Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Yes, We Are Open: Toronto Mike'd #947

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

Mike chats with Al Grego, the host of the Moneris podcast Yes, We Are Open, about Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity while they kick out 10 sweet jams.

Toronto Mike is brought to you by the Yes We Are Open podcast, a Moneris podcast production telling the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. Subscribe to this podcast at yesweareopenpodcast.com. Welcome to episode 947 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. ChefDrop. Free local home delivery in the GTA.

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From Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community since 1921 And Mike Majeski of Remax Specialist Majeski Group Who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene Learn more at realestatelove.ca I'm Mike From torontomike.com, and joining me this week is the host of the Yes, We Are Open podcast, Al Grego.

Welcome back to Toronto, Mike. Al, how are you doing, buddy? I'm well. How are you? Good. Good to see you. Good to be here in the studio even. This is great. Well, you know, since October 18th, when guests visit the studio or the backyard, actually, I've been giving them Moneris branded Bluetooth speakers so they can listen to the Yes, We Are Open podcast in style. It is my pleasure, Al, to give you one as well. Oh, well, thank you.

There you go. I wasn't expecting this. Do you have any of those at home? Imagine you go to Al's home and there's just like a, every room has like three or four of these Moneris branded wireless speakers. No, actually, I don't have any. Is that true?

Well, I've got other Bluetooth speakers, just not a Moneris. Okay, you don't have a, well, now you have one. That's the rule. For this month and for the rest of November. If a guest comes in person, they get a Moneris branded speaker. So enjoy that. Yes, thank you very much. And I hear they sound good. So they have to have one.

I hope you got one. I do have one. I have one that's charging upstairs right now. I did, the guest gets one as well. The host, sorry. Hey, so since we started giving out these speakers, I've been taking notes. Who has received one?

Yes. Okay. So the first person to receive a Moneris branded speaker is Ann Roszkowski. Amazing. Does that match up to your records? I did this. I pulled this very quickly,

but does that sound right to you? I think that's right. Amazing, right? Like she was really excited to get it. And I'm sure it's in Prince Edward County with her right now. Like she's probably listening to your podcast right now.

Of course she is, yes. The Yes We Are Open podcast. 100% that's what she's doing right now. The second guest who got it is Leo Rodens. That was great, yes. And that was a fun episode to watch. You know, a great consequence of this whole sponsorship

that we're doing here is I get paid now to listen to you. Okay. Which is great. You could keep that going. You're just gonna... Now, the third person to receive the Moneris branded speaker

is Peter Sherman. Yeah, that was an interesting chat. I give you kudos, too, for that one Yeah. That was an interesting chat. I give you kudos too for that one there. That was not an easy, and I think I said in your DM group, that was not an easy interview to do. No, thank you. It wasn't easy. But he did reveal afterwards, I hope I'm not speaking at a school,

but I did get a message. We were chatting about something else that was happening Friday night, and he said there was a moment in our chat he wanted to leap over the table and strangle me. Oh yeah? Well then you were doing your job. You were doing your job.

And I said, I thanked him for not doing that because I don't need that. Well the man's got a voice. Wow. I know. Just listening to that voice. Yeah,

I should put Tom Wilson and Peter Sherman on the same show and just have them chat. I don't think a subwoofer could contain that low frequency. That would break your... Yeah, that would break these. That would break those. Okay, then we had Scott Carefoot on.

Scott Carefoot. Yeah, that was an interesting interview. For sure. And David McPherson came over to talk about Massey Hall, which you've played... No, I never played Massey Hall. God, I wish. But you did play the Horseshoe Tavern. Yes.

Long, long time ago. It was an Elvis Monday with my old band, Poised for the Worm. And it was a lot of fun. Wow. Yeah. But I remember being in there, looking at the checkerboard floors and thinking, wow, I'm actually here. I'm playing Horseshoe Tavern.

Stomping Tom, stomping Al Grego, we'll call you. So that's cool because David McPherson came on previously to talk about Horseshoe Tavern. Stomping Tom, Stomping Al Grego is what we'll call you. So that's cool because David McPherson came on previously to talk about Horseshoe Tavern, but he didn't get a speaker. But this time he got a speaker. A couple more people have received a speaker so far. I remember a lot of these episodes like Rick Mercer or Peter Mansbridge,

Ron James, all these Canadian CBC guys I just named. But they're all, and even Ralph Ben-Murgy, Canadian CBC guy I just named. But they're all, and even Ralph Ben-Murgy, Canadian CBC guy, that's four. They're all Zooming in, so they don't get the speaker. But Mark Weisblot got a speaker. I'm happy he got a speaker,

because now he can listen to all his podcasts at two times speed. And hopefully, Yes, We Are Open is one of the ones that he's listening to now. I'm certain it is, because he revealed something when he was on the show last week he revealed that he thinks you're like a cuddly persona apparently so he any any podcast you produce he's gonna listen to because he he likes

that feeling of your cuddly present do you think he listens to the produce stand too then you produce another podcast that's a great shirt you're wearing there by the way well we're gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna wear it for the photo afterwards but uh i hope i hope he's listening to the produce stand uh for sure he's listening to yes we are open which we're gonna get into but there's uh is that it no one more name so and again this is running through the rest of the month so more people will get it but damian co Cox got a speaker the other day. Yes, that was a fun interview. I'm a fan of, I'm one of those people who said his first appearance humanized him. And I love that he took that to heart. But you can see why.

Because to be humanized, you have to be inhuman. The suggestion being, of course. No, but that's not what I meant anyway. I know, I know. What I meant is when. You liked it more. And he said as much. He said when you're on the radio,

you present only one part of your personality or you're a two-dimensional being. Right. When you're on the radio. And his first appearance and his subsequent appearances, same with the Blue Jay guy. I'm having words. Mike Willner.

Mike Willner. Same thing. You know, you only know them one way on the radio. Right. And then when you find out more about them, they become human. That's all that it meant. Would that be true for somebody like a Steve Simmons as well? Absolutely.

Because the thing about Willner, Simmons, and Cox are three people that are polarizing, firstly. But secondly, they also have been over enough times to kick out the jams, which, by the way, we're going to do do as well today we're kicking out jams here okay i just want to let the listenership know jams are coming uh let's open with the obvious before i shout out a very special fotm who uh who we heard on the very first episode of yes, We Are Open. But tell everybody right now, what exactly, tell me about Yes, We Are Open, the podcast. Tell me everything you've done about this podcast. So, I mean, I work at Moneris and Moneris is a payment processor.

So we, you know, whenever you go somewhere and you pay with your credit card or a debit card, there's a good chance that the machines that are accepting those payments are Moneris machines. there's a good chance that the machines that are accepting those payments are Moneris machines. Um, and so I was recently, uh,

you know, given the opportunity, I've been in corporate training for 20 years. And so recently I was promoted into the marketing team, uh, because somebody heard that I was into podcasting. And, uh,

who are some podcasters that might've influenced you on this journey? Uh, you know, I can't remember exactly names. Okay, so, I mean, Mineris is just up the street from you, Mike. And Mike, I've known you or been reading your blog since probably, you know, 2003. And when you got into your podcasting with Humble and Fred and with your own, I remember, you know, thinking, man, that's something I'd really love to do.

Even if just for fun. So I remember when I got my gig at Moneris and I wanted to do some podcasting there, I reached out to you and I said, hey, and we were kind of familiar with each other just online. Yeah, like from comments on torontowike.com and stuff. I for sure knew your handle on Twitter. Of course.

PFTW. Had we had any TMLXs yet? No. No, no, not yet. Okay, this is way pre-TMLX. But I remember reaching out to you saying, hey, Mike, I want to set up a podcasting studio at work. Right.

And I'd love to come and see your setup. And you were like, yes, come on over. Come into my basement. Obviously, I was lonely. You're a complete and total stranger. It was amazing. Because you could have, yes, come on over. Come into my basement. Obviously, I was lonely. I'm like. You're a complete and total stranger. Like, it was amazing. Because you could have, theoretically, you could have come over and had an axe with you and just murdered me. Yes, exactly.

Which, you know, I thought about. But, you know, I didn't take that route. Thank goodness. So anyway, fast forward a few years. You know, I was doing it because I was in training. I was using podcasting more as like a communication tool, you know, and a training tool. podcasting more as like a communication tool you know and a training tool and i guess that that got the right amount of attention where people were maneras is you know doing a lot more in terms of marketing and and they wanted a podcast strategy like an external podcast strategy and they hired

me to do that amazing i mean that's amazing i know i'm gonna go back 10 years ago it's crazy this never yeah just tell yourself what your future gig will be at Moneris, which is a huge national brand. Everyone had encounters with Moneris. We all know the logo. Everyone knows Moneris. And you're the podcast guy at Moneris. I am now, yes.

So I was able to create, I was tasked with coming up with a couple of show ideas. And my first one, they wanted something that featured or put a spotlight on our merchants. And so came up with yes we were open idea because we were coming out of the pandemic or hopefully i mean we're still in it but right we're slowly things are opening up exactly things are opening up businesses i mean a lot of businesses unfortunately shut down um because

of it and sadly but when i started researching it, I'm like, every year, pandemic or not, every year there's like 95,000 new small businesses that are open in Canada. And every year, about 90,000 businesses shut down in Canada. This is not even pandemic related. So those odds are pretty bleak. So what I wanted to do is put a spotlight on the ones that survived. And even through this pandemic and and tell their stories so as a kind of a lessons learned motivational what did they do

right or maybe they were just lucky and so I wanted to tell these stories and my elevator pitch at the time was you know if anyone's familiar with still standing on cbc it's a cbc show yeah um with uh johnny harris i think yeah he and he goes around and tells stories of small down and out canadian towns and what they're doing to climb out of their whatever economic woes so i wanted to do the same thing but for small business so they bought this pitch because it's a good idea yeah and you got to be the you're so are you uh wearing all the hats? Like you're the host, you're the producer, are you the editor? I edit, I produce, I host, I write the scripts.

I can relate to this. Well, yeah, exactly. I'm a one man shop. I mean, I say that, but I've got a lot of support. Right. A lot of the marketing team behind me, you know, listening and editing, like, you know, helping me out with editing or whatever. It takes a village.

It takes a village. The Maneras village. But I credit, you know, my bosses and stuff for not, you know, I rarely hear the word no. So when I say, I want to go fly out to Saskatchewan and interview this company during a pandemic and I'm like bracing myself. And they were, yeah, okay, if you feel comfortable and as long as you take all the precautions, go for it.

So you went to Saskatchewan for an episode. Two, three, three episodes. How many episodes have been published thus far? This Monday, episode six came out. So season one is going to be eight episodes. So we got two more to go. And are they in the can, so to speak? They are now.

Yes. I've been trying to keep ahead of them. So as of now, they're all done. Yeah. That's smart because it's an evergreen program. This particular show, nothing goes in the can. There's no can here at Toronto Mag. We record and then we release into the wild but um i will say that uh there's you know every time i hand out that speaker

i get to i love that i get to talk about fotm al grego like that's in the title there i never just say you know this is hosted by al grego this is hosted by fotm al grego because uh i'm not sure i'm gonna go down the wise blot uh road of telling you I want to cuddle with you. But I will tell you, I'm very proud of you. I mean, yeah, some guy, I did recognize your name as a listener. And that gave you a lot of credence with me because you have good taste in podcasts. But I did, I opened my door and said, come on in. And I showed you all the things.

And it turns out if I hadn't shown you everything, I might be producing the Moneris podcast. Yeah, you basically gave away some business there. So thank you. And of course, we mentioned that you've got this other podcast, a passion project you're doing on weekends called the Produce Stand. That is correct. And for those

who aren't sure yet, who is this FOTML, Grego? If you attended the first few TMLX the Toronto Mike listener experiences on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery you might have seen a band called the Royal Pains and Al Grego is the handsome

lead singer of the Royal Pains that is correct so a lot of FOTMs have had the pleasure of meeting you and you've been to all eight TMLX events right Yeah looking forward to being at more Maybe Manera should host the ninth

That could be part of the deal here I'm not sure We have no beer to serve I'll take care of that Palma Pasta and Great Lakes I feel like Great Lakes Remember even at Palma we gave out Great Lakes beer The cans And Pal. I feel like, I mean, Great Lakes has a great... Remember, even at Palma, we gave out Great Lakes beer. That's right.

Right, the cans. And Palma was given out at Great Lakes at TMLX 8. So, you know, we could do it at Moneris for sure. Yeah, Moneris doesn't have a great patio, though, like Great Lakes. I mean, you can't beat that. And it's down the street, pretty much. You could walk from Moneris to Great Lakes. Exactly.

Shout out to Great Lakes. Now, listen, your very first episode of Yes, We Are Open, and that's always where people want to sample a podcast. Typically, they pick episode one. So you'll see a lot of times, if you look at your download numbers, like one, and then you see some people drop off, but one gets a lot of attention. And you had another FOTM as your guest for that very first episode, right? Yeah. I mean, kudos to the community you're building here, Mike, because,

uh, you know, when I first started, I thought it was going to be easy to find businesses that wanted to share their story. And I mean, the ones that, uh, you know, stepped up have been great and I appreciate it. And I, you know, I also understand we're in a pandemic right now and they have more important things to worry about. So, but I was, you know, kind of getting down to the wire going, who wants to share their story we need maneras merchants to share their story and i you know out of an act of desperation in your dm group i said does anyone here know of any maneras merchants who might want to share their story and of course stephanie wilkinson owner of athlete matrix owner of the ontario blue jays she stepped up and say yeah and actually I am a

Moneris merchant and quite happy about it. So hit me up. And that's the prerequisite, right? You need to be a Moneris merchant and you need to be an FOTM. Oh, just kidding. That was a joke. That was a joke.

But back to Stephanie for a moment. So I know Stephanie, she's not batting a thousand when it comes to TMLX events, because I think she had to miss one. She's close, but she, I know from the pandemic Fridays we did for 76 glorious weeks that she loves her Christopher Cross. And today we're kicking out thematic jam.

So what is the theme of the jams we're kicking out today? I mean, business, money theme. I mean, I tried to keep it generic. We'll play a bit. We'll bring it down. And we'll, why did you pick that song? And how does it tie into? Yes, money, theme. I mean, I tried to keep it generic. You'll explain as we go along. We'll play a bit. We'll bring it down.

And why did you pick that song? And how does it tie into Yes, We Are Open? And I tried not to be, well, A, these aren't my jams. So these aren't my favorite songs. But I also tried not to be. They're thematic jams. I tried not to be obvious. So you're not going to hear Taking Care of Business today.

Oh, that's Barb Paluskowicz's favorite song. I tried to be a little bit more creative with my selections and, and span across maybe a few genres that I'm not too comfortable in, but we'll, we'll listen anyway. Well, my, where I'm going with this is, will we hear any yacht rock today? I don't think so. Sorry, Stephanie. Do you want to do so? Cause while we kick out the jams, it's going to bring us back to the podcast.

And it's funny today you parked in my driveway and there's no car in that driveway because today is the first day my wife has gone into the office wow well since she took this job yeah because she took the job during the pandemic so things are opening up like i was in uh i was in a corporate office last week you know you have to sign this thing that you're fully vaccinated to get in there. But every company has their own policy on that. But things are absolutely opening up. So we're going to just kick out some great jams and keep talking about all

this. And I love your first one. So let's kick it. We'll be singing I get knocked down, but I get up again And the heavens gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again And the heavens gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again And the heavens gonna keep me down I get knocked down, but I get up again

And the heavens gonna keep me down This is the night away I don't actually want to bring this down. It's a guilty pleasure for me. Maybe it's not even so guilty. But before you even say a word about why you chose Tub Thumping by Chumbawamba, a couple of interesting notes. So we have a pirate stream because we're playing music. We can't go live on Facebook.

They'll be very mad at me for that. So we're on the pirate stream, which is live.torontomic.com. A whole bunch of FOTMs have tuned in. They'll be very mad at me for that. So we're on the Pirate Stream, which is live.torontomike.com. A whole bunch of FOTMs have tuned in. Firstly, there's someone named Squirrely Matt whose mind is blown because I had no idea that you were the host of the produce stand. Yes, Matt is one of my co-hosts on the produce stand. But he's also... So he's being funny is what he's doing.

He's being funny, but he's also a co-worker at maneras oh he fooled leave a fumka who thought he didn't realize you were that guy so uh thank you for that squirrely mad so i fell for it because i'm gullible uh what else here was interesting before we get here from you somebody here, Canada Kev, is going to listen to the Stephanie Wilkinson episode of Yes, We Are Open with his son because he's a business major and he played baseball and he did some training with the Ontario Blue Jays. So they're going to listen together. Perfect.

So Canada Kev, I mean, you should listen to all the episodes. But yes, episode one is Athlete Matrix. But the final episode of the season, shall I give it away? Yeah, well, I can already predict the future. The final episode of the season is going to be the Ontario Blue Jays, which means you basically use Stephanie Wilkinson as your, what do you call it, bookends. Yes, exactly, yes.

Amazing. Stephanie's fantastic. I got all the time in the world for her. Now. Can I just add sort of quickly one thing? Yeah. Squirrelly Matt, he also, he,

when you listen to an episode, he is the voice of the Maneris ad in all the episodes. So shout out to Matt. Oh, if you had brought that clip, I'd play it right now. That'd be, that'd be cool.

All right. Chumba Wumba. People already talking about it in the, uh, in the people are talking about when I, when it first came out, I, uh,

I heard a, uh, hockey dad call into a radio station for his son and uh his timbit hockey team's tournament i guess they wanted to hear this jam to hype them up tell me why you chose tub thumping i mean i think it's pretty clear like just the chorus i get knocked down i get up again there you go it's not always so obvious people think maybe it's because of bars or something. No, I mean what I've learned and I'm sure you know this, you're an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are resilient people and you have to be. You cannot have thin skin and be resilient. So you can't just give up after being knocked down once or twice. Okay. Yeah. I always hear these stats that four to five businesses don't make it three years

or something. What is this? Did you happen to know that off the top of your head? All I know is the 95,000, you know, annual businesses started up in Canada

and 90,000 that shut down. That's a really bleak number. And I figure the pandemic has probably made that number even worse because of all the businesses that had to be shut down. And entrepreneur, do i love it when you call me an entrepreneur uh i can't even i can't even spell entrepreneur so i'll need your help help with that afterwards here but great

start uh party time oh i don't i don't get to channel my cam cam gordon here please i didn't realize my apologies okay released in 1997 and number one in Canada, Australia, Iceland, and Italy, New Zealand, and only number six in the US. Their loss. Okay. They were probably, who knows, maybe they were more in the US,

maybe they were more into country music or R&B or something. Yeah, I just wanted to channel Cam Gordon. I actually didn't know you brought fun facts. I love fun facts, so I'm now going to start doing fun facts as well. I just wanted to do that,. I actually didn't know you brought fun facts. I love fun facts. There are a lot. I just wanted to do that, yeah.

All right, but here's another reason we're not live on Facebook or YouTube because playing this jam would get me arrested, I think. Here we go. It's been a hard day's night And I've been working like a dog It's been a hard day's night I should be working like a dog. It's been a hard day's night. I should be sleeping like a log. But when I get home to you, I find the things that you do will make me feel all right. You know I work all day.

Maybe I should have to guess why you chose that song. Go for it. Okay, this is because it's hard work. Being an entrepreneur. You're going to be working like a dog and you should be sleeping like a log.

Yeah. And there's no such thing as work-life balance when you run your own business. You're open all the time. Damn right. Yeah, damn right. So,

if you, let's say you don't run a small business and you're not an entrepreneur, is there still a benefit to listening to the yes, we are open podcast, right?

Cause it's inspiring. Yeah, I think it's inspiring. I also, I hope there, there are interesting stories to listen to at the very least. Like it's why it's not so sales. Like there's no sales pitch for Manaris in these,

except for an ad in the middle. Like these are just telling interesting stories about people or families that run businesses and how they overcame adversity. And it just happens to be brought to you by the good people at Monero. Exactly. Yes, we are open. Okay, you got some fun facts?

Are you going to tell me that this is four mop tops from England? Yes, a little known band, a little startup outfit called The Beatles. And so the name of the song is after something that Ringo Starr said one day where they were working all day into the night and he just said the Hard Days, Hard Night. Written and released in 1964

and for their third album and was also the soundtrack for the movie Hard Days, Hard Night. And you know, I say something because Ringo Starr said it. I don't know why. Maybe we're going back 15, 20, I say something because Ringo Starr said it. I don't know why. Maybe we're going back 15, 20. I don't even know

when Ringo said it. It was a video, so it must have been like 20 years ago. But he was telling everybody to stop sending him things to sign. Like he wasn't going to

return any fan mail anymore, so you can stop sending him fan mail. But he closed it with peace and love, peace and love. And then I adopted that as my farewell. I say peace and love to say love and then i adopted that as my farewell i

say peace and love to say goodbye to everybody thank you ringo star and uh brittle star adopted slash stole for his brand brittle star that's actually like a starfish or something in the sea there shout out to brittle star uh he's great he was actually on the pro stand after after he was on how many shared guests do we have uh just the one just the one i've been trying i've been trying to get jonathan torrence but he uh oh and uh and uh what's her name um oh mean nanny oh yeah she's uh she was fantastic okay so we've heard some Chumbawamba and Beatles. Similar success stories, right? Beatles and Chumbawamba.

Yeah, almost the same trajectory. Yeah, so the Beatles are like the opposite of a one-hit wonder. A multi-hit wonder. And not a boy band. I'm sorry, they're not a boy band. They're a band. But they were young, handsome men. They wrote their own music.

Okay, so boy bands can't write their own music. Here's my question about boy bands because I know we're not going to get into this again because shout out to Serial Joe. But do you have to like be, because typical boy bands we think of,

there's auditions and you are auditioning for a spot in the band. Right, yeah. The Monkees were a boy band. Okay. They were assembled. Because they auditioned for that.

Yes. Gotcha. Okay. Oh man, here's another obscure artist we're going to kick out. Number three. Number three. what it's like, your blood like winter freezes just like ice, and there's a cold and lonely light that shines from you, you'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask

you use and did you think this fool could never win, well look at me, I'm coming back again, I got a taste of love in a simple way and if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did?

