Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Alan Frew from Glass Tiger: Toronto Mike'd #1253
Episode Date: May 10, 2023In this 1253rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Alan Frew about Glass Tiger, Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), Someday, My Town, the Weezer sound-alike, his love of sports, his stroke and r...ecovery and so much more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.
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Welcome to episode 1253 of Toronto Mic'd.
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Today, making his highly anticipated
Toronto Mike debut is Glass Tigers' Alan Frew. Welcome to Toronto Mike's Alan.
Hey, pleasure to be here.
How old you got to be, Alan, to move to this country and not sound like you're straight
from Edinburgh?
Well, I actually don't sound like I'm straight from Edinburgh to me
because when I go to Scotland and I hear my pals,
I sound like a bit of a...
Like you're straight from Newmarket.
Sort of.
A little more polite maybe than them.
But I was 16, so, you know, all I did was play soccer, football,
and hang out with Scottish and Irish guys in the pub and blah, blah, blah,
and you don't change.
Yeah, 16.
Yeah, right, because, you know, you hear about the 4-year-old,
the 5-year-old, they come over and that.
Of course.
Yeah, but 16, it's cemented, right?
You'll have that to that.
And you know what?
It works for you.
I'm kind of digging it.
I get this, you know, groundskeeper Willie vibe, but I'm digging it.
I don't even think about it anymore.
Well, it comes natural to you.
So here's what we're going to do, Alan.
I have a lot of ground I want to cover, and I know you don't have six hours for this episode.
So I got some audio loaded up.
We're going to hit some high points.
Man, I've been waiting a long time
to chat you up on a few of these items.
But I'm going to start with the lovely notes I got
when I announced Alan Frew was making his Toronto Mike debut.
So prepare to have your tires pumped.
You ready, Alan?
Okay.
Hamilton Mike wrote in,
ask Alan if he remembers the Glass Tiger gig at Gage Park.
Absolutely.
Okay, this is so,
I'll finish the note,
then I want to hear your recollections.
It was the end of June 86, he says.
It was a free music festival.
He's pretty sure that they were booked at the end of 85,
beginning of 86,
because they were an up-and-coming band.
And since this festival focuses on up-and-coming
and mid-level established and or heritage music,
not monster, hot-at-the-moment acts,
but between the booking and the actual show,
their debut single, Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone,
which we're going to talk about in deeper very shortly,
it blew up and it was absolute Beatles-level mania at this show.
Beatles-level. Since they were at that moment so massive. And being a free show, the crowd was enormous. It blew up and it was absolute Beatles level mania at this show. Beatles level.
Since they were at that moment so massive.
And being a free show, the crowd was enormous
and the police were needed for crowd control.
My wife remembers attending as a nine-year-old with her aunt
and it was crazy.
What do you say to Hamilton Mike?
He wants to talk about the Gage Park.
He's absolutely correct.
We tried everything to get out of that gig.
The guy had booked it when we were up-and-comers,
and we set off on tour.
And by the time we hit Edmonton, it was bedlam.
And so we were trying to get out of this gig and warn him,
like, you should not do this, and he wouldn't hear of it.
And he put a little chicken wire fence up around a band shell and when we did the sound check there was like 20,000
people there and when we hit the stage it was like 70,000 wow and kids were getting crushed
and fainting and a couple get run over their feet get run over with vans and it was just and i
pulled the plug on it and it was a bit of a riot and it was just
bedlam.
That's,
I guess that is interesting phenomenon when you book a band,
when they're up and coming and then between that moment and the time they
hit the stage,
their single blows up and they're,
you know,
it's Beatles level mania.
According to Hamilton Mike.
It was,
it was,
it was insane.
Wow.
Okay.
So this is good.
We're going to do these notes off the top and then we'll have a little more chronological order.
So this is all kind of a nice teaser.
But Johnny D writes in, he writes,
The pride of Newmarket when I was growing up in the 80s.
I got his autograph at a Newmarket Saints game one night.
Sorry, I don't remember that.
But how long were those Newmarket Saints there?
I remember growing up with the new
market saints yeah i again i don't know it wasn't long what two or three years or something like
that i'll call up uh fotm gordon stelic and find out but he'd know he'd know he would know god would
know uh mark writes in cool i met him when the band was called Tokyo, and they played a dance at Madonna Catholic High School.
Okay, so maybe I'll take this as an opportunity
just to get the real origin story.
So tell me, like, give me the origin story of Glass Tiger.
You were called Tokyo?
Yeah, it was the amalgamation of two local bands, one that I was in.
And so Wayne Parker and the bass, Al Conley and guitar, and myself, we came from one band.
Michael Hansen and Sam Reed came from another.
We joined forces.
We started a band and we called it Tokyo.
And we started to get really popular in the bar scene,
especially in our area and eventually got signed.
And,
uh,
as a,
just as a,
a new launch,
we decided,
Hey,
we've got this international record deal.
It's a newly son life.
Let's,
uh,
change our name.
And that's what we did.
So Mike Rogotsky,
uh,
I just got told yesterday,
Mike can't make TMLX 12 tomorrow,
but if you're listening to this on May 10th,
which is when we're recording,
tomorrow is TMLX 12 at 6 p.m. at Marie Curtis Park,
and you can write me, mike at torontomike.com for directions.
So that is tomorrow, but Mike Rogotsky won't be there.
But Mike writes in, where did the name Glass Tiger come from?
but mike ragotsky won't be there but mike writes in where did the name glass tiger come from um just really it was very uncomplicated uh you're probably sick of that question right like it's
like is this guy really asking me the question i've answered a million times well you know what
we used to the band would maybe be out in the van or back at the hotel, wait for that question, and whoever was asked it would begin with,
well, it was just an arbitrary choice of words,
and that would create a howl on the other end
because that was our code of saying not again.
But anyway, Al Connolly, the guitar player,
was reading a book by the writer George Plimpton,
and the book was called Paperpton. Oh, yeah.
And the book was called Paper Lion.
It was about his experience with the Detroit Lions.
Right.
Came to rehearsal, said,
what have we called ourselves?
Paper, I think he said Paper Tiger.
And I said, eh, not bad.
And I went home that night
and just thought about it and came back the next day and said, how does Glass Tiger. And I went home that night and just thought about it
and came back the next day and said,
how does Glass Tiger sound?
And everybody loved it, and that was it.
And the rest is history.
Yeah.
Okay.
We're going to get right to the aforementioned single
that starts it all,
and I've got a bunch of questions related to that.
So, Alan, I'm just going to play a bit of it,
and then I'll fade it down,
and then we'll get to hear your much better voice than mine.
