Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Marcia Young Kicks Out the Jams: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1553
Episode Date: September 20, 2024In this 1553rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, CBC Radio's Marcia Young returns to play and discuss her ten favourite songs of all-time. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, P...alma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at mike@torontomike.com
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This is World Report.
Good morning, I'm Marcia Young.
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Today.
Returning to Toronto Mike to kick out the jams is Marcia Young. How are
you doing Marcia?
Very good. Thank you very much.
And I nailed Marcia, right? Because I was erroneously
thinking it was Marcia, but it's Marcia.
It's Marcia, like Marcia Griffiths or, well, that's it.
That's the only other Marcia that really matters.
I got a note from Tim who must have missed your Toronto Mic debut because we did cover this.
In your Toronto Mic debut, everybody go find Marcia Young and listen to her like A to Z of her wonderful career in media,
how she got to CBC, all of that good stuff.
But Tim needs
to go listen because he was asking about your unique, this is his words, unique
pronunciation of Marcia and I've done some homework and I think, I think the
unique pronunciation is actually this one right here. So I'm gonna ask you, but I think because that show was so popular in North America
particularly that people assumed that's how you say your name. But I think it's actually
in the world, if we look at the the world that Marcia is the wrong pronunciation
What say you Marcia young?
I know some Russian women who pronounce her name Marcia, but they also spell it differently so that you don't make the mistake
Or they even say Marcia, which I think is really adorable
But Marcia is a name that I find that anyone who speaks, say, French or Italian or Portuguese,
they rarely ever, or Spanish, get it wrong.
And they always want to say Marcia.
And Marcia is a very common name in Jamaica. It is so common that I was once at an event, a Jamaican event.
And I said, oh, can you just put this aside for me?
My name is Marcia.
And she looked at me and said, do you have another name?
Which is not an unreasonable thing to ask a person of Jamaican heritage,
because, of course, I have another name.
And so I had to use my other name.
And do you think the Brady Bunch ruined people, particularly in this neck of the
woods where you would get Marsha most of your life, I think by default?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
A little bit more reggae listening and they would never have made that mistake.
So we're going to catch up as we go.
I'm eager to get to the first jam.
You're a little bit late. We blame the romantic traffic. But if I were, this is my question for you. I know this is not a fair
question, but if I were going to be on, I'm going to just pick on here and now let's say
I'm going to be here now, Mike, we can have a Toronto Mike interview on here and now.
Yeah. And it's going to be at, I'll make it a 4pm. And if I showed up at 4 16, is that
cool with the CBC? I just want to make sure. Totally missed your slot.
But we have a contingency plan.
So here's what we do.
If we want you on the air at, say, 11 a.m.
on a Friday morning, we're going to ask you to show up at like 10 45.
So I should have told you that we were going to record at 10 45
and you would have been here at 11.
This is my should have told me that we're going to record at 11 45 and you would have been here at 11. This is my fault.
You should have told me that we're going to record at 11, but can you be here at 10 45?
Okay, you know what?
I'm learning.
I'm always learning from you good people at the CDC, but let's get to this first jam.
So let me ask you the most important question.
And again, along the way, as we kick it out, I want to hear why you like the song, all
that.
I love hearing why people love the songs they love, and then we'll catch up along the way.
But Marcia Young, are
you ready to kick out the jams?
Yeah I think so let's do it. Old pirates, yes they rob I Sold I to the bottom this bit but my hand was made strong by the end of the Almighty
we forward in this generation triumphantly won't you help to sing these songs of freedom, cause all I ever have redemption songs
emancipate yourselves from enter slave-lit
none but who is out skin free our minds
have no fear for a time in energy
none of them can stop the time
I don't know what I said if you are one of its Why Redemption song by Bob Marley? As if I have to ask the question, tell me.
Well, you know, a Jamaican national hero and a reggae superstar who sent that art form around the world.
And this song was written back in 1980 and showed up on a Wailers album, like their 12th album, and it just speaks to me.
And I feel like in every decade that I've listened to it, since I first heard it, which was mid-80s sometime,
it has new meaning. And again, like that one line, emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.
Wow. That just, in every life circumstance, it's like a thing that one has to emblazon on their heart and never ever forget.
No matter who you are.
No matter who you are.
I had legend. I feel like it's you can't be a teenager in this world without owning legend, am I right?
Exactly. You can't be or you can't have any long drive and not have listened to legend.
It's like that's your introductory I think to to Bob Marley's you get legend and then you realize like oh like I I need more. There's more. You start, of course, lots more, but you start with legend because all the hits, if you will,
like all the big ones are there and you can just dive in.
For sure.
And I feel it's a really good way to get into the rest of what Jamaican artists have to
offer, and reggae artists internationally, what they have to offer and reggae artists center nationally what they have to offer. I mean, people were
listening to Bob Marley and then moved on to say like UB 40 for example, which is, you know, they're
all right. What do you think of Magic and Rude? Is that too far? Right? These guys, that's too,
I know that's a Toronto band we're supposed to, you know, yes, that's too far. That's a bridge too
far, right? I don't know. I mean, come on, we're not on CBC now. What's the real, what's the hot take? What's the,
I have no hot take, honestly. No hot take, no hot take.
Rude is a catchy song. That we'll leave it at that. Now I've been told on the live stream that I'm still like when I say Marcia,
I'm using just three syllables, but you were clear to me. Two syllables. Yeah. So Marcia? Marcia. Marcia?
I'm trying to come up with a good phonetic
So Marcia Marcia Marcia I'm trying to come up with a good phonetic uh,
pronouncer for it. You know, CBC, we love our
pronouncers and um, I had to uh, come up with a
pronouncer for a will last a great word.
Well, I still graze a indigenous language spoken in
New Brunswick. And so the key to pronounce is to try to
create words that look like that are real, and not try to recreate the sounds.
I mean, that's my view on it. I think I could have a fight with somebody over how to write a pronunciation.
I'd have that fight. Let's go.
So it's Marcia. So M-A-R. I would even capitalize M-A-R and S-Y- S.A. which unfortunately doesn't look like anything. So S.Y.A.H.
S.A.A. Marcia Marcia Marcia Marcia Marcia I'm going to work on it. OK. I have difficulty with words like brewery.
Can you say brewery? Of course you can. You can say brewery. No, I don't. People who make beer. It's never made the news. Okay, people who make beer. What's the other one?
Brewery, there's another one.
It'll come to me later.
The rural juror.
Yeah.
Can you say that one?
Nope, I never say that.
People in rural jurisdictions.
And then buses that have accidents, collisions.
Bus collision.
I never say.
This is why you're the pro.
So again, we're going to catch up.
So we're going to kick out another jam.
And then I want to just make sure the listenership, maybe there's some people, I don't know how
there can be anybody listening who doesn't listen to CBC radio, but find out a little
more remind people that there is a deep dive with you.
I'm getting advice on the live stream in real time.
I got to accent the first half.
So Mars, Mars is okay. Mars is good. Yeah. Mars.
Yeah. Mars. Oh yeah. So it's just Mars. And there's a tip here. It's like parse. So you add the yeah.
So it's Mars. Yeah. It's very challenging. And you know what? Um, I dated a guy, he got my name
right. And we got married. Okay. You know what? Okay. If I get, if I nail this, I'll have a shot
at being, uh, being in the good books. Okay. so let's kick out another jam and then we'll do some more
catching up. I'm going to dedicate this jam to FOTM Hall of Famer Stu Stone and
listeners of this program will know why, but here we go. All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes.
Rosanna, Rosanna.
Never thought that a girl like you could ever care for me
Rosanna
All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold your tongue
Rosanna, Rosanna
I didn't know you were looking for more than I could ever be
Not for a year since she went away
Rosanna, yeah
Now she's gone and I have to stay
Doesn't this Toto sound great in the headphones? It sounds so good!
Oh my goodness.
Okay, Why Rosanna by Toto.
I am a huge Toto fan.
So when I was a little kid, I used to listen to CFTR
and be in the car at all hours of the morning
and in the evening, never really midday.
And this was on high rotation
and we'd drive all the way up Bathurst Street.
Oh my God, there's a CFTR, what is this?
That was my, yeah, it was a gift from Evelyn Macco.
Oh.
Wacko Macco, who was at 680 CFTR when it was All Hits, of course.
If you're too young or you're new to this city, you might think, hey, you mean the old
news station?
No way, Jose.
We're talking about All Hits Radio, 680 CFTR and it's a commercial-free Sundays.
Oh, I love this. And this song was probably one of the first songs that I remember really absorbing as
music and being able to think about all the highs and the lows and the drums and the guitar.
I just heard it so much and grew to really love it and it just had such meaning.
