Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ralph Benmergui: Toronto Mike'd #1126

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

In this 1126th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Ralph Benmergui as Ralph tries to makes sense of it all before kicking out some jams. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Yes, We Are Open, The Advantaged Investor, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1126 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals. Palma Pasta. Fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. The Yes, We Are Open podcast.

A Moneris podcast production. The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. EPRA. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars

of the community since 1921. And Canna Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis, guaranteed. Joining me today, returning to Toronto Bikeded is my rabbi but not that kind of rabbi ralph ben murgy welcome back ralph wait a minute i'm picking i'm picking my now you caught me picking oh okay, okay. That's it. You know what?

Now, no one knows what we're talking about. I told Ralph because there's a camera on him and we're live on the Pirate Stream, live.torontomic.com and I just wanted

to give him a heads up. There's a camera on him and I said, don't pick your nose. I have a good story about that if you're interested. Okay, yeah. I am interested.

Okay, so I'm interviewing Marty Short. Yes. Who is hilarious to interview. Absolutely hilarious. So he's in a hotel room somewhere in Toronto, and I say, how was the flight here from L.A.? And he goes, well, you know, I was on the flight,

and behind me about three rows was Charlton Heston. Wow. And I thought, oh, my God, it's Moses. It's actually Charlton. It's Moses. I can't believe it. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.

And then finally I get up enough courage to casually kind of look back to look at him. And he is knuckle deep in a nose. And I just couldn't stop laughing. I mean, he is just chunking away in there. And I'm thinking, Moses, no, no. Any nose picking stories you bring to toronto mike i'm game so don't even hesitate whole episode on nose don't don't is there a right way to nose pick uh what's your method of choice ralph uh people need to know uh

only do it under duress only not necessarily breathe anymore oh so it's like it's not a track it's not a hobby you're sitting in your car going don't do it for sport no don't it's like hunting right you do it if you're starving to death and there's no other options but to kill an animal because you can right not fun oh my goodness shana tova to you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And that means Happy New Year. It does. Shana, happy. Tova. Shana's year. Okay, I understand. Tova is good.

So this is a good holiday. You're good. You're good. You're good. You're good, eh? Ralph, I do try to keep current. I broadcast regularly with a woman named Naomi Parnas. And she keeps me pretty up to date with exactly what

holiday is coming up when and what are we currently enjoying in the Jewish calendar Sukkot which is the harvest festival it's the Thanksgiving festival and what you do is you create a three-sided structure, very loosely made, nothing permanent, just like life. And the roof, you should be able to see through the thatched roof so that you can sit with the stars around you. It is basically a beautiful pagan kind of festival celebration where you return yourself to the year has ended, meaning the harvest has ended, and you're starting again.

So Sukkot now, and the next one's called Simchat Torah, which is starting to read the Torah from the beginning all over again. Are you going to do that? Yeah, sure. Simchat Torah is great. Okay, so let me go back to Sukkot. Yes.

Did I do it right? Sukkot. Sukkot. Do you have such a structure at your Hamilton palatial estate? I don't. Every year I think, you know, I really should build a sukkah this year. And then I realize I don't build anything. So I have no faith in my ability to do it. But it's a temporary structure.

I know, but not that temporary. It collapses on you while you're eating. No, I always wanted to do a show with my wife. I wanted to call it Jewish Home Repair. And what you do is you try something, like putting up a shelf or something. Or something's broken and you spend the first minute staring at it like Quest for Fire.

You know, like like what is that and then you try to do it and then you totally screw it up and phone somebody who knows how to do these things and that's the second half of the show they come over and show you how to put up a bookshelf properly oh that's funny uh it's funny i i also like try to fix things and i get a little frustrated but my wife actually she's naturally good at these things so she steps in i call her mag ruffman i'm like mag what's up with mag ruffman i don't know man because she's my go-to reference uh i always liked that woman oh she was great she had a lot of energy and she was on a road is it road to avon

lee that she uh yes, I think so. Or the original Anne of Green Gables. Yeah, one of those two. And those two get mixed up in my head, actually. But you must have bumped into her at many a CBC function. Well, also Gemini's and things like that, you know, when they had TV awards. Brad Jones is the funeral director at Ridley Funeral Home.

And he wrote a nice note this morning. So I said, you're coming in. I said, no more Zooms for Ralph. We'll get to this. But this is the first time we've been together, I think in years. We haven't been together since pre-pandemic. That's right. So, I mean, I missed you and I'm really happy to see you.

I gave you a big hug in the driveway. Brad Jones writes, the drive from the Hammer will be worth it with Great Lakes beer, Palma Pasta, and the other merchandise he will be worth it with great lakes, beer, Palma pasta, and the other merchandise he will be walking away with. Always a great guest. So gracious. Went on life's undertaking.

You appeared on Brad's podcast. Life's undertaking. I did. I did. Yes. I enjoyed that. Brad loves you. And,

uh, he, he's the reason you have that nice flashlight that you were playing with before the recording. That's courtesy of Brad Jones. Thank you, Brad. I truly appreciate it. Is this how we

make sure that somebody's still there? He sees if you're breathing. Yeah, wait a minute. That's a mirror, isn't it? It's a mirror that you use for that. That's actually to make sure you don't end up as a client of Brad's. It keeps you safe in the dark so you don't trip and fall. We all

end up as a client of brads eventually we we cannot escape this i off to a roaring start because uh this is something i mean of course i know this uh everyone dies it's like the great equalizer we're all going to die but uh what do you think happens when you breathe your final breath like right this is the heavy question off the top before we get a little gooey with you. You know, I'm always in awe of people who actually can answer that question with any level of certainty.

And there are lots of people who have a whole construct of where you go and how it works and what you look like and who you bump into. I got none of that. I sort of see things as energy, right? That we come from a, like we're literally, I say this all the time, we're literally made of stardust, right?

So I have been formed into this in this moment, in the billions of years of the universe. And then after this, who was it? Stephen Jenkinson, who writes a lot about dying and death, wrote a beautiful thing where he said, the human life is not life. It is just the human lifespan within the flow of life. So after this, I have no idea how I reconstitute.

Do I just turn back into stardust and float through the universe? There's no me anymore. I mean, Buddhist philosophy says there's no me anymore i mean buddhist philosophy says there was no me in the first place you're just constructing this ego so that you have a business card to show people look i'm me i like red wine i don't like white wine you know you're that guy and ralph you're you're a realist on this subject matter in that you know that last breath you take that that could simply be uh lights out like the awareness factor goes straight to zero like well it is lights out in this mode of what we think

this is right but i don't the more i think about it the older i get the more i think just relax man it's just another part of life and you will pass to something because energy purely doesn't die energy never dies so there's something that just floats on and i do have an affinity to the idea of a soul but i think that it's not just humans who have a soul we all everything has spirit within it this table is made of elements that have survived and evolved for thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of years and there is spirit within it if you don't see it that way i was talking to humble and fred about this yes you're doing a double header today if you don't see it that way then nothing is sacred except you and then that's

where we end up in the problem we are now but ralph if my table here uh which i think came from ikea swedish for out of stock uh until they become a sponsor then they are ikea listen that's true and then i'll sing their praises but uh you know when i heard when i saw you were coming on, since you've been here, I've talked to many a Yuck Yucks comrade. Like I've had on the John Wing Juniors and the Simon Rakoffs. I mean, I've had a lot of these cats on the program. So I feel I need to bring my A game when it comes to the comedy today. But where was I going?

Okay, so if this table has a spirit. I don't know where that came from. How do I, how do I, that's because it's Ikea. Have you not heard Toronto Mike before,alph this is how it works but how could i ever part how could i throw this out when it's time has come like if it's got a spirit in it if everything's got a spirit in it how could you part ways how can you safely recycle your electronics of epra if there's a spirit in that iphone ah well the whole point is by safely recycling it you are doing something to honor the idea that energy continues so those who just chuck it into the waste uh words throw it out right right how do when i throw this out right right but maybe you don't

throw it out maybe we demand that people things get made that we can recycle so that we're aware that things should not just be thrown out right so we need more ralph and margaret so as i you know i go on these bike rides every day and that's my meditation and that's when i get all you know thinking about the world and i'll see a deer in the park and then i'll wonder like what's the difference between me and that deer is it the only difference is we're both flesh and bones and living creatures except i seem to have evolved from uh to a species that has this thought, this brain. The brain is the big difference.