But here we go You take my breath away
Oh, love, things hit you still
Oh, there's still so much for me to do
And I can't stop loving you
Oh, can this be true?
That's the fake out there.
I always think, here we go and get to the chorus.
And then it's like, no, it's a fake out.
So hold on.
I'm not going to fade this down until I get one chorus in there. And you were not there He finds me everywhere
Oh, but you don't care
Don't forget me when I'm gone
My heart will break
I have loved you for so long
It's all I can take
I haven't heard the recorded version in quite some time.
It still stands the test of time as far as I'm concerned.
I was going to say, you're listening going,
that's pretty damn good.
Yeah, it's not bad at all.
And that's the verse okay so i've
got questions here holy smoke so where do i begin first of all i'm a canadian born and raised in
toronto ontario canada so i know how often that was played a much music i know how often i heard
that on 680 all hits uh cftr but that was an american hit too right yeah it was a big hit
it came so close to uh being a number one hit in America.
It reached number two.
There's reasons why it didn't make number one.
Even Bruce Springsteen, as a singer,
Bruce has never hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Yeah, it happens.
So you're in good company.
You're in good company.
Oh, hold on.
Is there Brian here?
Hold on.
So how does Brian Adams get involved in this song?
We hear him on this jam.
Well, the song is co-written with Jim Valance.
Jim Valance and Brian Adams are longtime songwriting partners.
Jim was the producer of the Thin Red Line album.
And so Brian used to call the studio every now and again just to check in.
A couple of times I spoke to him on the phone. I hadn't met him. And he said, I'll swing by the studio. I'm coming
in for the Junos. And so we came to the studio. We met for the first time. We had a few beers.
And Valens, whether it was contrived or just on the spot of the moment, Valens said, why
don't you two crazies go on the microphone? And we did. And we sang two things.
We sang Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone,
and we sang I Will Be There.
And then we just went to the pub,
and Jim took the voices, and that's what came out of it.
So are we, correct me, you'll know,
this album comes out, The Thin Red Line comes out in 1986,
but is this recording in 85? Yeah, it would be Red Line comes out in 1986. But is this recording in
85? Yeah, it would be 85
we recorded it, yeah. Okay, work with me here
Alan. Okay, so Jim Valance, of course
was a co-writer of Tears
Are Not Enough.
How close were you to
being invited to the
big recording of Tears Are Not Enough?
We just, we missed that window.
We just missed the window. Yeah, if it was like six months later I think you know. We just, we missed that window. We just, just, just missed the window.
Yeah.
If it was like six months later,
I think he would have got like,
you'd be right there with,
with Neil and Joni and Brian and Corey and all the gang there.
That's yeah.
Just missed it.
Cause the Jim balance production,
I think that's a fun fact too.
He's been,
well,
not in addition to Brian Adams,
he's been a co-writer on some pretty cool jam. Oh yeah. you still friendly with jim oh of course yeah we um it's not like we text each
other all the time but we have a a bond that'll last a lifetime and uh i still consider him a
friend in the u.s is don't forget me when i'm Gone the biggest Glass Tiger hit?
Well, it depends on how you want to look at it.
Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone rocketed up the pop charts,
but Someday also went up the pop charts,
but it went up the adult contemporary as well,
so it was a big hit on two separate big charts.
So it's the way you... There's actually an award at home
where Someday was one of the ten most played songs of 1987
in America period.
When I come home
The telephone
Say you're waiting for me
I ask you why
I hear you cry, but you're still waiting for me.
I can give you a pretty amazing tidbit of trivia.
You had me at hello, Alan.
So on the very first day we ever worked with Jim Valance,
he picked us up at the airport in Vancouver.
Very first day.
Never worked with him.
Don't know anything really about him as a producer. He picks us up at the airport.
On the way in, he asks me,
who are you listening to these days?
I mentioned bands like Jesus Jones and I mentioned Tears for Fears.
So he stopped at Sam the Record Man.
He picked up a couple of albums, bring it to his place.
We're having a cup of tea.
He's playing them.
And the song Everybody Wants to Rule the World comes on and Valens
goes oh a shuffle beat
so he runs to studio
creates this little shuffle beat
Al Conley tinkles on a guitar
and I immediately go
don't forget me when
I'm gone as a verse
so we start
don't forget me when I'm gone
Al Conley and Sam Reid were smokers at the time
We take a break, they go for a smoke
Valens is on a keyboard
He does this little chugga chugga chugga chugga
And I immediately go
When I come home, you telephone
When I come home
And so on the very first day with Valens
We write Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone
And Someday
Wow
And both of them win single of the year with Valens. We write Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone and Someday. Wow.
And both of them win
single of the year,
the Juniper single
of the year,
back to back
from the same album.
It had never been done.
Wow.
In both top ten hits
in the US charts.
Yeah.
Wow.
You know,
any time a story like that
strikes you, Alan,
you just spit that
into the microphone.
I'm collecting them all here,
okay?
I've waited a long time.
I've waited 1,253
episodes for Alan Froude to make it.
But thanks for doing this. If I haven't said that already,
thank you for making the track because
we could have phoned this, we could have Zoomed it, but I was
like this asshole who said,
Alan, we got to go big or go home on
this one. I'd love to get you in the
studio and here you are, man. So thank you. You're welcome.
Thank you. Okay. So now I have questions that came in about the cassette.
So a few of these, I'll read them.
They're all kind of related here.
But T.O. Resident writes in,
How did the red cassette tape happen?
I remember seeing this in 1986 and being blown away.
But before you answer T.O. Resident, Moose Grumpy says,
I had the Red album the first thing I think of with
Glass Tiger is the Red album
I thought it was so cool I wish I still
had it so wow
what's this Red
I don't remember is it
Red cassette tape? Yes it is
but I think
the person with the Red album
might be getting mixed up.
Capitol Records decided they wanted to do a limited edition run,
make them great collector's items.
And so they did a clear vinyl, like it was glass.
Okay.
And they did a clear single, like it was glass.
Like translucent?
Yes.
You know, you could not quite see through it,
but it looked like a piece of glass.
Amazing.
And they did a limited run of about 10,000 of those.
And of course, the album sold like 7 million copies.
So they're very rare.
And then they put out a red cassette,
just as, you know, sort of signify the thin red line.
Right, of course, makes complete sense here. So right off the bat, you know, sort of signifies the thin red line. Right, of course, makes complete sense here.
So right off the bat, you know, the thin red line produces these two monster hits.
I mean, not only do you get the Junos, right, but you, I think you've won like five Canadian Junos,
five Junos in your lifetime.