To me, I hear it and I think Bathurst Street. Bathurst at Shepherd. That's the wonderful thing about music right? It brings like a
time machine. It's sort of like you can do that with smells too but music like you do
it you remember where you were when you were listening to that song. And I remember a girl
that I went to elementary school with whose name was Rosanna and the last thing in the world she wanted was a song with her name in it because she was like the OG introvert.
Oh, that's funny. I think I know this again. I shouted out Stu Stone because he's the biggest
Toto fan I know. And he'd appreciate you kicking this out right now. But he told me, and I
believe it to be true, he told me on an episode of Pandemic Friday or something that the name
was named after Rosanna Arquette.
I feel like that's a piece of music history in my head.
Hey, on the live stream, can you fact check me in real time?
Okay.
I believe it's Rosanna Arquette because then he told me a story about how he was in a movie
once where he made out with Rosanna Arquette.
Like Stu Stone did.
Well, did he have a chance to ask her?
Is this song really about you?
But I mean, you know what?
I hope he did. But yeah, he was younger.
We'll find out. They'll fact check me. But that's a bit of a mind blow.
No kidding. But this song for me, there was a bunch of music that we're going to play
that started this idea that jazz was a thing that I needed to hear and understand and experiment with.
And I feel like Toto started me down this road because look at this giant instrumentation.
It's just like, there's a lot.
Well it's well crafted, like as if you were crafting a yacht.
And it does feel like the song feels luxurious to me
in a way that a lot of music now doesn't.
And it feels so real.
I'm checking your list
if there's any Michael McDonald coming up.
No.
No.
The one that's in my head a lot
is the one he does with Christopher Cross,
Ride Like the Wind.
Mm-hmm.
It's like, I hear it sometimes,
I'm going on bike rides and stuff and I hear it.
And it's like, I don't even like know
where I'm being exposed to it these days, but it's like, it it sometimes on bike rides and stuff and I hear it and it's like I don't even like know where I'm being exposed to it these days but it's like it just gets in there.
You know so shout out to Yacht Rock, shout out to Pandemic Fridays.
Yacht Rock.
This is come on, Total is like a Yacht Rock band right?
So wait a minute, not having been on a yacht, tell me about Yacht Rock. What do you mean?
Do you think I've been on a yacht? Okay, Marcia?
Yeah, that's it. My God. We're
getting married. Oh my God. I'm sweating over the invites. You know, for the rest of the show,
you're just Mars. Mars. Okay. But Yod Rock, of course, the term we give this like late 70s,
early 80s sound this this Michael McDonald McDonald well crafted musicianship that Kenny Loggins
was kind of all over, Loggins and Messina and all that.
And that one Michael McDonald, Doobie Brothers song with the Doobie's bounce in it.
But this is, I believe Toto would be right there on the Mount Rushmore of Yacht Rockers.
Well, I love it.
I mean, every single thing that they ever have created is really attractive to me and I love it. I mean every single thing that they ever have created is is really attractive to me and I enjoy it
What do you think of the Weezer cover has that made its way to your playlist at all?
Weezer covering well, they covered Africa first and it was kind of successful and I think I did Rosanna after that
But and you think Rosanna is better than Africa. Am I hearing that? Oh, I don't I can't say that. It's 1a 1b
I yeah, I think so. I think so one a one B life is full of depending on the day decisions. That is a tough one
in fact, I
Want to hear Africa in every possible iteration that it can be made into I
Can tell you when I had a this is funny because all my thoughts that are worthy of anything happened on bike rides
But I'm going back now like I don't know eight years or something. I'm on a bike ride and
I already had people like Marcia Young would come over. See, if I say fast, I think that's the
trick. Yeah, fast. You come over and I'm going to let the listenership know the specifics really
quickly because I took a note here and I don't want to waste my note. When I take a note,
I got to say it. So August 7th, 2022. Do you remember that day? Is that true? Yep. Okay.
So that was to Brampton after that. I remember that day. You'll never, you cursed me out on your
way to Brampton. Okay. It was episode 1093. So people, this is episode 1553, go back to 1093.
And the description I wrote at the time, because all this good info was in that episode. Mike Chatz with CBC Radio's World Report host,
Marcia Young, about her career in media,
news stories she's covered, waking up at 2.30 a.m.
Are you still waking up at 2.30 a.m.?
Sometimes I sleep until 2.45.
You live wild, I love it.
Okay, and the need for CBC to,
oh, better serve black listeners.
We had a very interesting discussion on that,
and this was over 90 minutes we spent together. Do you remember the shirt I wore on that day,
August 7th, 2022?
It was a very hot polyester shirt, as in like unbreathable.
And that was August too, although it's hot today. So I'm not wearing it because I've
worn it for you already, the 1976 polyester CBC shirt. and instead I'm wearing a gift I got from my daughter a
couple of Christmases ago I think but my vintage CBC radio shirt and I was like
she said she bought it for me because the only radio she ever hears me
listening to is CBC radio so she bought me a CBC radio shirt awesome so shoutout
to Michelle let's get to another jam.
Oh yeah, I'm hearing, there's a bit of a doobie bounce
in there.
Okay, I'm getting to learn more about you.
See, I like slow music.
There's no system of a down on this list.
Let me check.
Oh yeah.
That's Michael McDonald. I didn't even cheat ahead.
I just said, where is it?
Okay, so there's Michael McDonald.
Okay, let's shut up and listen. I'll always be the one You don't have to prove to me you're beautiful
You're a stranger
And I love it like
Michael!
You belong to me
In this life
Anyone could tell
Any fool could see
Who you need
I know you want to wait
You don't have to prove to be a beautiful to strangers.
I got loving eyes.
And I can tell.
Tell him you belong to me.
Tell him you were foolish. It's like a hot knife through butter here. We got smooth jams.
Tell me why the Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald, the aforementioned king of Yod Rock.
No shame in that game.
I'm actually going to ask you, give you homework before I hear from you on this song. Okay. I don't know if you'll do this. Do you ever listen? Do
you ever go for a walk and listen to a podcast or anything? Absolutely. Okay. This is serious
homework now. Okay. And I'm going to follow up to make sure you do it. Okay. There's an
episode of Pandemic Friday. During the pandemic, I had Stu Stone and Cam Gordon, I think we
were in the backyard and we kicked out yacht rock songs that we love. And you need to listen to that episode and tell me what you think. Okay, I think it's for you
Yeah, i'll even send you a text or something to remind you but now tell us oh and before you tell us again
I'm interrupting like a rude host
They don't do that on cbc radio
But I got a confirmation. So jeremy hopkin chimed in first to say
There's a quote here. The song was written by
David There's a quote here. The song was written by David Page. I don't know how to pronounce
that name, who has said that the song is based on numerous girls he had known as a joke.
This is Rosanna. I'm sorry. This is Rosanna by Toto. As a joke, the band members initially
played along with the common assumption that the song was based on Rosanna Arquette, who
was dating Toto keyboard player, Steve Porcaro at the time.
And then I see Rob chimes in from Burlington to say,
here's the quote I found,
Rosanna is about three girls I knew all rolled into one.
After I met Rosanna Arquette,
I just stole her name and stuck it on there.
So absolutely it is named after Rosanna Arquette.
That is really cool.
Okay. Now talk to me about, speaking of cool,
talk to me about Michael McDonald and the
Doobie Brothers.
Michael McDonald writes lyrics that I wish that people would actually say.
That I think he is the ultimate romantic person in, I mean, as an artist, who knows what he's
really like as an individual.
But these songs are songs that I think had probably been playing while I was in utero.
And so I have been born just loving and being used to this music.
And every time I want to feel sort of like really back to myself or just
really calm or really just enjoy something a moment of life like just
sunset a long drive I'm looking for the Doobie Brothers I'm looking for Michael
McDonald I'm just you're looking for that bounce yeah it's just like it's a bit like lovers rock but for North Americans.
I guess it's yacht rock. Trust me is yacht rock. Not all your jams are yacht
rock but these last two are definitely yacht rock and there's no shame in that
game because there's a reason people love yacht rock you know. Shout out to
Christopher Cross. Okay I want to give you something real quick. Okay. Take I'm
afraid you'll go home with the CFTR thing and I'll be crying. Yeah, okay fine. It's alright. It's special. I won't take
your Evelyn Mac will gave it to me. That's very special to me. Thank you.
Look it even has a special place in a you know, Andre the giant mug. Yeah,
that's really special. Is there any offer and Andre the giant remember that? Of
course I do. Doonies are good enough for me. Well, it was it was a Captain Lou
Albano in the girls girls just want to, it was Captain Lou Albano in the girls,
girls just wanna have fun.
Captain Lou Albano played the father of Cyndi Lauper.
And he was of course a manager in WWF.
George the animal steel.
He's right here.
And absolutely the Goonies video for example,
at classy Freddy, what's it, Vlassi?
