Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - #TOAST22 Radio Jams: Toronto Mike'd #1374
Episode Date: November 27, 2023In this 22nd episode of Toast, Mike is joined by Rob Preuss and Bob Willette as they kick out radio jams. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After... Dark, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. 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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All right.
Just toast.
I remember this thing.
Don't think about it, so.
F-O-T-M's.
Do you know what time it is?
It's...
Three, two, one.
Toast time.
Toast!
Featuring Stu Stone, Cam Gordon, and Toronto Mike.
That's the best.
I love it.
Yeah, just toast. I love it. Yeah, it just does.
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Today, returning for the 22nd episode of Toast,
is Rob Pruce and Bob Ouellette.
Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo.
Bob, you were late
do you want to explain yourself
I left the east end of Toronto
at 6.15 normally
that would be plenty of time
45 minutes is more now I can get here
in like 20-30 minutes no
not this time I
ended up it was like almost a full hour
55 minutes to get here is that because of the rain
yeah the rain maybe
like people leaving the downtown core Yeah, the rain. Maybe people leaving
the downtown core
after the Santa Claus parade.
I don't know.
Okay, a long time ago.
But I will say,
I was kind of thinking,
oh, it's raining,
and we were this close
to kicking out rain jams.
We were going to do rain jams.
How amazing would it be
for it to be raining
while we kicked out rain jams?
But we're not kicking out rain jams.
No.
Bob, since you're the only one who's, I think you're the only one who worked in this profession.
Worked?
I still do.
Unless there's something you want to tell me.
Okay.
But you're, okay.
You're not on the air anymore.
You're in management or something.
But what are we kicking out today?
Doing some radio jams.
Radio.
Yeah.
Do you guys feel what I felt, which is there's so many good radio jams?
There is a lot.
And I also wanted to go off,
you know,
go off the beaten path.
So I think there's going to be
a lot of quote unquote
Hansening happening.
I was thinking the same thing.
As soon as you said it.
See?
A lot of Hansening.
Yeah.
Is that a verb now?
Hansening.
A lot of Hansening.
I mean,
there's so many like
iconic radio jams that will
not be kicked
out.
Right.
And right now
we're not kicking
out a song that's
not getting kicked
out.
That's of course,
and I'm surprised
because Bob
Willett worked
at CFNY and
this song Spirit
of Radio, that's
CFNY.
But I am a
horrible Canadian
because I don't
get Rush.
You're not alone.
My brothers don't get Rush. None of my wives got Rush. Well, women don't get Rush. I just don't get. You're not alone. I don't get them. My brothers don't get rush.
Yeah, don't get them.
None of my wives got rush.
Well, women don't get rush.
That's fine.
No, no.
Generally speaking.
So I've never seen Rush live, but is it like a complete sausage fest?
I would imagine so.
Or some guys drag their wives against their will.
I think the wives, yeah, they get dragged along.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Is it sexist to suggest that women don't get rush?
Probably, but I think there's a
modicum of truth there.
If there's a woman out there who gets Rush, let us
know and then we'll stop saying this nonsense.
Not just gets, but the
veracity in which men
love. Men love
Rush. Just as you were
saying that, it occurs to me that guys
love Rush the way people who love
jazz love jazz. Oh yes, very true. I just thought of that. Yes rush the way people who love jazz love jazz oh
yes you know what i mean very true yes yes i was actually with a jazz head last night oh yeah yeah
and when they love jazz they all fucking love jazz you were with james b last night yeah i was
hanging out with the world famous james b the world famous james b no a friend of mine did you
know sylvia tyson's uh son that she had with Ian Tyson was in
Look People with James B?
Nope. That's a fact.
Add that to the mind blow.
Yeah, that's something
that people are going to be talking about around the water
cooler tomorrow, as they say. Forevermore,
when somebody mentions either Look People
or Ian in the Four Strong Winds,
it'll be...
Oh, YYZ Gord, who can say this.
Okay.
He has license to say this, everybody.
He's not sure about the gays either.
Do gay people, gay men, I guess, since women are already eliminated from the Rush fan club.
Yeah.
Do gay men, and we can't speak to this, right?
Do gay men like Rush?
I can speak anecdotally as a man who ran the gay radio station.
Yeah, that's true.
You're an honorary gay.
Yeah.
Anecdotally, as a man who ran the gay radio station.
Yeah, that's true.
You're an honorary gay.
Yeah.
As a staunch ally of the community, I can say with certainty that while 1039 Proud FM was on the air, there was never a Rush song played.
No requests either?
No, not once.
No.
Okay.
So it's for heterosexual men.
Yes.
Okay.
Great song by The Odds, by the way, as well.
Heterosexual men. With the kids in the new kids. I almost called the new kids in the block. With the kids in the hall in the video. Yes. Okay. Great song by the odds, by the way, as well. Heterosexual.
With the kids, new
kids.
I'm going to call the
new kids in the block
with the kids in the
hall in the video.
That's right.
It's great.
Love the video.
Love the song.
Love it.
But I will dedicate
this to Rush Mike,
who I hope to see at
TML X 14.
I need to know this
because I'm setting up
an interesting thing.
Will you two be at
TML X 14 on December
9th between noon and
3 p.m.?
I'm doing as far as I know right now. I mean, between noon and 3 p.m.? I'm doing it.
As far as I know right now, I'm a yes.
As far as I know, I'm a no.
Oh.
I'm sorry to say.
Fuck you, Rob Bruce.
We could have had all four of us, right?
We're out of the other room.
Okay, so this is the idea.
That's what we're waiting for, right?
I got four mics.
Yeah.
And I was going to do a thing, Cam and I and Rob and Bob.
And why not, Rob Bruce?
Well, I have some prior commitments the day before
which preclude me probably getting here in time.
Yeah. But
now that I say it, I'm thinking about it because
it would be... It would mean a lot to me. I know it would.
It would mean a lot to me too because I kind of...
At one point I was really hoping I could make it happen
but I'm going to actually think about it this week.
I don't think I can, but if I can, I will.
That's very nice of you. I know.
Look, I realize I'm neither gay nor a woman, but I will tell you, I like this song very much.
I like the song, too.
I like the song as well.
Here comes the cool part right here.
Here comes the cool part right here.
Yeah, I like it.
But, like, what is that?
I don't even know what that is.
Like, musicians, really good musicians know what that is, but I don't know what that is.
Oh, now you get, come on.
Really good musicians.
What do you mean?
You don't know what that drum fill is or whatever?
Yeah, there's certain type signatures that they do that I don't understand.
Jazz people, same thing.
My friends who are the jazzers and the poggers.
And here's the reggae part.
You know, this is reggae, man.
Did you see Alex Lifeson came out at the Tool show and played with Maynard James Keenan here in Toronto?
I'm not sure I fully get Tool, actually.
Oh, I love Tool.
But I like Sober.
Yeah.
But Tool guys would kind of laugh at that, I would think. That's a big hit. They'd be all glamorous and all this. Yeah, well, you know what? I like Sober. Yeah. But Tool guys would kind of laugh
at that, I would think.
That's a big hit.
I like the video, too.
The thing with Tool,
there's about
half a dozen songs
I love by them
and then everything else
kind of sounds the same.
And I think that you
say the same thing
with these guys
in a way.
And with jazz.
Yeah, with jazz for sure.
I mean, no offense
to anybody who loves
their specific genre,
but people who don't
know it as deeply, it can start to sort of wash away.
A little free jazz for like an hour.
It's like, okay, enough already.
And I saw Whiplash, okay?
Right.
I would love to hear if there's a little piano comes in, though.
Okay, no piano.
That's kind of cool.
So who played the piano was the question.
Probably Geddy.
Geddy would have, right?
Yeah, with the bass.
Or Hugh Zime, probably, because he plays keyboards as well.
You know who knows?
James Edgar knows.
James, let us know who the heck is playing the piano.
Okay, so we're not kicking out that jam.
No, we're not on the radio, James.
I have a catch-up question for each of you.
I'm starting with Bob Woodlett.
Bob, can you tell us about what it was like to be at that Eastern Final?
The Argos laid an egg and were hammered by the Montreal Alouettes.
And this is, again, just a little context.
This is all in the rusty...
I did a deep dive into Wake Me.
It's all in the opening of that
because I watched this game thinking,
let's get to the Grey Cups
so I have something to watch.
And we sucked.
You were there.
What the hell?
It was horrible.
Here's the thing.
I was very impressed in general
as a longtime Argonaut fan.
It was a sellout.
And there were lots of people under 35 there, which was
great. So I'm like, okay, that's what this league
needs. That's what this team needs. And there were people
were pumped. They were all like people who had
never been to. I talked to a bunch of people
while tailgating. I talked to a bunch
of people who'd never been.
They'd never been. Yeah, my dad used to come
and this is his shirt and blah, blah, blah.
And it was great. And in the
very first drive of the game,
they gave up that 99-yard pick, and it was pick six.
And I was like, oh, well, that's not good.
But that's okay.
Just nerves, nerves.
And then it just went all to shit.
And it was one of the most painful things I've watched live in my life.
I hear I was a bit of a pill.
I can imagine.
I had a few pops,
and I enjoy yelling things at games
to make people laugh,
and that quickly turned into
I enjoyed yelling things
to make people more angry.
Every time you go to a game with me,
we win.
It's true.
We have a good record.
I should have brought you.
I was hopeful. Are we doing this? Do you want to have a drink? I'm thirsty. I should have brought you. You know what? I was hopeful.
Are we doing this?
Do you want to have a drink?
Well, I didn't know if you were going to finish that sentence.
I never finish a sentence.
So you mentioned Pops of the alcoholic variety.
So crack that open.
What do you got there?
A lager from Great Lakes Beer.
I got my lager.
I love my lager.
I love the lager.
Okay, you do it.
Octopus wants to fight.
Okay, so this is Rob Pruce's first Octopus Wants to Fight.
Okay, and I'm going to burst.
Is that a sour?
No, these are IPAs
and that is, you got your
lager there. They're very popular.
You notice I took two lagers out for Bob
because I know how he rolls. Because I'm an alcoholic.
Let me have a sip. I'm a functional alcoholic.
Okay, so I felt really bad.
It was bad, but the Grey Cup was great. I went to the Grey Cup
as well. I had already had tickets to that.
It became a Green Day concert with a football game around it.
But the football game turned out to be amazing.
It was a great football game.
And the Argonauts got beat by the Great Cup champs.
So there you go.
Anyway, so that's my...
That never worked for me.
I never felt better knowing that my team lost to the eventual champion.
If anything, I would always root against the team that beat us.
Like, you know, fuck you. I hope you feel the pain you made us feel. Yeah. I'm not as angry as you.
You're a bitter pill. I'm a different kind of anger. You're a jagged little pill. Jagged.
Shout out to, I was reading, Leslie saw Jagged Little Pill down. Have you seen that, Rob?
No. But you're like, you see everything. Next, I'm going to Bob, but you guys see everything.
Yeah, no, I have friends. I have some friends who have done the show and have been on tour with the show in the
States and did it on Broadway, but I kind of didn't have any interest in it.
I heard it was good, but I don't know.
I just, even though I've worked on musicals like that.
I have not yet.
No.
No.
I heard it's all right, though.
Yeah.
My daughter is currently obsessed with Six, the musical.
Yeah.
The kids love Six.
The kids love Six, the musical.
Yeah, that's her.
She's going to see it. Is that about Toronto? Six? Yes. It Six, the musical. Yeah, that's her. She's going to...
Is that about Toronto?
Six?
Yes, it's about...
Yes.
Okay, so I'm playing a little Sky Diggers.
A, because I actually...
It's not a radio song, everybody,
but I love this song so much,
and I heard it live last night in Hamilton,
so I just want to...
It was kind of cool.
I went to Hamilton, saw the Sky Diggers.
They were amazing.
I was in the front row, soft seat theater.
It's like the first...
I can't remember being...
First Ontario place or something? Or first Ontario... No, man. I wish I could have row, soft seat theater. It's like the first, I can't remember being.
First Ontario place or something?
No, man.
I wish I could have been at Westdale Theater or something like that.
Oh, wow.
I know, I know.
And it's like, I sat the whole time until the very end when everybody kind of stood because no one was standing.
And I thought it was weird.
I find it strange when you go to a concert and you sit the whole time.
Yeah.
It's weird.
How were they though?
Were they good?
I've seen the Christmas show before
but at the Horseshoe
which I liked better
because I could stand
and it just seemed
whatever
but I dug the Skydiggers
and after the show
I saw Tom Wilson there
and I think it's funny
that the one time
I go to Hamilton
I'm in the same room
as Tom Wilson.
Tom Wilson's wife was there.
I got to meet her
and she confirmed
that Tom will be at TMLX 14.
Oh, wow.
So Tom is confirmed.
She's apparently controlling his calendar,
and it's in there.
Meanwhile, a woman goes up and says,
Toronto Mike, I want to introduce myself.
And I'm like, oh, this is nice.
Who's this?
My husband is Steven Brunt.
Oh.
Okay.
So I'm in Hamilton,
and Steven couldn't be there.
He was dog sitting or something.
But Steven Brunt's going to TMLX 14.
Okay, this all went down last night, by the way.
Do you know there's a Skydigger Spoons connection?
Do you know the Skydigger Spoons connection?
Can I think about it?
Josh Finlayson is involved.
Okay, tell me then.
Our drummer, Derek Ross, ran a label called Enigma Records,
and he signed the Skydiggers.
Oh, wow.
It was his record company.
I think he might have
managed them as well,
but yeah,
that was one of his
first signings.
It was Skydiggers.
It was Skydiggers, yep.
Andy Mays is an FOTM.
I said hi to him after
and I had a note on Twitter
from Paul Myers
to say hello
and talk about the Cabana Room
and I did that
and he's like,
oh, the Gravel Berries.
It felt like I was right in there
in the Toronto music scene.
Look at you.
I know.
I don't know how I
finangled my way in, but I'm hanging off Tom Wilson and Andy Mays, but
I'm there now.
Okay.
So, great show in Hamilton.
Skydiggers.