But where are those Juno Awards right now?
I have to ask everyone if a Juno Award.
They're in a box.
No, I moved.
I never had them up for years
and then I gave them to my parents and my
dad displayed them
and then when he passed I got them back.
About two
years ago I put them up in the place
I was in and I've since moved again
so they're sitting in a box.
Living in a box. Okay.
That's another great 80s song okay so the
grammys okay we're uh you were nominated for best new artist in 1987 yeah who won that do you
remember uh bruce hornsby ah he has no range come on but i'm bump where's my uh yeah my room there
shot there all right so jim valance you you got brian adams
that's a fun fact because i think it's one of those things where like a lot of people know it
of course that's brian adams but then i had an exchange the other day of a guy who directed
this new much music documentary in fact i'm gonna ask you about the role of much music in a second
here but uh i dropped that fun fact on him and he he didn't seem to know it like he was really like
his mind was blown.
Oh my God, Brian Adams is on Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone?
I'm like, yeah, that's a distinctive sound.
Yeah, really.
And next I'll blow his mind and tell him
Sting is on the Dire Straits song Money for Nothing.
I'll blow his mind there too.
So what role does much music play?
You guys were everywhere in the 80s
yeah there's no doubt about it it was major much music for us was the equivalent of mtv for duran
duran it you know we dare i say we kind of owned much music a little bit for a two or three year
period they were very um um you know you know they to have them promote us the way they
did they were so they were invaluable that we couldn't have done it without it was the video age
everybody was going crazy um i guess we were considered a bit of a boy band and had a look
about us and so everybody was all over it and they played us like crazy and,
and absolutely helped launch the career without a doubt.
Any battles with the guys from Platinum Blonde?
I mean,
I've known Mark for years.
Cause he's on Tears Are Not Enough.
So they got in.
Yeah.
I remember being in the States and I was getting ready to promote Thin Red Line
and I was waiting to go into a big radio station
and there was a record rep across from me
sitting with albums in his hand.
And he was from Warner Brothers, I think,
and he had like Bruce Springsteen
and a whole bunch of stuff.
And I went, oh, what's that?
And it was a Platinum Blonde album.
And I said, hey the canadian boys oh you know you're promoting them well and so i always felt there was enough
room for everybody but you know glass tire came screaming through um and uh you know we kind of
i mean when when we won their juniors we were were up against Brian Adams, Rush, Corey Hart, Platinum Blonde.
We were up against some heavyweights, and we came storming through.
But here's a mind blow for you, Alan.
And I won't record this part.
It's so top secret.
But the song Crying Over You by Platinum Blonde and the song Situation Critical by Platinum Blonde,
they're actually the same song.
Okay.
So just listen.
Listen to them one on top of the other.
It's actually the same song.
Okay.
I don't want that out there.
Okay.
I will not tell Mark.
Don't tell Mark I said that.
All right.
I want to,
what's the expectation level like?
I mean,
when you hit it out of the park of the first,
of a bunch of singles
on that first Monster album,
I mean, what are the expectations for the second album?
Well, you know, looking back on it, it happens so fast and the demands are so great.
The biggest regret for me was that you don't take enough time to sit back
and maybe give yourself
a little pat on the shoulder and say
you did well son
because it's just madness
you know
everybody
realizes that by the time Glass Tiger does
second album and third album
I mean the pressure was on
and it starts to dwindle and everybody wants
to do other things
but yeah it was a lot of pressure I mean, the pressure was on and it starts to dwindle and everybody wants to do other things.
But yeah, it was a lot of pressure.
I think we delivered a fine album.
The rest is, you know, music business is small M, capital B.
That's it.
And powers at B sort of shape the landscape more than you do.
That's a convoluted way
of saying
who the fuck knows.
We're going to get back to that. Here's a little
from the second
album, Diamond Sun. To this land We gave our friendship
Gave them our hands
But it was never to be
Oh, you must bow down
We set forth to your knees
Oh, diamond sun has to burn
Oh, are we never to learn
Oh
Love gives life
And life is love.
But what have you done?
I was going to play I'm Still Searching, but I love this song so much.
But please, I want to know the difference between expectations in the USA,
which of course has, you know, 10 times the number of
people and we all know how important America is to an artist, but was Diamond Sun a disappointment
in terms of American success? Yes, but you know, not for any other reason than going back to the analogy of small m capital B.
If Capitol Records in Canada made any mistakes,
the major one was that they sort of wrapped us up
and kept us 100% to themselves
and didn't really allow other entities to,
for want of a better term, put money into us.
They wanted to do it all themselves.
And the Americans had no skin in the game.
And when that starts to happen, they start to lose interest
because they want to put some money in because they want to make a lot more money out.
lose interest because they want to put some money in because they want to make a lot more money out
and the president
of Capitol Records
at the time was quite indignant
about not letting them do that
and so you're just a band
traveling, doing your thing, writing
your songs and you're getting caught in the middle of this
war of words
and finances and so the
Americans started to slowly turn
off.
Yeah, small M, big B.
Yeah.
B also the first letter in bullshit.
Exactly.
See, I'm getting angry here, Alan,
and what a catalog of excellent art
and great music here regardless.
Okay, so Diamond Sun, triple platinum in Canada.
I don't know what that means, but it sounds impressive.
I'd get t-shirts that said triple platinum in Canada.
I'd get that done.
All right.
Now I'm going to quickly just give you a couple of gifts here before I want to
play a song from Simple Mission here.
But I would love to give you some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery,
Alan.
Okie doke.
I'll take that with me.
I'll take that with me.
You can take that home with you.
You're going to love it.
They're brewed right here in southern Ontario and only available in Ontario.
Great Lakes beer.
Do you like Italian food, Alan?
I love Italian food.
It's my favorite.
It's my favorite too.
It is my favorite.
Better than haggis?
Better than haggis.
On the record here.
Okay.
I'm asking the tough questions here today.
In my freezer upstairs, Alan Frew, I have a frozen lasagna for you, courtesy of Palma Pasta.
Lovely.
Take that home.
You'll love it.
Let me know what you think.
It's delicious.
Thank you, Palma Pasta.
They have four locations in Mississauga and Oakville, and you can go to palmapasta.com.
I have a measuring tape, courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home.
Alan, you never know when you've got to just stop down and measure something.
Okay, I'll just measure myself for a box.
For the casket from Ridley Funeral Home.
I'm recording a new episode of Brad Jones' excellent Life's Undertaking podcast today, this afternoon, actually.
Love the good people at Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921.
People at Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of this community since 1921.