And a whole bunch of wrestlers in that.
Absolutely, I loved the-
With all your paraphernalia
Do you know what they call?
people like you
collectors
Kidults art collectors. Well kid olds. Okay, this is all it's not that
No, it's kid. Oh, it's totally kid. Oh, okay. That's okay. Also. I just wanted to like talk about that phenomena
I didn't know that was a thing. Well, talk to me
Yeah
well like talk about that phenomena. I didn't know that was a thing. Well, talk to me. Yeah. Well, that people are wanting to buy all these things
that remind them of when they were kids. And so they are a
prime segment of the market to sell retro stuff to or new stuff
that is for adults who want to be kidlike.
Faux retro.
Faux retro.
Which is actually the shirt because this is modeled to look like an old.
But it's a great t-shirt.
It is, but it's definitely faux retro.
But if I may, because I have thoughts on this too, I have zero interest, zero interest in
buying something I had.
Let's say I missed the Millennium Falcon I built as a five-year-old or something.
I have no interest in buying it now.
I would want the Millennium Falcon I actually had when I was five years old.
It has to be the same one.
Like this is so so for example this mug of Andre the giant on it.
Giant glass Stein.
Right.
I bought I got that in 1984.
I think it was might have been 85 but basically 84 or 85 like nine year old Mike got that
exact Stein and for some reason it survived this long and now I have it here but it is
the actual like I wouldn't want to go buy a one that like another one.
If you saw a glass mug on a shelf with some WWE people on it, I bet you'd buy it.
Only if it was WWF people.
OK, Marcia, but absolutely not.
But I would absolutely love like seeing it and then it would bring back good
memories. But, you know, a lot of this jam kicking we're doing now is a lot like that kiddo thing you're
talking about because no, we're not buying this thing from our youth, but you're reliving
your youth right now.
Kind of.
But you know what?
These songs are from my youth.
Some of them are from my youth, but they follow me.
They are timeless and I want to introduce them to my kids because I feel like this is part of
Music knowledge and music history that you have to have I've always admired people who
Knew about songs and the meaning of them and you know how they came together and what?
Kind of like the theory of the songs and why it works and I love people who have that kind of knowledge
And I wish that I could pass all of that on. I can't, I can only pass on like,
here's a bunch of stuff that is good listening
that you need to know and understand.
Here's stuff your mom likes, or like, maybe still likes.
How many kids you have?
I have two, but I'm so glad I was introduced
to stuff that my mom liked.
Like for a long time, Diana Ross and the Supremes
were a soundtrack to my world.
And there were songs that I found new meaning in
that I don't know, my mom probably did stop listening
to them a while ago.
Well, 60s Girls Group, amazing stuff there.
Absolutely, I won't assign you this as a task,
but there is a Pandemic Friday on girl groups,
our favorite girl group song.
So you don't have to listen to that one
Okay, but if you did you could I actually was gonna give you a gift
But now I'm actually gonna kick out another jam. I love you. I love hearing you talk about music
So I'm gonna get to another jam then I'll give you a gift. So here we go
And I'll trim that in post no I won't. It is coming. Here it goes. I miss belonging to someone I miss the kiss of another
I miss the morning I miss the waking up
I need someone to hold my hand bigger than mine
Oh God, where are you?
Show me love
If it wasn't real
Then why does it hurt so bad? Cause the thing that we had
Seemed like everything
Never thought we would be
Drawn apart by a change in the wind or a cloud in the sky
We were our ways
And you showed me all of the deepest kind
And I will never find another love
Like you showed me love
And now I see you
If it wasn't real, then why does it hurt so bad? Cause the thing that we had, it was everything Never thought we would be Don't I fall by a change in the wind or a cloud in the sky?
We were always
You showed me love of the deepest kind
I will never find another love like you, show me love, now I see
In time this heart may eat
Take a while, find another way to be whole again
And together we
will move mountains far
take a reach for a prayer that begins
with a story of old
never ended here
you showed me love
of the deepest kind
I will never find another love like you
Show me love of the deepest kind
And I just know where to fade. Okay, because it's like this is just a great experience listening to this
So hold on it's gonna get bigger in a second
And I will never find
We're gonna climb of the deepest kind
No, no, no, no
Nobody There's nobody like you
Now I see you
Now I see you
Show me love
And I thank you
And I need you and I thank you
And I need you, and I miss you
You show me love, you show me love Oh my God.
I'm gonna weep.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
Tell me what I'm listening to.. Don't cry, don't cry.
Okay, tell me what I'm listening to. Tell me right now.
Okay, this is Show Me Love by Laura M. Vola and she is a British singer who is classically trained with a gospel background.
She used to be a gospel singer and she's just an amazing artist whose album is a concept from beginning to end in an old
school kind of way.
The way that we used to listen to music before.
Like Sgt Pepper?
Yeah.
Pet sounds?
Except totally different.
Well you know maybe the same sort of like involved instrumentation and everything is
real and has texture and takes you someplace
emotionally and I have enjoyed her and I look for her so often when I go to my playlist.
I just love what she does. And when you can drive in the gardener again.
I would recommend getting a bicycle. Cut that gardener out of the way.
You notice everybody who's hating the city right now drives the city and everybody who's
like, what are you talking about?
The city is amazing.
They're all people who are either just public transit or cyclists or walkers or pedestrians.
There is no driving.
The driving is driving Torontonians mad.
That is entirely true and it's the way that people are driving and I think people are full of anxiety
When they're driving what time should I arrive for my metro morning discussion with David comment on that very thought 15 minutes before
And I have to say I do bike too, and I like biking
I am worried though for drivers and how their anxiety gives them an inability to pay enough attention to people who are biking.
When I'm driving, I'm really doing the shoulder checks all the time because I know that I don't want to have the problem of having been in some kind of an accident, collision with someone.
Yeah, because it changes everybody's life. I mean, then that- I'm with you, but I will, I will shout out the Bloor bike lane. So here I am. I feel
blessed. Like I have to remember the whole city doesn't live like a stone's throw from
the lake. Like I have to check myself here because down here we have the waterfront trail
and it can East West. It's completely, there's no cars and it's wonderful. It's just feels
completely safe and you can, you know, I'll meet you at the dome or I'll meet you at GLB Brewpub at Queens Quay in Jarvis, or I'll meet you at Sugar Beach or I'll go the other way and I'll meet you in Port Credit, whatever. Easy peasy. But not the whole city doesn't live down here. But I'll just shout out because I've been taking it quite a bit lately. That bluer bike lane is feels as a cyclist feels very safe and very separated from the automobiles.
And it's very slick.
I can get to I had to go to one Yorkville last week and I took the blue bike lane and
it was damn slick.
And then to remember that the college bike lane actually exists because it's now elevated
and raised and I was going along College Street just a couple of days ago and oh yeah, I have
now a safe path to take.
Did you hear the, I know you're the news reporters, of course, you know, but Doug Ford made a comment yesterday about no more, he doesn't want any more bike lanes
that take a lane away from automobiles.
That's right.
And CBC was able to find some information about the plans that they have.
And I, I don't know, in a city, one of the comments was that the
province is trying to impose on the city in terms of bike lanes and bike lanes are a city
thing.
Like if you want to be mayor, run for mayor.
Right, exactly.
Which we know you did, but you can do it again.
Exactly. And I feel like that is something that people of Toronto have to really think very hard about and make
decisions about. And despite the fact that the premier does live nearby, in fact, probably
just in a total corner. Probably. He's probably just a little north of here. But I think it's
really important to have everyone in the city feeling safe when they leave their homes and go out and bike lanes are safer for drivers and bike lanes are safer
certainly for bikers.
And I really feel for people who live out in places in Scarborough like along, you know,
Shepherd out in Scarborough or who are way up on Bathurst Street and it's not as safe anymore to ride your bike along the side
of the road because it's busy and it's fast on these long stretches. Can I tell you my radical
take on this and I've had this for many, many years and I've been sharing it whenever I hear
something about how we're not going to put a bike lane in there or we're going to rip out a bike
lane or no, you're not allowed to put a bike lane there because it takes a lane away from motorists. Here's my take. Are you
ready for this? And again, David common, if you're listening, uh, I can be there, I'll
be there early because I'll bike there and I won't have to worry about traffic. Okay.
So I'll be there early, but take the damn lane. Listen, I'm the father of four and all
four cycle the roads. No, no one's on the sidewalk amongst my kids. And I tell them
this all the time. If you're on a street
with no bike lane and you don't feel safe because you're carving out that meter in the side and
there's trucks going by and you don't feel safe, take the lane, like take the lane, just say,
I'm taking the lane. Yeah, I'm going 15 kilometers an hour, but I'm now in the middle of the right
lane and I'm taking this entire lane because I don't feel safe with that little sliver you give
me where I'm going over, uh, I'm going over over sewer vents and all this, the grades and everything. No, take the lane.