Your next Rob Pruce.
Yeah.
What's going on with you and White Eagle Stonefish?
My new friend.
My new friend.
I met her on, well, I met her for the first time yesterday, actually.
She is an indigenous
elder in Burlington.
She works with the mayor. I think the mayor
has taken her on
as far as a representative for Burlington.
She works with Tom Wilson.
Isn't he the mayor of Hamilton?
You said Burlington.
This is Burlington.
This is Burlington.
Also, Tom Wilson is not the mayor of Hamilton. On July 1, this is Burlington. This is Burlington. Oh, this is Burlington. So on July the 1st, it was-
Also, Hamilton's not the mayor of Hamilton.
On July the 1st, it was Burlington's 150th birthday.
And I played at this outdoor event.
And she was there as the indigenous representative for the city.
And she gave this blessing and this kind of talk.
And I was listening to her thinking, this is unbelievable.
It was so beautiful.
And so I just sort of wanted to know her and get to know her. So I told her that I was listening to her thinking this is unbelievable like it was so beautiful and so I just sort of wanted to
know her and get to know her so I told her that I was going to be in
Burlington this weekend and so I met her and we sort of
just talked about stuff and it was really cool to meet her
yeah she's like my age but she's considered
an elder because we're old
you know but she's like
okay well I consider you an elder
I am
I'm actually the youngest guy in the room I like that
that's new for me
you are the youngest guy in the room. I like that. That's new for me. No, that is true.
You are the youngest guy in the room.
That's what happened for me. We covered the Argos.
We covered the White Eagle, Stonefish, and Rob Proust relationship.
And I wondered if you guys had any thoughts on the passing of Matthew Perry.
He died since we were last together.
I was a huge Friends fan when I came.
I loved Friends when it was out.
By the end, I think I was done with it.
I think most people were.
I always thought he was very, very funny.
I have seen, since he passed,
so many of these videos of him,
like out there of him talking openly
about his addiction issues
and his mental health issues.
Yeah, just sad.
I mean, there's also,
ah, man, TikTok's funny, man.
TikTok gives you, like, you end up, the algorithm
gives you some really interesting things.
Oh, yeah. I'm not on it, so I don't know this.
Oh, man. I'm on it, but I've never posted
on it, and I don't follow anybody.
You're a lurker. Yeah, I'm a total lurker.
I'm a total lurker. Rob, are you on it? Nope.
But it's interesting because
there's, like, an entire world
of, like, in the same vein of, of like people who think it was like he knew this was coming.
Oh, yeah, because of the way his Instagrams beforehand and people are dissecting.
People, the tinfoil hat community is strong.
But they're on all social media platforms.
But TikTok gets you faster, I think.
Wow.
Yeah.
I believe the line I saw was like, no, I didn't see that on TikTok.
I see it two and a half weeks later
like an adult on Instagram.
I wait till it hits Reddit.
Yeah, right.
I get it all on Reddit.
All right.
Yeah, we've been discussed.
We did a Ridley Funeral Home Memorial segment
about I talked to Bill Brio
and we talked about the passing of Matthew Perry.
But, you know, he had that Canadian connection.
And his mom was working with Pierre Elliott Trudeau
and then with Gord Martineau on Global News.
Did you guys know this?
I did not know that.
Gord left city for a cup of coffee at Global
and was anchoring the desk with the mother.
Oh, wow.
Matthew Perry's mom.
Suzanne Perry, I want to say.
Sure.
I think so.
And then, of course course the famous stepdad
kind of a interest all very and he's a big blue jay fan and i didn't watch friends but even i
knew that there was no not even a little bit like i i was there for the first episode because
it was must see tv and i knew them all from different things like i'm like oh he's sandy from
uh growing pains like i knew them all from different things. And the first episode,
I said,
oh, this isn't funny.
And I never,
I was,
I moved on.
But I knew he had
a blue jay cap
in all his office.
Yeah, his cubicle.
Yep.
It's not a radio jam.
Although maybe.
I don't know what it's about.
Do you know what it's about?
Radio Bob?
Is this connected? Yeah. Connection. Connection. I don't know what it's about. Do you know what it's about? Radio Bob? Is this connected?
Yeah.
Connection.
Connection.
Right.
Elastica?
Right.
Correct.
And she was dating one of the Gallagher brothers, if I recall.
Oh.
It's a great song.
Big Edge 102 Jam.
Oh, big time.
Yeah.
Big time.
What was her name?
I don't know.
You dig it up while I tell you, because you have a device with Google on it. Dig it up. And I will tell you why I don't know. You dig it up while I tell you because you have a device with Google on it.
Dig it up. And I will tell you why I'm
playing this. So I kicked out
jams with Al Grego. We discussed
season five of Yes, We Are Open
and it's always great when Al is on the program.
And we were talking about IT jams
like we kicked out Information
Society because we were trying to think what's
an IT jam. Pure energy. Right.
Yes, exactly. and then we uh
openly we opened it up like hey if you know a good it jam let me know and ian service our very own
ian service says this is an it jam connection i got it yeah so there i thought i'd just be
the lead singer and which gallagher does she date i'm guessing it's Liam. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's Liam. Anyway.
The handsome one. Come on. That's right.
I got a note from Robbie J
speaking of Edge 102
or 102.1 The Edge as I believe
they changed it very quickly and I forgot to
update my brain reference.
That's three years.
Yeah, okay. Because I still think it's called
Edge 102.
Yeah, Robbie J says,
Radio Love Song was always my favorite radio jam
to slip in at the end of the hour
to get bonus CanCon.
And he's pretty sure that they crafted it that way
as like a shorter song you could sneak in.
Kind of like Song 2 by Blur, maybe.
So is it underwhelmed?
Is it a minute 50? No, it's a good and everyone. Good and everyone. This it Underwhelmed? Is it a minute 50?
No, it's a good and everyone.
Good and everyone.
This is a Sloan song
that's a minute 50.
I swear, I think we played it
every day on the
Humble and Friends show.
Yeah, because you got
two minutes to news or whatever
and it's like you can't
throw in a four minute song.
Nope.
Makes no sense.
And another song
that's going to get,
so again, we're going to talk
about some Hanson-ing here.
So Radio Love Song got Hanson,ing here. So, radio love song
got Hanson,
but Garnet Barnsdale,
he was at a TMLX
at Great Lakes one time.
He's a good FOTM.
He says,
video killed the radio star
by the Buggles.
There's your radio jam.
Yeah, absolutely.
We Hanson that one too.
Yeah, for sure.
That was like
top of my list.
But there's so many
good radio jams.
So,
do you want to get
straight to the jams here?
We're drinking our
Great Lakes beer.
How is that Octopus
Wants to Fight, Robert?
It's really good.
It's got a bite.
Yeah, okay.
After your second one,
you'll be sleeping here tonight.
I'll put the kids to bed.
There you go.
But then you have to leave us.
That's right.
Besides, I think I heard
somebody come in.
I'm just going to assume
that person came in.
Everything's okay up there.
It's Tyler.
Some bearded guy came in. I could hear him. I'm sure it's Tyler. I'm just going to assume that person came in. Everything's okay up there. It's Tyler. Some bearded guy came in.
I could hear him.
I'm sure it's Tyler.
I'm not going to worry about it.
Okay.
So could you imagine?
Monica, you're not listening,
are you?
Okay.
So we're going to go
straight to the jams.
Rob Pruce.
Yep.
Something happened.
I teased this before
I pressed record
and Bob didn't hear it
because he was a little late
due to traffic.
But something happened
with our jams
that has never happened before. And I'll kind of share the reveal when we get to a little late due to traffic. But something happened with our jams that has never happened before.
And I'll kind of share the reveal when we get
to a jam that's relevant here.
So, please,
any words before I kick out your first jam?
Your first radio jam.
No, it's sort of a selfish radio
jam, and it occurred to me right
out of the gate.
This song came into my head, and
I'll tell you why.
Maybe you want to play it first.
Boom. Boom.
I'll fix it in probably.
Yeah. Thank you. The downtown and the penthouse, the money and even For all the times you turned their backs
You turned their backs
With everything I give to you
I play the game and open something free Radio Heaven.
I don't even want you to tell us who this is.
I want Bob Willett to guess.
Hmm.
I was trying to come up with a smart-ass thing.
Were you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why start now?
I said smart-ass thing.
That's all I do say.
This is your former band?
Yeah.
Honeymoon Suite.
Which album is this from? This is an album called Bridges Over Borders. Yeah. Honeymoon Suite. Which album is this from?
This is an album called Bridges Over Borders.
Right.
And so it's funny.
When it started, I didn't recognize it.
But that radio.
I was like, oh, right.
I don't know if this was a single.
It might have been a single.
I feel like I know it.
And I don't know it.
Oh, you didn't know it?
No.
That radio.
I do recognize that.
So I think it might have been.
Yeah.
It might have been like a third or fourth single maybe.
Exactly.
So this was a song
That came on
Their album
Bridges Over Borders
In 1986
And
You say they
I have left the band
Well you're not in the band
I'm not in the band
At this point
Everybody this is
Spoons
If we weren't clear
Because I joked about it
Being home this week
That's right
Spoons post Rob Pruitt
So who's on keyboards here
So Scott McDonald
Is on keyboards
Derek Ross
Who I just mentioned
Is signing the Sky Diggers
Derek and I left the band In the beginning of 86 So Scott McDonald is on keyboards. Derek Ross, who I just mentioned, is signing the Skydiggers.
Derek and I left the band in the beginning of 86.
And Gordon Sandy had been sort of, we had just started negotiations with Anthem Records to like sign a deal with them as management, record company stuff.
And Derek and I left the band.
And they went on and we had been working on all these songs for like the last year and a half before that. So this was a song that we
had been working on and sort of we've been on the road
a lot in the last year that I was in the band and I was
sort of getting sick of being on the road and we weren't really recording
and stuff. But this song was always
like a song I think of because I was a part
of creating the song. So do you have a writing credit
on it? No, I don't. There was only one song
on the album I had a writing credit because they took a piece
of an old song and then sort of reformed it.
But I always thought this was
kind of a cool song. It is a cool song. We demoed it
like in the days when Derek and I were still in the
band, we were working on this song
and kind of crafting it and we played it live and
stuff. But now it's me
post spoon. So I thought of it because it's my old bandmates.
So you're 86.
So you started like, I believe you were like nine years old
when you started. I was nine.
So when you left, like 86, how old were you?
I was 20.
You're 20 and you've left.
You're done.
I was done.
I'm moving on.
My midlife crisis.
I was like, I got to get out of this situation.
I were on the road too much.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So this album came out just before I joined Honeymoon Suite.
And I remember that they were working on this record and I was sort of like, oh my God,
I left the band and now they've got a new album.
And like inside, I was like, oh, what if it, I left the band and now they've got a new album and I, and like inside I was like,
oh,
what if it's like a huge success
and I'm going to really regret this.
But,
Radio Heaven.
Okay,
so now I need to ask my famous
Schodenfreude question.
Is there any part of you
that is relieved
that Toronto Mike,
many years later,
would say he doesn't know this song?
No.
I know,
that's why I'm asking.
It's like a deep cut.
No,
I think it's,
like,
like what if this song had all the big,
big fucking hits
and it was like,
oh my God,
spoons and they break
and they break in the States
and then, oh my God.
Like, you would,
I mean, of course,
you root for your friends,
but there must be a part of you
that is like,
okay, they peaked when I was there.
Like, they've already peaked
and now there's no new peak to Conquer.
Well, I would say
as far as like a larger public perception, we sort of peaked with it. I mean new peak to Conquer. I would say as far as a larger
public perception, we sort of peaked
with it. I mean, you look at 40 years on, the songs
that get the most play were the songs that were
there when Derek and I were there.
But for the diehard fans, they
loved all, up until even the
music that they make today, they still love it, which I
am really happy about that because
there are devoted listeners, which I think most
bands want. You want to keep making new music and you want people to support you,
even though you're like past your heyday,
because the heyday has to keep moving on,
you know?
So I appreciate them in that way.
Like I would listen to this record and be sort of nostalgic and sad and
happy for them at the same time.
You know,
I think I know why I know this song because it's the B side on the 45 to
be alone tonight.
Oh, was it really? Yeah. Okay. It's the B side. So we would have had the B side of my 45 to Be Alone Tonight. Oh, was it really?
Yeah.
Okay.
It's the B side.
So we would have had the B side in my house.
Sure, sure.
My dad used to DJ with 45s.
Okay.
So that's where I would know it from.
Yeah.
So it was...
And Be Alone Tonight was one of the singles
and they did a video for that.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Be Alone Tonight was the single.
But yeah, yeah.
So this is the B side and that's how I knew it.
Gotcha.
That's very interesting.
Very interesting.
This is also interesting.
I think we butchered the whole fun fact
about Elastica and Oasis.
Okay, so Basement Dweller says that she, what was her name again, Rob?
Justine Freshman.
She dated Brett from Suede and Damon Albern from Blur.
And then we talked about Song 2 right away, which would have been a better segue if I had known that ahead of time.
So I'll have to fix that in post as well.
I've got some work to do tonight.
There is a bonus jam. Actually, no, I
brought in the bonus jam. Okay, because there's a question
from a listener for the next toast.
So I'm going to play this. world today just for the part of it I know
you're gonna
like what you
see
changing the
thrifties
cause thrifties
is changing
with you
changing the
thrifties
thrifties
this anonymous
listener who doesn't miss a toast.
This is the question.
You ready, Rob?
Yep.
Was the Thrifties ad a shark jumping moment for Spoons?
I wouldn't say it was completely a shark jumping moment.
In hindsight, it seems very shark jumpy.
In the moment, it was like corporate sponsorship was sort of a new thing.
Michael Jackson had done Pepsi right at that same time.
And there weren't a lot of,
there weren't a lot of people doing that stuff.
This was 1985.
And we were getting out of like a management settlement thing.
And we,
it was like a good financial thing for us to,
to have done at that point.
So it seemed like a good thing.
And we were like,
I guess we're going to get free clothes and we're going to get,
be on some posters.