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid. So I was playing these songs last night, and my five-year-old is very excited to hear this song because she loves this song because it's in Sing. Yes, it is. My kids love that uh movie as well yeah that's it's actually a good one i've seen it too many times i mentioned here but okay and uh the reason you chose this because i get to guess so i can be embarrassed here is that uh hey if you can make it through the pandemic you can make

it through anything like what a curveball you're still standing yeah you did it you made it and if you think again uh if that's not a test of your uh perseverance a word i learned from you i'm just kidding but you just gotta learn how to say i doubt as an english major you've learned any words from me perseverance um yeah but it was all jeffrey chaucer and william shakespeare like come on now all right so am i right that's why you chose it because you're sure a little more superficial than that though it's just the the basis of my whole elevator pitch was that it's it's still standing on you know but for businesses like the cbc's show still standing oh right okay actually i thought too much on it. Okay.

But I like yours better. In the live chat we're having here, I think it was Ian Service. He's hoping that, do you have an Esri Geography Corner planned at all? Do you remember the Esri Geography Corner? Sure. I don't know. Elton John is from the UK.

There you go. A little known island. And he married a Canadian. And he married a Canadian. There's your Esri Geography Corner. Shout out to Mike Grigotsky. And he married a Canadian. And he married a Canadian. There's your Esri geography corner. Shout out to Mike Grigotsky. F-O-T-M Grigotsky. Now, please, give us some more fun facts.

I don't have a whole lot. Just written by Elton John and Bernie Tobin. What a surprise. 1983 from their album Too Low for Zero. Well, actually, when they shot the video, it was a two-day shoot in France. Hey! And apparently all the footage from day one was destroyed when the camera fell into the water. So they had to reshoot everything the next day.

Well, that sucks. That's all I got for you. But they persevered. Yes. And they're still standing today. Elton is still standing today. You're good at this. Hey, here.

Yeah, thank you. Here is, I've been, this is almost, what is it? Soon, oh, soon you'll be back because I'm going to hit 9 and we're gonna need a best of 750 a lot of help for that one we'll see if leave a thumb kick and help you it's funny hearing like fotm langer who's also been to every single tmlx event tell you like he he's still going through the tronamiked episodes because he still loves them but he is like 200 behind or something. So he'll be like, oh, I just heard the Pandemic Friday where you kicked out,

I don't know, spring jams or something. It's like, you get to kind of relive it again. It's kind of cool. Hey, here's my fun fact about I'm Still Standing

by Elton John. It was the theme song to City Line on the great city TV we talk about all too often on Toronto Mic'd when it was hosted by fotm dini petty yeah so that was the jam they used i'm still standing because that's what city tv did back in the day they just took songs in fact here here i'm gonna just do a little mind blow here is

that anyone who watched fashion television back in the day would hear Animotion. You're my obsession, right? This was the fashion television song, which, of course, was a real song that existed in the universe. Hosted by Jeannie Becker, who I'm going to speak with right after I talk to you. I'm going to go from Al Grego to Jeannie Becker. That's my morning. That's a natural progression right there. Tell her I say hey. I will.

I'll let her know. She's not going to be in studio. No, we're going to get a Zoom. She's not speaker. And she's not on Toronto Mike either because people will be like checking their feed for the Jeannie Becker episode, but that will happen,

but that's not going to be recorded today. All right, let's kick out. I love it. I love the fact you brought fun facts and I love the fact that I've got a few stuck in my cranium somewhere. So let's kick out your fourth jam. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to talk over this intro.

It's a bit of a long intro. This is Scott Turner on CFNY. We've got some Pet Shop Boys for you. Oh, I didn't even hit the post. Oh, I'm terrible at this. Continue. The post is when they start singing. Well, there's multiple posts. Yes, there's multiple.

And I can't hit any of them. That sound belongs to one band. I love it. All right. This've had a little scheme All right, this one's a little too on the nose, Al, but... Opportunities, let's make money. This is the idea of business, right? We're doing it to make money. And you can use this money

to trade that money in for goods and services. Yes. I learned that from The Simpsons. That's how that works. Because Homer was looking for, like, I don't know what he's looking for cheesies or something and then he found a 20 bill or peanuts maybe and he found he was disappointed and he realized he could take that 20 bill and buy lots of peanuts yeah that's that's commerce economy 101 um i mean again i didn't want to be obvious so no taking taking care of business, no money by Pink Floyd. But I was a big Pet Shop Boys fan.

I was too. And this video, I remember this video. It's imprinted in my brain. It was a very interesting video. I was also a very big Pet Shop Boys fan. I love their sound. You keep kicking my camera here. It doesn't matter because it's not recorded.

I'm just letting you know you're doing that. Apologies. Love means never having to say you're sorry. I just love hearing Pet Shop Boys. It's also good, right? And it might be underappreciated in 2021. I think it is because it's electronic music, but it's very well-written.

They're well-crafted songs. They're not just verse, chorus, verse, chorus, end. There's hooks in there. There's bridges. they're well crafted songs they're not just you know verse chorus verse chorus end uh there's like hooks in there there's uh or uh there's there's bridges there's just and different instrumentation and all from you know two dudes you know right with a keyboard and a trumpet yeah awesome i another uh jammy could have picked by them uh for the entrepreneurs and small business owners that have been struggling through covid uh times could, What Have I Done to Deserve This? That's great.

From Actually. That's my favorite album is theirs, Actually. And I will say we're the same age. So I think you might even have the same thing. But that is actually the song that introduced me to Dusty Springfield. Oh, yeah. I didn't know Dusty until that song. And it's like, this is one of those times

it happens many times where, cause I remember growing up in the time where boomers were revisiting all their stuff. So I would grow up and I would watch Back to the Beach,

for example, which is a movie I loved. And there would be like Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and they'd be Connie Stevens and this, and it was like

clearly a nostalgia for an era that I have no, I wasn't around for, but it's like you get like a second hand nostalgia for something I don't know what the word for that is whatever and it was harder to do then too it wasn't as easy as bringing it up on YouTube or Netflix now yeah no you know what you would do it

you would do it on like I would say like maybe like Donahue or something would reunite like the like the who is it Gilligan's Island cast or something like that so okay but uh dusty springfield i never heard of her didn't know anything about dusty springfield she's on this pet shop boys jam and then suddenly you start to realize and at first you don't know it like because where are you going to go to wikipedia no like so you don't realize like oh she's already

famous for this and it's like you start to find like uh clues in the uh zeitgeist and you start to pull them down and start to paint this picture and then suddenly you're like oh yeah that's who dusty springfield is yeah we didn't have pandemic fridays back then to tell us about this we did but they were in our basements and no one no one recorded them or whatever by the way shout out to carol pope uh dusty springfield's lover and in a goodOTM. Fun facts. Oh, did you do all the fun facts? No, I mean, it released in 1986. It was on their album, Please. Only number 11 in UK and number 10 in the US, which is interesting.

I thought it would have been a lot higher. Squirrely Mad is a funny comment I'll share with you, which is that you only have one job, Al, and that is to not kick the camera. Do you think you could do that? I like to break my balls a lot. Oh, and here's a, going back to the Elton song you played, the great Yes We Are Open podcast guest,

Stephanie Wilkinson says that Elton's husband, David Furnish, was the next door neighbor to her aunt and uncle in Agincourt. Oh, well, there you go. And then apparently they went to this wedding, that in agent court. Oh. Well, there you go. And then apparently they went to this wedding. They had a Canadian wedding. Right.

And Stephanie's aunt and uncle attended this wedding. Isn't that interesting? Very interesting. Small world. Even if it's not interesting, you're being recorded. You have to pretend it's interesting. No, it's interesting. Of course it's interesting. Oh, this is interesting, because I actually

have a rant about this jam, and I finally have an opportunity to say it, and I'm going to play it, and we're going to hear why you chose it, although I know why, and then we're going to talk about it. Lucy Liu, with my girl Drew, Cameron D and Destiny, Charlie's Angels, come on Question, tell me what you think about me, I buy my own diamonds and I buy my own rings Only ring your celly when I'm feeling lonely, when it's all over please get up and leave Question, tell me how you feel about this

Try to control me, boy, you get dismissed Pay my own car note and I pay my own bills Always 50-50 in relationships The shoes on my feet, I fall The clothes I'm wearing, I fall The rock I'm rocking, I fall Cause I depend on me If I want it

The watch I'm wearing, I fall The house I live in. I'm falling. Because I depend on me. If I wanted to watch, I'm wearing. I'm falling. The house I live in. I'm falling. The car I'm driving. I'm falling. I depend on me. I depend on me.

All the women, when you're feeling it, throw your hands up at me. All the hunnids, making money, throw your hands up at me. All the mamas, rockin' Dallas, throw your hands up at me. All right. My guess is that if you're an entrepreneur, you need to be fiercely independent. Shout out to Great Lakes Brewery. And this song is called Independent Woman. And there are many fantastic Canadian entrepreneurs

and small business owners who are independent women. Yes, absolutely. Shout out to Stephanie. Shout out to Tia Small from Valley Online. I mean, we had a couple in this season and hopefully we'll have more in future seasons. So we wanted to try to... I mean, and I'm not going to lie to you and say, oh, we were trying to be representative. We were basically taking anybody

who wanted to share their story. Anyone with a pulse who uses Moneric. For season one. Now I've got a bit of a queue lined up for season two. But yeah, it just so happened that we had, you know, a couple of really good businesses run by women. And I wanted to make sure that we wanted that out. All right. You want to hear my, well, you want to do some fun facts

or do you want to hear my little? No, I mean, this was from the Charlie's Angels soundtrack in the year 2000. You don't say. Yeah. That's my rant real quick. I'll just do it fast. This song references Charlie's Angels.

I know, by name, yeah. Multiple times. Well, the actresses, not even the characters. Well, Lucy Liu, who I just saw on Curb Your Enthusiasm, actually. So, yeah, but there's a whole verse in here about charlie and his angels down like that i hate that like i hate the fact it's not only does it uh time stamp it or whatever but this song now is is too closely tied to the film it doesn't stand independent anymore it is just a ad for even though it's a good song it's an ad for the film oh and the video is even worse but uh

for the film. Oh, and the video is even worse. But... You can't hear the song in 2021 now without thinking of that Charlie's Angels remake. It's too bad, but I like the energy and the message of the chorus. So if we can

maybe skip the, you know, look past the intro, it's actually a great empowering song, I think. Ian Service has been an amazing, this is going to sound like an ad, but it's not, but Ian Service is an amazing supporter of the show. He's got a great company out in Guelph, Ontario.

He's a Moneris customer. He's also a happy Moneris customer. Perfect. We're going to have to talk again. Can season two feature Ian Service? Maybe. Like I said, I got a cue,

but I also want to try to mix things up. Put him to the front of the line. He's an FOTM for goodness sakes. I understand. So, I mean, probably. Probably. Let's say, strong probably. I want to try to mix things up, right? I don't want to have all the same kinds of businesses either. But, I mean, Ian's service, pun

intended, is unique. So, yes, I think we'll probably be talking about that. And if you have him on, just don't call him Tim. Okay. Cause his name's not Tim. Who was it who called him Tim? Some Winnipeg stew guy. Oh, stew.

That's right. It was stew. It always comes back to stew stone. Oh, you're a fan of Jan Arden, right? You're a big Jan Arden fan or? I like her music and yeah, I think she's great. Jan Arden is going to appear in the new Stu Stone movie. Oh,

I heard this. This is amazing. You heard it from me. I'm the only one who's talking about it. That's right. Yes. I heard this from you. And you want another mind blow?

Mercer, I think also mentioned it. Right. Yeah. Cause Rick's tight with, uh, actually Jan comes up a lot on Toronto Mike because, uh,

she came up in that Massey Hall episode. Yeah. She hasn't been here yet. She's not speaker. We're going to fix that. Jason yet. Well, she's in Alberta or something.

But we're going to drop another bomb on everybody who's an FOSS, as Cambria would say. Somebody in the... Name the trailer park boys. I feel like a guy who likes the produce stand would be able to name the trailer park. I'm not a big fan of them.

Okay, somebody in the live chat. Julian's one of them, Bubbles. And I forget the other guy's name. Bubbles, I know, because in the live chat. Julian's one of them bubbles and I forget the other guys. Bubbles I know because of course curious. Julian and

something else. I don't forget. I'm going to say this. One of the two guys not named bubbles and it might be Julian

is also going to appear in the new Stewstone movie. Oh. That's an exclusive. If I read about it in Variety

tomorrow I know it was somebody listening here who leaked that one. So I'm here for all your Stu Stone news. Okay. I love this jam, but I'm not going to put on the record in this episode why.

I will tell you afterwards. Here we go. She was hard for the money So hard for it, honey She was hard for the money You know, speaking of underappreciated, let's call her the queen of disco here, the late great Donna Summer. Considering the run she had and the hits, I think she's underappreciated here in 2021. I think so too.

This was from her 11th album this is like she's prolific it's crazy uh from 1983 album called uh hard for she works hard for the money so same name um and again i my job is to predict why you chose that yeah go for it so okay well this one's on the nose too she works hard for the money. You work hard running your own business, your small business, being an entrepreneur. Uh, but you,

at the end of the day, when you're successful with a wonderful, uh, vendors like Manaris, you, uh, are rewarded with money, which again,

the $20 you earned can be exchanged for many, many peanuts. There you go. Very good. She, uh, Donna wrote this one when she met a bathroom attendant

at an after party, Oneida Johnson, and she wrote this song for her. So that's the fun fact about that. I love the fun facts. We think maybe it was Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. Ricky.

Ricky will be in Bandits, the new Stewstone vehicle. See what I did there? I almost felt used. Suddenly, we do this Pandemic Fridays because he was really promoting his faking a murderer. And then he disappears.

And you want to make a prediction? Just when it's time to promote bandits, he'll re-enter our lives. This is my prediction. You think magically? Magically. Coincidentally? Coincidentally.

He will re-enter our lives and suddenly resurface, if you will. So stay tuned for that. But I like this song. Yes. It's a fun song. Queen of Disco. Donna Summer. So no Yacht Rock, but we do have some... I like this song. Yes. It's a fun song. We need disco. Donna Summer.

So no Yacht Rock, but we do have some... I guess this is the... There's saxophone in it, you know? This is kind of post-disco, right? 83? Okay, so we're post-disco. So this is a disco star showing she's more than just disco. Sort of like when the Bee Gees go and do something non-disco-y.

Shout out to the Bee Gees. And I did go out of order. That's all right. Which nobody knows about you and I, so why did I mention it? I could have buried that, but I'm going to make up for it. I was trying to separate the strong woman anthems. Oh, yeah. You're right.

So pretend I didn't play this till after i played this jam another long intro. See I was meant to be a warrior, fight something amongst me Leave here victorious, classroom of kids, a revenue performing If I'd done it for the money, I'd have been a fucking lawyer Concrete, vagabond, man telling stories Humbled by the road, I'm realizing I'm not important See life's a beautiful struggle, I record it Hope it helps you maneuvering through yours That's why we stay in the lab at night

I've been staring into this pad for over half my life A true artist won't be satisfied There it is. Make the money, don't let the money make you. There it is. Make the money, don't let the money make you. That's it, buddy. Get that tattoo. Yes. You got any tattoos? No.