Like it's your right to take the lane and take it and then watch how fast they'll want
to put a bike lane in there if we all take the damn lane.
Well, yeah, well, that's take the lane. I heard just today when I heard Doug Ford again,
I'll get off this soapbox in a moment, but I was like, oh yeah, we're not going to put a bike lane here because of the new, you know, the new provincial law from
our premier Doug Ford. I'm like, okay, I, if I'm on that street and I don't feel safe,
I'm taking the lane and let the motorists go around me or they can go fifth. Sorry,
I'm faster than that. They can go 22, 23, 24 kilometers an hour like me. And that's
how we'll roll. Well, you know, legislation is important and good laws are easy to follow.
And if we need a good law that will keep everybody safe,
that will be easy to follow.
You didn't know how you thought it was all about music today, didn't you?
No kidding.
Okay. Well back to music. Off the top, I had a cold open and here's how,
and this was two days ago I took this, uh, cause I,
I actually subscribe to
multiple CBC radio news shows as podcasts and then on demand
I'll listen to the most recent one
But this is how it ended and that is the latest national and international news from World Report News anytime
CBC news.ca. I'm Marcia Young
I feel like you did three syllables there, but I won't say it
Okay. Now, I'm just gonna Young. I feel like you did three syllables there, but I won't say it.
OK, now I'm just going to copy and paste that.
When can people hear you on CBC Radio 1, which in this part of the world is 99.1 FM, as I hear Matt Galloway saying the stinger there.
Where can we hear you? When can we hear you?
All right. So on terrestrial radio, another word I never say. Terrestrial, that's a tough one. Terrestrial radio. It would be 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8 a.m. wherever
you are in the country. So I will be on your radio at those exact times for 10 minutes.
And then on podcast, wherever you get your podcasts,
we are World Report.
Highly recommend subscribing to World Report.
And then you just on demand, you can listen to,
and if you want, you can listen to it
at 1.5 times the speed.
And the 10 minutes is only like six and a half minutes.
Also people can watch us now.
So we're doing a lot of radio on TV at CBC.
So starting at 5 a.m. on Gem
or I think even through the cbcnews.ca site,
you can just click live and watch us do radio programs.
You can watch the radio shows
in every region of the country, the
morning shows, and I pop in at the top of the hour.
Okay, it's a visual feast, not just an audio experience. Love that info. Who takes over
for you when your shift is done there?
That would be John Northcott. So John Northcott is on the airwaves right now. And I told him
I was coming and I'm like, You know, I want you on in thewaves right now. And I told him I was coming
and I'm like, Hey John.
You know, I want you on in the basement. Like I can't remember if that was your task. Like
I can't remember how at some point we communicated and I'm like, I need you on in the basement
or something, but I got to reach out to this guy.
You do. And he would be a lot of fun. That guy has done pretty much everything. And I'll
say something random. And John was like, yes. And the time that I was in so-and-so, I found the guy who made and I, what? Yeah. He's, he's, yeah, for sure.
He's one of those people. So quick update for you, Marcia. Is that okay? I need a grade
like every time I say it. Okay. Cause I'm nervous now when I say it. Okay. Hey, well,
shoot. Does it go up to eight plus? I gotta get one for the show.
Okay, so here's the quick hits.
Since you were last on Toronto Mike,
the following people have made their Toronto Mike debuts.
Why, this is not like a full complete list.
This is just a few I jotted down quickly,
but just to let you know.
Robert Fisher was here.
Yeah, oh, I like that guy.
Yeah, he came over and it was quite the chat
about his career at not just CBC, but also
at global and some, uh, some shit went down there that he was very open and honest about.
And we talked about that and also, uh, Jill Dempsey and David Common. So I just wanted
to shout out these good people. Maybe I'll shut out more later, but, uh, yeah, this is,
uh, since you were last is a, since you were
last on and also since you were last on, I think we did talk about possibly spoke about
Jill Deacon, but, uh, Jill Deacon has come on, uh, here and now the show she hosted for
like 10 years. She's an FOTM as well. And she has announced that she is, uh, moving on and
no longer going to host here now, but it was great to hear that Jill was feeling better. Absolutely. I mean, that was such a long process for her trying to recover from long COVID. And
then, you know, before that, she'd had battles with breast cancer. So she was well acquainted
with the healthcare system and how complex it can be, and how strenuous it can be
on her as a person.
And she is just, she is gracious.
She has an amazing spirit.
And I actually bumped into her one day at CBC
and it was so exciting to see her.
She was, she's just beautiful.
And we love fashion.
So we have always lots to talk about.
You can always talk music, right? Because she was in bag of hammers. So I noticed you're not
kicking out any bag of hammers on your, on your playlist here, but she was in bag of
hammers and we talked about that. And she also got to see me in that very, uh, polyester
shirt, polyester shirt, very flammable CBC Rio shirt. I want to shout out Neil Herland
as well. Neil Herland was fantastic and he's promised next June, he's going to come by
and kick out the Pride Month jams.
Ooh, Neil Herland kicking out the Pride Month jams.
He better have a badum on it.
He's well, we'll find out.
Tune in next June for that one.
And I keep threatening to give you gifts, but I'm actually going to kick out
another jam and then I'm going to give you gifts okay because it's going so swimmingly
here let's kick it.
My funny Valentine sweet comic Valentine you make me smile with my heart
You're laughable, unphotographable Yet you're my favorite work of art Is your figure less than Greek? Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak.
Are you smart?
You know, I say let's kick it like I'm going to hear some Beastie Boys.
I'm not sure this is a jam you kick, but talk to me, beautiful.
Chet Baker.
I love Chet Baker. I love Chet Baker and I went back and rediscovered, well Miles Davis I think
had a new album about the time that this was released in the late 80s. Chet Baker actually
died around the time of the release of this. In about 1988 he died in the Netherlands and
there was a documentary also released at the same time called Let's Get Lost and so I got lost in
Let's Get Lost. From back to front I listened to this thing and I just found it phenomenal and how much I had known about music.
And then I went back and listened to everything from, you know, Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra
and, you know, Monk and just all of it.
And I had to I had to know it and feel it and understand it. So this was I guess this is part of midway through that journey.
And Chet Baker is a thing that is always on my playlist.
I love it. And I do love the way you speak about your music.
Now, can I? Well, I will. I'm going to because it's my show.
This is not the CBC. OK, but I'm going to just let the listenership know.
So you have handwritten notes in front of you. Yeah, I do, because I'm the CBC, okay? But I'm gonna just let the listenership know. So you have handwritten notes in front of you.
Yeah, I do, because I'm from CBC.
No, but it's wild because A, they're handwritten,
which I dig.
That's a throwback right there.
I don't think I could read my handwritten notes
at this point.
Like I've completely lost the ability to write
where you could read, especially in cursive.
Like I'm gonna have to print it or something.
Oh my gosh.
Like I'm in CSK, I know. Look, we're not all as good as you. Okay. But your highlighted notes.
So when you did you sit down at like the kitchen table and just think on your songs and then take
notes? I'm just wondering what the process was like when you came up with these 10 songs,
because we're halfway through right now. Yeah, well, I wanted to give you something that was meaningful to me
and also think about why these things are meaningful to me.
Yeah, most of these songs are pretty slow.
It's a tempo that I feel is singable
and I feel singing songs is important for,
like singing to yourself is really key.
It, I heard somewhere that-
Like do you sing in the shower?
Not in the shower, just in my bathroom in general.
Like in-
Good acoustics in there?
Good acoustics.
I chose really good tile.
So-
No, good on you.
I'm sorry for interrupting there.
No, no, but yeah, so singing to yourself,
I read somewhere just recently that it is like being sung to in utero
And so it's calming and it does all the right things
for the brain in
these anxious times I
Can't say that I have any particular or exceptional amount of anxiety
But I like all the things that we can do to calm ourselves because people around us
Will for sure be experiencing things that we we do to calm ourselves because people around us will for sure be
experiencing things that we we ought not to be drawn into.
But if I may. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. You every day every morning you wake up, you find out what's happening in the world
and then you report it to a CBC radio listeners.
You must. I mean, you're a lot of it, I'll be honest,
not a lot of that news I hear is,
oh, this guy turned 100 and this guy won the lottery.
We do almost no birthdays, it's true.
But it's, you know, the world's,
I wanna say the world's on fire.
Shout out to my buddy, Pete,
he wants to say the world is on fire
and if you don't notice, you're not paying attention.
That's what he said.
And I sorta like chug on,
oh, what a negative outlook on life.
But I think about it now and then,
and yeah, the world's on fire.
And you must carry some of that with you
because you're a human being.
Yeah, a little bit.