Hopefully some money,
right?
We got some money.
Yeah.
We got some money for it. We got to have all these clothes and we're going to get, be on some posters. Hopefully some money, right? We got some money. Yeah. We got some money for it.
Um,
we got to have all these clothes and we wore posters in the stores and our
fans were like the right age buying that shit,
you know?
Um,
hindsight,
I'm like,
no,
no,
no.
I probably wouldn't have chosen to do it.
How much money?
I don't even remember.
It was enough to settle a man.
Not enough to remember.
No,
you remember a decent amount of money.
I'm sure it was a decent amount of money,
but the money had like 10 grand. Is that what? Oh no, it was probably more than that, but it was definitely money. I'm sure it was a decent amount of money. It was a decent amount of money. But the money had nothing to do- What, like 10 grand?
Is that what we're talking about?
Oh, no.
It was probably more than that.
But it was definitely money that I didn't see.
It was not money that was coming to us.
It was going, flowing through us to settle a business thing.
You know what I mean?
One of those kind of deals.
And I didn't pay much attention in those days when I was 18 or 19.
The interesting part, you say you look back now.
Yeah.
And you wouldn't do it, though.
Those kind of partnerships, especially with the band being there at point of sale,
with the band being in the store
and the deal being played in the store,
hopefully, if that's part of it,
that's worth its weight in gold
more so than the money is.
That exposure to those people.
The problem was that at that time
we didn't have a new album
and we were sort of in limbo
with our American record label and stuff.
And that song that we played was one of these songs that we were writing waiting
to do a new album really so the money so because we didn't have any sort of record company support
at that time that's sort of what it was um but then we did a video like a commercial that was
played you know like during the june awards and all that stuff and we didn't even play on the
song gordon sandy sang it but there's these studio dudes like played it all it was like their
impression of the spoon sound so i had nothing even to do with the song you Gordon Sandy sang it, but these studio dudes played it all. Oh, really? It was like their impression of the spoon sound,
so I had nothing even
to do with the song.
I was in the video,
but that was it.
So I mentioned,
I played a little bit of
I Will Give You Everything
by the Skydiggers,
and while I was watching
Skydiggers live,
at some point I saw
my phone was beeping off
pretty good,
and I had several people
tell me that they're watching,
because I tweeted,
I was in Hamilton to see Sky Diggers.
They were watching the Leafs game
on Hockey Night in Canada
and there was a Hyundai ad
using that Sky Diggers song.
Oh, wow.
So I haven't even seen this ad yet
because I was watching them live.
These days,
licensing is where everything is.
Licensing is everything, right?
And I keep thinking,
why doesn't anybody want to use
romantic traffic for a car commercial?
After all these years,
I'm like, Gordon, Sandy, come on.
Give it up.
Seriously, I don't care anymore.
I saw Lady Gaga doing a drug ad on something recently. I'm like, what the hell? She's singing for
your current head and toes. When Amy Milan from Stars was here,
she was joking, why can't a skin
care line,
one of those big skin care makeup companies
do ageless beauty?
She's like, please, buy our
song. This is a big revenue stream.
So you guys were just ahead of your time.
But I like that comment about shark jumping moment.
It was still shark jumping.
Yeah, for sure.
All right.
Thank you for your honesty, Rob Proust.
Now, Bob Ouellette.
Yes.
Any words before your first radio jam?
Because you are the radio guy of the three of us.
I know.
A lifetime in radio.
A lifetime in radio. A lifetime in radio.
No, just play it and we'll talk about it after.
Oh, we're going to sing it, right, Rob?
You want to? This is a sing- I didn't even think of this one.
Because it's not in the title.
I run a comb through my head
And step out in the street
And the city's
the color of flame
It's on a
heat of morning
Jennifer's got
her daddy's car
She's playing up down on the stereo
We go cruising so close
The way they did long ago
But now let's turn the radio up
All that sweet sound
Hold me close, never let me go
Keep me spinning left
Make me lose control.
Baby, baby.
When I look in your eyes, I go crazy.
Fever's hot with the last down low.
So take me over the edge, make me lose control.
That's a big jam.
Eric Carman.
You're bringing the heat today.
Great song.
Wow.
Yeah.
You know,
what year did this come out?
This was 88.
Top three.
It's like a number one song
from 88.
Top three overall
on the Billboard 100.
You know,
he came off
the Dirty Dancing soundtrack
with Hungry Eyes.
And, you know,
that's a long time
between hits.
I mean,
Oh, yeah. You know, if you go with that 87. Yeah. And, you know, that's a long time between hits. I mean... Oh, yeah.
You know, if you go...
Was that 87?
Yeah, well, no.
I meant...
So, like, 87 he comes with...
Or 86 or 87 with Dirty Dancing.
Yeah, yeah.
But before that, All By Myself's the 70s.
75, 76.
Yeah, like, I don't think he's got any real big radio hits there, ironically, as we're
talking about radio.
Yep.
And then he comes out with this with his writing partner, Dean Pitchford. Oh, yes.
Dean wrote all the songs at Footloose, I think, as well.
Dean, so that's...
You just got my mind blow.
Stealing his thunder. Yeah, you just got my mind blow.
So this was...
This was on
the album...
What was the album called? I can't remember now.
Oh, yeah.
Hungry Eyes was before in 87.
And yeah, the beginning of this video is interesting.
He actually features a DJ from where he grew up.
No way.
Yeah, and he starts the whole video,
and it's kind of a throwback to the old T-Birds.
The whole video's got a whole Grease kind of feel to it.
But yes, so the other big song that Eric Carman wrote with Dean Pitchford
is indeed from the Footloose soundtrack.
Which one?
It is the Love Song.
Are you trying to beat mix here?
Stand by.
I'm going to make a stand by.
Love theme.
Which is called Almost Paradise.
What a big fucking jam this is.
Mike Greeno.
Yeah, and Ann Wilson.
Yes.
Almost Canadian.
Yeah, this is a great.
I love 80s ballads.
I had this cassette.
It was a big fucking jam.
I don't think I've ever... Eric Carman and Dean Pritchard.
Crazy, eh?
Yeah.
That was a good...
I was like, oh.
So that duo had two monster hits.
Yeah, huge.
Wow.
Yeah, like as the writers...
You know what?
This is a mind blow.
Yeah.
Even...
Eric Carman wrote this.
I don't think anybody knew this.
No.
No.
Oh, how could I have known
That all my life I only needed you
The dance right after the...
Oh, almost paradise
When I get on heaven's door
Almost paradise Paradise, we're looking on heaven's door.
Almost paradise, how could we ask for more?
I swear that I can see forever in your eyes.
Paradise.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the dance floor for the first time as husband and wife.
It's like totally 80s weddings for sure.
Oh, for sure.
Shout out to VP of sales who wants us all to know that Eric Carman's gone full mega.
Does that make you like the song any less?
I'll say it always taints it a little for me. I can't watch Charles in Charge because of Chachi.
He's gone off the rails.
Not that I would ever
watch Charles in Charge.
Right, right, right.
Can you watch
Happy Days?
Yeah, I was there
for night one
of Joni Loves Chachi
because I loved Happy Days.
I was there, man.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I was just...
The video for Weezer,
Buddy Holly,
at the end with Al.
Not so good, Al, because he was the one who married Chachi's mom.
Right.
Remember?
No, not at all.
Like, Al, I believe, Al.
Al married Chachi's mom?
Yeah.
There's a fact I would never get.
If you watch Joanie Loves Chachi, it's actually Joanie and Chachi
and Chachi's mom and dad.
Al is the dad.
Mrs. Arcola?
Yeah.
And wasn't she?
I think so.
Tell me more.
The mom.
Chachi's mom.
Let's just say Chachi more.
Chachi's mom, I believe, is the mom of Ralph Macchio, Daniel's son, in Karate Kid.
I think so.
It's the same actress.
In your mind it is.
In my mind it is.
So can somebody,
because that's a Google
I don't have time for right now.
I'm going to trust,
who will I,
I will trust VPSLs with that task.
Maybe Basement Dweller.
First come, first serve.
Cambrio, by the way.
Hello to Cambrio.
Hello to YYZ Gord.
Hello to Rosie.
Hello to Leslieville.
And hello to Basement Dweller. Yeah, Sean Cassidy
had a few successful Eric Kerman
covers. Basement Dweller wants you to know.
So I'll keep my eye on the live chat. Live.
TorontoMic.com. But I think that's the
same actress. Chachi's mom
and Daniel's mom in
Chachi's mom. The
not quite as popular 90s song instead of
Stacey's mom. Fountains of Wayne. Chachi's mom. not quite as popular 90s song instead of Stacy's mom with Fountains of Wayne
Chachi's mom
it's got it going on
yeah so
this is a good line
so I've
every time
well not every time
but I've often wanted to do
kick out the jams
with like
with ballads
like I love
I love
I love 80s ballads
like somebody
I was actually talking
to my jazz friend
last night
who is his jazz friend you've alluded to three times now I went to Jamaica with him and I was actually talking to my jazz friend last night. Who is his jazz friend?
You've alluded to three times now.
I went to Jamaica with him and his wife last year with my wife.
Does he have a name?
Yeah, his name is David.
David Allard, if he's listening.
Sounds like a jazz guy.
Yeah, he actually is a marketing guy for Campari.
For a jazz label.
For a jazz label.
He wishes.
That would be his dream job.
But I was saying that it's almost like comfort food right he i said i he said it's like comfort food i said you're right
i said listening to 80s ballads for me is like eating a whopper like it just i just it just
feels right i know what to expect and i love like i will often i have playlists on my spotify and
on the way home from kingston where i'm radioed out you know and i like and I'm away home from Kingston where I'm radioed out, you know, and I like when I'm coming
back from my radio stations, I will throw on
80s ballads because they just
they're sort of an extension of
the 70s. What people call
now they call yacht rock. Yes, right.
It just occurred to me that it's sort of like the
next generation moved along
from that. That's interesting. Yeah, yeah, I got that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, so there was my first
one. No, I liked it.
I liked that mind blow.
Make me lose control.
Finally,
what is it,
the 10th time
you guys have done
Toaster Eleven?
I've done Mind Blows now.
Eleven, yeah.
But you really got
the hang of it now, Bob.
I'm just saying,
I'm proud of you.
I'm fucking proud of you.
Like I said,
if it's on Wikipedia.
Tyler, let me know
if my kids have gone to bed
or not.
Okay, thank you.
Just throwing it
into the universe.
I'm going gonna kick out
my first radio jam
you guys ready
ready
ready
ooh I feel the hot wind on my shoulder
And the touch of a world that is older
I turn the switch and check the number
I leave it on when I slumber
I hear the rhythms of the music
I buy the product and never use it
I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand just what does he say
I'm on a Mexican radio
I'm on a Mexican
radio
Before I get to
Mexican radio,
we have,
I had,
it's not the same actress
playing those two characters,
but there's a mind blow here
to be found.
Okay,
so in Joni Loves Chachi's
and Happy Days,
of course,
Chachi's mom is played by
the sister of John Travolta.
Oh.
Her name is Ellen Travolta.
Really?
Oh.
Meanwhile,
this is kind of a better
mind blow than mine.
Okay,
so Daniel's mom
on Karate Kid, the original, the good one I love very much, was played
by a woman who went on to play.
We have Mad Men fans in this room, right?
Okay.
I've been talking a lot about Mad Men lately.
Huge Mad Men fans.
Mrs. Blankenship.
What?
No.
Yeah.
That's a fucking fact.
Unlike my false memory, non-facts here. That's wild fucking fact. Unlike my, uh, false memory, non facts here.
That's wild.
Okay.
Mrs.
Blankenship.
Uh,
she's an astronaut.
I believe Bert said there,
that was quite a scene too.
Yeah.
Passed away.
Wow.
Born in a,
yeah.
Like an amazing,
sure.
Something.
Wow.
I just looking at Ida Blankenship here.
Sorry.
We're all over the place today.
That's typical.
And that's Daniel's son's mom.
Yeah.
Randy Heller.
Ellen Travolta, who is the Happy Days, Chachi's mom.
Wow.
So, again, I just, you know, to me, I don't know if this is racist or what.
I think all Italian women look the same.
I'm sorry.
This is...
Is it right?
That's right.
What does Daniel have in common with... You know what? Okay. It doesn't matter. Mrs. Blankens? That's right. What does Daniel have in common?
Okay, it doesn't matter.
Mrs. Blankenship, Mad Men.
Wall of Voodoo.
Yes.
This is their jam.
Okay, I'll give you $100 in my pocket right now.
Name a second Wall of Voodoo song.
Nope.
There's a $100 bill.
Rob, who wants to say who's got a second Wall of Voodoo song?
I think I only knew this because isn't it on one of the CFNY compilations?
Probably.
I had a compilation called Left of the it on one of the CFNY compilations? Probably. It's on a net.
I had a compilation called Left of the Dial, which wasn't CFNY, but it was that kind of
Alt Rio.
It was on that.
But many people know this because Kramer belts.
Remember when they reversed the peephole?
Yeah.
Because the peephole, you can see inside, they reverse it.
So while he's installing his reverse peephole, he starts singing the song, I'm on a Mexican.
So Kramer on Seinfeld
sings Mexican radio.
That's funny.
This is a true
one hit wonder
because Wall of Voodoo
only has one single
that ever hit the
Billboard Hot 100
and this is it.
Mexican radio.
But when you know it,
you never forget it,
which is the beauty
of a one hit wonder, right?
Yeah.
It's from 1982.
It was a hit on MTV and of course
Alternative Radio.
It was on their second album called
Call of the West, which came out also
in 1982.
It peaked at number
18 in Canada.
Really? On the regular
cross-country charts? Yeah, the Canadian
charts, whatever we got going on charts. Yeah. The Canadian shirts,
whatever we got going on here.
So this song is about,
it's truly about radio,
right?
We should maybe talk about why these are radio songs,
but yeah.
Border blaster radio stations.
This is like,
uh,
they,
they can,
they're,
they're on the,
they're in Mexico and they have,
they can be heard in,
uh,
parts of the United States with their strong signal,
but they can play whatever,
like there's no rules.