And last, before I get to another great artist that is on your Simple Mission album,
I want to give you a wireless speaker. This is courtesy of Moneris, Alan.
And with that great speaker, you're going to listen to season four of
Yes, We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Moneris, but hosted by FOTML.
Grego, and he's been traveling the country
talking to small business owners,
gathering their inspiring stories
so they can inspire people like you and I, Alan.
This is a great podcast.
So enjoy season four of Yes We Are Open.
Are you still friendly with Rod Stewart?
Can you text Rod Stewart now and he'll reply?
I've lost touch with Rod just through time.
I know if I came walking in a room or he came walking in a room,
we'd say, how are you doing, big fella?
Oh, great, Alan, doing well.
Don't stay in touch with him.
But like I say, if fate brought us together,
we'd have a couple of pints and a chit-chat.
Well, this is where if I were a bigger operation, I'd surprise you.
I'd say, Rod is here!
And you'd come around the corner and he'd give you a big hug.
You guys both love your, should I call it soccer?
Is that offensive?
Yeah, but now you're going to go, you're going to tread,
you're going to step on a big landmine right about now.
Wouldn't be the first time.
Which landmine is that?
I see many here.
Well, I'm a Glasgow Rangers fanatic,
and Rod is a Glasgow Celtic fanatic.
Okay.
And these are arch rivals.
This is like the Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens.
On acid.
Who's having the better run lately?
Celtic.
Celtic are without a doubt
the top team right now.
They've been kicking our asses
and,
you know,
what goes around comes around
and we'll have our day again.
Are you still friendly
with Stephen Caldwell?
Oh,
Big Stevie.
Yeah,
of course.
He's been down here.
Stevie came in my,
actually Stevie
came to my home with his kids to watch Ranger Celtic.
You might be the only two, now that I think about it, 1,200 episodes,
you might be the only two guests to have a Scottish brogue on you,
you and Stevie there.
But he's an FOTM as well.
By the way, I know you're saying, you're like, what the heck is an FOTM?
You've heard it like five times now.
Friend of Toronto Mike Allen, you're now an FOTM.
Okay.
Welcome to the family.
All right, let me kick out this jam.
I got questions.
Bring the wind to carry me over.
Lead me home to my town.
Tell me when that breeze is blowing
Taking me home to my town When I think of you, Scorsese
There's a love that just bleeds in my heart
In my childhood days
We went our different ways
But you knew that we'd never part.
Now I'm all alone, and you're calling me home.
You knew I loved you, never died.
And though my ruined eyes always led me astray,
when I'm coming back home, It's cause you don't walk away
Bring the wind to carry me around
Lead me home to my town
Tell me when that breeze is blowing
Taking me home to my town Did you write this, Alan?
Yes.
You talented son of a bitch.
Holy smokes, My Town.
There it is.
So how did it come to be that Rod Stewart would be featured on your My Town?
Rod and I were hanging about.
We kicked the ball around on a Sunday.
We went for dinners, drinks and stuff like that.
And I was in the studio recording My Town, and they brought a guy in.
I just wanted another voice that would match with mine for backgrounds, really.
And they brought a couple of American guys in, and that wasn't really working.
Can you name who they brought in?
No, I can't.
Because I can't remember. Okay, okay, I'll allow that. I was going to have to rough you they brought in? No, I can't. Because I can't remember.
Okay, okay.
I'll allow that.
I was going to have to rough you up a bit.
No, these weren't guests.
These were hired.
Oh, I got you.
Session guys.
Right, session guys.
Gotcha.
So anyway, Rod and I were out to dinner that night when it's amazing how it came about.
The guy who was singing with me that day in the studio
happened to come into the restaurant.
And I said, oh, there's a, whatever his name was,
and Rod says, oh, I know him too.
So he came over to the table, and he was chatting,
and then he turned around and said to Rod,
have you heard the song that Alan's written about Scotland?
And Rod said, no, no.
And he said, oh, it's really fantastic, I sang on it today.
Well, it's nice to see you. And when he left, Rod thumped me and said, no, no. And he said, oh, it's really fantastic. I sang on it today. Well, it's nice to see you.
And when he left, Rod thumped me and said,
why the hell did you not ask me to sing on it?
And I said, well, I didn't want to play that card.
I didn't want to do that.
And he said, I want to sing on it.
And that was it.
Amazing.
And just to bring things full circle here,
so Ryan Adams is heard on your first big hit,
Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone,
which is also a parentheses jam.
Rod Stewart's featured on this My Town,
and of course there's that big monster hit
with Brian Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting,
All For Love.
Right.
So I don't know,
just throwing out how all the dots are connected here.
People need to know.
So, okay. So My Town't know. Just throwing out how all the dots are connected here. People need to know. So, okay.
So My Town is a great song,
but now I'm going to ask you the real tough questions.
And that involves an American band named Weezer.
You ever met Weezer?
Yeah.
A lot of people have been mentioned on this issue.
But have they recorded you in real time responding here?
This will be the big moment here.
So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to play a bit of it because I want the listeners to hear this too.
And then I just want to hear what you think.
Okay.
Not trying to cause trouble.
No, I know.
I get it.
A little bit, a little bit of love
Goes a pretty long way
Take a look at where you started from
And where you are today
You climbed mountains, swam oceans
You got knocked down and kept going
In the end you know you got to stay
A little bit of love goes a pretty long way
All your wounds are healing time
I'm so glad I met you in my life
Now the winter is gone
Now is the chance to live the life we want I hope so. Carry me over, lead me home, to my town.
Yeah, I hear it.
I hope so.
Otherwise, I'm going to ask you to go get your hearing checked, Alan Frew.
Okay.
I'm not saying, oh, you've got to lawyer up and do anything here at all.
I'm just wondering, how do you feel when you hear a big band like Weezer?
You know, they took full writing credit on this.
It doesn't say Alan Frew there.
Yeah, I know.
We've been looking at it.
Sam from Glass Tiger
has been looking at it.
It's been mentioned.
You know,
who knows?
We'll take a look at it.
You're not the first
to bring it up,
that's for sure,
but we'll see.
I'm not the first and I won't be the last.
And this song's only about,
I think only about a year old.
Like this is a pretty recent Weezer jam.
But if it was a song from like the Blue album or something,
I'd be calling my lawyer
and I'd be doing something about it
because you deserve some of that cash, Alan.
Okay, thank you, Weezer.
We'll call it an homage,
an homage to my town.
And I can't get off my town yet.
I once had Gino Vanellian here
and he literally said to me,
it was great, great convo,
and he had his guitar
and he was playing stuff.
And then I kept asking him questions
about black cars.