Ah, no, no, no. Go ahead. The deer, if you see things as separate, everything is separate. There's a deer, there's me, there's my bike, there's somebody else's bike. Then you live in this quiet little small bubble of what life is. But if you are Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk said, interbeing, not human being, interbeing. And what he meant by that

was that everything is connected to everything else. We are in the web of life. We are not the creator of the thread of life that we are. We are just a thread in the web of life. So what you do, riding a bike instead of driving a car, means you're probably not going to be the guy who kills the deer who tries to cross the road.

That is true. Right? So everything we do, so karma can be beautifully, somebody beautifully explained this, Sylvia Burstein. She explained it as, it's not, hey man, what comes around goes around, man. You know, like goes around, comes around. No, it's not, hey man, what comes around goes around, man. You know, like goes around, comes around. No, it's not that. Right.

To her, it was the everything that has happened in the universe to this moment in time, to the universe, has led to the fact that you and I are sitting here right now doing this. And that what you do next will affect everything that comes next. That's karma. Okay. Multiple thoughts here one is that just coincidentally on twitter yesterday i saw a video of jim carrey at like

a fashion show okay and then the interviewer jim carrey will talk about you you knew him from the yuck yucks days back in the day okay so jim carrey is that and this lady interviewing jim carrey for e-network or something says something like i've been to many fashion shows, but I've never seen Jim Carrey. And then Jim says something like, well, I was thinking life is completely meaningless. It is completely meaningless. And I thought, what is the most meaningless thing I can do? So I'm here at this fashion show. Like this was the Jim Carrey line. I saw that clip years ago. Yeah, it's from years ago. And I think it just, for some reason, it was a new thing.

You know, there's a really weird thing about jim yeah tell me i have always felt uh a kinship you know we we were all comics at yuck yucks and he he went off and became you know jim carrey but i've always felt like there should be some moment where we sit together again i've bumped into him only once when I was doing a doc about him. And recently, about a year ago, he was on a queue with Tom Power. And he just casually mentions, hey, take it easy on Ben Mergey, which made me think, oh, he hasn't really known anything about me since 1992. Right. Right. You know, when I had a failed talk show. Right. But I thought it was very kind, and I thought, oh, isn't that interesting?

And I've always thought he and I would have a very good chat right about now. So, it's interesting. That was more than a couple of years ago. So, that was pre-pandemic he made those comments. And I played them for you when you were here to get your reaction to it because I thought it was wild. He was shouting out Ralph Ben-Murgy, my buddy, my rabbi,

but not that kind of rabbi. And then I did, like it didn't work, but I tried to tweet at him. I tried to tweet at Jim Carrey seeing if he reads his mentions, which I don't know if he does or not. But I said, hey, you know, Ralph's got a great podcast.

Would you zoom in and chat up Ralph Ben-Murgi on Not That Kind of Rabbi? And he did not reply. But I was thinking like you're thinking, like there should be a, I would love to hear Jim Carrey and you have a chat. Yeah, yeah, it would be cool. And especially because his thought there,

everything is meaningless. Like it's kind of completely contrary to your outlook on life where everything is interconnected and meaningful. Well, what I would say is when he says that, I think he's just trying to poke a hole in the absolute vacuity of Hollywood culture. Right.

It's just like, who are you wearing? In fashion, yeah. And I really think the designer should be hitched to the back of every person at these things. Oh, I'm wearing him. He's really good. Right. I mean, it's the stupidest thing i've ever heard who are you wearing i well yeah you're preaching to the choir there rabbi yeah so how are you like since we haven't seen you here in a few years how are you doing ralph ben murga i'm a shell of my former self. No, I can see that. How am I doing? You know, life is good. I've done, I keep doing things that interest me and I'm very fortunate for that. I did six months of working on

the Green Party of Ontario's election, you know, in a senior role as a strategist and communications and things like that. And how did that go? It didn't go as well as we wanted. We had great policies and really interesting stuff. And you end up with 18% of the Ontario eligible voters, 18% gave Doug Ford 75 seats in a massive majority. That's the kind of system we work in. First pass the post. Yeah, first. It's so inefficient.

It's just mind-numbing. So Mike got re-elected, Mike Schreiner, the leader. FOTM Mike Schreiner. Yes. And nobody else. We had a really good shot in Parry Sound, Muskoka, and didn't quite get there. But it's just for small parties that really should have better representation,

I don't care what party it is, there is no voice. So you end up voting to pick the best of the worst. Or you don't vote at all. You vote strategically for the party that has the best chance of defeating the party you don't want in power. Yes, but if you speak to people, majority of the time, they actually think that they're elect people, majority of the time, they actually think that they're electing the leaders of the parties. And they'd like to, for instance, you

could be in Toronto St. Paul's. For years, as a liberal, you won, period. If you get the nomination, you win. And yet people are thinking, I better vote strategically to stop Doug. I can't afford to vote for the Greens. I have to stop Doug Ford. He doesn't have a prayer of winning St. Paul's. Not a prayer. But you don't know that. And so that's even what's so-called strategic isn't strategic at all. It doesn't have any beneficial effect to what you wanted.

It's a terrible system. I'm with you 100%. And I guess a ranked balloting would would be is that the system yeah yeah bring bring dave meslin on he'll blow your mind okay he talks he talks so well about this stuff so yeah i did that uh i'm doing a show a tv thing for yes tv or uh called the spark i'm doing 26 more of them in about three weeks that's where i watch jeopardy there you go so i'm doing 26 more of them in about three weeks. That's where I watch Jeopardy. There you go. So I'm doing that.

So there's, you know, get half hour interviews with people. I should have you on. Yeah, I want to have you on actually. I think I'd be good. When do we, just be specific though, because there's going to be a listener or 2000 right now who's like, I need to see this Ralph show. And yes, Like how exactly?

I don't know when they put it on because I never watch anything. But you're not naturally curious when you're on the TV. No, not in the least. Okay. And I don't listen to, I'd be obsessed with that. Oh,

I'm 11 PM on Friday. I don't know. I've never been on the TV. What do I know? No, no. It's just like, okay,

let it go out there and somebody bumps into it. That's great. Okay. But that's cool. And it's on Yes, which is great because I'm just going to tease the fact that later in this convo, we're going to play five songs

that you brought to the table and talk about them. And we're teasing it because you said the magic word, yes. I did. Thank you. Oh, by the way, when Mike Schreiner became an FOTM, I got a note from Mike Schreiner's team saying, hey, would you chat with Mike?

And I said, yeah, I'll talk talk to Mike I'll talk to any Mike and uh I wondered did you have anything to do with that like did you suggest me or did you have anything to do or did that happen completely organically it depends when it happened when did it happen I have to go find out it happened during the pandemic no no okay no I wouldn't have I mean asked, I would have said, no, don't do that. Why waste your time? Why? Look what it did for Del Duca. Did he come on?

Yeah. God love him. He was in the back yard. The guy got run over. I did debate prep with Mike for his debate, the televised debate. And when you watched Stephen up there, it was tough to watch. He's actually, from what I can tell, a very nice guy. Might not have the elbows you need for the job.

But he got elected leader, and literally the next day, the pandemic officially began after the convention. And so he tried to raise money and revive a party when nobody could even walk outside. So I don't think it was easy. And let's remember that that was two provincial elections ago, but the consensus amongst Ontarians was to punish that party. Yeah, they got a lot of trouble right now.