I think the protective aspect for me
is to be really mindful and grateful
of the fact that I'm not in those places that I'm talking about,
that I am just a witness,
and that distance affords me calm and perspective.
And so my job in this whole thing is to remain calm,
to have perspective, and to get the message out
to people who may be able to do something.
And we can all do something small,
whether it's just witnessing,
or maybe someone who hears will be moved
to some kind of activism that will be positive
and move the situation along.
Maybe sometimes these world leaders,
potentially, who knows, like they hear stuff.
And sometimes when you hear a thing about a situation
that you know very well, it gives a different perspective.
I mean, you just don't know.
I am a big believer in the butterfly effect.
And so, you know, that my small movements here
somehow matter way down the line. And I can't presume to know but just
understand that what I do is not completely meaningless.
No, well said and I think if you, like yourself, it's your job to be aware of the,
you know, the chaos in this world and perhaps you're self-medicating with these smooth jams.
You know, like, no, the world's on fire, but for, you know, the next three and a half minutes,
I'm going to be listening to Michael McDonald and everything's going to be all right.
Exactly.
Cause you know, I can't drink.
I can't take anything that would make me like Nyquil.
I just know when you say you can't drink.
Okay.
So it's cause I'm not know because I was about to give you an alcoholic beverage so you can't drink
is that a like a personal choice or that's a personal choice during the week
for sure and if I have to time it I can only drink like on Saturday at you're
like a surgeon exactly you might go off you might be going into surgery you got
it not too much because I want to like recover as I'm getting older I'm You're like a surgeon. Exactly. That pager might go off. You might be going into surgery. You got to be so big.
And not too much because I want to like recover.
As I'm getting older, I'm realizing that alcohol has a very negative effect on my body.
What a beautiful segue.
What a beautiful, perfect segue.
This is why you don't have to do any ad reads at CBC.
Hopefully that continues.
More on that later.
Okay.
So I'm going to do the most awkward, awkward transition ever.
After you denounce the evils of alcohol there, I'm going to let you know.
I have delicious fresh craft beer from Great Lakes brewery brewed right here in
Southern Etobicoke.
Shout out to GLB.
I'm actually going there right after we wrap.
I'm going to go to Great Lakes for a meeting about something I'm working on.
So stay tuned.
There might be a TMLX 16 announcement coming soon,
but would you accept delicious fresh craft beer for me?
I need to know.
I will accept it because I'm in the window.
So.
All right.
You know what?
Just one can that you're, you know what?
And if you want somebody to drink another can, just invite me over. I'll bike over and drink one in the, you know what? And if you, uh, if you want somebody to drink, uh, another can just invite me over.
I'll bike over and drink when in the, you know, on the porch or something with you.
Okay.
So fresh craft beer, what pairs very nicely with fresh craft beer is delicious Italian
food from Palma pasta.
I have a lasagna in my freezer for you.
Palm up.
Did you get one last time?
I did.
And that's why I'm really bad.
Why you're back. It's not to see me again. Okay. You know, we did see each last time? I did. And that's why I'm really bad. Why you're back.
It's not to see me again.
Okay.
You know, we did see each other since your last recording.
Yeah, like literally the next day or something.
I went to meet FOTM Jim Shedden at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Shout out to Bob.
Let's bingo Bob's wife.
But I'm at the Art Gallery to see something with Jim and I see you.
Yeah, right around the corner.
I'm like, wait a minute.
You were just here, but then I never saw you again. Like, isn't that funny? Like I saw you like
the next day or something. It was like literally the next day, I think. Yeah. And then years
later, we I had to invite you over and ply you with lasagna to get you back just just
to see you again. Okay. But now I know there's like a live stream I can watch as you read
the news. I don't know if that's the same thing, but yeah, yeah, yeah, I can do that. Okay. So you're going to get the lasagna from Palma Pasta. You have the
beer that you're going to drink in moderation at the right time. And I'm going to give you a
measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home so you can measure anything you want.
You don't even have to tell me what you measure, just you can measure it's between you and your
God and a shout out to Ridley Funeral Home,
Pillars of this Community.
They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking
and Brad Jones hosts it.
And I urge everybody to subscribe and enjoy Brad Jones.
He's got a great perspective on life and death.
Gotta take a note on that.
That was a good line.
Okay, let's get to another jam.
And then I'm gonna shout out some more sponsors later.
And I got more hard hitting questions for you. No more bike lane talk. I'm told that we've done our allotted bike lane chat
Here's another one
Under my skin
I've got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart you're really a part of me
I've got you under my skin
I tried so not to give in
I said to myself this affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist when darling I know so well
I've got you under my skin.
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
for the sake of having me.
Dina Washington.
Mm-hmm.
Talk to me.
All right, I am amazed when I go back
and I think about this song written by Cole Porter in
1936
It's incredible that everything about this song is still
Amazing and I wonder is there anything that we are doing now that will survive the test of time and
the
it's The topic got you under my skin.
It's so universal.
It's so human.
I just love this.
And the trumpet, look at that.
["The Trap"]
You mentioned Frank Sinatra earlier. He's got a well-known version of this song. And I remember you two did their collaborations. They did this with Frank. Bono did this with
Frank.
Yeah, this song has been done hundreds, hundreds of times.
You want to do a version with me? Or should I call Jill Deacon? Call Jill Deacon. She'd really do that really, really well. She'd do it.
Loving these jams. What's the hard rock? Is there any hard rock you'd listen to? Or no?
Like would you ever throw on some ACDC, Thunderstruck or something? What's going on over there?
No, you know what? I went to the concert way back when.
Which one?
Star Stock?
Which were we talking about?
No, ACDC.
They had a concert in Toronto
when the Sky Dome was called the Sky Dome.
I still call it that.
I know.
I really have to work hard not to call it that.
You can just say the Dome.
The Dome.
And it was really cool to see.
I mean, and I think I was a Pink Floyd concert
but that's the nature of Pink Floyd.
Okay but why were you there? Did a boyfriend drag you there?
A boyfriend. So these are all like boyfriends drag me to these concerts.
I even was taken to a Steve Earl concert in Hamilton and I'm not sure that that
black girl was like.
Okay, I don't know if I'm allowed to say this
because I don't know what it's not the CBC again,
but I often drag my wife to things like,
let's go see lowest of the low or something
or let's go see Pursuit Happiness.
And I bring her to these like 90s Canadian all raw things.
And she calls it white guy music.
Like this is all I gotta go see another white guy show
because she's not a white person.
I should point that out.
But yeah, and I'm like, oh, like I'm sorry,
but like this is my jams, man.
Well, the Steve Earl show, for example, in Hamilton,
I was not among anybody even,
like the boyfriend was much older.
And-
How much older?
The real talk begins now.
What time is it?
I will not disclose.
Now it gets interesting.
We were not in the same generation.
Wow.
Yeah, we were not.
How long did you date this guy?
A while. He looked young, but he was not young.
Was he over a decade older?
Yes, over a decade older.
And Steve Roel was his kind of music.
And he had a really good car.
And so that's all it takes. I thought you just had to pronounce your name properly.
I dated him though before he got the good car.
So there.
Well, I was going to say, just a shout out, a very recent guest on this program named
Chris Burkett did produce some songs off of Copperhead Road, which was my introduction
to Steve Earle, who is great in The Wire.
Ever seen The Wire?
I didn't see The Wire, but I know people love that.
You want to borrow my DVD box set over here?
Oh, so retro.
You can bring it home with you.
Shout out to Molly Johnson, whose brother directed the first episodes of The Wire.
Did you know that?
Clark Johnson?
Molly Johnson is an incredible individual.
Have you heard her episode of Toronto Mite?
No, I haven't.
Okay, you know what?
I'm changing your homework.
Okay. But I do love Molly Johnson and she made an album in the mid 2000s that was I wore it
out.
It was on constant repeat.
And again, she's another person with the lyrics and the vocalization and the music behind
her.
That was just wonderful.
Big Molly fan here, love her voice, love her music.
Why do you think I invited her over to chat with me
for Toronto Mic?
But you need to listen because this is episode 1553.
And I think that's the only episode
where the guest did not like me.
Really, Molly, she didn't like you?
I used to bump into her all the time
at the CBC in the elevator.
Check the liner notes.
Check the liner notes.
It's in there somewhere.
You're going to, you're going to do.
Well, I want you to listen and then I
want you to send me a personal message
that I will not read on the air and
tell me if you think it was me or not.
I really do.
And this is years ago, but that episode
almost kind of haunts me because it's
the only one that went south on me.
And it's a lot of episodes.
A question that you ask somebody that, you know, in CBC, we talk about
forming your questions and where do you ask a tough question?
And it's always at the end so that if something goes south and the guest doesn't like it,
then the interview is over anyway.
So did you ask a tough question in the middle?
