Yesterday on the show we got to talking about Paul Newman — sure, a great actor, but to me, he was simply, “the salad dressing guy’. That’s the thing he will be remembered for by most of our generation. That was his legacy.

Something a lot of people may NOT know, the proceeds from Newman’s Own, his salad dressing went to charity. As did the proceeds from the OTHER products he endorsed. Over his lifetime, that’s over $250-millon.

PAUL NEWMAN GAVE $250-MILLION TO CHARITY, AND I REMEMBER HIM FOR THIS SALAD DRESSING? That’s terrible!

And it got me thinking; what will MY legacy be? What will I be remembered for? 10, 20, 30 years from now, after my death, when people say the name Layne Mitchell, what will come to mind? It’s official, I need a legacy. I want to come up with that grand gesture that will tell the world I was a good person. Sure I would prefer it to be something cool. But I will settle for something that isn’t cool but is simply good.

Layne Mitchell, the guy who cut the grass at Commonwealth Stadium with a pair of scissors the day the Eskimos won the Grey Cup.Layne Mitchell, the guy who raised $250-millon for kids with cancer by repeatedly punching himself in the face.

Actor Paul Newman died over the weekend. At 83 years old, he lost his battle with cancer. Now while Newman’s been in a number of great movies over the years, I feel like he was before my time. More of an actor my mom and dad might appreciate. To me, he was always Paul Newman the salad dressing guy.

When you think about it, he was a pioneer in that regard, wasn’t he? LONG before there was the George Foreman Grill, or Donald Trump neckties, there was Paul Newman Salad Dressing. My point is this, every celebrity nowadays seems to have their own product line. There’s no such thing as earning it. Britney Spears has her own fragrance — does it smell like a crack pipe and blond hair dye? Paris Hilton has a clothing line — if you wanna learn how to dress like that, a quick stroll down 118th Avenue might be more helpful.

Paul Newman not only earned his endorsements, he didn’t do it for his own benefit. 100% of the proceeds from his salad dressing and the other products he put his stamp on went to various charities. In fact, his lifetime, that 100% he donated amounted to $250-million. What have you done for us lately Britney?

Sure we could remember him as a great actor, or simply, the salad dressing guy, but more accurately Paul Newman was a philanthropist.

T’was the night before the do not call list officially took
Every phone on my block is ringing off the hook
Furnace and duct cleaning for cleaner air
Between 10 and 2, they promise they’ll be there

The Red Cross is asking for a pint of your blood
The insurance companies advising against an upcoming flood
Calls from an eavesthrougher and vinyl sider
Then Telus wants to know if you’re happy with your provider

The chimney sweep offering to clean up the soot
But he wouldn’t like, where that hose oughta be put
Shaw thinks you should upgrade your Internet service
You could download so much porn you’d make Jenna Jameson nervous

Tomorrow I’ll put my name on the do not call list
If I hear from you again, I’m gonna be pissed
Whatever you’re selling, I ain’t buying it
Now leave me alone cause I don’t give a _______

I don’t know about you, but I would rather light myself on fire than watch another news story on the upcoming US election. This however, I thought was hilarious. Republican presidential nominee John McCain cancelled his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman just hours before the show was about to tape, claiming he was heading back to Washington to work on the current economic crisis.

Letterman was understandably upset. There’s nothing worse than trying to plan a show and have your guest cancel at the last minute. It’s impolite. Anyway, Letterman was ragging on McCain all through last night’s show and called the senator’s absence suspicious. Later in the show, Letterman learned that McCain was — at that very moment — taping an interview with Katie Couric. What’s this heading back to Washington to work on the current economic crisis BS? The guy can’t tell the truth now, how can we expect him to do it once he’s in office. Letterman when on , saying a hero doesn’t behave like that and joking about someone, “putting something in his Metamucil.”

Even though the contest has long since passed, I’m still getting some emails for the Skid Scavenger Hunt. I couldn’t resist posting this lil’ gem from SONiC Girl, Courtney Denham. This mullet and wolf shirt shot was captured in its natural habitat… a baseball tourney in Millet.

Solid gold Courtney. Solid gold.

The Sloan show on Friday was excellent, but even I didn’t stay for the ENTIRE thing. The band didn’t hit the stage until after midnight. People always ask me why so many shows get started sooo late, I would speculate that when you bring in a big name act to a club, you have to supplement the ticket price by selling more drinks and for some reason we just drink more when it’s later at night. I’m with you on this issue. If you DO want shows to start earlier, don’t worry; I’ve got a plan! I think what we need to do is start drinking at 5:00 in the afternoon, so we’re into the shots by 7:00. Have the opening band start up around 7:30. Headliner at 8:00. Cab drops you off at home at 9:30. You get a good night’s sleep and that way you’ve had enough rest to at least feign a hard day’s work. It’ll only be a matter of time before promoters and club owners catch on. It’s brilliant! So if you ARE on side with this, I expect to see you at the next SONiC showm belly up to the bar around 7:00pm doing shots and making bad decisions.

The Sloan show at the Urban Lounge was great! Not only did they sound incredible, but they’re some of the most humble guys you’ll ever meet. I was there to MC the show and I don’t usually make a habit of talking to the band just before they go on stage unless they engage me first — they’ve got enough on their minds at that point.

This occasion was different. Sloan singer/bassist, Chris Murphy actually came up to me and said hi. We met very briefly once before during an interview years ago, but they meet so many fans over the years I was shocked he remembered me. He actually said, “you probably don’t remember me but…”

He’s the celebrity, I’m the fan. Isn’t it MY job to pull the “you probably don’t remember me but…”?

A lot of people will tell you wearing headphones isn’t good for your hearing. Unfornately, headphones are a necessary evil when it comes to being on the radio. The problem is, not only do I wear headphones for 4 hours a day at SONiC, I listen to my iPod at the gym for 2 hours a day and often when I’m playing guitar, I’ll whip out the headphones to avoid annoying my roommates. There are often days where I wear headphone for 8 hours or more. Although my hearing tests haven’t indicated any damage after 11 years on the radio, I’ve started to notice some OTHER effects.