They can't find their voice. They're leaderless again. NDP's also having trouble finding its voice i think you know and the dougie's just licking his chops enjoying the chaos oh my god what he's doing to this place i mean climate change alone it's just a nightmare what he's doing he truly believes that the only answer to everything is to run a business that's it you know just run a business those are the good people and you know that i know that his family business there is stickers and such and everybody knows if

you need stickers you go to sticker you.com okay that's a no-brainer i can't believe you actually do product placement during the interview that's no shame no no shame at all because quality stickers decals and temporary tattoos sticker you.com great supporters of this show. All right. So on that note, D decals, decals. That's the,

yeah. So, uh, on that note though, you're mentioning Dougie here. You know, we all know what happened with our mutual friend, uh,

Diane Sacks, where she was removed as, um, what was her title? She was the environmental commissioner. where she was removed as, um, what was her title? She was the environmental commissioner and she was fired because he wouldn't want anyone to actually think about the environment. Right. Uh, so then she ran for the green party in a university.

Rosedale, uh, ran a really good, hard campaign, but didn't win at all. Uh, and now she's running for city council in Toronto. So, you know, she's got for city council in toronto so you know she's got the bug she's got the uh election fever over there got the fever so mike schreiner who i liked very much and he did win he's an uh mpp in guelph yes uh so that's great he's got a voice he's there uh he's the unofficial opposition and he's a one-man opposition party. It's crazy how efficient he is at that. He's very... Look, that guy is the kind of person you want in politics.

And there are others, too. Everybody thinks, you know, politicians, you just... There's lots of people who go into it for the best reasons. And instead, we yell at them all day and tell them that we pay them too much. And, you know know it's really and yet 18 percent of people voting right 18 percent of eligible voters gave him a massive majority so it's a totally screwed system okay so hear me out where is he more effective as the uh

the lone green party voice at queen's park as mpp for Guelph, or, now hear me out, this is obviously never going to happen, so we're just dreaming in technicolor here, but Mike Schreiner joins the Liberal Party where he becomes leader and is able to form a government and lead a government where he has to, you know, he cast a compromise on a number of his platforms, but he brings his Green First friendly outlook to this party

that could actually win. Steve Bacon. That's where that came from. God love him. So tell me what Steve suggested. Steve wrote, yeah, Steve wrote it in his blog. Oh, I didn't, I missed that. I never heard of this Bacon guy, by the way.

Yeah, well, it's a thing. Is he all right? He's a thing. He's a thing. Yeah, so yeah, Steve wrote that in the blog. My response would be the Liberal Party should join the Green Party. They should be the ones who come into the green party because policy wise and um um vision wise i i i would strongly suggest that they're the ones who have it and that the liberal brand at this point in ontario um i have no idea whether they can make it back but trying to find the best leader

from another party to lead your party is not a good first step. Okay, but if the Liberal Party can't make it back... Then join the Greens. Make the Greens stronger. Give it the infrastructure. But as a voter guy, as a guy who votes in this province, essentially that just gives a majority to the provincial Conservative Party.

No, it doesn't. Look, nothing in politics is permanent or sacred. You know, Brian Mulroney had two massive majority governments, and then when he left the party, they got two seats. Right. And then they folded and disappeared as a party, and there had to be a new party made. So why not make a new party with the Greens

and with progressives from all over the place who want to realize that we are in a climate crisis and we can't be splitting up and dithering while this guy walks around telling people that the Highway 413 is the best idea, 10 billion bucks for a 30-second save on your commute, and more pollution. Just nuts. And more sprawl. And more farmland eaten up. More wetlands eaten up. You know, that's not the answer to things. We're in trouble.

And we don't want to think about it. Well, we are in trouble. But I heard Fred pass. So you mentioned you were on Humble and Fred this morning. I did. And you zoomed in from the Hammer. And I listened, of course. I proudly produced that show.

And I heard, I think after you left the Zoom, maybe you were jumping in a car to come here. I was. Fred said something like, how can we, you can't really, I don't want to misquote him, but it was something to the effect of like, how can I get all up about like plastics in the ocean

and Mother Earth and all this green stuff when I could get a call today that russia's using uh nuclear weapons against ukraine and we're all you know we're all here's my friend fucked here's how if we don't actually deal with the climate catastrophe that we're literally in the middle of. We just can't feel it because we have insulation in our homes and good heating. But if this thing continues at a pace that it is continuing at now, you will have climate refugees, resource wars for water,

the displacements of peoples all over the world. And if you think the Ukraine-Russia thing's bad, wait till you see the rest of it, because we really will enter into a space where our children will not be safe. See, I believe you. My carbon footprint is very, very small. I bike everywhere I can. I almost never drive. I did a little drive to my boys' hockey on the weekend, but very little automobile fossil fuel burning. I'm trying to keep my... Here, give me a badge of honor or something.

I'm a Boy Scout here, but I'm trying to do my part. But this past weekend, this is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. And, you know, I went for a nice ride on the Humber Trail. I did the whole, I think, 40K loop of the Humber Trail. I love that trail. And the trees are beautiful. Like just at this time of year, it's so gorgeous. And the weather was beautiful.

And I'm looking at the river and I see the red and orange and the yellow leaves in the background. And I was taking a picture and I was thinking to myself, like, wonderful world like this was louis armstrong was in my head what a wonderful world everything feels so damn good so how do you like you know step back from this like uh hyper local reality where you know i had my kids with me even michelle came from montreal we were all together you know we watched the terrible blue jay game which we can reference later but like life was felt so perfect and good and then you step back and it's like oh we're all gonna die well i think what it's a very good point you make and i think part you know the the part of the beautiful world is the part that were devastated by the third storm of the century in the last month and a half, the third storm of the century.

Right, it was sooner to be the storm of the month. Yeah, well, it is the storm of the month, but we're not there yet. We can't accept it. Right. And it's great that you ride your bike, but you are not personally going to be able to turn this ship around. Right, exactly. So it has to be a systemic change.

We have to come together. We live in a society where we're meant to pit against each other, compete for resources. But, Ralph, there's not enough Ralphs, like there's not enough Ralph Ben-Murigis out there. You're the 0.001%. Most people are just selfish, like, can i get to the cottage faster you know uh what's for dinner you know it's how did my team do on sunday they're asleep uh and they're addicted

to a life of material value but that's the vast majority well granted which is why you need people like mike and others who have vision well you, you need to have a vision of something better. I mean, I did 22 kilometers on my e-bike. Nice. Right? With my wife now. I turn it off as much as I can, but those are heavy bikes, man.

You know, hills don't love you. I've never rid one. Oh, they're fantastic. Check one out. For all those people who think, oh, I can't i'm sorry like when they hear you talk about your 40 kilometers and become nauseous and resentful all at the same time um those people can take an e-bike and hill what hill right you know they just

when you need the help it's there and when you don't you don't right downhill you don't need it uphill you might need it love it but that's that's great but that's not the answer that's only the downstream of the symptom the upstream is what kind of a life are we living you know where you everything is disposable nothing is sacred everything is just for your use and misuse and abuse that's that's where we have to start asking for better leadership and that's where we have to start trying to imagine what happens after and i talked with humble fred about this today what happens after extractive capitalism which is what we live with now we have two things going on extractive capitalism where you take take take

and we rip the resources out of the world and And when they're finished, you move on and find another place to rape. So that's what we're doing out there to feed our material addictions. And then the other side of this is, how do you deal with surveillance capitalism, which is now I write mattress in an email and I get 14 bed things. So that just continues our addiction to the material world. How about buying this? What's American Thanksgiving about?

It's about the beginning of Christmas mania. And why are we so, like why wouldn't we just say you pick one person in your family you buy them something it can't cost more than 20 bucks no you have to buy this i then i'm not showing everybody i love them right like what do you valentine's day is made by chocolate companies santa is from coca-cola i mean what the hell are we doing right right like we got to snap out of it all of us when you refer when you speak of extractive capitalism i just had like a ptsd

flashback of sorts where i remembered you ralph ben murgy in my basement with happy capitalism's own loose skis is recording an episode of not that kind of rabbi and it's interesting because you know and we'll talk about the direction that Not That Kind of Rabbi is going in these days with a gentleman who I've been chatting up quite a bit. We'd be Avram. Avram Rosensweig. Avram.

Okay, I only typed his name. Okay, Avram Rosensweig. Yes. Okay, nailed it. And before I just, but when I look back at all the episodes, which are wonderful, that episode was uh very um uh memorable for how awkward it was when you and lou faced off on the

you know climate crisis well you know i i think i tried to just get out of his way i mean i i didn't argue every point i i just thought I need to hear, like when you say the sun's thermostat is broken and this has nothing to do with us, I'm not going to go, oh, what are you, crazy? Right, you're going to hear him out. Hear him out and let people make up their own minds. I got a lot of feedback from people saying,

why didn't you fight more? And I just thought, what do I, this is what he thinks. Let people hear what he thinks if you have a critical thinking ability you'll make up your own mind about him right you know i i inside i was you know thinking oh my god how do you get there and he was thinking the same thing of me like oh my god does this guy not see that this is not, you know, it's fake? I mean, look how many people are running around telling everybody everything's fake because they can't handle, you can't handle the truth, Jack Nicholson.

A few good men. And this fuels the whole anti-vax, which of course in COVID-19 times has become quite the polarizing. I mean, I actually don't know if I know any, no one in my close circle anyways is anti-vax. Like, I know they're out there obviously. I have a family member who's anti-vax and it made for two,

over two years of just not seeing that subgroup of the family, which was very sad for me. But I had to stick to what I believe. Danielle Smith, who just got elected to the leadership of the party, she hasn't been elected by the people of Alberta.

She was like, what was it today? It's Alberta. The worst, the most put upon people ever are the anti-vaccination people. Wow. That is just... Well, that's offensive on so many levels. But the woman is now the leader of one of the largest...

What's the name of that party? The UCP, United Conservative Party. Yeah, Alberta's a whole different beast. That's, yeah, that's wild. On that note, though, Kanye West. You heard of this guy? 30 million followers. you heard of this guy 30 million followers so kanye who i believe to be a rather uh gifted producer and musician and uh no and yeah well so the art his art i think he uh produces uh

good art or has in the past i haven't heard it much lately but that's not to excuse uh his his thoughts and what he's been saying. But I do want to ask you about this as my rabbi, not that kind of rabbi. He got banned from Instagram and Twitter for anti-Semitism. And I mean, that whole, first of all, it's DEFCON, not DEATHCON. So the whole ignorance and he doesn't know what he's talking about and the whole going, I'm going to go DEATHCON on Jewish people. I feel that that we're and i want to hear your take on this particularly but uh because we've decided at least that i say the collective we like there's a bunch of us who get together and vote or something but kanye west is mentally ill therefore we should

ignore and disregard his uh comments because he's not well but this is anti-semitism we should not tolerate this on any level what say you you, Ralph Ben-Murgy? All right. I'm comfortable now. The mentally ill part is, that just means you're not supposed to take anything he says seriously, which I guess would also mean

if he says something that's actually smart, you shouldn't take that seriously either if he has no responsibility for what he said. But I think that what's more disturbing is the reaction out there that lots of people were okay with it and um the other piece of that is when you study the idea of anti-semitism and why people don't react like oh you've got you got, you know, every Jewish life matters, you know, it's because they actually perceive Jews to be just fine. They're rich.

They do what they want. They even control the world. No one gets pulled over for driving while Jewish? Right. Not around here, maybe. But if you walk, I would tell you, though, that if you walk around with a yarmulik, a kippah on your head, be prepared for somebody to walk by you and hurl an epithet at you. Don't kid yourself, it's real.

But the point is that anti-Semitism is perceived as, oh, look, they're fine, don't worry about them. Sarah Silverman said yesterday on Twitter, why is it that only Jews are standing up about this and no one else? And I think that's why. So what Kanye said was beyond reprehensible. It was disgusting. And yet this is happening all, like,

I believe there should be cyber police units who can arrest and lay charges on people who threaten death to women, who threaten hate and incite violence. There's none of this going on, but you can, if if you want find the ip addresses of the people saying these things and knock on their door and go hi you're under arrest for telling a woman journalist that every horrible thing you could possibly say to a woman including that you want them dead and if and that you're going to be the one to do it we We cannot be allowed to talk like this. We cannot. If you did this in a public forum, you would be arrested for insightful and death threats and all these horrible things. And yet here we are with this toxicity. Why? Because it sells things. The more negative and horrible the conversation, the more people are attracted to it, the more you can start to put your Facebook ads up and the more you can get Twitter sponsors up there in the middle of the thread.

So it's there to make money and it's killing us. These are the things that kill our moral character as people. At least Instagram, which is owned by Meta, which owns Facebook, and Twitter, which is owned by Twitter. Maybe Elon Musk one day. Who knows? But speaking of... No, they don't. Meta doesn't own Twitter.

No, Meta owns Instagram. So Instagram's owned by Meta. And Facebook. Yeah. But where I'm going, yes, yes, which is what I said, Ralphie. But she threw in... Twitter, because Twitter and Instagram, I was going to say, at least they did

de-platform the man when he uh shared this anti-semitism anti-semitism online like he was de-platformed right so what about the the 18 000 people who uh attack uh women journalists with the most profound misogyny? Did we deplatform them? Or do we actually say, you're under arrest. You threatened this person's life. If I walked up to somebody in front of a police officer and said, I'm going to be the one who kills you. I'm going to kill you, you stupid C, you stupid.

Then that cop would have to go, this, this is over and one hand behind you, please. And here's the next one because you can't do that. And yet we can do that. So it's horrible. Absolutely. And I'm with you, Ralph,

a hundred percent. I'm assuming that when, uh, somebody threatened somebody online that they've already taken the step to, uh, you know, use a VPN or a proxy server so that, you know, it's going to come up with, for example,

it might come up with an IP address on the other side of the world or something. But that's my assumption there is that nobody's actually doing it. So we make it so that those technologies can't be used to evade, right? I have zero tolerance. So on this show, if anybody expresses anything I deem misogynist or homophobic or anti-Semitic or racist, that's a third rail for me. I have zero tolerance for this hate rhetoric. Well, there's plenty of it out there.

Terrible, terrible. People who, you know, you've been on this show several times, Ralph, but i think it's only your third time you've been here in person so i just want to let people know that the uh let me see here uh on april 26th 2018 that was your premiere on toronto mic your debut and people can go to that that was episode 330 oh wow in the description i wrote yeah.30 and now it's 11.26 or 7 maybe. What is it, by the way? I think I might have said 6 and I think it might be 7. I'm going to Google it during one of our jams and find out what number this really should be. But I want to let people know the description I wrote at the time, which is that

Mike chats with Ralph Ben-Murray about his years at CKLN, with Ralph Ben-Murray about his years at CKLN, CBC Radio hosting Midday and Friday Night with Ralph Ben-Murray on CBC Television, Doing Mornings at Jazz FM. We talked about Mike McDonald who had passed away. Stuart McLean. That was amazing talking about Stuart. Fatherhood.

Hamilton and your spirituality. So that's everything, man. That's the A to Z of Ralph Ben-Murgy. And as you stated on episode 1,000, which was awesome that you contributed to episode 1,000, by the way. I don't know if you listened to episode 1,000. Did you carve out whatever it was, five hours and 40 minutes for episode 1,000?

Yeah, there was something about five hours and 40 minutes. You'll be shocked to listen. I'll bet you Steve Bacon listened to episode 1,000. All five hours and 40 minutes. You'll be shocked to listen. I'll bet you Steve Bacon listened to episode 1,000. All five hours and 40 minutes. I'll bet you anything. I'll bet you a lasagna from Palma Pasta. Okay. I'll bet you anything.

Okay, but why would you assume he would do that? I've known him for a very long time. I really don't think he would do that. During one of the jams, would you know him well enough that you could text him and ask him, did you listen to episode 1000 of Toronto Mike all five hours and 40 minutes? Could you do that, your jam? Okay, this is

exciting. I'm teasing things coming up. We're going to find out if Pei can listen to episode 1000. But thank you. But in that, you talked about you were hesitant to come on the first time, but I pestered you. Give me that story again. Well, you kept, I think you were dming me on twitter you just kept doing that i slid into your dms yeah and i just thought i don't even

know this guy like what does he want like what you know who are you but didn't i tell you what i wanted you wanted me to be on your podcast right what so what is that like if you don't know who someone is and you've never heard their podcast and they say you know and you're not mark maron like yes a person goes i don't know who this guy is i don't know what he wants i don't even know if he can do this and then i i came i don't even know why i showed up but then i came we did it and i i i thought that was fun i like that that was quite enjoyable but what made you get in that car you live in hamilton what made you get in that car come all this way it sounds like first

of all first of all the biggest difference between mark maron and i the biggest difference is that i'm inviting ralph ben murgy on my podcast and mark maron's not no he's not snot as you just he's snot yeah so uh why did i come come? Speaking of picking your nose, yeah, go ahead. I came. You can tell by the title of my book, I thought he was dead. So every once in a while you have to appear so people don't think, oh, he's alive, he's not dead. Right. So that was the reason I did it.

I thought, oh, well, maybe I shouldn't just go, nah, it's okay, standing is good. I just wanted to look at you, as the 2,000-year-old man said. And it was the dawn of a beautiful relationship. Well, you produce not that kind of rabbi. I mean, what more can I want? And tell me more about Avram Rosenzweig. Avram Rosenzweig.

Oh, my God. Okay. Zweig. Zweig. It is a bit tricky, you understand. Yes, it's an S and not a Z, so it okay, Zweig. Zweig. It is a bit tricky, you understand, like because... Yes, it's an S and not a Z, so it's not Zweig, like my friend Alan Zweig and my friend Michael Zweig.

But Avram and I have known each other for a long time, on and off. He ran Ve'a Hafta, which was a street program that helped people all over Toronto, a Jewish street program. It was wonderful. And I had him on one of my episodes of The Spark on Yes. And after that, I just thought, you know, I really, he's such a mensch, and he's so interesting.

And I thought, you know, why don't we try doing that for a while and not that kind of rabbi? I talk with him, and we just sort of see our world, mostly our Jewish world, around those things. So we've been doing it together. He's got his own podcast, which I think he's talking to you about. Yeah, I think he's going to rebrand it. Yeah, yeah.

I think that'd be great. But he's an important voice and a very sensitive and intelligent and insightful person. So I love it. And there was a hiatus, but now that Abram and you are, could we look forward to more?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not that kind of rabbi? The hiatus was mostly because the political work was like nonstop. I'll bet. I still do spiritual counseling and guidance with people. So I managed to keep that going, but that was about the only extra thing I could do

because it was, politics is a very hard taskmaster. the only extra thing I could do because it was politics is a very hard taskmaster. Can I say that I'm supposed to meet somebody in Liberty village at 1230. So, okay, well, you know, so what,

tell me this then, what is the minute you want to start your, the turn the ignition in your car and start driving there? What minute is that? You know, better than I from here. Oh, I would, I just,

it's a Liberty village. I think you got to give better than I. From here, how long will it take me to get to Liberty Village? I think you've got to give yourself 30 minutes. 30? No? Oh, my God. Okay, I better take it. I just feel like that's everywhere in Toronto. But what time is that again?

12.30? The joke is Toronto's 45 minutes away from Toronto. So I'm going to basically set you free by noon, okay? That's my pledge to you. That gives us another 60 minutes. Is that cool? All right, we'll be all right. We'll be okay. know worst case scenario is i have to cut one of these jams for your next visit here so let me do this and get to the jams because we'll continue our chat as we kick out these jams you my friend yes mr ben murgy you seem like a i bet you you're a smart investor like you

you like to plan things you you live a smart life, you invest well. That's my vibe, having known you for the last several years. Why do I feel you're setting me up for a Raymond James spot? You would benefit, in my humble opinion, you would benefit from listening to the Advantaged Investor Podcast by Raymond James Canada. It features insights from leading professionals and a valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable,

informed and focused on longterm success. It's a tough time right now for the market. So, uh, you know, staying aware and gaining the insights you get on the advantaged investor hosted by Chris Cooksey will benefit you greatly. But listen,

while you're subscribing to the advantaged investor podcast from Raymond James, Canada, I also want you, if you don't mind, Mr. Ben Marie, you subscribe to,

yes, we are open. I have a gift for you. Okay. You never got this last time, Mr. Ben Marie, that is a Bluetooth speaker and you'll,

it's, it's great too. Uh, I use one and it's courtesy of Minaris because they have brought you the, uh, yes, we are open podcast, which is hosted by FOTM Al Grego. He's telling the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the

face of overwhelming adversity. YesWeAreOpenPodcast.com is where you go. I just posted the second episode of season three. I posted it on TorontoMike.com yesterday, but you can subscribe, of course, and hear about Al and his travels, and he's talking to very interesting Canadian business people, small business people, and it's really interesting. You'd dig it. Thank you.

And, of course, you mentioned the lasagna, but you're also not, in addition to Palma Pasta, you got some Great Lakes beer going home with you to Hamilton that's available at LCBOs across this fine province. Hey, here's a personal question for you, Ralph. All right. Do you smoke weed?

No, I haven't smoked. Pardon me. That cough was right on cue. Yeah, I haven't. This is really good stuff. I haven't smoked in 25 years. I haven't smoked in 25 years, but we went into, because there are now 450,000 pot shops around.

Oh, you've noticed. So I went into one. We were looking for something for someone we knew for sleep. Right. Right, to help them. So I'd never been in a pot shop before and i went in and i you know of course my unconscious bias was that i was going to be met by um you know the uh the police oh the potheads man she's listening to some james not here man he's not here man yeah so i i went in and it was so like retail you know there was glass cases and like an apple store yes exactly like

an apple store there was a certain sterile environment to it. But the guy was very knowledgeable. And I said to him, you know, I smoked pot for 20, 25 years when I was younger. And at times I smoked it regularly. And I was always, by doing that, a criminal. Right. Right. If I acted oddly on a sidewalk, you know, and went booga booga, uh, then I could get arrested and they'd find I had pot and then I'd have my career would be over. Right. And I just thought, isn't this crazy? Because right beside me is a guy who's had eight drinks and is, you know, sitting on the, on the, on the side of the road. Cause he can't walk anymore, but I can't smoke pot. side of the road because he can't walk anymore but i can't smoke pot right because it's psychoactive it's subversive it's an act of you know tune in drop out uh and it was hilarious to me that i was

now in a store getting out my my uh debit card right to pay for these gummies that i you know here to you know my friend here take those it's supposed to help you sleep right and then there's the ones with thc and the ones without it and i just thought it is so hilariously unfortunate that we all spent our you know our three quarters of our life with this being something you're never supposed to do right shout out to nancy reagan yeah and now it's everywhere you know including psychedelics are making a huge comeback so it's all fascinating to me now i think okay recreational use of psychedelics i don't think has arrived in this country yet but i think there's some medicinal i think it'll happen it'll happen

i think you're right pot starch ketamine and yeah right. And mushrooms and like, I wrote in my book, and I thought he was dead, that it was a spiritual gateway to do hallucinogenic drugs, that you really get the fact that, like I said before with interbeing, everything is connected to everything, and we are all in the unity of one. And we have a snowflake kind of particularness to us. Each snowflake is different in its construction, but nonetheless, we are all part of that snowbank that is sitting outside in about two and a half months.

Beautiful. Now, when Tom Wilson was here recently... I love him. I turned him on to the Canna cabana location in hamilton he wrote down the address and he paid them a visit because uh yeah he uh he knows that canna cabana will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories see this is what i mean the whole idea that we're talking about pot will not be undersold it's like what how'd that happen how progressive right like how civilized it used to be like, you know, have you seen Chico?

You know? Yeah, he's in the basement of my friend's house, man. The deal is tonight, right? Well, this is so progressive and enlightened of us here. So, Ralph Ben-Murgy, you brought five jams for us. Listen to those harmonics. And yeah, yeah you know you used to watch maybe some pop-up video like anything you want to say like i'll bring down this fader to hear you but we're going to hear the jam we're going to talk about why you enjoy it and i want to hear your voice

whenever you're uh all right let's do the bass licks that happen in a bit of the vocal and then we'll come back අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි අපි សូវាបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានប� A man can see the moment's answers to the dream Staying in the flowers, daily sensing all the things As the foundation left to create the spiral name I move and regain and regard it both the same All complete in the sight of she's alive with you. I used to love this. John Anderson, Steve, I love this stuff.

And we used to go see Yes. A little tinfoil hash pipe and go see Yes. Do mushrooms and go see Yes. It was just a fabulous thing. And I loved Jethro Tull, Yes, Rick Wakeman. Didn't like Genesis much, interestingly enough, but I loved the British vibe, the mix of acoustic and synthesizer. And Yes was a very complex sound, right?

Educate me. This would be under the category prog rock. Yeah, progressive rock, right? So you have to have synth, heavy guitar, complex bass lines, and kind of English fantasy lyrics. Like if you break down the lyrics, it's like, what are they really talking about here? It's not like, I broke up with my girlfriend!

My heart's really broken! You know, here, go. And you and I reach out for reasons to Call home Now it goes nuts. Woo! I'm actually glad you're here because I feel this kind of music needs like a tour guide of sorts.

Like you need a guide to kind of walk you through these. This is a, you know, it's like seven minute long prog rock jam from Yes. It's just great to have you here to kind of help me appreciate it more. This is fantastic. Yeah, so when you listen to this stuff, it has a symphonic element to it.

It's like movements, right? We started off with a very simple acoustic harmonics being touched. And then he goes into this whole other realm of really like English Renaissance fantasy kind of sound. It's like an opera.

Yeah, exactly. And when you think about Queen, that's what they did. We're going to do opera. It was like, are you nuts? Yeah, no, we're going to do... So there's a majesty to this stuff. And when you're 17,

that can get you. It's got that the segments break down sort of like when you're listening to Paradise by the Dashboard Light or whatever and you're like oh there's five songs here well you know there was a lot more thematic stuff when people bought albums

instead of streamed singles like you had to come up with a beginning middle and end they don't do that anymore? yeah and the movement regained and regarded both the same Like you have to come up with a beginning, middle, and end. They don't do that anymore? Yeah. Now it's just the middle. And the movement regained and regarded both the same. I don't even know what the hell that means, but I don't care.

The seeds of life with you, right? Instead of, I love you, really heartbroken you're gone. I care about you a lot. Why don't you come back? The room is empty, man. The room is empty. Well, here's why. I envision a basement with wooden panels.

Yeah. Right? And then like a shag carpet maybe. Yeah. And you and your buds smoking dope and listening to. Totem speakers. Right. Like Pink Floyd, you know, where you just sit there and the sound moves from speaker to speaker.

Well, here's a new part. Hold on. Yeah. It's a refrain. Wow, here's a new part. Hold on. No, it's a refrain. Wow. And the best part is, and I think it's great, you still got four plus minutes left in this thing. Yeah.

Radio can't play. I guess album-oriented rock would have to play non-hits from album tracks. Would this show up on Chum FM in the 70s? Where would this go? Yeah. So Dave Marsden would have put it on, and he would have spoken like this. Right.

It was magic. See, now this is English folk. And there's the synth. Yes, sir. I'd listen to a podcast that was just you listening to prog rock and explaining it on stage. Sad creature nailed upon the colored door of time. Sad creature nailed upon the colored door of time.

What? Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme. There'll be no mutant enemy We shall certify Political ends Our sad remains will die Reach out As forward chase Begin to enter you And this song, for those who are wondering,

where do I find this? It's called And You And I by Yes. Not Yes We Are open, but yes. Listen to their bass. It actually has a bit of that Spirit of Radio Rush bass, you know, that little bit of Jamaican. I'm fine.

Little blues. So you're also thinking about Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery, going to see Jethro Tull at Maple Leaf Gardens and having Ian Anderson say, this is a rather lengthy tune, would you keep sliding from buttock to buttock? And then playing for 40 minutes straight an entire album. Wow.

Oh yeah, which had a whole story to it, then Tommy and The Who, and there was all these sort of big concept things, but the sound of this, of prog rock, is very much electric and electronic and synth, but also with acoustics, right? Yeah, it's beautiful. And you don't have to be high to enjoy it, but it helps.

I don't know anymore anymore because I still love it but how much of your love and I'm digging this too and I'm stone sober I wish I could crack open a GLB but it's not even noon yet here but I will say how much is you remembering being like a teenager like how much is just that time machine

of course but that's what music is all the time right right we went to see Blue Rodeo in Hamilton being like a teenager. Like how much is just that time machine? Of course, but that's what music is all the time. Right. Right? We went to see Blue Rodeo in Hamilton. And, you know, God love them. They played the hits. Because everyone is like emotionally attached to their music. People with Alzheimer's, if you give them a playlist from their life,

they light up. Because that is, the emotional content of music is enormous, especially about your own life. So true. John Mann, who sadly passed away from Alzheimer's, lead singer of the Spirit of the West. I'm actually doing an episode Friday all about Spirit of the West. And I was doing a little homework, getting prepared. And he was undergoing this music therapy in the last couple years of his life.

Which was basically, yeah, music therapy. Which was all rotated around music from his youth, yeah. So this is the ending. And you and I go over valleys of endless seas You think the love you never had might save you save you So Linda Ronstadt is about to do a duet with J.D. Souther, who is one of the most influential

California rock writers. They do this together. Listen to them together. Here we go. Touch it with your fingers And try to believe your eyes is it love or light

so you're keeping your distance a little bit of room around you here he comes again but if he doesn't return Here he comes again. Like a fool on a holiday There's nothing that you wouldn't try You must be free

This is a song with poetry. And it's about the loneliness of a life of fame. This nightlife is my life, but there's nobody else in it. And this song is called Prisoner in Disguise. Yeah. So there's going to be coming up a crescendo of harmony between the two of them

that to this day just moves me every time I hear it. But it's no show So you might as well go If you think you could win it Without losing And letting it show Listen to all the layers, right? It's a beautiful song.

The strings. The city is no place to hide in Everybody knows your number And you know that You could never be alone If you try Here it goes. You must be a prisoner Look just like a prisoner But you must be a prisoner in disguise.

Wow. That just... That wrecks you. Yeah. It's just, could you imagine having been in the studio in that moment and hitting those notes together and then just, you stop you got to look at each other like i feel so alive right now it's so beautiful and california rocked

you know the people who produced it and did it the eagles and ronstadt all these people just did such amazing stuff you know graham parsons it's It's a whole genre. Jackson Brown in that group. Jackson Brown, of course. Jackson Brown lived above the Eagles. Right. Literally. I was hoping we could chat a little bit about Linda here because I feel she's underappreciated. Oh, she

is one of the great vocalists of American pop culture. So I brought this to the table, not Ralph, everybody. This is just a little something from Linda Ronstadt and Homer Simpson to give you an idea how good she is, okay?

So just a moment. This is how good Linda is. Ain't it funny How time slips away Like she actually makes Homer sound really good and I feel like that's a gift here. Yeah and she was a woman in a man's business

right? And genre bending too like she could do country, she could do pop she could do folk and I interviewed her once and the cameraman had this thing of this

3D camera and what he would do is take pictures of people and so he had them when he did it to her she was like hey I did not say you could do that and it was a very uncomfortable moment but I totally heard her you're now going to be able

to profit off the fact you took my picture with a 3D camera. And you didn't even ask me, man. I'm not an object. I'm a person. She's had major health issues for years now and hasn't been able to perform. So it's really, I cherish that song, Prisoner in Disguise. It's just, to me, every time I hear it, I love it.

And when in your life did you first hear that? I'm just trying to get a time frame. I would have been maybe 18, 19, 20. I used to live in an apartment with a couple of other guys who were really, one of them, an excellent musician, Michael Zweig, who plays right now with the Guess Who. But Michael, so talented, great guitar player. And then Eric Weinthal, who was also there

and played really great guitar. And we would just sit around in a circle with Dave Frisch, Ella Gottlieb. We'd all sit in a circle and sing together all these songs. Wow. I learned how to poorly play the drums uh through uh hotel california i just kept playing that over and over and just trying to do what henley was doing uh and then i play these guys and and the drums and different you know um it's so easy to fall in love you're

no good you know boom boom boom boom boom boom and yeah i loved california rock still do still do i put a spell on you Cause you're mine You better stop the things you do I ain't lyin' No, I ain't lyin' You know I can't stand it

You're runnin' around You know I can't stand it. You're running around. You know better, daddy. I can't stand it. So here we're listening to Nina Simone. I remember once at Jazz FM, there was a workshop for vocalists, jazz vocalists. And there's a lot more women in jazz vocals than men. And one of the women said, you know know how am I possibly going to stand out with all these women who can sing jazz too

and I said that's not your job your job is to be authentically yourself as much as humanly possible and she said well what do you mean I said, is there another Nina Simone? There's only Nina Simone because she is speaking her truth. So when you listen to her now, you can really hear there's only one Nina Simone. I'm going to shout out the excellent documentary, Whatever Happened to Nina Simone, which is great. Great. Any chance we're going to hear you on jazz FM anytime soon? Next week and the week after I'm doing the morning show next week. And then the week after a couple more days and then three days on the

afternoon show. Amazing. Before we wrap up and I promised you a wrap up by noon here. So we're still good. I need to find out all the many things you're doing currently because it sounds like we haven't mentioned yet your CJN podcast which Mark Weisblatt will be upset if we don't shout it out hold on Nina's talking

so I'll I mean that's I put a spell on you, and of course I'm just going to put in the background the guy who made that song famous. What is the name of the podcast you do for the Canadian Jewish News? It's called Yehupitzville, which is a Yiddish word for, actually, ironically, it used to mean that you were going to the big city from the small town, the shtetl town

you would go to Yehupitsville, it would be Krakow or Kiev or wherever but these days it means out in the middle of nowhere, so where does that person live? The boonies I should subtitle it the boonies for our Gentile friends. So I interview people from all across Canada

and sometimes not Canada about how you keep Jewish life alive when there's hardly any other Jews. Oh, like Humble Howard in Moose Jaw. That's right, exactly. He was on Yehupitzville. Okay, that'd be perfect. He talks about how there was like

two Jewish families in Moose Jaw. He was the last bar mitzvah in Moose Jaw. Wow. Yeah. After that, nimmer. They said, no more. This isn't working here. Yeah, so I just did Niagara Falls, which was really interesting.

Barbara Frum was from Niagara Falls. Eddie Greenspan was from Niagara Falls. I mean, there are little pockets of... Grace Bay in Cape Breton was a thriving Jewish community. It's still there. How many people of the Jewish faith, approximately, I don't think you'll have an exact number, but approximately in this country,

how many people of the Jewish faith are there? I think it's about 1.1% of the population of Canada. I'm guessing the overwhelming majority is in the GTA. 186,000 in Toronto. And then you go much lower numbers for the rest of the country. Then you get to Glastonbury. Then you get to Glastonbury. Then you get to, I did two guys in Sioux Lookout.

Two Jewish guys in Sioux Lookout. Love it. Yeah. By the way, screaming in the background just in time for Halloween, of course, is Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Screamin' Jay. He's going to bring us into your fourth jam here. I'll put a spell on you. Because you're mad.

Because you're mad No idea why he's mad. Oh, I love this one. I'm sitting here lonely like a broken man I serve my time doing the best I can Walls and bars, they surround me But I don't want no sympathy No, baby, no, baby All I need is some tender loving

To keep me sane in this burning oven And when my time is up to be my reaper Like it's worth on a God's greener Be my reaper God, keep smoking that flame No, no, no, no, no No, no, no, no, no Love it.

All right, tell us what we're listening to, Ralph. Grand Funk Railroad and Inside Looking In. No, Inside Looking Out, not Outside Looking In. And it's about a guy in jail. And I didn't love a lot of heavy rock, but there was something about Grand Funk that was just... I mean, it's this close to parody,

but I love it because it was, they were sincere, right? I remember I went and saw them at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, and they were great because they got a blues thing going underneath stuff right okay to my ears i hear like a little like three dog night maybe or maybe well that's his voice his voice is going you know what about our boys uh blood sweat and tears oh no no nothing like that i wouldn't say that. Too much brass in that. Okay. Blood, Sweat, and Tears is one of the best jazz pop fusion bands ever. But no, but these guys were just, they're more like Southern Rock, like the Allman Brothers.

Right. Right? But with a little, a little more. Like the Doobie Brothers before Mike McDonald. Yeah, that's right. You belong. Yeah. Okay.

In Doobie. There's no rocket science to this song. It's straightforward. And, okay, I like it when you paint your picture. Here it goes. Here it goes. Digging it, buddy Now, luckily, we have some time in this song Where I can ask you a few more questions Just because we're trying to catch up here

Sounds like you're doing well But how is the health? Because we all read in your book I Thought He Was Dead About some health scares you've had in the past How is your health, Ralph and Mergy? It's good. I'm in pretty good shape.

I do a lot of exercise with my wife, and she motivates me to keep doing better. And so the marriage is strong. I'm here to ask all the personal questions. Of course. Even though you're 40 years older than her, I'll always love you. 40 years old. It feels like that sometimes. No, we had our last sons, the youngest son's bar mitzvah this year.

So, here he goes. Come on I'm digging it Ralph I'm digging it See my wife is a My wife is a metal queen Shout out to FOTM Lear The white snake And you know

All this stuff And Motley Crue And I'm just like What song is this? But this was as close As I got to it, you know. It was just a fun song. It was a long song. Yeah, no, everything's good.

Okay, so that makes him 13. Okay, so you're younger. He's 13, the other one's 17, and this is his last year before university. Right. He wants to go away for university, and I'm already sad. I'm like, oh, really?

You want to stay? Do you know where he wants to go? Well, I'm taking him to a tour at U of T tomorrow. So we'll see if he likes that. Oh, you count that? Okay, because that's a short drive for you. Oh, yeah, yeah. But, you know, I don't want him to go too far. But, you know, he's looking

at different universities and stuff and we'll see what he does. And remind everybody because you and I have the same deal going. Two kids from a marriage and then two kids from another marriage. Yeah, 36 and 33. Okay, and everybody's well? Yeah, the 36-year-old has my two grandkids there.

Nice. And he lives in Hamilton, not far from us. And my other one lives in Toronto. And he's got, I guess you'd call it a stepchild. And yeah, he's 33. And yeah, you know, you know what it is. When you have kids, you just try to hold on and tell them you love them and let them do their journey.

Okay, so to the checklist here. So the kids are good. The marriage is good. The health is good. How is the hammer? You were famously quoted in the Toronto Star as calling it, I think you called it Brooklyn of the Brooklyn. People in Hamilton don't like that.

You know what? Hamilton is about to have a mayoral election. Andrea Horvath wants to be the mayor now that she's not finished with the NDP, so-called. And this other guy, Kenan Lewis, is from the Chamber of Commerce. But Hamilton is going to have a big change because the city council, a lot of incumbents aren't running. But it has the potential for so much right now. And I'm not just talking about building more condos, but it needs more bike lane. It needs more flourishing of arts.