It's Mexican radio
and you can pull it in
and it's kind of funky
and different.
And we have that same thing
in Kingston right now,
actually.
There's a signal
that's from New York State.
Not from Mexico.
No, not from Mexico,
but same idea.
And they don't have to adhere
to CanCon rules.
Not in the least.
So they don't play spoons
every hour like you guys do. No. I don't play spoons every hour like you guys do.
No.
I don't play spoons every hour.
I'm sorry to say.
But no, we don't.
They don't.
You know what?
It's called The Lake.
And it was just bought by the people who own the MyFM radio stations.
Okay.
And here's the thing.
Is that John Paul?
I think so, yeah.
Because he's an FOTM.
So maybe.
I don't know.
Well, let's say it is. All right, sure. Until I'm corrected. Do you's an FOTM. So maybe. I don't know. Let's say it is.
All right.
Sure.
Until I'm corrected.
Do you know how...
I can't remember the name of the town.
So just on the other side of the border for Kingston.
Guess how much an FM signal cost?
How much?
$350,000.
That's it.
That's it.
I should own my own radio.
I should have bought it.
You can get three AM stations in Hamilton.
Three AM stations for under $500,000.
Under $500,000. I heard that. Yeah. One in get three AM stations in Hamilton for under $500,000.
Yeah, one in Windsor, two in
Hamilton. Including Cham.
It costs so much to run AM.
Yeah, really.
Now, speaking of AM, so that song
we just heard, Mexican Radio,
they wanted to emulate the sounds
of AM radio. So many of the song's
instruments, including the
synthesizers, Rob proves,
they were played through amplifiers
rather than being recorded
directly through the microphone.
I can hear it in his voice as well.
Yeah, for sure.
He's got that sound, right?
To come through a little radio.
Now, not of mine.
I mean, Bob thinks I do this too often.
But I do like to play,
because Bob's like,
oh, you're doing this again.
This thing you do.
Home easy, Mark easy.
This for you, baby. No, no joke. do.
This is South Park Mexican, also known as SPM. kitchen. Ha, yeah. Roll Cadillacs never lie on wraps.
Smoke killer herb till my lungs collapse.
Lost two grand last night shooting crafts.
Then I hit a Ritz and bought a few laps.
Just got a letter from my old best friend.
Doing 25 in a federal pen. Want to come come home But he said until then
Could I look over his three children
They wake him up at 5am
For Froot Loops
Draped up in white overalls
And black boots
Used to drive a lag
Sipping gin and juice
Now we need money
For some chips and soups
Run around town
With a sack of rocks
Polo shirts with a matching socks
Mom, I promise one day I'ma stop
I'ma grow up and be an astronaut
I'm on a Mexican radio radio
I don't know if it was worth the wait, but fuck it, here we are.
I'm waiting for it.
Here we are.
I didn't know it was that.
Why are we listening to this?
I forgot it was this. I actually don't mind it. I know. I actually kind of like that. I didn't know it was that. Why are we listening to this? I forgot it was this.
I actually don't mind it.
I know.
I actually kind of like that.
I kind of like it, too.
I like the vibe of that.
Yeah.
What's the guy's name?
Sorry.
South Park Mexican.
South Park Mexican.
Is that the name of the song or the guy?
The guy.
The song is called Mexican Radio.
That's pretty good.
Yeah.
I want to do a little research on South Park Mexican.
Yeah.
They call it SPM.
I did.
I had to do a little research on South Park Mexican. Yeah, they call it SPM. I did a little research myself.
SPM.
Now I'm going to...
Just a little something something here.
This is for Midtown Gord. I feel a hot band on my shoulder
And a touch of world's solar
Just wait, check number
Leave it on, better stop it
Hear him, off the music
But I try, never use it
He's talking, off the DJ
He'll say what he say
I'm on to piece together and release a FOTM KOTJ episode where submissions
came from people like you.
Could have been you, Bob, but you didn't submit anything.
And it could have been you, Rob.
I didn't submit anything either.
No, I know. For which one?
It's a song
you legitimately love.
You very much like the song. And then
there's a crappy cover that you don't like.
And you kick out the crappy cover
of a song you love. I feel this would be
perfect. Yeah. Right?
This is a shitty cover of a late song.
But do you love Mexican radio?
Well, I didn't kick this out. I'm saying somebody
I like it very much. Somebody could
kick this out if they liked it a lot more.
I kind of like the drumming on this, though.
Do you like this? I try to like it.
I don't know why. I don't know where it is in the mix.
Or something. I just found it a little different.
I don't know. It's a little Metallica.
I don't know. It was just different.
It just stood out to me.
Yeah, the rest of it sucks, but I kind of like the way the guy was going.
So, no Mexican.
This is no South Park Mexican,
but the name of this artist is Celtic Frost.
Ah, I know.
Or Celtic Frost?
Oh.
Fucked if I know.
I don't know.
What the fuck did I do?
What the fuck?
Did you know?
Did you know Mike Stafford visited yesterday morning?
I have seen this on your socials.
Yeah, and you did get a shout out because I said that the next episode was this toast.
Does he even remember me?
I said Bob Willett.
I said Rob Pruess and Bob Willett.
And then he said, bingo Bob.
Oh, there you go.
And you seemed happy to say bingo Bob.
You know what?
Stafford and I always get along.
I got to tell you this.
You know, he came by six months ago and we got a big update. And then he came by yesterday and I always get along. I got to tell you this. He came by six months ago, and we got a big update.
And then he came by yesterday, and we got another update.
And I got to say, I fucking like this guy.
I don't know, man.
He's so smart.
He's one of the smartest people I've ever met.
He's done some stupid things.
But he's one of the smartest people I've ever met.
I almost feel like, yeah, he's flawed.
Like so many fucking glaring flaws.
But I root for the guy.
Like I'm really rooting for the guy.
Good.
Yeah.
Even though I might have an issue
with your employer,
but we'll leave that aside.
Get in line if you got an issue
with an employer in radio.
Jesus Christ.
Right.
But anyway,
if people haven't heard it yet,
it's an hour
and it's a very raw update,
but he still has his wit
and he's still,
he's got that great voice
and I gotta say I enjoyed
every minute of the chat. Very cool.
Mike Stafford yesterday. Okay, second
jam for Rob
Pruce. Alright.
You ready?
Ready. Radio silence
Radio silence
Radio silence
Radio silence Radio Silent Mountain Radio Silent So much
Caroline
Likes the final adjustments
And with your mirror
She's never sentenced
She's thinking it over
With logic and sense
She'll overcome her phobia
All to paint her eyes so red
And her lips so blue
Corporate legend on the bound
Caroline for life too
When they come to court for her Radio silence.
Thomas Dolby.
1982.
Golden Age of Wireless was the album.
And I believe this was a single
but I didn't know
it was a single
I just loved the song
on the album
apparently
it's about
Radio Caroline
which was the pirate
radio station
in England
you know there's an FOTM
who worked on Radio Caroline
no
who'd that be
Keith Hampshire
oh my god Keith Hampshire
I love him for
he also sang OK Blue Jays and he sang First Cut is the Deepest which was a huge hit when I was a little kid Who'd that be? Keith Hampshire Oh my god Keith Hampshire I love him for first You're also saying
OK Blue Jays
And he's saying
First Cut is the deepest
Yes he did
He covered that
When I was a little kid
That was huge
But so yeah
Caroline 452
Apparently is like
Like the way you tune in
To get the station
Maybe in the 60s
But I guess
Kind of like Mexican radio
When you think about it
Because it's beyond
The borders of control
And it goes over
The airwaves to England
Yep it was in International waters So they didn't have to Have the broadcast license And it still exists to this day Which is super cool On the borders of control. It goes over the airwaves to England.
Yep.
It was in international waters, so they didn't have to have the broadcast license.
And it still exists to this day, which is super cool.
Because BBC had all these rules and shit.
That's right.
But I just always liked the song.
And it turned out that there were two different versions of it.
I can't remember.
Did I send you the other version of it as well?
Of course you did. Do you want me to play it right now?
No, don't play it yet.
But this was on the version of the North American album release.
And he had the huge hit with...
The enemy was science.
Same album?
Same album.
But they re-released the album and stuck that song back onto the album.
Oh, okay.
And this version of the song was on the first album incarnation.
But there was another version of this same song that was the single version, which maybe Mike will play.
They call this the guitar version.
Oh, okay.
The other version
is a little more
synthy.
Synthy.
Yeah.
I think after
Shubani knew science,
they were like.
This is the guitar version?
The other one
was the guitar version.
Okay, yeah, yeah, okay.
Oh, yeah.
Radio. Science!
Yeah, it's exactly the same.
You blinded me with silence.
You blinded me with radio silence.
Radio silence.
I love that.
Oh, yeah.
This one's really cool, too.
This is good.
It's better than the...
Yeah, the other one is more straightforward, like rock, right?
Yeah, this is good, though.
Yeah, this is...
This sounds more like Thomas Doherty
that we know.
Yes, because he recorded
one of our submarines
and Shipwrecked New Science
were like, that was an EP,
and then they put the songs
onto this first album,
and then I think they went,
did this again
with that same kind of vibe,
you know?
Yeah.
But I love both of them.
I love how they kicked out
that submarine jam.
Did he really?
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Cool, man. And this is like you know yeah kicked out that submarine jam i remember that yeah absolutely absolutely cool
man and this is like uh spoons contemporaries really right yes kind of i mean he was a real
inspiration for me as well because i mean we were making our music but but anybody who was like
doing all keywords i was a little obsessed with so i was like man this is even cooler like you
know i remember when i first heard images in vogue as well i was like holy man, this is even cooler. Like, you know, I remember when I first heard Images and Vogue as well. I was like, holy shit, there's all those keyboards on stage.
So I loved anybody with all the synths.
So Dolby was a hero of mine.
Basement Dweller says great jam and artist.
Love him.
The artist or you love Basement Dweller?
I love Basement Dweller and I love the artist.
I was obsessed with Thomas Dolby.
And when he released his second album called The Flat Earth,
which the one single was Hyperactive,
which I don't know if you remember that song.
What's this woman doing? Hold on.
She was there.
She's going to do a little singing here.
Romantic traffic?
Yeah, a little.
Bob was in traffic.
It was romantic.
Rainy.
What does your shirt say, Rob?
Oh my God, I'm waiting to show you my shirt.
Patrick.
That's hilarious.
Only you guys would get it.
I love that.
There's a lot of us in that.
It's the newest of the Retro Kid line.
Oh, is it really?
It's Patrick.
He took out life insurance.
Yeah, it's got a Retro Kid,
a Retro Ontario vibe going on.
I absolutely love it
because I love how quickly
he gets that message.
Well, that's the best part of it.
Ring, ring.
Hello?
It's Patrick.
So that means the call
went something like this.
I know.
I took out his life insurance.
Yeah, it went so fast.
It's Patrick.
And I like how she's got the marker and the white paper.
And she's asking questions.
Medical.
Right.
We have a question.
Like she's got a stand.
It's like if she needs to send notes.
Well, it's amazing.
That's an amazing.
And you get it.
I could do a deep dive.
Who wants to do a 90 minute commercial?
It's Patrick.
You can probably find out the names of the actors.
Medical. Yeah. On that one commercial? It's Patrick. He took a picture. You can probably find other names of the actors. Medical?
Yeah.
Good for you, son.
That's right.
VP of sales, remember.
See, you know,
if you're of a certain vintage,
you remember Patrick.
That's why I bought this shirt.
I know my wife,
she's like,
I didn't tell her.
She won't know, right?
Because I can tell you 100%,
I would be like laughing my ass off
and I'd pull it out for my wife
and she'd be like,
I don't get it. And then i'd be calling a divorce
why i saved it for tonight for you would your wife get it no so none of our wives would get
she could she grew up in a household with six she's like she's only three years and four years
younger than me oh yeah yeah i remember you robbed the cradle yeah yeah um but uh she uh she grew up
in a household with six people and one tv i grew up in a household with six people and one TV. I grew up in a household with three people and about six TVs.
We did not talk.
Neil Jays wants more of that Norwich Union ad.
I always forget what it's for.
I couldn't tell you the company, Norwich Union.
Hey, shout out to Neil Jays.
If you send Mike at TorontoMike.com an MP3 of that ad, I will play it.
Good for you, son.
Good for you, son.
Could be no medical. I will play it. Good for you, son. Good for you, son. Could be no medical.
I don't know. Who would be excited about my purchases of life
insurance the way that they really support
that boy. They're so supportive.
Mom and dad love Patrick.
And also,
Patrick's a little bit of an overshare.
He excitedly phones his parents
to say, I got life insurance and they're proud of him,
encouraging him.
Gets a good boy.
But the way you said it,
exactly.
I got life insurance.
Yeah.
You got to say it real quick.
You know what it reminds me of?
In the pre,
when we had to leave a message
for someone before cell phones
and stuff,
but you didn't want to pay
for the...
Oh, you collect call.
That's right.
Mom, dad, I'm home.
Collect call, yeah.
You get like,
yeah, you've already done it,
but like five seconds to say your name
for the one accepted collect call,
and you go, I've arrived safely, love you.
Yep, that's it.
You don't have to worry about putting the quarters in.
We all did that, and I think everyone did that.
They can't defend against that
because something's recording your five seconds of a name.
You have a collect call from.
Dad, I'm safe, thanks.
It's like, I will not accept this collect call.
Oh my God, all the information i need
right there just the idea to explain to a millennial a collect call yep just in general
or leaving messages even oh well yeah well even that technically they have voicemail still but
the collect call will be a difficult uh explainer for uh you know yeah a lot of stuff we could do
a whole episode about all the things i'm always explaining all these different things okay so where are we in the jams who's running
the show here okay thomas dolby thomas dolby well done and we did the bonus jam so now any words
uh from the great bob willette about his second jam so you said you love songs with a lot of
synths there is zero synth in this song i still love songs um this song is going to be a stretch
it really is only one line in this song.
Oh, wow.
He's causing trouble.