And at some point he stops down
and he goes,
can we get off black cars already?
Like this was a moment with Gino.
So if you want me to get off my town,
I'll be just as well.
No, not at all.
Okay.
So my town,
I'm a big TFC fan.
I try to get out there as often as I can.
It's a rough go right now,
but we'll talk about that.
We just shouted out a former captain,
Stephen Caldwell,
who's an FOTM,
but let me.
Like this. Wow, I have not heard that in a lifetime.
Where did you find that?
I have sources.
So this is the TFC version of My Town.
Wow.
And was it just you're a big footie fan and they came to you?
Yeah, I think I just did it for them for fun.
Let's hear this thing.
Yeah. My heart, in my childhood days, we went our different ways. You knew that we'd never part. When I'm all alone, you keep calling me home. Never die And though my roaming eyes
Always led me astray
Toronto's my home
Let me hear you say
Bring the wind to carry me over
Lead me home to my town
Tell me when that
breeze is blowing
Toronto's my home
it's my town
wow
I have not heard that
probably since
the day I did it
that's wild, and Newmarket's okay with this?
oh yeah, I've been in Toronto for
years and many, many years.
Toronto Alan now.
Yeah, this is,
so people want to hear the My Town
Toronto Football Club version.
Hit me up, I'll send it to you.
Where did you get it?
Oh, it wasn't that hard.
When you know the right people, Alan.
Listen, after 1,200 episodes,
make the right phone call
and there it is in my inbox here. But I'll share it with you. It's kind of fun. Listen, after 1,200 episodes, make the right phone call, and there it is in my inbox here.
But I'll share it with you.
It's kind of fun.
You like to make, like, sports songs, I notice,
because it's kind of a rough time to talk, because tonight.
Oh, don't get me started.
Tonight's game four, Panthers in Leaves.
I'm timestamping this.
Someone's going to be listening to this in, like, 2036 or something,
and they'll be like, oh oh they still haven't advanced to the
conference final. The other night was
like watching the Titanic sink
in slow motion.
Yeah, game three was rough
because at some point I said to my son,
I said, is Auston Matthews playing tonight?
Why didn't Marner play tonight?
Like, is he a healthy scratch?
Tough go, but the guys are, yeah, you got the
third line guys, fourth line guys seem to kind of keep pulling through.
But okay, so why am I talking about that?
This is a bad rip.
I'll just give us a taste of this.
But.
Ah.
The little thing I did with the Leafs in there.
Is this a goal song at some point or no?
Was it a what?
You know the goal song, like a song they play when the Leafs score?
No.
No, I think they just had fun with it
when everybody was coming in
to get to their seats and whatnot.
And then of course, what happens?
You write a cool little song and
they keep losing and everybody starts blaming
the song.
Well, we've got to blame something now. It's been a while.
Yeah, you weren't here.
You were in Scotland when the Leafs...
I'm doing the math in my head real quick here.
Yeah, I didn't get here until 72.
I missed it too, Alan, but I had a different excuse.
It didn't exist yet.
What's it like for a 16-year-old to change countries?
It's always tough to change schools when you're 16. What's it like to change countries-year-old to change countries? Like, it's always tough to change schools when you're 16.
What's it like to change countries?
It was very, very difficult.
You know, you've got this funny accent,
and you go to school,
and it's really strange because the girls like it.
The boys hate it.
The boys hate it because the girls like it.
Right.
The girls like it even more, so the boys hate it even more.
So there was a lot of scrapping going on.
I was a scrapper, so there was a lot of that shit went down.
And it's tough.
You are an alien.
You're a stranger in a strange land, and kids are tough.
They picked on it. Yeah yeah i'm sorry to hear
that but it seems like you were able to channel it into your your art your music oh for sure
so there you that worked out now yeah so so so remind me though you show up at 16 in new market
new canadian how much time elapses before Tokyo exists?
Oh, quite a few years.
I mean, what people probably, many people wouldn't know about me is, you know, I was 29, almost 30 by the time Glass Tiger clicked.
I dabbled in music at 23, but I had made up my mind.
I was an orderly in a hospital and then I got a job, uh, a pathologist assistant.
I did autopsies for four years.
Wow.
That's a quite the shout out to Ridley funeral home.
Yeah,
really.
And,
uh,
and then I became a registered nurse.
I went back and got my RN and,
uh,
my dream was,
Hey,
I'm going to go on and be a doctor,
but music kept surfacing all the way through this.
And then I became an RN, and I was killing myself
because I was gigging in bars and running a...
I was kind of charging us at times on a surgical floor,
and the staff began to talk a little bit behind my back
that they were worried about me uh and the
supervisor called me in and she said you know you're sleepwalking here so why don't you take a
leave absence and we'll save your job and you go do this silly music thing and i said okay
and then i wrote don't don't forget me when i'm gone with gym balance and that was that
wow okay did it all uh come in handy, having that registered nurse background?
Yeah.
I'm probably the only guy that gave Steve Perry and Journey B12 shots in their ass in
glass.
Are you sure that was B12?
Yeah.
I used to carry a little surgical bag with me, and I was the drug keeper.
And we were on this B12 kick
where everybody was like,
let's get a B12 shot to keep yourself up.
And Steve Perry and Neil Sean
and those guys just think,
Alan, okay, here we go, click.
There's worse things to be injecting into your body.
I don't think you can.
I actually think like once you have enough B12,
I think it just becomes like expensive urine. That's what I heard it referred to. You can't think you can. I actually think like once you have enough B12, I think it just becomes like expensive urine.
That's what I heard it referred to.
You can't OD on it.
Now, there's one topic that I was kind of most excited to talk to you about,
and that's coming up next.
But now to fast forward a little bit, I saw you in my neighborhood.
You were playing Colonel Samuel Smith Park.
We used to call this Lakeshore Mardi Gras.
We're going back now.
I want to say we're going back about six, seven years
or something like that.
You played.
I came out and watched you.
It was amazing.
But very shortly thereafter,
news broke that you had suffered a stroke.
Correct.
So I'm wondering, firstly, being a registered nurse,
did that help you identify the symptoms?
What happened?
Well, the funny thing is uh
like most doctors most medical staff we we make the worst uh patients because uh i woke up in the
morning my leg wasn't functioning very well uh my arm wasn't functioning well and uh i got dressed and went golfing with my son you did uh instead of getting
to the hospital and then uh on the first green i was putting and my body wanted to collapse and
then it came back again and my son was with me and i said let's go home and i drew i got in the
car again behind the wheel wow uh. Luckily, the car needed gas.
And what I mean by that is when we stopped at the gas station and the guy filled up my car and it came time to pay him, I couldn't count the money.
I didn't know how to count the money.
And my son said, OK, move over.
And we drove to the hospital and I had a full blown stroke in the hospital.
Wow.
off to the hospital and I had a full blown stroke in the hospital.
Wow.
Now, did you need to, sometimes there's some strokes where my buddy Peter Gross had a stroke and he was like in the hospital for like two nights and then he was fine.
Like it was just a little vision blurry.
But then you hear about strokes where you almost have to learn to walk again.
Yeah, I was completely paralyzed on my right side.
My arm and my leg were paralyzed.
What was that recovery process like uh because i'll just
say you look great now oh thank you man it's uh it was very tough uh you know you had to learn to
walk again and and use your hand and it took me uh nine months and i went back on stage in about
10 months probably well i'm glad that you uh any any lingering effects or yeah i
mean you're never the same you're always the guy that had the stroke you can never be the guy that
hasn't had ones uh i've got a little residual effect in my right eye and in my right hand
i uh so to share with you just about i I don't know, two months ago I was diagnosed with a blood clot on my brain two months ago.
And they,
they had me spend the night cause they said I was at very high risk for a
stroke.
Like,
so I never had the stroke,
but I was at high risk for it.
And they put you on the blood thinners and then I didn't have a stroke
thankfully.
Right.
That's what they do.
They,
they,
they have a,
they have a thing.
Um,
it escapes me.
I'm on blood thinners,
but there's a thing that can inject you
within about four hours of a stroke.
It's really like Drano for the blood.
But they didn't know how long my stroke had been,
maybe had it in the middle of the night.
And it's too dangerous to give to you
if it's been hours and hours.
So nine months of recovery.
And then what was it like
when you were first back on the
stage?
It was a tough one. I kept having these
mental kind of whooshing
feelings like I was going to drop
to the floor.
My neurologist
was in the audience and
trying to encourage me by
kicking my ass.
But ironically the voice was spot on.
If anything, maybe even the stroke had attached a little bit more passion to it
or something like that.
Okay, your neurologist isn't Dr. Pham, is it?
No.
I'm just checking because I have a neurologist too
for my blood clot on the brain here.
Okay.
But enough about me.
This is the Alan Frew debut.
I want to ask you,
so I'm glad you recovered there
and that's a terrible fear you had there.
It's a good thing you had
the registered nurse background there
even though you played golf
while you were suffering from a stroke there.
But what was it like
when you visited the Canadian forces in Afghanistan?
Oh, that's always been one of the highlights and the joys of my life.
It started innocently when the war was going on in what used to be Yugoslavia.
And I went over to Bosnia thinking it was just going to be a one-off.
I went over to Bosnia and entertained them and came home thinking that was it.
And then it kind of gets into your system and I was offered another one and I went.
And then, lo and behold, for 20 years I kept back, and I've been in Afghanistan four times.
I've been in Oman and Kuwait and Egypt and Israel and the North Pole.
Good for you, man.
Germany.
I've been over many, many times.
They're just some of the most selfless people on the planet. They just, you know, they're driven by this.
I know a lot of people think of the war machine but, you know
our guys were over there
trying their best to
help people, they really
were
they were in the clutches of the Taliban
and I met many Afghanis
who just wanted
the simple things that we have
like, they wanted to go dancing
they wanted to eat the food they wanted,
they wanted to sing and meet girls and play rock and roll and blah, blah.
And all these things were death sentences.
And so we were over there trying to alleviate some of that
that they were going through.
And, of course, it cost many Canadians their lives doing it.
Man, I want to say, good for you, Alan.
That's a lot of rock stars wouldn't sacrifice like that, I would think.
Did some cool things.
I went up into the mountains, into the forward operation bases,
where it was really dangerous.
And just sat cross-legged with acoustic guitar
and Sam Reid on a little dinky keyboard
and maybe singing for 10 soldiers in a little area of the camp.
When you'd go over there with the NHL alumni,
can you name check any of the alumni that would participate?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, boy.
You put me on the spot.
Lanny, for sure.
Oh, Lanny McDonald.
And Tiger.
Tiger Williams. I think at the McDonald. And Tiger. Tiger Williams.
I think at the time,
Tiger's the only one,
if I'm not mistaken,
he's the only one that's done more trips than I have.
Boy, some of the secondary guys.
Those are some big former Leafs right there.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I see Wendell over there.
Yeah, yeah.
You know what?
He was supposed to bring,
I brought him down here and put him up here to bring luck to the Leafs in there, absolutely. Yeah, I see Wendell over there. Yeah, yeah. You know what? He was supposed to bring, I brought him down here and put him up here
to bring luck to the Leafs in the second round.
And I don't think Wendell's doing his job.
You might have to lace him up tonight.
I met the woman who's now my wife.
I met her on the day I was with Wendell.
He brought you luck.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Wendell was no glass tiger, that's for sure.
That guy would run through a wall. That's for sure. Wendell was no glass tiger, that's for sure. That guy would run through a wall.
That's for sure.
Man, you know what?
I'm not going to dwell on it
because it's possible we're swept in the second round
and then who knows what happens to this team.
It's a very talented, skilled team,
but there's some grit missing there.
There's some playoff grits missing there.
But I don't, like, there is, is that, like,
where is the Wendell clerk or the
doug gilmore of this team right now is it supposed to be ryan o'reilly he's kind of past his prime
like we just i feel like we're missing that heart yeah um i mean i i'm going to make an admission
to you like i was a diehard diehard leaf fan over the last five to 10 years. I've been so busy.
I've let a lot of things dwindle.
Right.
And you have a mismatch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Unfortunately.
So I really picked up on it at the beginning of this season here and,
and,
uh,
beginning of these playoffs rather.
And I agree with you.
You,
you,
you just seem to be missing sandpaper.
I don't know how it's explained it.
You know, uh. I used to call
it a sports podcast, but that ended last Friday.
It's missing some kind of a
gritty sandpaper. Even a Darcy
Tucker. It's not size
we're looking for if you've got
the heart and the guts. Give me a Gary Roberts.
You know what I mean?
There's a lot of skill.
It's a highly skilled team, but it's just missing
that intangible there. We shall tonight any prediction for tonight oh my goodness me because they can go
either way they could fold up like a cheap suit i know i talked to the golf i was talking to one
of my pals uh the original drummer from glass tiger michael hansen who's a diehard and you you
talk about it and you talk about you know the the the train wreck and
the sinking ship blah blah blah and then before you know it you're saying well if we could if we
could just win this one and then yeah you know and then before you know it you've got yourself
winning four straight my wife so tonight she said can i take the kids to my sister's because we were
watching all the games together the whole family i got four kids we were all watching all games and she's like we don't have to watch tonight
I'm like like the next two games you can have off because it's only exciting again when that when
we're down 3-2 and we're playing to extend it to a seventh game so that so that we can go to Boston
and and be up 4-2 with like 4-1 4-1 and still lose it. Thanks for the memories there, Alan.