No, no.
I'm so totally blaming the victim. To be. I'm so I'm actually blaming the victim.
No, you're blaming the victim. I don't appreciate but I will tell you because I know what it's
like to ask the tough question. Okay, I'm the guy who had Fergie all for in his basement
for 90 minutes, like I'm fully comfortable that at some point I need to ask a tough question.
And then I find the right time and I'm pretty fair and balanced with it all. But with Molly
Johnson, I'm being very honest with you. I didn't have any questions like that. I'm literally a guy who has loved her music forever and
was just excited to have the, just like I'm talking to you right now. I was excited to
sit face to face with Molly Johnson and chat about her career, the Kensington jazz festival,
all of that good stuff. But before I pressed record, I knew she did not like me.
Before I pressed record and I was newer at this than I am now.
At this point, I think if someone came in
and I got those vibes, it might excite me a little bit
because it's something different.
Like if you were giving me this vibe, I'm like,
okay, good, let's get into it.
But I was so green at this,
because I never worked in radio,
that I was so nervous.
My voice is different off the top of that episode
because it's a higher pitched voice when I get nervous and it's like oh yeah oh
my goodness I need puberty or something so I sound different my brother knew
right away that I was not sounding like myself and it was because I was nervous
because before I press record it was like get on with it kind of deal it was
just it's all recorded and you'll you'll can you can listen and you can tell me what you think.
I have to say it's hard to subject oneself to being asked questions about stuff.
But you didn't have to come over a lot of people.
I know, I know, but I also want to challenge myself to do things a little outside the box.
This is my year of yes.
Whoa, now you tell me.
Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I got
to go now. So listen, I feel like we all those jams were just to warm you up. And now it
begins. Okay. So yeah, so this is my year of yes. So things people have asked me all
kinds of things like I was asked to go to a wedding in France and I was like, yes, and
it was the highlight of my summer. And it And it was, it was pretty arduous because it was in the country and in Normandy, I went
solo, which was awesome.
And that was a big decision.
So you haven't typically traveled alone?
No, I haven't traveled alone since the early aughts.
So you know, when I was like living my best sex in the city life and I'm packed.
Did you say sex in the city?
No, yeah, yeah, you know, and the city.
What?
Whatever.
I watched the show.
I watched it.
My first wife made me watch every episode and I pretended I was doing it for her.
But I promise you very early in that season one, I was digging it and it was, I was watching for me.
I was so into that show that, um, one of my very dearest friends, Sophia Harris, she was
in Prince Edward Island and I was in Saskatchewan and we get on the phone and we'd watch it
together on the phone.
Well that's devotion.
Listen, but it is end, but I know, cause I produce a show for, okay, city counselor, Diane Sachs wanted to start a new show.
And we all thought it would be fun if we,
instead of, you know, sex and the city,
we called it Sachs and the city,
but they were running with Sachs in the city.
And I was furious.
Like I said, look, I'm happy.
I know I'm just the guy who, you know,
technically produces this thing,
but you need to make it sex and the city
because the show is not called Sex in the City.
The show was called Sex and.
And then you brought out the DVDs
and you showed them the title.
I rolled out the VCR that was attached to the TV,
the big CRT tube TV,
and I played the VHS tapes I have of Sex and the City.
Oh my goodness. You know,
a friend of mine has an old television and I looked at it the other day and it
was amazing to me that I actually stopped in front of it and looked at it like
the RCA doc, like,
right. Yeah. Well, uh, he's his majesty's, his majesty's owner,
his, his, his majesty's no, it's HM, his majesty's boy RCA, his majesty's voice.
And that's the dog listening to his master's voice on a record.
Yeah.
Oh, cool.
That's a real deal.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
So the year of yes, but why this year?
Like, was there an epiphany?
Is it, are you approaching a milestone birthday or something?
Like, why is this the year of yes?
All of that. Like, are you finally gonna turn 30?
What's going on over here?
Yes, I'm finally going to turn 30 again.
His master's, I've been corrected.
But because there's a delay on the live stream,
I got his master's voice eventually did come to me,
but I was being corrected on the live stream.
So why is this the year of yes?
You know, I've just decided that I am creative
and I don't want anything to
stop me and I want to do all of the things.
Um, I met a friend and we don't make friends very often, right?
Like brand new friends.
And she's 87 and she has dementia and she's been like such an inspiration, you know?
And so I look at her and she reminds me so much of me,
you know, and we have so much in common.
And it's the funniest thing that I'm not the only person
finding themselves in these octogenarian friendships.
Like my good friend Sophia is also finding herself in a octogenarian friendships. Like my good friend Sophia is also founding herself
in a friendship with, yeah.
And you did date an octogenarian we had earlier
when you went to see Steve Earle in Hamilton.
Okay, I'm gonna leave it there.
But yeah, so she's just looking at her life
and the things that she's trying to do now
and to experience and
to live so maximally.
You're living life while you can, while you don't have dementia and you're healthy and
you look great and you're out living life.
Yeah, totally.
You're inspiring me.
That's it.
That's it.
Just like grab it, live it, do it.
Love it.
Say yes.
Say yes.
Love it.
Okay. Let's get to another jam and then we'll do more real talk on the other side.
Here we go.
Another live record.
We're gonna do Boarder Song. Oh, and Mo's air, I've been removed I've seen the specter, he has been ensued Just a cousin from down the line, brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses, I've been removed
Oh
Now the way Are the Aretha Franklin and Elton John. Tell me why you love this song, but if there is a part you wanted, you can just be like
a conductor and go like that and I'll bring you back out.
Take me to church.
Yeah.
Okay, wait, wait.
Now, now come now, come up, come up. ["The Day Aretha Died"]
That Molly Johnson episode recorded the day Aretha died.
Hmm.
This song, when I, I don't know the words to it.
Like I know Holy Moses, the chorus, and when people go looking for it, they have to look
for a border song, Holy Moses, because they only put Holy Moses in parentheses because
that repeats.
This song was the first time that Elton John had a chart hit in Canada.
I can't even believe that.
And it was in 1970.
That's a mind blow right there.
That's what we call that.
Wow.
Oh, 70.
Yeah, that's early for Elton.
Sure.
Yeah.
And it did not get that high up on the charts here.
He sounds amazing though, yeah?
Well, Elton freaking John, I saw him in 89 at the Dome.
I'm gonna call it Sky Dome because it was called Skydome then and I called Skydome now anyways
I'm not on CBC but you absolutely saw Elton I was very young and I thought it
was great and then I found out later oh the audio was terrible I'm like I got no
like perspective on this I was fine with it but geez with Aretha this is quite
the duo yeah and then this song was also on her album Young Gifted in Black and
Young Gifted in Black was a song that was also
sung by Nina Simone, which is another artist that I absolutely love that I don't have here for you because I thought I'd be too much slow stuff.
Let me give them something.
Your jams are your jams, okay?
But I know you've seen this but I'll recommend anyways. Whatever Happened to Nina Simone is a great documentary.
Oh, it is amazing.
Also, you know watching that another thing to
think about black women who are creative who want to express themselves and the
the price that we pay but I think she came to this world with a lot of
complicated feelings and being a complicated person. And that included some mental health stuff too, right?
But the story there too is bigger about the struggle.
Absolutely.
That the creative struggle and what it takes to be these great women.
My mother's husband used to book Aretha Franklin for gigs in Canada.
That's another mind blow right there.
I know.
Did I tell you that I have James Brown hair dryer
because of my mother's husband?
Okay, let me tell you these two stories.
All right, so.
He would tell me that Aretha Franklin
would always walk onto the stage with her handbag
because she demanded to be paid before the gig.
Because back in the day, you know,
the black artists would perform and, you know,
maybe you get paid, maybe not.
You have to leave through the back door
and all this sort of stuff.
And when things changed and she was a known quantity,
like the queen of everything.
She still walked onto stage with her handbag,
with the pay in it, and yeah.
That's unbelievable.
I know, I know.
But when I listen to her lyrics and her words
in a bunch of different songs,
whether it's Respect or Say a Little Prayer,
she actually has a very fast way of talking.
And, and her, I can't really, I couldn't keep up.
Like if I was going to do a rethink karaoke,
I'd have to really, really practice.
And you know, for my karaoke emergencies,
who I call Julina Zrella.
Okay. Well, you got to say yes to my request next. Let's go do
some karaoke this weekend. This is, can you ask me next year? Because next year
won't be the year of yes. If you can't say yes, you just get a rain check.
Yeah, exactly. So James Ryan hairdryer? Yeah, go ahead. I'll tell you about that. So, um, my mother's husband had booked James Brown for something
or other in the early, early aughts. And, uh, he was going to be here in Toronto and James Brown
had in his rider that he needs a hairdryer because he's got to do his blowout, like washing set,
his blowout, like he's washing set, old school.
