So my cousin offered me- my- Brook's father offered me a job. This when I started with him. And he offered me eighty dollars a week. So- so I- now I'm in the big-time. And I says, "Okay." And I went and did that job and I told the- the- the guy, "I'm ah not going to be here. I'm- I'm gonna sub-out the job. I got a drummer for you."

You can't do that. I'll take it to the union. And I says, "Well, wait a minute." I said, "Maybe I should tell the union that you don't pay- you're not paying- you're paying me forty dollars a week instead of scale."

Speaker: Yeah, I played at the Holiday-Tavern which is the-Phoenix today. Interviewer: Okay. Okay. Speaker: I played there. And ah when I went back, I says- I went back to him and I says, "I'm ready to start my job again." And he looked at me and he says, "I think I'll keep this guy." So I says, "Fine." So I left and the very next week, my pay went up to a-hundred-and-thirty-five dollars.

Yeah. Yeah. And ah you-know, he said- he invited me to the party and I says, "Well, you- know-." And he says it was out in Brampton and I lived in Brampton.

Finally, she says, "It's Katie." And ah so I says, "Give her my number." And she called and she invited me over for a- a glass of wine and- and a piece of her cheesecake and a fire-- a fireplace. And I- I- I'd been by myself for about four or five years. I was a bach.

So of course you're child is- is gonna use that language. That's what you're teaching your kid." And I was so put off by it ... I went in and I told Rhonda. I says, "Rhonda, there's a parent out there who's using language that-" I- I've never heard that expression Interviewer: (Laughs) neither have I! Speaker: Right? I says "It's using language that I- saying things I've never even heard of" and I says, "I think somebody needs to talk to him" 'cause you-know I mean it's bad enough you get the kids mouthing off like that, now you got parents coming out and yelling and calling kids names that- Like oh-my-goodness! Like who does that?

So I looked at him and I says, "Well I don't know that came from, but the bank won't do it." "My country" (disapproving sound) They already know when they get here- before they get here what it is that they're entitled to and how they have to go about getting it.

He kept- somebody hollers, "Let him go, let him go, you're choking him!" And I says, "I can't let him go. I gotta hang on to him."

Interviewer: Do you remember something he did that he got the strap for? Speaker: No, he was just a bad mouth, I was afraid of him. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Uh-huh. I met him one day, one time years later, he said "You never did like me, did you?" and I says "I was afraid of you!" (laughs)

They sat down beside us, very nice girls. And they had two beers. I- I think that was six-seventy-five a cup of beer, right. And so they had some peanuts. Well, her brother is um allergic to peanuts so I- I- I told the girl, I says "No offence please, I- I'm just going to move over a couple of seats 'cause my grandson's a little a--." "Oh no, that's quite alright."

I don't get a refund because I leave half the year and about half the- half of this- half of the classes smartened up and- and left. Um, and because I had- basically I was- it didn't interfere with anything else with me, so I- I says, "Oh well, I'll stick it out and," ...

Speaker: ... he says, "It may be repeated," and I remember type-of- I had just bought my um, my first decent tape machine, tape deck, put it all together in the sound system. I says, "I'm gonna" Interviewer: Tape it. Speaker: "I'm gonna tape this." I'm not- I'm not necessarily going to listen to it, but I says, I says, you-know, "One-hour tape here okay, so I gotta come back in forty-five minutes and- and change it over," so I put a stopwatch type-of-thing, and I says, "Okay, record," and you wen-- you-know, if you went away I mean, you were in

remember type-of- I had just bought my um, my first decent tape machine, tape deck, put it all together in the sound system. I says, "I'm gonna" Interviewer: Tape it. Speaker: "I'm gonna tape this." I'm not- I'm not necessarily going to listen to it, but I says, I says, you-know, "One-hour tape here okay, so I gotta come back in forty-five minutes and- and change it over," so I put a stopwatch type-of-thing, and I says, "Okay, record," ...

Started growing crop and the dampness got into the- all the woodwork in the piano type-of-thing and- and- and popped all the- the- the you-know the veneer and everything else and I s-- you-know, type-of-thing and I thought, "Son-of-a-" I says I- I says "I'm sure it's still salvageable, but now it's three times the work that's-" um the soundboard is still okay, and- but a lot of- a lot of the other stuff got damaged just through dampness, through-

He couldn't get rid of it type-of-thing. It was just- so I says, "This is what I want. I want this, this, you-know, this businesses, this," And I says, "I want the colour lab from the other store. This this and this." And he's- and I says, "Give me a price." Looked at me and he goes, "Here's a pr-- you-know, okay, this is what I want for it." And he says, "That'll," he says, "That'll just finish off my greenhouse up north."

... you don't- you don't keep a lot of money in a current account, but I says, "That and- and- and the- and this money." "Okay, fine." I go, "Okay, deal, done!" And he says, "Well," he says, "One thing," he says, "You don't get the air-conditioner. You gotta ta- - help me take that out and take that up north. I want that.

It was a huge train air-conditioner hanging over the door and I says- and I looked at it and I thought, "Yeah okay," I was young, I says (fake Russian accent) "a nice strong boy." Okay, I go, "I go do it for you, sure, I help you put it in."

Interviewer: He got what he wanted. Speaker: But that was part of the deal and I says, "Okay fine," and I lucked out. And basically I got equipment and stuff that you- you-know, no mortgage, I mean you- you-know, type-of-thing. It was- the value of a small house at that time could buy this stuff, I got for a song.

And I still remember you-know, today type- of-thing, I says, "I got-" this is out of a three-hundred-sixty-five day year, I was getting one-point-one calls a day. And I said, "Now out of- and out of those half of them were junk. People trying to sell me something." I says, "Another- and out of that, twenty-five percent of those left over were people checking to see if orders were ready, things were done."

'Cause it was ninety-two it actually started to dip down, and I went through ninety-three, and I says, "Well I went through," I says, "I went through the eighty-two, eighty-three and came out the other side." I said, "Well let's see if I can do it this time."