Get that one. Where? Where would you put them? On my head. On your arm. That's the only place you could put it. You shaving that or is that all just going? No, freshly shaved.

I asked Damien Cox about that the other day Some people have the right head for that You're in that club But you don't know until you do it, right? I'm afraid to find out I might not have the right head for that You're stuck with my glorious head of thick hair Oh, poor guy

But I can't grow a beard like that You win Small victories there So you win in the lower half small victories there so you win in the lower half of your head and i win in the upper half if we combined we could be just a big hairy beast perfect all right talk to me about macklemore uh yeah well i didn't want to be obvious again so i did a search quick search for some online stuff because i wasn't i'm not familiar with the song but i am a fan of macklemore and ryan lewis like i like a lot of the stuff they put out again. So I did a search, quick search for some online stuff because I wasn't I'm not familiar with the song, but

I am a fan of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Like, I like a lot of the stuff they put out. This one wasn't a single, but it came up in the search and when I went to listen to it, I'm like right immediately, I loved it. So I had to add it to the list. It's a good jam. It's a good jam. You could have also, because if you're struggling

at the beginning of starting your business, you need to go to the thrift shop for your street clothes. I didn't want to be that obvious. Because it could be, you know, you got to, it could be some hungry nights in the beginning here. But if you have the passion and a good business plan and good partners behind you,

you can make the money. But never let, this is key. So I hope everybody write it down. I got my pen and paper here. Don't let the money make you. I like that sentiment. Yeah.

Well, that's one of the reasons why I chose it. I really enjoyed the sentiment, the, the, the energy of the song. And, and again,

I'm a fan of Macklemore and Lewis. Sure. Sure. Sure. He had the Ken Griffey Jr. Video. Yeah. Which was amazing.

Yeah. Downtown, right's still great downtown the first time i heard that song it went on steady rotation on my house it's so good i don't think it's cool to say you like him i don't care i don't care either okay listen you're so damn catchy look i'm not a hip-hop head like you mike so yeah but i'm a hip-hop head from the late 80s, early 90s. I still go back there, but please continue. It takes something catchy to keep my attention. You need a hook. Sure. He's lousy with hooks.

Like Bust a Move by Young MC. That's like your kind of jam. Well, I used to perform that with my old band. But anyway, that's... I think I saw your band perform House of Pain. Oh, well, that was... But that wasn't me rapping. That was...

Who rapped on that one? Christopher Diaz, the one and only. All right. Jump around, right? Yes. Shout out to Everlast. Everlast, that's my name. My unique rhyme style is my claim to fame.

And that's why I don't rap. Okay. So we're out of order now. Oh, did you have any Macklemore? He's a Seattle guy, right? That's all I had. He's got to be a Seattle guy if he's doing all that Ken Griffey love. Yeah, maybe.

I think he's a Seattle guy. Have they split? He's no longer, I don't know. I don't know. But what was Ryan Lewis doing? Was he like the DJ? What was he doing? He was the music guy, I think.

So he did all the mixes and the beats and stuff. And I think Macklemore is the rapper and lyricist. Because those guys are, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to discredit them. I don't want to beef with Ryan Lewis. But they're sort of a dime a dozen compared to what Macklemore does, which is a bit more like less. Yeah, but who knows?

I mean, a good producer can make a band. And I think Ryan Lewis kind of plays that producer role, right? But I don't know. I'm not, I'm no expert. If I'm, if I'm hearing you correctly, like if the Royal pains get Mutt Lang to produce their next album,

we might, we might be hearing them on a key one Oh seven, but not now. I think we'll hear them on Q and O seven in 30 years. There you go. When we're 80. Oh, I I'm so excited to kick out this jam.

This is an important jam in the history of country music, which thanks to the VP of sales, I have been revisiting lately. Cocaine and Rhinestone, shout out. Here we go. Take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more. A woman done left and took all the reason I was working for You better not try to stand in my way as I'm walking out the door

Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more I ain't working here no more. I've been working in this factory for now 15 years. All this time I watched my woman. Such a dated bass sound. Johnny Paycheck no longer with us, actually. But this jam, if I'm getting the sentiment right it's like

maybe you're stuck in that you get into a comfort zone right like you're stuck in that day to day because and you're only there because it's a predictable paycheck but at some point

if you have the the vision the desire the idea and again a good business plan and good partners like Moneris etc

and you basically... You're good at this. Basically, you can then go to that nine to five you've got or whatever, Joe job or that job you're stuck in. And you can say, take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more. That's everybody's fantasy. But I think it's about it. Here ain't working here no more. That's everybody's fantasy. But I think it's about it. Here's what I think you do. Do something where they want to get rid of you

and they pay you to go away. And then take that money and apply it to your entrepreneurship. Just know what you're doing. Before you say, just remember, when you say take this job and shove it, you will receive zero severance. Right. It's a delicate balance

because you don't want to get fired for cause because then you'll also get zero severance. So you need to get fired, but not for cause. And you need to have it. It needs to happen right now. Give me that money. Good choice.

I like this song. You got some fun facts. Shout out to Cam Gordon. Written by David Allen Coe. Okay. So David Allen Coe is the father of the guy who hosts the show I actually referenced very quickly before I kicked out this jam. It's called Cocaine and Rhinestones. Okay.

It's that guy's son. Really? Interesting. So I found this interesting because, yes, it's written by him. Then Johnny Paycheck released this in 1977. But then David Allen Coe released his own version one year later in 1978. But I mean, whose version does everyone know? That happens a lot.

I mean, I'm trying to think there's examples like you'll find that. We're going to go back to Yacht Rock for a minute here. What's the big Doobie Brothers Yacht Rock anthem? Fool Believes. That song, I believe written i think it's kenny loggins like kenny loggins also records that and puts it out right like there's a lot of these examples where like a songwriter will you know bruce springsteen is a great example so bruce springsteen puts out blinded by the light which he wrote to because because i think it's clive

davis or somebody wanted a hit yeah on his debut album so he goes on he writes a hit which is not bruce springsteen style at the time especially and he writes a hit, which is not Bruce Springsteen style at the time, especially. And he writes Blinded by the Light, which ends up not being a hit. It wasn't a hit, but it became a number one smash when Manfred Mann and the Earth Band

or whatever records that thing. So there's a lot of examples where you can have more success even if you're a singer, you can have more success as the songwriter if the right artist records it. I think anyone who knows me would be floored that I even brought a country song

because I'm not the biggest country music fan. But that's the cool country. Well, I don't like country that much either, but I like that jam. And I wanted to bring something. And at first I thought 9 to 5, Dolly Parton, but I thought, but that's more working for somebody.

That's right. So I really enjoyed this. Plus I have a vague memory of Johnny Paycheck performing this on an episode of Dukes of Hazzard. Oh my God. I should have the same memory. Did he not? I'm tapping.

I can't confirm or deny, but I watched a lot of Dukes, as you know. Yeah. That was my show. Didn't he, was he the one who performed the theme for Dukes? No.

That's Waylon Jennings. That's right. Just the good old boys, never meanin' no harm. So I might be conflating two things. You might be. But I feel like there's a scene where he says, take this job and shove it, and Boss Hogg reacts to it in a negative way.

Was Roscoe P. Coltrane there? Probably, yeah. Probably Roscoe P. Coltrane.? Probably, yeah. Probably Roscoe P. Coltrane. Oh, his dog Flash. I will say this. I had zero idea what the roof of the General Lee meant in the Confederate flag. I had the lunchbox.

I had the toy car. I had all this. Oh, God, did I ever. Go to bed now! The kid's got the General Lee, and his dad's had too many pops, and sends him sends them to bed and i'm still haunted by it actually but i had the sheets yeah and they were bought at byway and the byway at jane and annette this is how much detail i recall and you had two sides to the to the pillowcase like one side was bow and luke duke and the other

side was daisy duke and i would sleep on Daisy. We're going way back now. So I would sleep on Daisy because Daisy for sure. And by the way, Al, Moose Grumpy is on the live stream and has confirmed your memory is accurate. Yes. He was on Dukes of Hazzard. And that's reason enough to,

that was a big show for me, Dukes of Hazzard. Yeah, it was huge for me too. But then I also, similar time period, I started to discover WKRP and Cincinnati. Yeah.

And I really loved it. I just re-watched the episode where they, because of the crush and the terrible tragedy in Houston, I just re-watched the whole episode and the whole thing. So did I. Yeah. When you posted it, I'm like, yeah. I found it and I re-watched the whole thing. They do, unfortunately, you could tell where the music was playing that they don't want

to license for, I guess that was ripped from a DVD or something. something so that some music is missing but uh this is of course a tragedy in cincinnati where 10 i think or 11 uh people were crushed before a who concert in uh this was i think 79 or something and it was referenced in this episode and i'm watching it and i'm realizing no wonder i love this show yeah like i absolutely it me, and I think the only reason I'm spitting words into this microphone right now with FOTML Grego, this whole universe exists because of WKRP and Cincinnati. Absolutely. Same here.

Absolutely. Wow. So we've covered a lot. There's a lot of nostalgia coming out here. Okay. So Dukes of Hazzard led to the WKRP. And I also want to say I liked Happy Days. I'm just going to throw out all the shows I used to watch.

I think we are. We're the same vintage. Sit on it. say I liked Happy Days. I'm just going to throw out all the shows I used to watch. I think we're the same vintage. Sit on it. All right, Happy Days. What happened to Richie's brother? Okay, because he went upstairs. Ralph, was it Ralph? No, Ralph Malfoy.

No, not Ralph. It was Rick? Ricky? Ricky or something? Too close to Richie. No, Chuck. Was it Chuck? It's Chuck.

It's in my head as Chuck. So Chuck was there for the pilot or whatever chuck's there and chuck went upstairs and never came down like he literally went upstairs and never came down that's amazing they should do like a reboot where chuck comes down the stairs he's like you know 50s 50 year old oh he'd be older than that because he was older than he was older than richie cunningham all right and it takes place in the 50s. So he'd be like 80 or 90. That was a weird thing. It was like a 70s show that was taking place in the 50s.

But then they would, you know, Mork and Mindy came out of it. And if you think about it, how can Mork and Mindy, which is taking place in the 70s, how does that come out of the 50s? I don't know. It's all. I don't know if they cared. We're the only ones who cared. They said, well, no one cares.

They didn't realize that 40 years, 50 years later, we would be talking about it on a podcast. It's a time before Twitter. All right. That was a good jam. Here's a jam, finally, a jam I'm not familiar with. Really? I do not know this jam.

You're going to have to fill me in. Here we go. Here we go. Everybody wanna stay for your meal Gettin' all the peace of mind for your wife Everybody wanna know how it feel Everybody wanna see what it's like My baby wanna be a queen Well alright, we all deserve to find the things in this life So we're workin' you go I see in the chat now, it's obvious to me.

This is from the show Suits, which was filmed here. Yes. And it had Bunk in it from The Wire. Yes. Why didn't I watch Suits? Is it good? It's good, right? It's a good show.

I enjoyed it. I watched a lot of it. And I also used to work in the building where they shot a lot of it in that neighborhood at the University and King area, basically. Sure. And it's called Greenback Boogie. That is correct. And greenback was what the Americans would call money because their money is green. Yep.

We can't call it greenback. No. Our money's got a variety of colors going on here. Anyway, I knew there's a lot of fans of Suits out there. I was one of them. And this is a great song. And it's a theme song. So I'm a Robot is the name of the band.

They're an L.A. band from the 90s. And this was not even a big song for them. This is a B-side on their Another Man's Treasure album. So they've got a bunch of albums. And the funny thing is, I don't know any other song by this band, but Greenback Boogie. But it's a great song. Amazing video, too.

You should watch the video. Okay, so you can only name one song by uh i'm a robot but that's not the first act you played where that is true because i'm betting you can't name another uh chumba wumba song no you are correct so oh this is gonna reveal that i'm not a country music fan because I actually don't know. I'd have to Google it and say, oh, yeah, I do know that song. Johnny Paycheck. Yeah, Johnny Paycheck. I'm sure there are other songs I know by Johnny Paycheck.

I'm going to Google it right now. I wouldn't be that sure for myself anyway because I'm not a country fan. Johnny Paycheck. Okay, here, let's do this live. Whoa, we got this great jam in the background here. Here we go. I'm looking at his singles Okay Ballad of Green Berets Oh no, never

That's not his song No, that's Okay, so here, hold on, let's see here I've gone too far, I'm in the Hmm I have to go back to the 70s here He had a hit in 71 that was pretty big in the country charts called She's All I Got.

But I don't know how that goes. Take This Job and Shove It, of course, went to number one on the country charts. I don't think many of these crossed over. I'm just looking at these songs. I don't think there's any songs here that crossed over. Somebody can correct me. But it looks like Take This Job and Shove It

was his uh his big crossover smash the only one i would know yeah interesting okay of course royalty came out of suits as well yes shout out to megan markel yeah megan markel yeah in the tours i mean there's a lot of more royalty well she wasn't royalty but she was in a bunch of stuff all right no i mean i heard good things i actually just there's a lot of good things there's an interesting premise but then after after Megan left and when she left, one of the other main characters left, your namesake Mike, and there just didn't seem to be...

Another Mike, you're telling me. Just yet another Mike. There didn't seem to be a reason to keep on watching, so I stopped watching then. See, that makes me not want to start it because the whole joy of a series, be it Sopranos or Six Feet Under or The Wire, is the whole arc. And there's a conclusion.

Well, I feel like there was a conclusion to them leaving. And inexplicably, they decided to keep going. I'm not sure why. Because Mike was a big part of the show's premise and he was gone. I know they tried to keep scrubs going after the two guys left yeah it doesn't make any because there's a certain number of episodes they have to hit for syndication right is it uh i think it's 100 maybe yeah which i feel like suits got there pretty quickly but anyway that's only four seasons but then there's shows that keep reloading like

i'm thinking of and this is really dating myself, but I used to watch ER. And I liked ER. But ER, if you look at it. 15 years of ER. Yeah, but you know, at the beginning, it was like Julianna Margulies and George Clooney. And you had these Anthony Edwards.

And you had these core guys who all ended up leaving at some point. Yeah, and I watched it to the end as well. At that point, we were committed. We had to watch to the end. But they kept on killing people off for sure and when anthony edwards uh was killed off was like do we continue watching you just spoiled what would to me that was my end so that's me when kevin green dr green dies yeah i think there's an episode where he wrote a letter and it's like 25 years that's my but that's spoiling it i guess that's true i i'm very touchy, but ask Rosie about how I feel about spoilers.

But I'm still mad they, like there's certain move, like legendary movies, like maybe Planet of the Apes, for example. Planet of the Apes is spoiled on the cover, the poster of the movie. Right.

Like they spoil it on the cover, which I think if you could go back in time and watch that without having a clue what's going on, I think that would be a wonderful experience. But anyone who's got any kind of like sense, like anyone who's aware of anything knows the big hook, the switch or whatever in Planet of the Apes.

And I think that sucks. I don't hear him going. Now that's even older. Okay, so we got one more jam to go. One last jam. How do people, like I know the obvious, everyone listening to us is like podcast savvy. How do people, like I know the obvious, everyone listening to us is like podcast savvy.

Yeah. Because this is a podcast. So they figured out how to subscribe to Toronto Mic'd. They can use that same podcast aggregator, that same podcatcher they're using to search for, yes, we are open.

Yes. It's from Moneris to make sure in case something else has a similar title or whatever. If you don't hear this great voice of Al grego you got the wrong podcast okay keep looking so you can subscribe to yes we are open podcast wherever you get your podcast but you have done what i've done which is you've created like i have a toronto mic.com slash subscribe so just figure it out from there but you have a website yes we are openopenpodcast.com. So there's your takeaway here is go subscribe and listen.

And you're going to hear two times you're going to hear the great Stephanie Wilkinson. And we're going to get Ian's service in season two, which will be very, very exciting here. You ready for your final jam? Let's go for it. If the doors ain't crack it You gotta let go If you wanna fly Take the lead You gotta risk it all

But there'll be lots of things You'll never see You gotta let go Cause you never know What's in store Mr. Entrepreneur. In this position with no choice. I know why you chose this song. Because it's called Entrepreneur.

There you go. As easy as that. But I highly recommend, this is another one that I didn't know before I did a search. But when I found it, the video is amazing amazing i highly recommend you check out the video and in fact it got like 10 million views in the first day that it was uh first few days that it was released uh and it's got a lot of it features a lot of really great stories of uh black entrepreneurs um and uh it's a it's a really cool and powerful video so i highly recommend to search this video and check it out and it's a really cool and powerful video, so I highly recommend to search this video and check it out. And it's Pharrell Williams.

That's right. That's the voice, but it says featuring Jay-Z. Does he show up with a verse in this thing if we play it long enough? I guess. Okay, well, when I hear him, I'll turn it up, because shout out to Jay-Z. Maybe this is him. Hold on.

Pause it. I'll bring it up if I think I'm hearing his voice here, but entrepreneur. Amazing. Amazing, buddy. Again, I said this off the top, but we're all proud of you,

man, because you're such a key member of this FOTM community we have. And not just at the live shows, but in the live chats we have at live.torontomike.com. Shout out to YYZgord. I know he likes YYZgord, but I can say what I want. Your show. Who was late to the party,

but he said he's impressed that I dressed up for the big show. My produce stand shirt. I had to choose between my Royal Pains t- show. My produce stand shirt. I had to choose between my Royal Pains t-shirt or my produce stand, but this one fits better. Oh, here he is. consumer and the owner till we all vertically integrated from the flow up you say power sip ace till I throw up like gang sign say ah

bang minds for both of ya serial entrepreneur we on our own stop sticking around waiting for folks to throw you a bone if you can't buy the building at least

stop the sale I dig it buddy entrepreneur so are you inspired I think this should be your secondary theme you know after after Lil to the Low

Lil Vibe shout out after Ill Vibe. Shout out to Ill Vibe. I've been using that theme almost nine and a half years now. So does it need a remake? No, I refuse. No, it's great. Perfect. Have you loaded question, but I'm going to ask it on my way out because I've been doing such a good job.

I've got to blow it up right here. But are you inspiring yourself? Like at any point are you thinking like, oh man, like I'm talking to these small business owners and these entrepreneurs and like I could do that. Like any part of you going to leave this TMDS studio and go to Moneris and say, take this job and show me. Honestly, I'm loving, Maneras saved my career once and gave me this opportunity to do it

again. It's a great company to work for. I mean, maybe one day, but for now, I'm really happy where I am. And they're helping me do this. Like, can you imagine, you know, being on your own and flying yourself to Saskatchewan or to BC to record? I mean, you know, you're overselling Saskatchewan. No, but it doesn't matter.

Like any, any sort of travel. I love Saskatchewan. I know. And actually Saskatoon's a really nice town. Uh, it's a university town, right? So I've, you know, my first wife is from Saskatoon. Is there a bingo card spot for that? I don't bring it up too much, but it's true fact.

I like the, the Prairie Girls. Okay. So shout out to canada's beautiful uh prairie prairie girls here um oh my goodness where was i gonna go but uh tremendous job on the podcast yes we are open thank you uh and thank you again that manaris um chose to uh promote the show on my podcast it's honor. When we were talking about how to best promote the Yes, We're Open podcast, we obviously wanted to promote it to people who listen to podcasts.

And, I mean, you do a great job, Mike, and you were one of the first names that came up, obviously to me. You know, can we maybe sponsor Mike's show? And you've been a great partner for us, and you've had some great guests. So I'm very happy that we were able to do this.

And we're not done yet because we're going to run this through November. Yes, absolutely. So a bunch more guests coming up because it's only November 10. And yeah, like if Moneris, the partnership's been fantastic. In fact, you get the cold open.

No one's ever had that in the history of the podcast. That's because you're such a good FOTM there. Let's just throw that in. But I do enjoy handing out the wireless speaker and talking about, yes, we are open. So I'm here, man. If you want to keep going, tell the good people at Moneris.

Mike's digging it. Well, I mean, it's not my call, but I will put in a good word, and I'd love to be able to continue to be paid to listen to your podcast. That's true. You got to audit able to continue to be paid to listen to your podcast that's true that's true you got to audit it and make sure i didn't forget to mention uh don't a morskowski's there make sure she gets a what's it like when you hear people like ann morskowski say your name it's pretty cool and morskowski uh leo rutins uh even i think uh um oh man i'm i'm having a word

salad right now anyway they've all been box you right now. Anyway, they've all been... Damien Cox? Damien Cox, everyone. It's all been... Even 1236, Mark Weisblot. That was great. The reveal that he... That'll be the next appearance.

We're going to have you and Weisblot on together, and we're going to livestream the Cuddle Fest. You're going to get us a love seat here? We'll sit side by side? That's the plan. And that brings us to the end of our 947th

show. Is that right? 947? That's right. I'm going to confirm. That's unbelievable. I've got a lot of work to do. We're going to get to 999 by Christmas at this rate. Holy smokes. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Okay, how do you want to do this?

You are, tell us how Al Grego can be followed on Twitter. You can follow me at PFTW. That's my personal Twitter. At Moneris, obviously, for Moneris. And yes, we are openpodcast.com to go and subscribe and listen to the podcast. And you know, if you're talking about

small businesses and family-run businesses, you know, if you're talking about small businesses and family-run businesses, you can't do any better than Great Lakes Brewery. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Also family-run, fiercely independent business. That's fantastic. Palma Pasta at Palma Pasta and Ridley Funeral Home at Ridley FH.

And, of course, Mike Majeski of Remax Specialists Majeski Group. He's at Majeski Group Homes on Instagram a little bit bigger now but still I can talk to the founder and owner which I think is a big deal to me uh StickerU you could follow them at StickerU and ChefDrop is at GetChefDrop again I mentioned it in intro, but you can save $50 right now with the promo code FOTM50. Last but not least, since we're doing a whole bunch of following here, follow McKay's CEO forums.

They also have a great podcast called the CEO Edge Podcast. I should get Nancy McKay to talk to Al Grego from Moneris. It would be a match made in heaven. They're at McKay's CEO forums Al Grego from Moneris. It would be a match made in heaven. They're at McKayCEOforums. See you all next week.

Maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true, yes I do This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number

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