Right.
And so, uh, Woody is his name, went down to a Canadian tire and bought one of these hood dryers for James Brown.
And so he used the hood dryer and he, you know, did all that.
And at the time I did the occasional wash and set myself at home.
And so what he's like, well, you know, James Brown is not gone.
What do you, what do I do with this hood dryer?
I'm like, I will take that hood dryer.
This is quite the story.
The only thing is that only Woody and I know
that that hood dryer was used by James Brown.
And cause he didn't sign it.
I mean, who would have thought to,
hey, James Brown, can you sign this hood dryer?
Like,
But now the world knows you've put it on the public record. And I have that hood dryer. But now the world knows you've put it on the public record.
And I have that hood dryer and it's like, I have no hair right now to, to wash and set.
But I was, I don't know.
I was going to remark that I like the coloring of this hair.
I like the style.
It looks very cool.
I thank you very much.
I didn't know if I'm allowed to compliment a woman's appearance anymore in 2024.
This seems very old school itself, but here's a fun fact for you about
Aretha Franklin.
The song Son of a Preacher Man was
offered to her first and she
turned it down because she is
the son of a preacher man and she
thought it might be disrespectful to
her father.
And Dusty Springfield went on to
record it and has the definitive
version we hear in Pulp Fiction.
And then I think the story I heard from those who study such things is Aretha
then covered that song because she realized it was a hit and made a mistake
by turning it down. But people this many years later still gravitate towards the
Dusty Springfield version of Son of a Preacher Man.
Because it's amazing. Dusty Springfield, that whole album again too,
on which that song appears is another concept.
And the time that I enjoyed it the most,
I had gone to Kingston or to Thousand Islands
to do something or other, and I had to be back at work,
and I missed a short hop flight,
and so I had to drive from Kingston back to Toronto.
And I played that song.
I played that whole album, that whole Dusty Springfield album,
like over and over and over again on this entire drive.
And I just started to see the story of it and just like feel it.
Incredible singer.
And her career was resurrected by the Pets Shop Boys because she was kind of had some
issues, some substance abuse issues, and she was down in her career.
And the Pet Shop Boys put her in, what have I done to deserve this?
And resurrected her career.
I didn't realize that.
Yeah.
And this is, I now need to shout out FOTM Carol Pope from Rough Trade.
Yeah, she lives around the corner from me. Okay. Well, she was Dusty Springfield's lover for several years.
Whoa.
You didn't know that.
And when Dusty passed away, Carol tells me a story on Toronto Mike about going to the
funeral and hanging out with the Pet Shop Boys at the funeral and remembering her lover,
Dusty Springfield.
So now you know all these fun facts you can bring back to the CBC family. I could get a fight away to work that one in.
Okay. I want to shout out Raymond James Canada and their fantastic podcast,
The Advantage Investor, because just today, see, I've been afraid to say your name for the last
half an hour.
Why? You forgot it already.
No, I'm afraid. I'm going to try again, but I've been, I've been noticed. I've been not saying
your name. I'm going to try to get Marcia. Yes, I've been noticed. I've been not saying your name. I'm going to try it again.
Marcia.
Yes, that's Marcia.
You're sitting with Marcia.
New artwork for the advantage investor podcast.
Just put it on the back wall of the live stream here at live.torontomike.com.
That's where you go.
If you are looking for best practices, great advice in terms of financial investments and
more hosted by Chris Cooksy, who's a great FOTM.
So when you're subscribing to life's undertaking from Brad Jones at Ridley funeral home, also
subscribe to the advantaged investor from Raymond James, Canada.
Got it.
Got it.
Okay.
And last tip, and then we're going to kick out another jam because this version of this
jam I'm very interested in this hot tip for you go to recycle my electronics dot ca if you have any electronics
any cables any devices that need to be disposed of don't throw it in your garbage because those
chemicals end up in our landfill go to recycle my electronics dot ca put in your address and it'll
be like hey there's a deep hole block away. You drop it off to be properly recycled. That's what you're going to do. And now I'm going to kick out another
jam because I'm loving this so much. Here we go. You look surprised over there.
You picked this version.
It's like name that tune. The live stream thinks you have sweet jams.
That's a quote.
Really?
You have sweet jams.
Oh, heart. I feel like somebody said yes to Bridgerton.
I did.
To Queen Charlotte, to Bridgerton and the girl from Dairy Girls.
Yeah.
Wow.
This is the Vitamin String Quartet and I didn't know that much about them and they are a bunch
of classically trained musicians who all love all manner of rock,
from like rock music to punk music to funk music,
and they wanted to take their instruments
and just do stuff with it.
And they were an instrumental, pardon the pun,
part of this-
That was intentional.
Yeah, this music of the Bridgerton.
And here in Toronto, we can see stuff like this
with the candlelight. Chorus, chorus, chorus. Yeah. Yeah. And them too. So with them too.
Okay. There's another one. What's it called? Candlelight music. I know when the Tragically
Hip had their, this is chorus, chorus, chorus. they did a Head by a Century on King Street
when Tiff, this year's Tiff, had an unveiling of the new tragically hip documentary series
shout out to FOTM J. Gold and Paul Langlois. But you're describing this candlelight thing
and I feel like I do know about this.
Candlelight concerts, yes that's right that's right. So Candlelight Concerts. And you can get tickets for
stuff in Toronto and or beyond. I think they travel too. I think they've got dates in other
places, but they've got Bridgerton Candlelight that they've done already. Is this coming up?
September 26. And I mean, there's a wait I mean wait words I mean there's a
wait list oh my god there's a wait list if you want to hear if you want to hear
like well you're you know you could just pull up that press pass and they'll give
you a it'll be like the scene in Goodfellas when you come in the kitchen
they'll put you and they'll put out a table for any young men or whatever like
all Marcia's here exactly yes but, these concerts, I've been to a couple of them now
and they are packed. They did, Candlelight Concerts did like video game music and it's a quartet with
cello violin and viola. Viola players always feel forgotten. There is a viola player
and another violin. Are you into the year?
So you'll go to, I don't know, will you go to Roy Thompson Hall and take in the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra?
Yes.
I have so enjoyed that.
Like when they did a reggae retrospective way back when, and I did, I went to that and
I sent my parents to see Aretha Franklin.
Oh, comes up again. Again. Uh, cause it's amazing. I, I love live
music. I love classical music and classical musicians and, um, and then taking that and
mashing them together like Aretha and classical music or, you know, Whitney Houston and a
string quartet, whoever thought of this was brilliant. And you know Whitney Houston and a string quartet. Whoever
thought of this was brilliant. You know here's the funny thing it's different
from music remember like elevator music way back when? I worked in a grocery store
of course of course. And there's something more and different and lively about this.
This is better. I feel so but I worry though that maybe this is me denying the fact that now I'm like the old young people or young old people. Yeah,
that's it. Well, we have to change your name like from young to old. Never. You only get
to keep that young surname until you hit a certain age and then you got to switch it
up. Absolutely not. It's mine.
I dig it. Now, Bridgerton, okay, so I'll admit,
like I have, because my partner would watch
and I have watched a bit of it and I think it's terrible.
Like I think it's just terrible television,
but I'm thinking this is just like a-
This is your Molly Johnson moment.
Now things are changing.
All right, listen.
Opinions can't be wrong.
Didn't they teach you that in journalism school? Okay, What were you going to say that I'm missing the point, which is to get all like
horned up? There's that the real talk is here. Okay. It's visually stimulating. And I admit to
you, it can be a little bit slow at times that I would like the action to move a little bit beyond
Like you want more sex scenes. Is that what I'm hearing?
I don't know just sometimes a little bit faster like these letters and who read the letters and who wrote the letters and it's like
Okay enough with the letters
But there's also something really wonderful in watching all of these actors
come together and these the if you hold on long enough, the tension resolves
itself in a very beautiful way. And that is always worth the payoff.
And you get great classical versions of pop songs you know and love.
I adore that. I can't really get enough of that. Hence the candlelight. I mean, I feel
it's fun to name that tune like it is fun when the K to quickly Oh, that's a creep by Radiohead like it is fun. I
Mean, I'll watch Bridgerton with you. Are they done? Is there gonna be more seasons? Do you know?
Well, I just was watching Queen Charlotte and there will probably I imagine there will be more seasons and Queen Charlotte
Amber Jarreau who was on this show is an FOTM
Yeah, absolutely said to me you got to watch Queen Charlotte.
And I did.
And I'm so glad I did.
And it was a wonderful watch.
Her episode is pretty great.
Like in the real talk, she spills in that episode.
It's a bit of awakening.
Yeah.
So I chug that one out too.
Okay.
And she didn't hate me like Molly.
Exactly. Well, hate is a strong word.. And she didn't hate me like Molly.