Oh my goodness.
Okay, so let me get back on track here.
Let me take, this is a quick moment to tell you
that if you have an old, I don't know,
you have an old phone or an old television
or maybe you got an old synthesizer at home, Alan,
and you don't throw that in the garbage
because the chemicals end up in the landfill,
you need to go to recyclemyelectronics.ca.
Everybody listening, go to recyclemyelectronics.ca. Everybody listening, go to recyclemyelectronics.ca.
Find out a safe place to drop that off in your neighborhood.
Mother Earth will thank you.
And last but not least, Alan, not that you need any help with this,
but if anyone is struggling to get their message out to the world
and is looking for a way to increase their brand's visibility
and reach their target audience,
the Moment Lab specializes in public relations
and has a team of experienced professionals
who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience,
generate positive media coverage.
I would love to introduce anyone listening to my friends,
Matt and Jared, at the Moment Lab,
and they can tell you how you can achieve your public relations goals.
So thank you, The Moment Lab.
All right, Alan, I mentioned I was holding on
to one question here.
So I'm really hoping you're warmed up now.
You're going to bury me in detail.
I don't want you to think,
oh, he's not interested in the minutiae here.
I'm actually interested in all of it.
Please, and I'll give credit to Eric who wrote in.
He wanted to know if I could ask you
about the Skydome opening night gala what do you remember Alan about the Skydome opening night gala
well I remember that we were asked to do it and I was excited at the thought of doing it
but the clash came when I said I wanted to sing live and they didn't want me to do that
because the production was Olympic size
and they were convinced that everything should be lip syncing.
But I knew that I wanted to sing live for several reasons
and another one was it would make me the first
because they had a little,
they had, I think, the national anthem and they had a little Alan Thicke thing that was all.
Was that with Andrea Martin?
Yes.
Yes, Alan Thicke and Andrea Martin.
Right.
And so it became a war.
Wow.
And I said, okay, well, I won't do it
I'm not going to do it
and we pulled
we were going to pull the plug
and then they came back
and said
okay
we relent
if you'll be kind enough
to sing it
so that we have it
if anything goes wrong
we can push a button
and I said okay
and the rest again
is history we came out and if you ever look back at it you hear me say things like the skydome in
toronto i put it into the song so people know i'm live uh well you said there's several reasons and
i can only i can imagine a couple of them but maybe share like that is a top reason that you're a you're a damn rock star and rock stars don't lip sync yeah I I don't like it I
never have uh I did a big Latino show one time that had a viewing audience of 700 million people
around the world and and I refused to uh to to lip sync um it just feels strange and bizarre and stupid.
But I have done it because there's certain places
that just had no other way of getting across.
Yeah, maybe they're not equipped to even handle you live or whatever.
That's it.
It's sort of like, so I used to wear my hair much shorter
and then I grew it for the pandemic.
And then Ron Hawkins from Lowest at the Low,
he said to me,
hey man, if you can grow it, you should show it.
Like he just said that sentence to me.
And I'm like, yeah, Ron's right.
Like if I can grow it, I can show it.
And I feel like with you,
you've got that fantastic voice.
Oh, thank you.
Like if you can do it live,
you should do it live
because let the people
who aren't going to sound great live
because they need some,
whatever,
some help in the studio.
I did the same all through the years
with the national anthems
for the Stanley Cup
and for the Blue Jays and whatnot.
I always wanted to go live.
So you realize that
even in this brief one-hour conversation
we've covered,
you know,
you did a TFC song,
you did a Leafs song, you did a leaf song you sang at the sky
dome opening there's a lot of sports connection there's a big sports uh connection to my life uh
i'm a sports fan um i'm when we finish today i'm going straight home to watch
ac milan play inter milan in the semi-f the Champions League. That's a big one for me.
No, listen, it sounds like a big one.
And look, I don't want to keep you much longer
because I want you to get to that game.
And I'll let you go in a moment here.
But did I miss anything that you were really excited to talk about?
Obviously, before I play some lowest of the low and wrap things up here,
I want to hear the current status. I of the low and wrap things up here, I want to hear like the current status.
I got an interesting note from Jim Romanco who worked for a large Canadian
insurance company.
And he remembers,
uh,
you Alan were hired to perform at like a management conference,
uh,
in Collingwood at this resort in Collingwood.
And he remembers it wasn't glass tiger.
It was like Alan Frew,
but you know,
you're doing lots of songs you wrote for glass tiger,
of course. But he wants to know like, uh, like, this is his wording. I don't, I think he's joking because
you put an LOL in there, but he wrote, when did he first turn to the corporate gig dark side of
the music business? And are you still doing that? And he puts an LOL on there because of course,
it's not the dark side. You got to, you got to eat too, right buddy?
No, what he's wrong is that those kind of gigs came
from my public speaking. I wrote a book called The Action Sandwich in 2007 and I was hired
to talk about life and passion and abundance and those kind of things. And it just so happened
that many of the entities that wanted me to do it were corporations. But funny enough,
a few of them ended up wanting rock and roll stories. And I had a lot of fun with them
telling them stories about that. So I stay very busy. I'm writing a novel as we speak.
I wrote that book in 2007. I have a band, 80 a band 80 to 90 rewind where i do not do any glass
tiger anymore it's all just simple mind stairs for fears midnight oil oh cool uh those kind of things
but do people are people ever pissed like throw us like uh don't forget me when i'm gone
well in future if they want to hear don't forget me when i'm gone they can come see glass tire
Well, in future, if they want to hear Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone,
they can come see Glass Tiger.
So tell me, I'm sure it's a festival band.
I'm sure you've got summer gigs planned.
But where can we go to learn where we can see Glass Tiger?
What is the current status of Glass Tiger?
Well, we're alive and well and kicking and touring.
We've got quite a few summer dates coming up.
They can find out all about that at GlassTiger's website,
GlassTiger.ca.
And if anybody wants to come and say hello to me on Instagram,
they can find out what I'm up to.
And just be careful.
I get tons of scammers and people faking that they're me.
I actually, the funniest thing ever, there was a scammer about a month ago
where I come on his direct message
and started chatting with him
and he didn't even take the time to see my profile.
And so he's chatting with me as if he's me.
And it was so funny.
And then finally when I caught him out,
he's a kid from India.
Right, yeah.'s uh right right okay well make sure you're following the the real yeah really so what is the give me
the name is it it would be alan underscore through okay except no substitutes and this is instagram
right alan underscore through okay before lois the little rosie and gray plays us out you just
mentioned you do these speaking engagements
and people wanted to hear like rock and roll stories.
Can you leave me with one rock and roll story?
I can only imagine having toured the world and...
Oh, I have a few, but I've got...
Well, I don't want you to miss that kickoff there, I feel,
but if you could hit me with your favorite.
I'll condense it for you
i was really good friends at tanya tucker and um glass tigers last gig on the tina turner tour was
in switzerland and we all got kind of drunk that night and i woke up with a hellish hangover um
i went to down to breakfast which
was really a lunch and my road manager
helped revive me
and he
was reading a newspaper and
that evening there was a
country and western festival
at the same stadium that we had
just played for five
nights with Tina and he
was a big fan of
Boxcar Willie, who
I didn't even know.
And Jerry Lee Lewis was headlining.
There was Crystal
Gale, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tanya Tucker,
the whole bit.
And so I
said to Joe, well I know Tanya Tucker.
Really? So
we go down to the stadium and i get a hold of tanya
and she gives us all these passes and we say seal and i had two uh picture discs uh uh of jerry lee
lewis and i said to tanya would you do me a favor would you get them to sign them and she said uh
and by the way i've never told this story uh radio ever. So you're getting that. Love it. No, I love it.
It's exclusive.
So I give her the two albums and she says, okay, great.
But if he's in a good mood, I'll bring you in and he can sign it for you.
And I said, okay.
So we go back to the hotel and then Joe and I, the road manager,
decide we're going to have an early dinner.
And I had a little bit of ESP going on. And I said, you know, Joe, I hear that Jerry Lee Lewis gets all messed up.
And he's supposed to headline.
And he doesn't.
And let's go now.
And he said, well, it's only 6.30 or whatever.
And I said, no, let's go.
So we get a taxi.
And we go down to the stadium.
And as we're paying the taxi, I can hear, hold on, baby.
Oh, a lot of shaking going on.
And I said, he's on, he's on.
So we go running in, and we've got all kinds of passes,
and we're actually side stage.
And I'm looking right across the stage,
and I can see Tanya with Bucks Car Willy,
and she's waving, hi, baby, how you doing?
And Jerry Lee Lewis is banging this piano,
and behind the curtain, there's a lady actually playing the piano.
So he does one song.
He's in Zurich.
And he goes, thank you very much, Cleveland.
See you later.
So he comes wandering off.
And I said to Joe, we've got to follow this.
So they go one way, we go the other.
And I get into this hallway in the stadium.
And I'm standing outside the actual dressing room
that was Glass Tigers' dressing room for the five nights before.
Anyway, in the catering, in the green room,
there was a giant cake, and it was a guitar.
And it said, Mama Concerts welcomes Jerry Lee Lewis,
Boxcar Willie, Crystal Gale.
So they bring Jerry Lee down this hallway
and all of a sudden he breaks away
and he body slides right
through the cake
and falls off the other end of the table
and ruins the cake.
So they bring him
out and they pick him up and he's all covered in cake
and he comes walking towards us
and they go in the dressing room and Tanya peeks out the door and she says give me five
minutes to get them cleaned up and we'll bring you in and i said okay so in front of the dressing
room door is the largest human being bigger than shack the largest human being i've ever seen him with a big cowboy bodyguard and so the door
opens and she uh she signals come on in and i step forward and this giant says where are you
where are you going boy and i said uh and she's tanya says duke he's with me so joe and i go in
and boxcar willie's sitting in the chair he looks like Santa Claus, he's got a big bare belly
and a big grey beard
there's a young female in there
she'll remain unnamed, I don't know
who she was but she was with Jerry Lee Lewis
there's Tanya and the man himself
so she takes me up to him
and she says
Jerry Lee
this is a rock star friend of mine
from Canada, his name's Alan I said hey Jerry Lee, is a rock star friend of mine from Canada
his name's Alan, I said hey Jerry Lee
nice to meet you and I said
I wonder if you'd be kind enough to sign this for my
brother and so I hand him
I hand him
the picture disc
and he signs it and he hands it back to me
and now I give him mine
and he says what's your name again? I said Alan
to Alan
but he hands me the picture disc And he says, what's your name again? I said, Alan. To Alan.
But he hands me the picture disc.
And then he starts eating the cover.
Like he's just eating it.
And Tanya's trying to get it out of his mouth.
And she pulls it off him.
And I'm going to stop it there because it gets really out of hand.
It goes from there.
Yeah.
And it'll probably end up in my book.
You're a good storyteller, so I look forward to that book.
And if you ever want to come back and regale me with, like,
your 10 greatest stories, oh, my God, I would love that.
Oh, wow.
Thank you, Alan, for this. You're very welcome.
Fantastic.
welcome fantastic and that brings us to the end of our 1253rd show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto might go to instagram it's alan underscore fru except no substitutes
our friends at great lakes brewery right great lakes. I got beer for Alan. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. I've got
a lasagna for Alan. Mineris is at Mineris. He's got his wireless speaker. Recycle My Electronics
are at EPRA underscore Canada. The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home
are at Ridley FH. Alan's got his measuringpe. See you all next week.
Read Andrew Miller and wander around
And drink some Guinness from a tin
Cause my UI check has just come in
Ah, where you been?
Because everything is kind of rosy and green Thank you. I won't go away Cause everything is Rosy and green
Well you've been under my skin
For more than eight years
It's been eight years of laughter
And eight years of tears
And I don't know what the future
Can hold or do
For me and you
But I'm a much better man for having known you
Oh, you know that's true because
Everything is coming up rosy and green
Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow won't stay today
And your smile is fine and it's just like mine
And it won't go away
Cause everything is rosy and gray
Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day
But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who We'll be right back. Yeah, I know it's true How about you?
I'm picking up trash and then putting down roads
And they're broken in stocks, the class struggle explodes
And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can
Maybe I'm not
and maybe I am
But who gives a damn
Because everything
is coming up
rosy and gray
Yeah, the wind is cold
but the smell of snow
warms me today
And your smile is fine
and it's just like mine
and it won't go away
Cause everything is rosy and green
Well I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain
And I've kissed you in places I better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour
But I like it much better going down on you
Yeah, you know that's true
Because everything is coming up
Rosy and green
Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today We'll be right back. Rosie and everything is Rosie and Grace.