No, but I'm going to tell you why.
I think it's a...
Okay, do you want to play it?
Let's listen to it.
Yeah, and then when we get to that line, we can stop.
Shout out to Buffalo.
Buffalo, New York's own.
Let's hear it.
Not a radio jam
I'm gonna tell you why it is
I know
You have the right to defend yourself
And I will
But I'm sharpening my knives over here
And even though the moment passed me by
I still can't turn away
I saw
the dreams you never thought
you'd lose
tossed along the way
letters that you never meant to send
Lost or thrown away
And now we're called our orphans
I never knew their name
We don't belong to no one
That's the same
You could hide beside me
Maybe for a while
And I won't tell no one
Your name
I won't tell no one
Too early.
So we'll talk a little bit here before the line cuts.
Yeah, you just go like this like a conductor when you want to talk.
It's literally one line.
And the line is,
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio.
I remember that.
This is Goo Goo Dolls' A Boy Named Goozy album.
And this is name, obviously.
And I just, this actually turns out,
this is the third single off that album and it's their first
hit. They had Slide.
No, Slide is from Black Balloon.
Slide's not from A Boy Named Goo.
This says Naked.
Naked and
Name and Naked are the two
hits off this one. I actually really like Goo Goo Dolls
at this time. Here we go. What year was this?
95.
It's coming up. hits off this one. I actually really like Cuckoo Dolls at this time. Here we go. What year was this? 95. 95.
It's coming up. Nothing to believe. Reruns all become our history.
A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio.
And I won't tell no one your name.
Yes.
Is this song about radio?
No.
However. One fucking line. Shut the fuck up for a second, will you? Yes. Is this song about radio? No. However,
one fucking line and you think it's a radio jam.
Look, here's the deal.
Shout out to Stu Stone.
Now we're cooking.
Now we go.
Here's the thing.
I feel it's our job here
to not kick out video
killed the radio star.
It's our job to push the envelope
and look, I'm not a musician
but Rob can speak
from the musician standpoint.
I'm coming as a fan of somebody
the line spoke to me in
1995. When you think of the word radio
this song comes into your head. This song came to my head
right away because a tired
song keeps playing on a tired radio. In 95
before I was ever in radio,
that stood out to me
as I was like a tired radio.
The idea of radio being tired.
Here I am 30 years later
working in a tired radio industry
and it still resonates with me.
So that's why,
you son of a bitch,
this is a radio jam
because that line has stuck with me
for 30 years.
I'm not sure
I want to live in a world
where we don't kick out
Elvis Costello
in the attractions,
radio, radio,
but we do kick out
Goo Goo Doll's name.
You can do that.
One reference to radio
and one line in this song
and you're kicking it out as a radio
you know what it is you're heartless you're thinking
you're thinking deeper you're going beyond
the requirement what the feeling
of this song gave to me when we said
radio you have to think
whose show is this
I'm here our job
our job who tells you
what your job is
I am here to push the envelope.
I am here.
That's honest to God.
Yeah.
That came to my,
the song that came to my mind
when I was thinking about radio jams
was that song.
So that's why I did it.
Okay.
There's outrage in the live chat here.
First of all,
the best was,
okay,
so,
okay,
so,
Basement Dweller made a comment.
They jumped the shark with this one.
Okay, and then YYZ chimes in.
Well done, Gordo.
But he says, Bob or the Goo Goo Dolls?
I thought the Goo Goo Dolls, but you know, I would say that.
Yeah, are you going to kick out a Radiohead song next?
Is that your plan?
You know what?
No.
You thought about it, right?
No, I didn't.
I didn't.
Okay, well, I mean, whatever.
You know, your jams are your jams.
You justified it weakly, but you did your best.
And I'll just say that I think that's weak-ass shit that you did.
You've just wasted a radio jam with that throwaway line.
You know what?
I respect your right to be.
And that song's not that good.
I respect your right to be wrong, Mike.
I really do.
I respect your right to not have an open mind.
Your jams are your jams, Bob.
I can't take that away from you.
So I will not be fixing this in post.
I will let it be.
But Rob, listen, Rob, here's the thing.
Okay, so now we're in, I don't know, your 12th appearance,
maybe 11th appearance of you guys.
Bob has, I noticed about halfway through that 11 episode run,
he started to like get a little more sandpaper in the mix.
Like he's kind of going at me a little bit.
He's mixing it up.
And I'm like, okay.
He's mixing it up.
Yeah, he's mixing it up.
And I'm kind of like, okay, I was used to this
because that's how the original toast was.
But who are we?
Coy and Vance?
Coy and Vance.
Guys, Coy and Vance, whichever.
Who am I again?
You can be either or.
I'll be Vance.
Can I be Vance Coy?
I want to be Vivian Vance.
Yeah, Vance Coy.
I want to be Vivian Vance.
But here's okay.
So Rob Pruce, though, still a sweetheart.
And Rob's got the bonafides.
Rob was in fucking Spoons.
Rob co-wrote Romantic Traffic.
Rob played with Peter Gabriel.
Did you?
I wish.
I made that up.
I made that up.
Okay, but he's done a lot of shit.
I'm sure one day he'll play with Peter Gabriel.
You have yet to kind of embrace.
Play with Peter Gabriel?
That's not going to happen.
Oh, there's a band called
Radio with a Y.
Okay.
Oh, there is.
That's right.
So, Rob Bruce,
what do you think
of Bob Willett,
bingo Bob Willett,
kicking out a radio jam
named by Goo Goo Dolls
because of one line
that referenced
a tired song on the radio
that he remembers
from the 90s?
A tired radio.
Yeah, I see your
reason for outrage. I don't want to, it's not outrage. I'm not The tired radio. Yeah, I see your reason for outrage.
I don't want to...
It's not outrage.
I'm not throwing things here.
No, I know, I know.
I'm just disappointed in Bob Willett.
But you're less outraged than...
What was the one where you used...
Oh, that was...
I used Rain.
Why?
What was it?
What was it?
Our Lady Peace.
It was Rain.
Oh, yeah.
No, it wasn't.
I joked that that was what you would do
if we did Rain Jams.
No, that's right.
It was something like that, though.
No, it was.
It was...
No.
We haven't kicked out Rain Jams yet. No, I know, but we're so old.
Oh my God, I know.
But anyway, somebody remind Bob how he irritated me in the past.
What were you saying, Rob?
So this is not to that level.
No, it's a little more innocuous.
Oh, it's flowers.
I played Brandon Flowers.
I played Brandon Flowers.
That's a fucking outrage.
For flower jams.
That's right.
And flowers was my idea, too. It was a flower jam. Yeah, a flower jam. Brandon Flowers. That's a fucking outrage. Yeah. Like I almost. For Flower Jam. That's right. And it was my, Flowers was my idea too.
It was a Flower Jam.
Yeah, Flower Jam.
Brandon Flowers.
I almost replaced you with Peter fucking Gross after that.
Yeah, yeah.
That's fine.
That's fine.
You know what?
Peter Gross is a nice guy, but everything's going to be about horses.
No, this is not to that level of outrage that I feel for you.
But Rob, are you at all outraged?
Rob.
There's too many of Robs and Bobs here, but Rob.
Rob, no.
Are you at all outraged that he kicked out?
No, he gets it, I do get it
because what happens
when we pick these,
because he's smarter than you.
When we make these choices
for the subject matter,
what happens to us
is in our minds we go,
boom.
Like you think of a rain song,
you think of a flower song,
you think of a radio song.
What speaks to you
in the musical pantheon
of all the shit
you've listened to in your life?
Just because I'm not taking
the easy road out like you, Mike,
it doesn't matter.
I would argue this is the easy way out.
No, I don't think this is.
Is this a song you remember?
Of course, yes.
It's a very fucking popular song.
Everybody knows it,
whether they like it or not.
I don't know this song.
You don't know the name?
Wait a minute.
Let's talk about that for a minute.
No, no, no.
Rob, how do you not know Goo Goo Dolls' name?
I know Goo Goo Dolls just from the one song
they had on City of Angels.
Iris.
That's all I know. Iris is a bigger jam. Oh Goo Goo Dolls just from the one song they had on City of Angels. Iris. Yeah.
That's all I know.
No, no, no.
Iris is a bigger jam.
Oh, 100%.
But name is a big fucking jam.
Yeah, I don't know it.
I don't really know it.
But I sort of didn't pay attention
to a lot of like
kind of middle of the road.
1995.
I was into Jeff Buckley.
I was into Radiohead.
I was into Spiritualized
and like Lenny Kravitz.
And I wasn't reaching too far
into a lot of new music.
Yeah.
But I heard them
on the City of Angels soundtrack. I was like I don't know
who this band is and wow they're from Buffalo.
So that was new to me. That was it for me.
So for you to have this song
strike a memory from 30 years ago
I think it's alright.
There you go. The musical expert.
I'm not a musical expert but I
try to come to music from all different positions.
In fact when you come to my last jam
I'll tell you why I did a last minute switcheroo.
And actually good, because I want to
talk about an unprecedented happenstance.
We have stuff to talk about, but you know what?
I got no mind blows, because I knew that was going to
take up a lot of time of you yelling at me.
Okay, I didn't know you knew that.
You were ready for it.
I knew you were going to get all bitchy about that,
for sure. You're so predictable.
Alright, Brandon Flowers.
Let's go, Brandon.
Here's my next jam.
Hey, I can't find nothing on the radio.
Yes.
Y'all turn to that station.
This is how you kick out a radio song.
This is great.
Absolutely.
Let me educate you.
I'll let you have it.
The world is collapsing around our ears. I'll let you have it. I got into the house and I called you out. I could tell she had been crying.
It's that same, same song on the radio.
It makes me sad.
I meant to turn it off.
To say goodbye.
To leave in quiet.
It's that same, same song on the radio.
Say goodbye to leaving quiet.
Radio song.
Hey, hey, hey. Ha, ha.
Ho, ho.
Everything to show.
Everything to hide.
Look into my eyes.
Listen. I'm coming back for KRS-One, okay?
Because I like KRS-One very much so.
This is R.E.M. featuring KRS.
I don't even know if he gets a credit.
I think he does, but what do I know?
Okay.
Did you know this song is in singles? It's not on the soundtrack. Not on the soundtrack. featuring KRS. I don't even know if he gets a credit. I think he does, but what do I know? Okay.
Did you know this song is in singles?
It's not on the soundtrack.
Not on the soundtrack.
Not on the soundtrack.
That's for sure.
But this song is in
Cameron Crowe's singles
and not on the soundtrack,
which is a shame.
I love that fucking soundtrack.
That would make it even better.
It would be like
an extended one.
Yeah, right?
Absolutely.
Okay, so...
This is a radio song.
This is a super radio song.
I never noticed how much the opening sounds like
their later song, Night Swimming.
That's what I was thinking. Totally sounds like Night Swimming
off of Automatic for the People. Yep.
Really sounds similar. This is a great tune. This is a great
radio song, Michael.
And you know what the name
of the song is?
Let's see if Rob can pull up
the name of this song.? Let's see if Rob can pull up the name of this song.
It's like Radio Free Europe.
No, that's a different song, isn't it?
Is this Radio Free Europe?
No, the song's called Radio Song.
Just Radio Song.
But they have Radio Free Europe as well.
Yeah, yeah.
Out of Time, 1991.
This is Out of Time, yeah.
Oh, so this came out in 91.
No wonder it's on singles.
I mean, that's amazing.
What a great year for music. Yeah. Oh, so it just came out in 91. No wonder it's on singles. I mean, it's amazing. What a great year for music.
1991.
Probably the best year for music.
Not the best year. Come on now.
It was the best year for 1991 music.
Name a better year, Rob.
1973.
1999.
1999.
Wow.
2004.
He's just making up numbers.
I'm not.
I could give you good music from every year of my life.
Okay, but not better than 91, 2004.
Yeah, sure.
Maybe if you were 16 in 2004.
That's true.
That's how it works, you know.
That would be weird.
Okay, here it comes.
Here it comes.
Hey, hey. We had a pause there we kicked out
pause jams
why don't you guys
kick out
crappy covers
of songs you love
did you think about a run
just in this moment
when you were talking
about it earlier
I all of a sudden
thought of one
that I would choose
okay because I'm not
doing it until tomorrow
you can go home and
Should I go home and
send it to you?
Send it to me.
Somebody probably
already sent it to you
because it was a hit.
You don't know that.
Okay I'll send it to you.
Send it over.
What are you saying?
What are you playing?
Who are you obeying?
They are paying.
Huh?
Baby baby baby
That stuff is driving
me crazy.
DJ's community
This is 1991.
The masters
Sex and violent classes.
Now our children are a prisoner.
All their life, radio listeners.
And you know how I feel when rock and rap make a baby.
Like, that's it.
I'm in there.
A guy from, there's a famous quote from a music journalist
who named radio song the single of the week.
And his quote is, the most galvanizing radio wave song since this jam right here.
And since we're hansening this song, I just thought I'd play a little of it and shout it out.
Now, Bob, this is a radio song, okay?
Thank you for educating me. Radio Live transmission
Radio
That Ian Curtis voice is haunting.
It's a haunting fucking voice.
And I mean, knowing what happens in everything with Ian,
it's even more haunting, but on its own, that voice.
Anyways, Transmission by Joy Division
is referenced by that rock critic.
How big was Joy Division to you?
Not so big.
Really?
Yeah, not really.
Because they're right there, right?
Yeah.
Were you a Depeche Mode guy?
A little bit.
Yeah.
I was more straight ahead Gary Newman.
Okay, okay.
I was more straight ahead of Japan and even Boomtown Rats.
I was still in the music that wasn't completely synth at that point.
And they're not completely synth either.
But something about them was maybe a little dark for me.
Yeah, it's very gothy.
It's got gothy roots at least.
Yeah, yeah, I got that.
Definitely.
Growing up, the big jam, Love Will Tear Us Apart, was like a CFNY jam.
Oh, my gosh, yeah.
For sure.
And that was always the big one, Love Will Tear Us Apart.
But then when you dive in, it's cool shit.
But what does Rob Pruce think of New Order?
I like New Order.
I didn't really buy any of their records when they were...
I mean, I was making records at the time.
You were already, yeah.
By the time Bizarre Love Triangle comes out, which is probably their biggest were, I mean, I was making records at the time. You were already, yeah, by the time Bizarre Love Triangle
comes out,
which is like,
you know,
probably their biggest hit
I would argue.
You're already,
you're in Spoons.
Like,
you're an album or two
into Spoons.
We were making records,
yeah.
So I was hearing stuff
on the radio,
but really more in the mode
of like creating our own stuff
and being in our own world.
So I was a little more selective
in the things that I bought,
but I heard everything
as much as I could anyways.
I just saw Depeche Mode a
couple weeks ago right
they were phenomenal it
was great it was really
good yeah it was a good
show I don't know
basement dwellers should
come to all of our toast
live streams and
everybody when we do a
toast and I tweet about
it if you're wondering
like when do we do a
toast I do try to tweet
about it but like we
always go live at live
dot Toronto Mike dot
com and I always read
the comments in real time
always and the basement dwellers got to be there every single fucking toast because he wrote
to this song now no again i don't know where it was uh epic bass line um he says hansen because
we hansen this song yeah he's loving the bass line right no one picked it he says we should
have hansen that goo goo doll song all right. That's why you like him, eh?
Because he's on your side.
And YYZ Gord, who I also like, says that radio song by R.E.M., this is a great radio song.
He writes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Gord Downie would sound so good on some R.E.M. tracks.
That's Canada Kev who's here.
Canada, let me know what you're smoking tonight, big guy.
Let me know what you're smoking tonight. big guy. Let me know what you're smoking tonight.
Okay.
Loving the radio jams.
I'm going to kick out the...
Could it be true?
Are we at the final jam now?
Yeah.
Really?
Okay, okay.
Then let me take care of a little tiny bit of business right here.
You got any money, Rob?
Rob, how many marriages do you have?
How many do I have?
Yeah, like under your belt.
I know you don't have them concurrently currently.
I'm on my third. One ends and then there's a new one you don't have them concurrently currently. I'm on my third.
One ends and then there's a new one.
So you're on your third marriage.
I'm on my third, yeah.
Yeah, for some reason I thought you were on your fifth or sixth.
Like you were like the Elizabeth Taylor of Toronto, of FOTM.
I got three.
You know what it is?
Maybe I'm confusing you.
And again, I hope I don't get in trouble, but VP of sales is wife.
I think I might be confusing.
I think she's on her like fifth marriage or something like that.
Okay, so shout out to Elizabeth Taylor. Yeah. Okay. Yep. You're only on your third. I think I might be confusing. I think she's on her like fifth marriage or something like that. Okay. So shout out to Elizabeth Taylor.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
You're only on your third.
I'm on two.
Like I'm a heartbeat away from, but not my heartbeat, right?
Because if I die, I can't get married again.
Okay.
So why do I ask that?
Because if you, I don't know, if you kept your money.
Yeah.
Okay.
I have an investment podcast for you.
Do you?
The Advantage Investor Podcast from Raymond James...
Limited.
Canada.
Limited, what the fuck is that?
It's right there behind you.
A Raymond James Limited podcast.
Oh, you know what?
That's news...
Fuck, I should read it.
You know what?
I'm like, what are you talking about?
Limited, it's on the fucking poster.
Oh my God.
Okay, whether you already work
with a trusted financial advisor
or currently manage
your own investment plans,
the advantaged investor
provides the engaging
wealth management information
you value
as you pursue
your most important goals.
I know you, Rob Prues,
listen to Life's Undertaking
from Brad Jones
at Ridley Funeral Home.
You love it, eh?
I love seeing your comments
and I know Brad loves it.
He loves feedback
than somebody listening. You guys talk about cool stuff. You talk about death and? I love seeing your comments and I know Brad loves it. He loves feedback when somebody's listening.
You guys talk about cool stuff.
You talk about death
and then you talk about
musical theater.
Nothing's cooler than death.
No, no.
But then you talk about
musical theater and movies
and just spam a lot
with a recent topic.
Okay, and I love that you listen.
So shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.
Shout out to the
Advantage Investor Podcast.
And if anyone listening
has any old electronics
or cables or devices
or your old phone or whatever,
don't throw it in the garbage. Go to RecycleMyElectronics.ca
You did a good
conversation with him as well. Cliff Hacking.
With Cliff, yeah. I really enjoyed that. I love that guy.
That was good too. Yeah, it was great. We talked about
Shel Silverstein. You know what? Thank you for saying
that. Thank you for saying that.
There's an opening in January,
so reach out if you want to be the next sponsor
of Toronto,
Mike to kick it ass.
So we're top 15 right now.
There's a big bump in for the category at Apple podcast.
We were 11 when I was checking in earlier today.
So number one for Canadian,
that's the thing.
So it's amazing in Canada,
the charts for in Canada,
but it includes the world's podcast.
So it's big American and BBC productions and stuff we have to compete with.
So it's kind of neat to be the top
Canadian podcast in the category.
And you're a part of it, Rob.
Don't cheat yourself. You're a big part of the
success of Toronto Mike. Bob, not as much as you,
but Bob's a big deal. But we are here
together. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Coin dance, the dynamic. Isn't that a
Blue Rodeo song? We are lost
together. There was
a comment. So you mentioned you
missed the Goo Goo Dolls
name and somebody
mentioned, and I want to
just get the right person,
but somebody mentioned
that your blind spot is
reminiscent of Stu Stone
who has a blind spot
where he goes to LA and
he misses out on all the
CanCon we were listening
to on 102.1.
So like big CanCon
jams that Bob and I are
like, this is everything.
He misses because he's
in LA and they are not hearing it.
That happened to me
in the early 2000s
when I first moved to New York
and I would come back to Canada.
It was Neil Jays, by the way,
who had that observation.
I would come back to Canada
and visit my family
at Christmas or whatever
and I would go to HMV
in the Burlington Mall
and I would look at the albums for sale
and I always felt kind of sad,
like, I don't know
who the fuck is being on these.
What's an R-Lady piece?
Who these bands are.
And so I would try to tune into some of them, but it was like the early days of like, like, I don't know who the fuck is being out of these. What's an R.L.A.D.P.? Who these bands are. And so I would try to tune
into some of them,
but it was like the early days
of like,
internet was not as ubiquitous
as far as finding music and stuff
before iTunes came along,
and I would see the CDs for sale,
and I just felt a little bad,
like I'm missing,
and I know,
like if I saw them
on the top 20 albums,
I'm like,
God,
I don't know who these bands are.
Did I mention KRS-One
from Boogie Down Productions?
Yes.
Yeah, you did.
I mentioned KRS-One.
I don't think you mentioned BDP, no.
Only because I loved, like, I was
big on the early hip-hop there, and I was a big
BDP fan. On that R.E.M. song?
Yeah, that's the gentleman you hear.
But you know what? That was 1991.
It has a vague 80s.
Oh, very much so. You know? It's sort of like
how decades sort of
merge into each other. Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's not definitive.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That crossover, that crossfade.
Did I mention Elvis Costello got Hanson today?
Yeah, you did.
Okay.
I don't understand why I didn't kick out Elvis Costello.
I do love that song.
There's a couple other radio songs
that if you guys don't call them out,
I'm like, really?
This is amazing.
Okay, so at the very end,
do a little mop-up with the honorable mentions
of great radio songs we missed.
We've already been mentioning about it.
Because one is LL Cool J's radio.
Like, no, I can't live without my radio.
That was such a big radio jam itself.
So, you ready, Rob Proust, for your final radio jam?
My final, at the last minute, swerve and switch.
Okay, so this, again, I'll let you play it.
And then I'll explain how we, essentially, I had a jam that you picked.
And I thought I'd give it to you because you're a sweetheart yeah and then you dropped it and took a jam that i had picked oh
so basically i dropped a jam took a jam and then you decided to drop the jam i dropped and then i
know what it is the jam oh so yeah you know but don't don't spoil it here is your jam that was
on my list until what time is it now about five hours ago something like that this is a radio jam I'm out. Gotta turn it up louder So my DJ told me
Ooh, ooh, life is a rock
But the radio won't be
At the end of my life
All right, here comes verse two.
You ready?
Okay, I'm ready.
Come on.
Nice.
Wow.
Beautiful.
Life is a rock.
Key change.
Guitar solo.
Nice.
So I want to hear, since this is now your jam, Rob, I want to hear about who is this, what is it,
and then I'll explain how I learned about this song, because I learned about this song
through a popular Toronto morning show, Speaking Radio.
Really?
Bob, well, that might be familiar with them, but please tell us about Reunion.
This is a band called Reunion.
I probably didn't really know that this was the name of the band who sang the song.
This was a hit on the radio
when I was nine years old, 1974.
Way before your time.
So, Mike, that was a good year for you.
But I can listen to Beatles.
That was before my time.
Of course, of course.
But it was a good year for you
because I think you were probably
born in that year.
I was born that year.
So I was nine years old.
And this episode is 1374, I believe.
That's good.
There you go.
So this song got to, like,
number two on the charts.
So I was a little obsessed with this song.
At nine, why wouldn't you be?
It's a novelty song.
I loved all the novelty songs.
I learned that first verse.
It's been in my head for 50 years almost.
I wrote it down. I listened to it.
I guess I probably had the single, but I wrote it down.
That's all I really knew. I don't really know the rest of it.
I couldn't read it.
But that first verse, forever in my mind. And I've just always had the single but I like wrote it down and that's all I really knew I don't really know the rest of it I couldn't do it but that first verse forever in my mind
and I've just always loved the song
but it didn't really occur to me
until this morning
I had these other radio songs
and all of a sudden I thought
why didn't I think of this song
because this is like
as far as a radio song
it's kind of important in my life
so because I had this jam
yeah you had this one
I have mind blows for this
you have the mind blows
that I sent you the one as well?
Yeah.
Can I do mine first?
Yeah, sure.
So we close with you.
Yep.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
I'll let Reunion finish
and then I have a Mind Blow
that Bob will be particularly interested in.
Ooh.
Woo!
What do they call it, a patter song?
It's like a theater song.
Can I say I've never heard it?
Never heard it before?
Never heard it.
Baltimore and Minnesota, San Diego,
Seattle, Montreal, California, Texas,
Detroit, San Luis, Houston, LA, Cincinnati,
Boston, New York, Toronto, Kansas, Cleveland,
Frisco, Philly, all these teams are really willing. Jason Rangers and the Yanks, nicknames of the major ranks of Brewers, Angels and the Tigers,, Detroit, San Luis, Houston, LA, Cincinnati, Boston, New York, and Toronto, Kansas, Cleveland, Frisco, Philly.
All these teams are really willing.
Jays are Rangers and the Yanks and nicknames of the major ranks
are Brewers, Angels, and the Tigers,
Cubbies, Pirates, Padres, Dodgers,
Orioles, and Indians, the Reds,
and White Sox and the Royals,
Astros, Mets, and Mariners,
the Expos, Giants, Reds, and Twins.
All the games are finally in.
The series is the one to win.
Jays to the top.
Watch the ball fly away.
It's humble.
Is it?
Is it Howard doing this?
This team in the majors. Oh my God. And they're six-time. What year humble. Is it? Is it Howard doing this? Wow. Oh my God.
What year did they do this?
Before me.
Oh, it's on that one.
Oh, wow.
Hear the millions cheering
to the top
at the end of the play.
That sounds like Howard.
We win the World Series. Play round or strolling, heating, curves and sliders, future couldn't look much better. Starting pitchers are the aces. We got speed to steal the bases. Great relief for later innings.
That is why we keep on winning.
At the end of series ball,
the Jays are going to win it all.
Okay, so this is Humble Howard Glassman
when he was at Mix 99.9.
Oh, yeah, for that cup of coffee there.
Yeah, like 18 months or something.
But 1992.
Wow.
Jays to the top.
I've had Humble Howard
on Toronto Mic
in his first
appearance
I played this
and we talked about it
and he told me
he did the same thing
when he was in Montreal
with Jeff Lumby
wow
he did the same parody
except it was
Habs to the top
funny
and I searched
you wouldn't believe
how hard I searched
for Habs to the top
did you find it?
no
but so
here's some humble Howard, everybody.
There you go.
Mookie, White, DeWayne, and Gruber.
All these guys can really move her.
Alomar, Hill, and Lee all perform reliably.
Tabler, Wills, Rance, and Carter.
Williams, Daly, Wells, Fraser, Booters, Stephen Ward, Key.
Who is producing this show now?
Alomar, Myers, Witten, Overwood, and Cito.
You forgot Hanky.
No, I didn't. Yes, Hanky. No, I didn't.
Yes, you did.
No, I didn't.
Not Freddie P.
Did not.
Did so.
Did not.
Did so.
Did not.
Did so.
Liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar.
What do you think, Bob Lillette?
You work closely with this gentleman.
Yeah.
What do you think?
No, it's good.
It's funny.
I was thinking the other day about all our parody songs that we used to do.
And Howard.
I love them.
Howard wrote one.
And it was Kill at Christmas, it was called.
It just popped in my head the other day.
It was like, deck the halls with rounds of gunfire.
And it didn't go over so well.
It didn't go over so well.
But yeah, no, Howard was always, he always had a guitar in the studio.
Did he really?
Oh, yeah.
That's amazing.
We always had a guitar in the studio and we were always doing, oh yeah. That's amazing. We always had a guitar in the studio
and when we were at the Edge,
we had a guy like Pete Cugno or Scary Pete.
Yeah, of course.
Who was just amazing at coming up with parodies.
Like so good.
So yeah, the parody thing, here's the thing,
that breaks the Humble and Fred parody rule,
which is never over a minute and a half.
Like parody songs that go on over a minute and a half.
But that's for air on the radio. This is for a CD.
You know what? Even earlier than
this, like when you talk about parody songs,
what CKOC used to do in the 70s
when I was a kid and they would have their, they would publish
their chart every week. April 1st
every year they'd have an April Fool's chart and they would do
a parody of the top songs. I don't
remember any examples now, but they would do a
top 40 with all the songs. Funny names.
Totally. They didn't actually do the songs,
but just reading the names was amazing.
Very Mad Magazine, actually.
Totally like Mad Magazine.
So there is,
on the same CD,
there is the CFNY,
Fred Patterson,
and the 102 crew.
Oh, wow.
Sunny Jays.
Wow.
Which goes for three minutes.
Sunny Jays?
Three minutes, yeah.
Well, it's actually not.
It's actually not.
It's actually just a coincidence
that it has a similar title, but it's got like goo head going up to the top of the 500 section in the
dome and stuff and then it's a sunny jays by freddie p but it's three minutes and 21 seconds
so even as cf and y with fred patterson they were breaking that 90 second that's funny rule there
did you have that other fun fact song that i had sent you yeah i'm gonna get there right now you
are gonna get there uh there's a little so there's a parental situation in the live chat because, again,
there's no adult in this house besides us.
And Jarvis logged in.
Jarvis logged in.
Yeah, so he's a nine-year-old.
Okay.
And he's in charge up there, by the way,
because apparently that wasn't Tyler, the bearded guy who broke in.
So I just hope there's no damage.
But Jarvis wrote, hello.
And, of course, we're working here talking. Then he chimed in
again. Notice me!
With an exclamation mark.
And then he wrote hi.
So maybe VP
you can sort things out
up there. But okay. So we're going to do the
mind blows from
you Rob Pruse.
Just for shits and giggles
because it was my jam
for a minute.
So we'll just do like
30 seconds of this and
then play it now.
Not Habs to the
Tunnel. steady. Colorado's getting higher. Legal weed is catching fire. Californians in the drought. And what the hell is that about? And why the race is getting dirty? Rubio
is getting thirsty. Bush thinks that he's Hispanic.
Huckabee is in a panic. Chrissy hasn't gotten in it.
There's no way that he can win it. Rain Polly is curly
hair. And nobody really cares.
Life with Barack.
Right wing radio.
Life with Barack. Right wing radio
told me.
That's funny.
I wonder if that
Monster Mash guy
could get in on this
parody racket.
Okay, now
any words before I kick out
that first,
before I kick out
your mind blow?
Well, the lead singer
of the originally
reunion Life is a Rock song,
Life is a Rock
but the radio rolled me.
He had a hit in 1968
with the song
that you're about to play
which he also co-wrote and
it's the same key that is a mind blow oh wait start it again and listen to this beginning of
this song and see what it is boss you're okay we'll do that again listen
yummy yummy yummy i got love in my tongue Same guy. Very good.
Same key. We get it.
I'm such a star
It's his range, right?
His name is Joey Levine.
This band is called Ohio Express.
Yummy, yummy, yummy 1968
was the song. Wow. But that opening
was an inspiration for the Cars.
Oh, done. Just what I needed.
Yes. Do you think that Billy Joel But that opening was an inspiration for the cars. Oh, yeah. Just when I needed it.
Yes.
Do you think that Billy Joel with We Didn't Start the Fire has a little bit to owe to this guy?
It's much faster, but that's what I hear.
I hear We Didn't Start the Fire with that.
So stupid.
Okay, so you remember when this song was on the radio right rob this one not so much
i was only three but it's it was probably in my world i could okay i could lie because and bob i
don't know if you'll share this but i know this song well but i don't think i've ever heard ohio
express okay here's how i know are you mind blowing his mind blow yeah i basically i'm
tagging on his mind blow.
This is how I know.
Is that song called Yummy, Yummy, Yummy?
This is how I know it.
Yummy, yummy, yummy.
I got love in my tummy and I feel like loving you.
Love you such a sweet thing, good enough to eat.
So if you didn't see that great episode of The Simpsons,
man's going on the moon, and go ahead.
No, no, no.
Go ahead.
When you're done saying what you're going to say,
I have something to say about The Simpsons.
Okay, okay.
I'm not a radio guy, okay, Bob?
I can't read these things.
I just put my hand up saying I want to go next.
I didn't mean to interrupt you.
The moon landing, 69, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so everyone's watching the moon landing. Yeah. 69, right? Yeah. Okay. So everyone's watching the moon landing.
Yes.
That's right.
July 20th.
Abraham Simpson, father of Homer, is watching the moon landing.
In the next room, Homer is listening to Yummy, Yummy, Yummy on his headphones, not watching
Neil Armstrong and all that exciting stuff.
Or as I learned from the Many Saints of Newark, which is a prequel to The
Sopranos, Christopher's
narrating, and he says
that Neil Young was
making that speech on
the moon.
All right, Bob, your
turn.
Speaking of The
Simpsons, coming up on
Bob's Basement, which
still exists.
Yes.
It's not Matt
Groening, is it?
No, it is Harry
Shearer.
No way!
He's in his 80s, so
find out how long
he'll go.
He's in his 70s. Really? Harry Shearer. Why do I have him in his 80s? so find out how long he'll go. He's in his 70s.
Really?
Harry Shearer.
Why am I in his 80s?
He's not.
He's in his 70s.
Stafford and I talked about him.
Harry Shearer is coming on Bob's Basement.
Okay, how did it happen?
Seriously.
Because that's huge.
So a while back,
I got a press release
at my chorus entertainment
about,
what's the name of the character,
the bassist in Spinal Tap?
Yeah, yeah.
James something? No.
Anyway, he plays the...
He had a single
out, right? A new single.
And I said, I would love to have
Harry Shearer on.
And he said, Harry Shearer is not available.
But the guy...
Derek Smalls. Derek Smalls was available.
Derek Smalls is available. I wass was going to, but is available.
I was like,
I could wild.
Yeah.
But then you can't talk Simpsons.
No.
Well,
so what happened?
So what happened was I was,
um,
I was,
um,
about to have Derek Smalls of spinal tap on Bob's basement.
And,
but it just so happened I was in vacation with the Disney trip was happened.
And so I,
it just kind of fell to the wayside.
He wasn't available.
Yeah.
And the guy just followed up. He's like, Hey, Oh, by the wayside. He wasn't available. And the guy just
followed up.
He's like,
hey, oh, by the
way, Harry's got a
podcast.
Harry does his own
podcast and he's
celebrating something
else.
Do you want to have
him on?
I'm like, yes,
absolutely.
So I have Harry
Scherer.
Much better.
That's much better
than Derek Smalls.
Derek Smalls, I
don't know how
long you could do
for.
Yes, exactly.
Also, then you
have to go like,
it's phony baloney
bullshit.
I did a little bit
with Ed the Sock
and I like it, but
then I'm like, I
need to talk to
Steve Kersner now. It's like, need to talk to Steve Kersner now.
It's like I have
questions for Steve Kersner.
But that is getting
Harry Shearer.
Yeah, Bob's basement.
That's amazing.
Coming up in the next few weeks.
Did they do anything
because I just had
Jason Priestley on
and they were like
oh he doesn't do
more than 20 minutes
and then I had to
like bargain my way
to like 30 minutes.
Do you have any
time restrictions
with Harry Shearer?
We haven't gotten
to that point yet.
But you only go
like 45 minutes.
I don't do, yeah, I got maxed out
at about 45 anyway.
For my own ADHD.
I just, you know, that's a perfect
45 minutes is what I max out at.
So if I got like I got 30 minutes with Richard Patrick, a
filter that I took 35.
He's turning 80 next
month. Harry Shearer is? Yeah.
Amazing. But the voices he does.
Yeah. So, you know yeah so you know here's a
here's a thing yeah he doesn't do dr hibbert anymore you're right because he's a black man
yeah oh yeah which i just thought was interesting because he did it so long and i remember they made
this decision yeah they will i know yeah the ipu story yeah the whole ipu thing i kind of got but
dr hibbert i didn't necessarily get because it's not a black voice it's a doctor's voice right but
it is a black character. I guess, yeah.
It's a blanket rule.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, it's interesting.
He's Ned Flanders.
He's Mr. Burns.
He's Mr. Smithers.
That's amazing.
Oh, my gosh.
His wife is a really good musician, too, Judith Owen.
He's Otto, too.
And he's, yeah, my name is Otto.
Yeah, right.
I saw him perform a little bit with his wife.
Oh, cool.
In New York like 10 years ago or so.
She's a singer-songwriter.
She plays piano.
She's really cool.
But he accompanied her for a couple of songs as well, which was really neat.
So yeah, so that's happening.
Keep an eye in the next couple of weeks that I'll be on Bob's Basement.
Nice.
You know, you just kind of swoop in.
You don't record much, but then you get like,
I'm doing about, I'm averaging like less than one a month right now.
I got to get back on it.
I've been very busy with the second city stuff.
And yeah,
before we go,
how did your audition go by the way?
Didn't get that part.
Okay.
But is it okay to audition?
Yeah.
You know what?
It was auditioning for improv is very interesting and I'm finishing up level five.
Good for you.
I have a show that I'd like to plug.
If people want to come,
you can come and do that right now.
Um,
it's a Tuesday,
the 19th of,
uh,
of December at 730
in the John Candy Box Theater
and
it's 10 bucks ticket if you want to go I can send
you the link it's because it's a it's the end of year
like class show so it's
not listed on the website but if you want if anybody
if the FOTMs wanted to come out
on a random Tuesday night support bingo
but yeah so I'm doing that and
I'm in the middle. Right now,
I'm auditioning for Conservatory for Second City.
Wow.
That's amazing.
This is my backup plan.
You're diving into it
because it's like
a whole new world, right?
Well, yeah, yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
There's so much.
I love performing.
Yes, and?
Yeah, yes, and.
Exactly.
I actually am currently
doing the master class
of Amy Poehler.
Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amy Poehler doing the master class of Amy Poehler.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amy Poehler's got an improv master class.
Is she your next guest on Bob's basement? Maybe, I hope so.
That would be amazing.
I would love that.
You just go big or go home.
That's actually the way to go.
All right.
All right.
None of this bullshit Stafford nonsense.
Gimme Harry Shearer, who literally came up in conversation with Stafford,
and we were talking about when somebody dies in the court cast,
will Disney replace, will Disney use AI,
or will they shut it down?
That's a good question.
This is the discussion we had.
Because they can't live forever.
No.
And that guy's turning 80 next month.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Who knows how long he'll live.
And also, I will say this,
as a huge, massive fan since the beginning,
the voice of Marge, remind me of her.
Castellan.
No, no. Kavner. Kavner Marge, remind me of her. Castellan. No, no.
Kavner. Julie Kavner.
She's, for years now,
she sounds pretty like she's just... Like it's not actually, yeah.
She actually sounds like Marge for real.
She sounds like Marge's mom now.
That's right. She sounds like Marge for real.
She sounds like an old Marge. Okay.
Well, we all get old. Now,
it's interesting. I don't think we've kicked out any Canadian jams.
We got to Buffalo, but I don't think we kicked out any Canadian jams.
But we are going to close with a couple of Canadian jams.
Okay.
So.
So did Queen get a hand?
Yes.
Radio.
See?
Yeah.
Yes.
There were a lot of jams.
Sorry.
I thought.
I know I'm not doing it.
So you're saying CanCon as well for you?
Well, let's do these last two and then we'll do the honorable mentions.
I hopefully I can
I can redeem myself
in your eyes with this one.
Here we go.
Same name as the song I picked,
the Tom Stolbe song.
And actually it was on my list too.
Until Bob took it there's a light
miles below
I hear the roar
constant still
across the night
above the moon
over the hills
with time to kill
radio silence
takes us home
radio silence
static phone Radio silence. Starting to fall.
There you go.
Inspired choice, Bobby.
Amazing.
1980s. Yeah.
Blue Peter.
Radio silence is the name of the album.
The name of the single as well.
I got to admit, I didn't really know this song
until I started producing Sunday Nights
from Whiskey Saigon with Martin Streak.
Yeah, I didn't really know it.
I knew some cool stuff.
Like, I know, like, my mom was into rough trade
and stuff like that, but didn't know this
until I started doing the Sunday Night Show
from Whiskey Saigon with Martin Streak and DJ Dwight.
It's a great song.
Paul Humphrey,
I think is his name, right? Yeah, he
passed away. Yeah. Blue Peter.
Like this is a CFNY
classic. This is a classic, classic CFNY
classic, you know, but all I can say for
it, I can tell you they were. Oh, sorry.
You know, I was I just read it's known for
its dying keyboard.
They call it. Yeah, I'm just
looking at not my words. Yeah. Yeah, I said, what did they called it? Yeah. I'm just looking. Not my words.
Yeah.
Yeah, it said,
what did they call it?
Known for a simple
dying keyboard riff.
Yeah, that last simple thing.
Is that what you would call that?
Yeah, I guess, yeah.
I don't know.
So they were signed
to our Spoons record label,
Ready Records.
Yeah, yeah.
And they were signed before us.
They released a couple albums.
It was 80, so yeah,
it was before you guys, yeah.
But I used to listen to this album
and think, oh my God, we're going to make a record and it's going to be like Blue Peter before you guys, yeah. But I used to listen to this album and think,
oh my God, we're going to make a record,
and it's going to be like Blue Peter.
I would put on the Blue Peter album and listen to this.
But their bass player, Rick Joudry, he's amazing.
We did a couple of shows with them in the early days,
because Ready Records had just signed us,
but already Blue Peter was on the label.
So I would listen to this and be like...
So you opened for them.
Yeah.
So Spoons would have opened for Blue Peter back in the day.
We played The Edge together and stuff like that, at Christmas parties. Yeah So Spoons would have opened for Blue Peter back in the day Like we played The Edge together
and stuff like that
at Christmas parties
Yeah, yeah, yeah
To the Garys
Okay
I don't know if I'm
stepping on your toes here
Bob
except to point out
a member of this band
Well, wow
There is a member
of this band
a founding member
who's an FOTM
That, of course
is Chris Wardman
who produced
a lot of big jams
including the Rusty album
Oh, wow
Fluke He produced Fluke and Chalk Circle April Fool who produced a lot of big jams, including the Rusty album. Oh, wow.
Fluke.