Exactly. Well, hate is a strong word.
No, she didn't hate is a strong word. Uh,
you'll have to listen and let me know what you think.
But you know what the beautiful thing about Bridgerton is? Um,
it's showing that black people were there or could have been there.
There's this possible world,
but it's sort of like this place between reality and fantasy, but it recognizes that
we were all together at some point and that this might have been possible. I don't know.
It speaks to possibilities.
It's like Hamilton, right? Hamilton, massive hit, right? But, uh, but at the end of the
day, it's like, I love seeing black people on screen and all in all our hues and in all
the ways that we show up in the world. We can reimagine a alternate history. I'm a big fan of field of dreams. And all in all our hues and in all the ways that we show up in the world.
We can reimagine a alternate history. I'm a big fan of Field of Dreams and I was listening to a
podcast talking about, I don't know, have you ever seen Field of Dreams? Yep. It's fantastic. I love
it. But they were talking about how, oh yeah, so the 1919 Black Sox scandal, those shoeless
Joe Jackson and these people get to be, they get to play again through this field of dreams. And how amazing would that movie be if like for how many years until
Jackie Robinson would were black players not allowed to play in the major leagues?
Like let's talk let's let them play like it's only recently they've actually
added their statistics to the the major league which is just a wonderful
decision that now your Negro League statistics now count as major league baseball
statistics, which is awesome. But imagine Field of Dreams where, you know, you let a
satchel page in his prime pitch to, you know, Babe Ruth or whatever.
I mean, that would have been amazing.
All right. So I'm going to do a sequel. You and I get Kevin Costner on the phone and we're
going to do it. Okay. All right. Two more jams to go. Okay. An ultimate jam. Let's kick it.
On any day
I won't listen to my voice.
You've heard me say
Don't listen to my voice, man You've heard me say I don't keep in touch well But then again I'm not as far as you would
think Whenever you go out and have a couple drinks
Keep me in mind I'm right there all the time
You wanna know where you can find me?
Holding your hair in the backseat
Well, imagine me, I'm right here on your shoulder
Right here, right here, ooh
Right here, on your shoulder
Right here, right here, ooh
Right here, on your shoulder
Marcia, tell me about Right Here!
This is Begonia, she's a Winnipeg artist.
Her name is Alexa Dirks and nominated for a Polaris Prize in 2020.
Juno nominated as well.
And I played her song when she was nominated for Juno.
I think we played it as our last song
on our newscast.
And that very day I'm walking home
and I bump into Begonia.
That's a mind blow.
No kidding.
That's like bumping into me at Art Gallery of Ontario
the day after your Toronto Mic debut.
And so I stopped and I just like, hi, Begonia.
That's amazing.
I know.
And she was getting ready for a show at the Drake
and she had the makeup and her makeup artist was right there
and she was fabulous.
I have a thing for redheads and she has red hair.
It just took about an hour.
This is why you can't do 20 minute interviews because the real talk doesn't come till the
hour mark.
And yeah, well, anyway, so does that apply to dudes as well?
Like you like a ginger?
I love ginger.
I'm ginger in all hues.
I just am fantastic.
Just fascinated.
I wish I had red hair.
I wish my kids had red hair.
You know, you could dye your hair red.
It's not quite the same, but I have.
It's gotta be natural, but you have.
Well, I know, I've seen you.
So yeah, she's just, she's an amazing artist.
And listen to that.
Yeah.
Yeah. Right here, right here, right here on your shoulder.
Love it.
Begonia.
It's great.
So I got a chance to tell her that she reminds me of Adele.
And I got a chance to tell her that I love her music and her song.
And that was really fantastic.
I just think like she's just doing it. You
know, making music in Canada is hard. And you obviously told her you played that on,
you know, Canada's national airways. I mean, I was that would be a fun fact to hit her
with the people. I just saw on CPC radio. Nate, not just Toronto show. This is national.
And then after we had such a nice conversation, a few months later, or maybe even like a year
later, I bump into her again. Wow. Just taking a walk before a show. Are you stalking her?
Be honest. It sounds like it. Hiding in bushes when you know she's playing a gig nearby.
That's my move.
Okay.
Be forgiven for thinking that I am following her.
Wow.
I just say yes.
Amazing.
Okay.
One jam to go.
How has this experience been for you?
Was this as good as your Toronto Mike debut or a let down after that wonderful experience?
Well, you know, I really it's been you won't be back.
I don't you don't need me back.
You know everything about me now.
In fact, no, the next time actually we'll just cut out the foreplay and we'll just start
with the real talk.
We can skip all that nonsense.
Uh, but one more jam.
So let's kick it out and then we'll do our proper goodbyes.
Okay. I'm not a I would say that you don't love me And you will be tired
But I wanted it, I wanted it, I wanted it
But what do you think That I would ever be against you
I doubted it, I doubted it, I doubted it
You will be like all the other men before you
You will grow up, you will grow up
You will grow up like all the other men before you
I didn't expect it to be
But you will grow up like all the other men before you I feel like I'm in love
You will be my love It was like the most ridiculous performance because she was amazing. But she had this like very like vampy dress, which was like totally
body con and covered in sequins and a tiny little like French
beret that was all sequins, black and red.
And it just vampy.
And she was probably like, I don't know, 12 feet off the ground in this, on this tower.
So it looked as if her dress had like this mermaid effect,
but it was 12 feet tall.
And it like lowered and went up as she sang.
And I don't know how she did it.
Cause I'm afraid of heights,
so I would never have done such a performance,
but she did it.
And she is just like,
she is as sexy as Jessica Rabbit.
That's impossible.
Kind of ruined a lot of us dudes who, you know,
grew up in that era that we were all looking
for Jessica Rabbit and we all were attracted to rabbits.
I see her sometimes as a bunny in the backyard and it's like I get a strange feeling.
Jessica? Honestly.
But she's like, I love her musical persona and what she presents in her videos, this woman who takes no prisoners, literally, and one of them she just kills them. But it's, it's, it's
storytelling and music that is beautiful and so creative. And like her videos are
little movies. And I just love it. I love what she does. I love her voice. She's
like my alter ego and she could say anything to me in French and I'd be like,
yes, that's a great.
You're saying yes to English too this year.
Yeah. No French required.
Right. You know, you know what?
I love this music and her whole album, again, is a long story about women.
And I've mostly played you a lot of women artists here, haven't I?
Which I appreciate. Love women artists.
Loved this jam kicking with you.
I loved hearing not only what songs
does Marcia Young listen to, but why?
I've learned so much about you today.
No, thanks.
It's a good thing. It's a good thing.
And there will be, I don't know, I
guess I have to wait a couple of years
to bother you. I waited a couple of
years this time, but I will get you
back here for like the
complete the trilogy. You will be back. You'll be back for the lasagna. Okay, okay
Okay, don't leave about that lasagna and then we get our photo taken and I don't have to worry about my shirt catching on fire
During this photo. It's less flammable this time
But thank you for making the trek and I'm sorry about the romantic traffic that you encountered shout out to Rob Bruce in the spoons
Thank you. It was out to Rob Proust and the Spoons.
Thank you. It was good to be here.
And that brings us to the end of our one thousand five hundred and fifty third show.
You can follow me, go to Toronto Mike dot com and you can follow me. But Marcia, what is a do you have a social media channel you maintain?
What's going on? Yeah, I'm on Instagram. So, you know, Marcia what is a do you have a social media channel you maintain what's going on?
Yeah I'm on Instagram so you know Marcia Young CBC. Okay I'll tag you on the Gram. We don't call
it the Gram anymore do we? Am I can I call it the Gram? IG. IG okay I want to be cool like you.
Under 14 set they know what's going on. Much love to all who made this possible. Great Lakes
Brewery I'm actually on my way now to a meeting.
I might be late, but I'm going to blame you because you were late and then I'm going to
blame you.
Okay.
Thank you for your patience.
Palma Pasta will be back there in early December for a TMLX event.
RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, and Ridley Funeral Home.
I gotta go to my calendar to shout out the next episode.
Okay, The Kings.
Do you know Switchin' to Glide?
The beat goes on. Do you know this song?
Yeah.
This is like their one-hit wonders, The Kings.
I think I can tell. I'm gonna say it to their face and see if they beat me up.
But The Kings are gonna be down here to discuss that song and more.
So don't miss The Kings, Toronto Mike, Switching to Glide, the beat goes on.
See you all then! And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away
Cause everything is rolling in gray
Well I've been told that there's a sucker born every day
But I wonder who, yeah I wonder who
I wonder who, yeah I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize
There's a thousand shades of gray
Cause I know that's true, yes I do
I know it's true, yeah
I know it's true, how about you?
All them pickin' up trash
And them puttin putting down rogues
And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes