George, when I left to make TV, I set up a TV series called Comedy Fun Fest,

and it was going to be shot on location at Wonderland. And I had a host lined up. I can't remember her name. She looked like you, Rosie, actually. Really? It might have been Rosie. Were you a comedian? Would you have ditched me on a series?

Anyway, the day before she said, my agent says I shouldn't do this show because it's a piece of shit. And she was totally wrong because the show ended up being, well, I guess it was a piece of shit. But in the end, I had to. It's devastating, though. It's awful. It was fine. It was a good series.

But what happened in the end was I had to call George and say, listen, would you like to be on TV? To which he said, no, I don't. I don't do TV. And my co-producer was Moses Neimer. Get out of here. George. So that was his first time on TV and kind of solidified a relationship with us.

He was in that era as well. Go ahead, Rose. I just have a question. On your website have there's someone that posts that says he's not dean oh yeah yeah that bugs freddie p alive so what's that all about somebody hates the humble and fred show well a lot of people hate the humble aside from me yeah besides the people in this room but uh this guy uh likes to trash the humbleble and Friends show on my blog as not Dean. I love when people trash shows that I do

because I'm like, wow, holy pucks, someone listened. That's how I feel. I couldn't agree more. When people are not saying things, but I see him, whenever he posts something, I don't pay too much attention when you get into the radio stuff, but I skim it,

and everyone's so upset whenever he posts something. So I find that entertaining. In the Venn diagram, like if I get my Venn diagram of Toronto mic'd open mic contributors and Humble and Fred fans, there's a huge overlap. There happens to be a huge overlap. For sure. Yeah. And so when this guy, not Dean, who likes to call them a crumble in debt, that's what he calls them. See, I have to admit.

I like it. I made you giggle. I like it. And Freddie P has a theory. And I was like, oh, that's terrible. I might as well share. I think the good thing about having this podcast, I can say anything. I don't have to worry about hurting feelings.

But Freddie P. Don't hurt my feelings. It won't be yours. Your feelings are never going to be hurt. Our utmost concern. Yeah. feelings. It will be yours. Your feelings are never going to be heard. Our utmost concern.

Freddie P is convinced that Dean is not Dean Blundell, but Mike Stafford. And Mike Stafford, this is... Am I speaking out of school? I don't know. Mike Stafford doesn't start with that kind of guy. This is Freddie P talking. I was in last week.

My car was getting fixed by J-Mac and I sat in here last week. J-Mac! J-Mac. J-Mac Auto. Yeah. If you ever need an honest mechanic, let me know. And I'll help you out with J-Mac. And that's a cost of street from here? J-Mac. It's a cost of street.

Awesome. Yeah. J-Mac. Call 416-252-4281. He is like you. He's a cool guy. So he's not like me. I didn't mean you.

I meant the listeners. Rosie. Yeah. Rosie, you're a cool guy. Okay. I didn't mean you I meant the listeners Rosie Rosie you're a cool guy Okay so Mike Stafford Was Asked Freddie P To be his best man

And Mike Stafford Was going to get married And I For some reason There was some strange Falling out That Freddie P Still doesn't understand

And Mike Stafford Uninvited him to the wedding This is the best man He uninvited him Yeah To the wedding Yeah He did not I couldn't make that up Who would uninvite someone to the wedding. This is the best man. He uninvited him to the wedding. He did not.

Who uninvited someone to a wedding? Mike Stafford. Has this been talked about on the air? Ever? Wow, Mike. There was so much drama on your website. By the way, we're coming to you right now from the Humble and Fred Radio.com studios, courtesy of 5-Hour Energy. Hey, all kinds of energy.

Now, no bonk later. Go on with your story, Mike. Not much more to say except that's Fred's theory that not Dean is Mike Stafford. He thinks it's written the way Stafford would write. And we all know

who Mike Stafford is, right? He hosts a show on 640. I love the guy. I know. He's a CFNY guy too, right? I enjoy listening to him. He was like a genius. He won on Jeopardy.

Jeopardy. I heard this story. Yeah. I always like this show. Mike Stafford won on Jeopardy. Jeopardy. I heard this story. Yeah. I always like to show up. Mike Stafford won on Jeopardy? Yeah. Super smart. I got a Mike Stafford.

For a long time, Mike Stafford was a regular, this is all going to tie up nicely actually. He was a regular commenter on Toronto Mike. And we used to, I used to write a simpatico.ca account and we had a lot of email exchanges

on topics and things I'm discussing. Like I would, I don't, we never physically met, but I'd consider him a pal by how frequently we connected and chatted. He knew me through Freddie P. I feel like a pal because

just listening to him on the radio. Yeah, he's interesting, right? The Simpsons trivia and everything. He's our kind of guy, right? Yeah, I've actually had him in mind for something around here because of the Simpsons thing. Well, you better talk to Freddie first,

but hold on. Yeah, I didn't know that. So, he, when, it's coming together so perfectly here but when martin when martin streak passed away i wrote a few scathing things i don't know if i was overly harsh but it was a very emotional time because i was a big fan and and the tribute to martin streak from cfny 102. The Edge, it made it sound like he had just punched the clock and worked the previous week, even though he had been fired by the station two months before. So they erased this firing.