It needs a lot of love right now. And there's also the poverty as opposed to the people who are well off, the east side, the west side, the mountain, the east mountain. There's too many enclaves. It needs to come together more. But it is so much less stressful to live in a place where there's not three million people walking around. But I miss the vitality and the energy of Toronto. We go in, obviously, once in a while.

I've spent almost all my life in this city. We go in, obviously, once in a while. I've spent almost all my life in this city. So sometimes I'm like, you know, when I'm in Hamilton, I tell you, if I need to go somewhere, I'm there in 10 minutes. If I'm in Toronto, it's a logistical event. You know, how the hell am I going to get there in less than 40 minutes? I hear you, buddy. I hear you.

All that stress dissipates when you use the e-bike, though. Oh, I love the e-bike. Even here. But I don't feel safe without bike lanes that are safe. I hear you. I hear you. Amazing. Have you considered running for a city councilor yourself there in Hamilton? No, I wouldn't want to be a city councilor.

You know, whenever I think about running, I always think people don't realize how hard the job is and how much of your family time it takes and how hard it is on you. And yet, I've spent a lot of years now giving other people a voice. Right. Right. So, I never know. Sometimes I think maybe there's a by-election Right. So I never know. Sometimes I think, well, maybe there's a by election coming in Hamilton in my riding, maybe. And then I think, I don't know. I mean, do I really want to be yelled at because I didn't show up at the Polish festival, you know, because it

was the eighth day in a row. Somebody expected me to show up at night, you know. But I do think that we need stronger voices on climate. We need stronger voices on social good and poverty and disability and all these things. So who knows? Maybe I'll help somebody do it. Thank you, Toronto. I love you, Hamilton.

Love you, Mimico. New Toronto. I love you Hamilton! Love you Mimico! New Toronto! Take finish! Ah So this is Bacha Levine And what she's saying is, source of all life is close to all who call out, to all those who call out in truth. So if you're sincere in your life about connecting to the flow of life

this can happen and there'll be a part where there's this isn't Hebrew but there'll be a part where it's called a nigun which is just you'll hear it I love that nigun in this one And that is truth. I am Sobhacha sings in New York City. And this kind of thing can be done circular as chant.

And when you get to the... You let go of trying to control and think through things and does that lyric appeal to me? And you just end up in the emotional state of being and you let go, you just let go. So that's about being in the truth. If you seek in truth, part of that is stop defending yourself with, oh, well, I don't know if I believe this or all that rational stuff. Let it go. Let it go. Half of life is irrational, non-rational. Irrational, non-rational. Irrational has come to mean crazy. Non-rational means leapfrog over your defense system and let your soul speak. Amen. ¶¶

So you can hear this could have just as easily been an aboriginal song at this point, right? Because it is grounded in soul. Lovely. You know, people say, when I do oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, oh, I, prayer. That's what it is. How are you doing it? What are you praying for by living this life? I don't know. Wow. Ralph, do you ever wonder where your life would be right now without your spirituality? Yeah. Yeah.

You'd be like Jim Carrey. No, Jim's got a heavy spiritual life, man. Right. He did a valedictorian address that I saw online. I don't know how old it is. But he's really trying to reach people's hearts in that audience of kids, you know, to say, be yourself, go for it, do the thing. Uh, he, I think he thinks a lot about the metaphysics of life and, you know, when you've been that famous,

you can really get lost and never come back. But, you know, he became a painter, like a real beautiful painter. And so I think he's always looking for his real voice regardless of what people want him to be. But where would you be? And my apologies to Mr. Carey for misrepresenting his spiritual beliefs. My apologies.

But here, just before we play some Lois of the Low and then get our photo taken our photo together for the first time in years ralph years so excited about this uh i just when i talked to you it's like i realized like how how much better your life seems to be with your spiritual uh perspective on things like i really do refer to you as my rabbi but not that kind of rabbi but where would you be of rabbi. But where would you be without it? Like, do you ever wonder, like, what if I didn't believe in anything? You know, I think I've always been a seeker, a curious person about these things. I grew up in

a traditional home, came from North Africa. We had, you know, we stayed tight as a community. It gave us a lot. We spoke the same language. We had the same rituals, and we grounded in that. And then I did what everybody does, well, most people do, which is to say, I don't need any of this. Let's go get a cheeseburger. I'm not into this. We're out of here. But it just kept calling me back. And for me, it's like, but it just kept calling me back and for me it's like how can people not wake up in the morning and think why am i here what's the purpose of this how does this work what can i do what's what is good what is evil you know what is in me what isn't how do i cultivate it so for me it's always been something and i had to really i think the biggest thing in the way of a spiritual life is our fear, i.e. our ambition,

and our ego, that we just can't afford to be vulnerable to the experience of it. So for me, I dig it like this. Ralph, we can't let another three or four years, whatever it's been, we can't let all that or four years, whatever it's been, we can't let all that time go by without another in-person recording. So I'll see you here next week.

I'll be upstairs in the kitchen eating, vociferously. Eating your Palma Pasta lasagna. Exactly. While doing my can of cabana with a sticker on my forehead with a beer on the side. And then I'll die so that Ridley can pick me up. Oh, my God. You got it all worked out here.

And you are, by the way, episode 1126. I just want to make sure. Why do these things matter to you so much? Numbers matter. It's the only way I can track it all. We managed not to talk about the... Oh, the Blue Jays. Heartbreaking Blue Jays.

I had it in my notes and I actually skipped it because I didn't feel like it. But any final words about the Blue Jays 2022 season? It had... I watched so many games. I love baseball. So it broke my heart. But you know what I found hilarious yesterday

was the Mariners were up 7-3. Ended up losing 8-7. Instant karma, John would say. Yeah, and I said, oh, that's so much for him. We can come back from anything. But no, I just love baseball, and it didn't work out. And there's nothing you can do about that. You never know on what day that you bring in tim mesa and it's all fine and the next

day you don't right right who knows and that play the uh three yeah the three run double if you will uh i mean i played in my younger years when i was faster uh i did play shortstop in a slow pitch for a competitive slow pitch team and my feeling on that from beau bichette's perspective is he's got to go for that ball until George calls him off. Yeah, except when you're running full speed, both of you can't really hear the other guy. It is supposed to be

the center fielder's ball because they catch it running forward and you're trying to catch it. Sure, but he's got to call off Bo. Yeah, well, who knows what happened on the field. I feel like we would know if he just didn't hear the call and that would have been revealed, or somebody would disclose that, so we don't all hate on Bo all winter. But I don't blame Bo for that.

No, no, look, I mean, remember this guy, he's 23, 24? Yeah, they're young. You know, he's 30, or 33, actually, soon, Bo, Springer. But I love the team, and a real baseball fan doesn't come and go with every win and loss. Every pitch is interesting to me. I'm with you, man. Next time we'll do a deeper dive into what could have been there.

But it was a blink and you miss it postseason. I got my wife Monica on the bandwagon just in time. She's wearing all the gear. She's there for two games and it's like, okay, go Leafs go. Yeah, no. That doesn't happen to me anymore. It doesn't work for you, no. I don't do the Leafs anymore.

And that brings us to the end of our 1,126th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMike. Ralph is at RalphBenMurgy. Follow him. What's, is it Ralph? .ca. But that's your website, so.

Yeah, that's got everything. The book, the website. So go to ralphbenmergey.ca. Buy the book. I don't know. Do everything Ralph, man. Sign up, subscribe to all his podcasts and rate and review them and do all that important stuff.

How about the great Ralph Benmergey? He's our beloved rabbi, but not that kind of rabbi. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Moneris is at Moneris.

Raymond James Canada are at Raymond James CDN. EPRA are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canna CabanaH And Canna Cabana Are at Canna Cabana underscore See you all tomorrow When I'm visited by The Bicycle Mayor of Toronto

Two places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down On Chaklacour 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 And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. It won't go away. Because everything is rosy now.

Everything is rosy. Yeah. Everything is rosy and gray. guitar solo