He produced Fluke.
And Chalk Circle, April Fool.
He does that too.
Really amazing.
But lest we forget,
Son of Sam is in this band.
Uh-huh.
Jason Snyderman. I don't think he was in the band at this point.
I think he joined a little later.
He's not a founding member.
He's not a founding member.
And the big,
whenever I'm like,
I'm going to pick a Blue Peter song,
I always go to Don't Walk Past. That's like my go-to.
That's a great song too.
Don't Walk Past is not a radio jam.
This is a great radio jam. This is a great song.
Did I redeem myself? Not yet.
You can
come back in December because in December
you will be
recording your 12th
episode of Toast, which will match
the 12 episodes of Toast from Stew
Stone and Cam Gordon.
It's like the 12 days of Christmas.
That's right.
The 12 episodes of Toast.
I have an idea for us, too, before.
I do, too.
Oh, do you?
Is it an off-the-record idea, or do you want to...
No, no.
On the record, when we come back, you do your thing, and then when we end, I got...
Okay.
Mom, pretty much done.
It's your jam.
It's a...
This is a local stuff, like uh toronto band yeah peter
may potts was like always all about these guys i remember may may would have played them quite a
bit on the midday show as cfny um i feel like they would have been a part of the casbys at some point
you know 100 for sure you know yeah i uh yeah i just i when i when i thought of radio this is
what it's amazing yeah and radio g Gaga by Queen was the other one.
Me too.
For sure.
I'm surprised Rob didn't kick out a Queen song.
He never passes up an opportunity.
But that was too obvious to me.
Yeah, a little bit too on the nose.
Yeah, a little bit too on the nose.
Is that like Elvis Costello?
I feel like why is there no radio radio going on here?
Like what?
Too on the nose?
And the song I switched out as well to put in my reunion song
was a little on the nose as well.
Is that what you're doing last?
Is that your jam,
your final jam?
Yep.
I'm going to kick it out in a moment,
but I'm just reading
which Caspys they won.
So Chinese Graffiti
won a Caspy award.
Except it wasn't yet Caspy.
It was still You Knows.
Right.
And it was single of the year
in 1982. Yep blue peter won
another casby for male vocalist of the year paul humphrey won that one the late great paul humphrey
for don't walk past there you go and he needs keyboards too right like you know no no no just
just vocals yeah although i don't know who played keyboards on those first records it's listed as
him is it listed yeah just on the on the Wikipedia. Okay, maybe that's why
Jason joined the band.
Right.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Son of Sam,
Jason.
Okay.
I got to get Jason down here.
Yeah,
you do.
I do.
He's on my list.
I'm going to get him.
Here is my final radio jam.
Very similar to Bob.
Yeah.
I like this one better, though, I think. I love this song. I love this one better though, I think.
I love this song.
I love this song. Throw off your coat.
Pick up the post.
Put a coffee on it.
I just wanted to put a coffee on it.
It's so cool.
Lie down on the bed.
Lay back your head.
Smoke a cigarette.
And listen to the radio.
Listen to the radio Listen to the radio When Michael Barclay came over,
we kicked out like
quintessential Toronto jams
and we kicked out
Cherry Beach Express
by Pucca Orchestra.
And that's now become,
since I just hear it differently now,
it's such a... Knowing what the song's about? Yeah, that's my go-to Pucca Orchestra and that's now become since I just hear it differently now it's such a knowing what the song's
about yeah that's my go to
Pucca Orchestra but not a radio jam
like listen to the radio
so Rob I feel like I need to turn to you for
this you were there man like
you know it's just what year is this
84 yeah well
yeah so I was there but this was already
we were in our own world at that point I remember
loving all of their songs so would would you have done shows, though?
You could have been like, wouldn't there have been a Puck Orchestra, Spoons?
I feel like we might have done a show together somewhere.
I feel like there's like a festival show somewhere.
Yeah, Blue Peter's got to be in there.
Yeah, for sure.
Chalk Circle shows up at some point, maybe later.
They were a little bit later.
But definitely Blue Peter, we did shows together.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, same label, right?
Yeah.
They won a, you know, for most promising group.
The Puck Orchestra.
Puck Orchestra.
Absolutely.
So good.
This is a great radio song.
Yeah.
And the composer,
Tom Robinson.
Well, you know,
you're kind of stealing.
Sorry, man.
Sorry, man.
But you got to keep going.
You guys are the experts.
That's going to happen.
I want to let the song
complete before I go into that because
that's a fun fact for people who don't know and it's all tied to together there but i want to
speak of um gentlemen who was it again oh williamson graham graham williamson so he had
kidney problems this is kind of what derails the career but he had kidney problems.
He had to go to Scotland.
He went to a Glasgow hospital
for several months
and then in 1985
they had a benefit concert.
The names on this, you know,
Colin Linden was on this set list.
Robert Priest who was an FOTM
was on this.
Colin Linden will be an FOTM at some point
but there was a benefit concert
at the Bamboo Club
to help him with his living expenses while he was getting a dialysis treatment he
actually ended up getting a kidney transplant and then came back to toronto but you know eventually
uh many years later he would pass away with his kidney issues and he died in scotland in june In Scotland in June 2020. Wow. So Pucka Orchestra derailed when Graham Williamson,
he was the vocalist, guitarist, songwriter.
He was a big deal in the Pucka Orchestra.
But this group goes back to the 1970s.
This group formed in 1979.
Okay, mind blow time.
And then we'll hear more from Rob Pruce since we both almost picked this thing here.
That's right.
I swapped this one out.
Right.
Thank you, Mike, for taking me.
Oh, yeah.
Leave the bureau in the snow.
Catch a tram to Uncle Poe
Early evening ring around the moon
Slip in by the concierge
By the bikes and up the stairs
Snap the latch and creep into the room
Throw off your coat
Pick up the post
Put a coffee on
Lie down on the bed
Lay back your head
Smoke a cigarette
And listen to the radio
Okay, for the longest time
I had no fucking idea
that Puck Orchestra's
Listen to the Radio
was a cover.
Yeah.
For a long time.
I don't think I knew
like at that time
it was on the radio.
I don't think I know
this is the first time
I had no idea.
And it wasn't that long
I was like in the last
ten years I realized
so yeah, it's a cover.
This is a cover.
This is the original we're listening to? This is the original we're listening to?
This is the original we're listening to.
Tom Robinson.
There is a mind blow who co-wrote it with Tom Robinson.
Oh, that's right.
I'm wondering if you know who co-wrote
Listen to the Radio with Tom Robinson.
I did not know that until like literally last night.
Okay, so this secret person we'll unveil in a moment.
You mentioned his name already.
I did mention his name already.
Because he was top of mind from this.
Him and Tom Robinson,
they write the Listen to the Radio Atmospherics
is actually the title that they went with.
And it peaked at number 39
in the UK singles chart.
Didn't chart here in North America.
Peter Gabriel.
Crazy, right?
Wow.
I had no idea.
So Puca Orchestra does this
so they don't get the resids
on the songwriting side of it.
Wow.
No, sir.
No, sir.
That's all for Tom and, you know, Peter.
And Peter, because he needs it.
Yeah, exactly.
Things are a little tight over there.
Any more Hanson-ing you want to shout out there?
We kind of already shouted out some of the big ones.
You know what occurred to me tonight all of a sudden?
What about, this is a radio clash.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
All of a sudden, I'm like, holy shit.
There are a lot.
I think I found that.
There's a lot of great radio sounds.
Donna Summer had a song called On the Radio.
On the Radio.
Which is a big hit.
Of course.
I shouted out LL.
Public Enemy has songs like How to Kill a Radio Consultant.
Yep.
And what's the one?
On the Mix. Public Enemy has songs, like How to Kill a Radio Consultant. And what's the one on the mix?
They won't play a lot of songs that reference the fact that they wouldn't play black radio until the 90s. Because radio was our life.
I mean, when you wanted music, radio was where you went, right?
You had a few records in your collection, but you turned on the radio.
That's why I kind of picked the Eric Carman one, because it turned the radio up.
Because there were radios everywhere when we were kids.
Like, you had a radio in the garage.
You had a radio outside.
You had radios everywhere.
Everywhere.
And now you have
everything in your pocket.
That's right.
And now you never listen
to the radio, right, Rob?
Right, Bob?
Some people, yes.
That's very true.
That is one of the challenges
we are facing.
Now you can buy
three AM stations
for less than a condo.
That's unbelievable.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Although, I think they bought the signals.
I don't know if they bought them lock, stock, and barrel.
No, because it's a... I can't tell.
I only went to Broadcast Dialogue.
Is that what it's called?
I went there for the deets, and it was kind of unclear.
But it sounds like they get everything.
I don't think they get the studios.
You think they just get the signals?
No.
Yeah, they just get the signals.
They get the end of the towers.
End of the towers.
They don't get the studios, because the studios are connected get the end of the towers. They don't get the studios
because the studios are connected
to the Bell Studios in Hamilton.
They can't.
Because we three could have got together
and bought a champ.
Well, this is what I said about
the station in Kingston,
like this American Signal.
Yeah.
It sold for $350.
I was like,
if there are radio stations out there for $350,
I feel like I could get an investor or two.
I could run it, maybe make some dough.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Did you want to mention what you were thinking about next month's toast?
So I had,
yes.
So I had the idea.
What about songs where the,
like where the lyrics aren't words and I'll use this as an example.
Oobla dee,
oobla da,
life goes on.
What about kicking out jams with songs that are not words
or with words that are not words?
Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I think there's a lot there.
There's a lot of them.
Yeah.
Yeah, I got to noodle it.
Like I can't think of it.
For me, I saw oobla dee, oobla da,
and I was like, I can think of a bunch of different.
You know what I thought of?
Outer space jams.
Have you ever done outer space jams?
Like Foo Fighters?
Like something...
Like the ground control to Major Tom, for instance.
Something...
Man on the Moon.
There you go.
You're hand-sending songs already.
No, no.
It's just out of the top of my head.
These are the ones.
Yeah.
Well, Tyler thinks if we do the Oobla Dee idea, it's nonsense jams.
Nonsense jams.
Yeah.
I don't know. I just say it hit me Nonsense jams. Yeah. I don't know.
I just say it hit me
and I've got one
that you guys are going to be like,
oh, it's so good.
Okay, you know what?
What the fuck?
You only live once.
If it makes Bob will let it happen.
Oh, here we go.
I would do it for Bob.
I would do it.
Is there a Brandon Flowers song
that has nonsense in it?
Yeah, exactly.
For sure.
So yeah, that's Spoons Jams.
Like to use the lyric,
this is Leslie who brings it up, but doo doo doo. See, you've answered our song already. Yeah, yeah, that's... Spoons Jams like to use the lyric, this is Leslie who brings it up,
but do, do, do.
See, you've hanced it already.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All the do's they drop in.
All right, we'll not use the spoons on that.
I co-wrote.
Are you...
Remove that from the list.
Yeah.
It'll be like when we introduce the topic.
I think there's a lot of...
The different eras,
there's all kinds of stuff.
Of course.
All right, I'll kick out Nonsense Jams.
Sure.
Okay, amazing. Has to have nonsense in it. I's all kinds of stuff. All right. I'll kick out nonsense, Jams. Sure. Okay. Amazing.
Has to have nonsense in it.
I go for it.
Amazing.
And thank you guys both.
Thank you, Bob Lillet.
Thank you.
Thank you once again.
That's a terrible drive you had to do, but you're here.
It's fine.
It's fine.
That's all that matters here.
Happy to be here.
Happy to be here.
I missed the last one I was on.
I was on Zoom.
Oh, yeah.
That's right.
Your kid was sick.
Everybody was sick.
That's right.
And Rob, I know you came for other reasons,
but that is the longer drive.
Yeah, just a bit longer.
Just a bit, but I'm happy to be here
because I like planning it around our visit
as well as seeing my family.
Okay, so I look forward to the email chain
when I try to figure out when you guys can visit.
Just 400 emails before we can figure out
when we're going to do it.
We'll do it on Christmas night.
Maybe Christmas Eve.
Ho, ho, ho.
And that.
I'm the only idol here.
Blah, blah, blah.
And Morgan saw Mike Stafford yesterday
and told me later that he looks like Santa.
Really?
And I was thinking, poor Santa.
He's in rough shape.
And that brings us to the end of our
1374th
show you can follow
me I'm on Twitter and Blue Sky I'm at Toronto
Mike Bob is at Bob
Willett it's like Gillette with a W
Rob Pruse it's like
Rob Pruse with an X at the end
you're on are you on Blue Sky
Rob I'm on Blue Sky and I'm on Threads
and that Twitter X whatever should I open Threads and that Twitter X,
whatever.
Should I open Threads?
I never open it,
but I get notifications
on my phone that say
people are following me
on Threads
and I go,
oh,
those poor people.
Check it out.
Yeah,
it's sort of interesting.
Let me say that
to my genius.
I don't think I need
to be in so many places.
You don't.
If you care enough
to hear what I have to say,
you know where to go
and I have a plan B
for when Elon
fucks me out of the place,
which sounds better than it is. Right. And I don't need to be on Threads because I have a plan B for when Elon fucks me out of the place which sounds better than it is.
And I don't need to be on threads because I have
a plan B for the one I enjoy which is
Twitter. It's Patrick.
Much love to all who made this possible.
That's Great Lakes Brewery. That's
Palma Pasta. That's Raymond James
Canada. That's Mineris. That's Recycle
My Electronics and that's
Ridley Funeral Home.
I'm going to drop an FOTM KOTJ tomorrow.
If I have time to finish it, I should.
That's going to be crappy covers of songs you love.
And then on Tuesday, Steve Paikin and Mary Hines together again.
They used to be together at TVO.
Mary Hines just announced she's retiring from CBC radio where she's been
hosting tapestry.
I heard her today hosting tapestry for the last 100 years.
And we're going to do her exit interview and talk about Pagan and the
resolution of the strike at TVO and all this Tuesday.
See you all.
Then. at TVO and all this Tuesday. See you all then. I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain
And I've kissed you in places I better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Sacré-Cœur
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