Yesterday, Dr. Cliff Redford dropped by to kick out the jams. That's what we call it when a Toronto Mike'd guest returns to play and discuss their favourite ten songs of all-time. One of Dr. Cliff's songs was from Billy Idol, a singer I just loved in the mid-80s. I
I biked to The Sound Garage on Geary Ave last night to take in Change of Heart at The Sound Garage. It was my first show at this venue, and I dug it. It's small, but the sight lines are fab and the sounds was good.
Chris Murphy Toronto Mike’d Podcast Episode 229: Chris Murphy from SloanIn this 229th episode, Mike chats with Chris Murphy about his 25 years with Sloan, his new Trans-Canada Highwaymen project and why he lied to us about the word “underwhelmed”. This episode is exactly 1:30:42. You can
Earlier this month in Punta Cana, Tool played the inaugural Live In The Sand festival where they promised they'd deliver "two unique sets." If you asked me what the means, I'd assume it means no song would be performed twice over the two days. In actuality, four songs were played
I fell in love with rock via rockabilly band The Stray Cats. You can hear more about this moment in my personal musical journey when I kicked out the jams for my 50th. The cassette I owned was titled Built for Speed and it came out in 1982. It had
Title : Speed Demons Composer : Simon Holland CD Title : The Champions CD Number : FCD 105 Publisher: Focus Music Library
I have seen rock and roll's future and its name is Bruce Springsteen . . . Last night, my wife and I saw Bruce Springsteen for the very first time. I'm here to tell you that the pre-concert hype was literally 40 years in the making, as I've been hearing about Bruce's live
Yesterday, Jeremy Hopkin dropped by to talk about 10 great Toronto ghost stories. One involves the University of Toronto and when Jeremy mentioned Convocation Hall, I mentioned that my graduation ceremony took place there and that Ivan Reitman was the keynote speaker. Ivan, of course, directed Ghostbusters, the perfect movie
I was at Massey Hall tonight for the 2024 Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. What a wonderful night of music. It kicked off with Tom Cochrane and ended with the dude from Rascal Flatts and in between we heard music from Sarah McLauchlan, Nelly Furtado, Metric, Sam Roberts, Jim Cuddy,
Several years ago, Joel Goldberg gifted me a poster of this cover of Graffiti celebrating Toronto’s new VJ superstars. Featured are FOTMs Shirley McQueen and J. Gold (Joel Goldberg) of CFMT’s Something Else, Samantha Taylor (who went from CFMT to CBC’s Video Hits) and John Majhor of
SinglesPulp FictionReservoir DogsJudgment Night TrainspottingO Brother, Where Art Thou?Boogie NightsDazed and ConfusedForrest Gump
Last night I went on a double date to see Souls of Mischief and Cypress Hill at the CNE Bandshell. It was all part of TFOB (Toronto Festival of Beer) which means plenty of fresh Great Lakes Beer along the way. The crewIt was awesome. Great night, great vibes, and
I heard this song in 1989 and the lyrics were imprinted in my brain so I'd periodically sing this song over the past 35 years. I don't think I've heard this song since 1989, unless you count the many times I've sung it aloud. The songs I heard in 1989
I live with a Swifty, so I was hearing the new Taylor Swift album on Friday morning before school. It's called The Tortured Poets Department, and 31 songs in total were dropped. There's one that's a bit of a riddle in terms of who it's about, but if you listen
This past weekend, we had a party for my third-born's 10th birthday. My mom used the m-word for little people. We had to educate her that this m-word is no longer acceptable. That got me thinking about the g-word for Roma people. That g-word was everywhere. Band names, song names,
At noon I received an email from Warner Music Canada with the subject line "A STATEMENT FROM MONOWHALES". Monowhales are a Canadian alt-rock band that have appeared on Toronto Mike'd a bouple of times. First there was the COVID-19 remote appearance, then the much better in-person debut. Here's the statement
The Arrows are mentioned on Toronto Mike'd periodically, including today. I'm not familiar with The Arrows, but my brain is full of trivial facts including that Joan Jett's I Love Rock N' Roll was a cover of a song by the Arrows. That's the Arrows, not to be confused with
Fear not, I'm not feverish. In fact, I feel great. I just finished a chilly 25km bike ride and now I'm listening to Neil. Neil's the guy who had the fever. In late 1968 Neil Young had a 39.5 °C fever and in this state wrote three of his
Thanks to Fortnite, the online video game my kids are obsessed with, my 9 and 7 year olds are really into Peter Griffin's Surfin' Bird. That's right, even though they've never seen an episode of Family Guy, they know Peter Griffin and his favourite song of all-time. Surfin' Bird has
I just watched the Netflix documentary about the night USA For Africa recorded We Are The World. It's worth a viewing if you haven't seen it yet. There are a few mind blows in there, and plenty of fun facts. For example, I always wondered by Prince and Madonna were
We need to talk about Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". I'm sure I heard it in the zeitgeist as a kid, but my first specific memory of this holiday staple is its appearance in 1990's Home Alone. Since then, it's seemed unavoidable. Brenda Lee recorded this Johnny Marks
I often listen to podcasts while I bike, but sometimes I run out of fresh content, because I'm picky! That's when I switch to a biking playlist. This happened today when I was 30 KM from home, and while listening to "Laid" from James I was thinking about how that's
Drake has his 13th chart-topper, not that this all means what it once did. With the current rules and importance of streaming, it feels like a new Drake drop is guaranteed to score him a #1 or two or seven. Here's the complete list of 66 songs performed by a
Admittedly, I'm a sucker for anything created by David Simon. The Wire is my all-time favourite television show, ahead of Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Another David Simon series is The Deuce which ran for three seasons. This post is about The Deuce's theme songs. I love all three