And I don't blame them for doing it. No, I'm not saying, hey. How would they have done it otherwise? Yeah. Also, for his point of dignity to say, oh, by the way, we canned him a few weeks ago, a couple months ago, and this is what ended up happening, would be incredibly inaccurate. I will tell you something that I've never told anybody

about Martin Streak in that time. Go ahead. I spoke to him what seems like moments before he left us, maybe a week. It was his birthday. He was going to Vegas. He was on top of the world. He had resolved his

moving on from CFNY. I didn't see any remnants of it if there was any at all. It would have been inaccurate for them to make a bigger deal of that, I think. The fact is they decided and I understand the decision being made. I think you're right. They couldn't have handled it any

other way potentially, but they did not. They did not. They basically glossed over this mindless detail. They made it sound like he was still at the station when he passed away. That's how the tribute came across in the three-hour tribute, which I've shared in MP3s on the site. You can hear it all.

Okay, so this is a man we should point, but we do know this is a man who literally had the station's identification tattooed on his ass. Like literally. So much of his identity was tied up with being for us. And he was fired and unexpectedly fired, is that safe to say, after 20-something years of service? I do recall him saying to me just before he got fired, I'm pretty sure I'm getting canned. Okay.

No, but I don't think anyone really... 20-something years though. You don't know that it's coming for sure. 20-something years. He's got the freaking radio slogans, Spirit of Radio tattooed on his ass. He's let go. I remember he went to California or something.

He did some traveling. He comes back. He's got some projects, and he decides to end it. He decides he's going to check out. So, you know, he decides he's going to kill himself. So during this period

when it felt like potentially CFNY was glossing over this detail, there was a lot of emotions running high. I may have written an entry or two that were less than kind to Chorus. Okay? Keep in mind the context of the time. You're upset.

Mike Stafford... You don't attach emotion to your blogs, do you? Mike Stafford was so upset at the way I was depicting chorus he's employed by chorus he was then he's still employed by chorus that and I hope again I'm not speaking at a school but basically he told me he couldn't read anymore and he couldn't contribute anymore and we were gonna part ways I've never met him in the real world okay well we were gonna part ways this. I've never met him in the real world. But we were going to part ways. This is a great opportunity.

Listen, just bury the hatchet. There's nothing that can be said or done about what's going on in history. But you'll agree, Mike Stafford's a compelling guy to listen to. I think he's the best talk show host in the city. I would agree. And I haven't said that about anybody else. I honestly do believe he's the best. He's smart and funny. And I don't listen to any talk show host in this

city you know Mike Stafford at 30,000 feet I got nothing to offer this whole thing except forgive Toronto Mike I know I don't think we have a problem we just he did we disagree he couldn't handle the chorus stuff but this is I don't blame him he was just looking at it for his height so I'm the reason he fired Freddie P as his best man. That's exactly what happened. I can't believe that happened. You know what? It happened. Anyways, not Dean. That happens a lot. Bringing the full back to the beginning.

That's speculation. We do not know that Mike Stafford is not Dean. That is completely speculation. I just know it's a Toronto IP address. I was going to say, can you tell, how much can you tell about the identity of the people that post on your site? ISP and city, like I can tell you Bell's simpatico customer in Toronto. So, and you can see the city a person is from.

So, yeah. But isn't there a way to conceal that if somebody really wanted to? I think you can use a proxy server if they really want to, sure, yeah. Most people don't. So every time I send you death threats that way as not Wix and you're like, checking me out? Oh, boo. Absolutely. What time are we at, Wix?

You're not going to believe what I'm going to tell you. You know, can I just tell you one other fun memory I have from the old days at CFNY? Yeah. First of all, that crowd of people were fantastic. All of them. And they still are. Don Burns, Danielle Well.

I mean, all of them. I could go are. Don Burns, Danielle Well. I mean, all of them. I could go on. Danielle Well sticks out in my mind because I proposed to my wife on her show. Aw. Yeah. That's really romantic. Yeah, and Danny was really cool about it. And then Reiner Schwartz called in crying.

That's a beautiful story. I'm glad we're ending on that. I can't believe you did that. That was a lot of fun. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for listening to Toronto Mike, number five. We'll be back soon. Bye.

Bye. Hey, Rosie. Hey, Mike. Hey, everybody. We're back. Podcast number three. It is nice to be back in the T-Dot.