In 2011, Burke recalled seeing Frank "Dunnie" Ryan, Allan "the Weasel" Ross, and other West End Gang members playing pool at Smitty's Bar, describing it as "like a scene out of Goodfellas.
Both Tim [Burke] and Dan struck me as being romantically Irish: pugnacious, hard-drinking, sentimental, and rather fond of the more disreputable elements of Montreal.
After working at the Edmonton Sun, Burke enrolled at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in 1978, aiming to major in journalism.
[1] In 1987, he published a story in Maclean's magazine that revealed gross corruption in the office of the Minister of Public Works, Roch LaSalle.
[1] Burke did not win the award, and at the ceremony, he was intoxicated and became involved in a brawl with rival journalist Gare Joyce.
"[4] Burke produced and researched an episode that exposed the shady links between Savoie, Ross, and a well-known Montreal lawyer, Sidney Leithman, who had been murdered in 1991.
"[7] The revelation of his corruption prompted Savoie to commit suicide in his office at the RCMP's national headquarters in Ottawa on 21 December 1992.
[7] Savoie's suicide caused some controversy, with many charging that The Fifth Estate bore some responsibility for his death by publicly exposing him as corrupt.
"[8] Burke, by contrast, has expressed no guilt over Savoie's suicide, saying in 2008, "For all I know, it may have been a choice his colleagues forced him to make because they didn’t want him to reveal further corruption.
[1] In the spring of 1997, Burke began intensely researching various emerging music acts in Toronto, saying, "I’d read through the weeklies, get a feel for the story, and then try to set something up.
"[1] Burke's success at El Mocambo was largely due to his ability to discover rising new American bands, which he booked to play at the club just before they achieved mainstream popularity.
[4] At the same time, the bands Burke booked were perceived as having "authenticity," with the belief that they were playing music out of love for the art rather than for financial gain.
"[1] His success as the booker for El Mocambo provided Burke with the first stability in his life for years, as he was able to hold the job.
[1] Burke attempted to reopen El Mocambo at another location, but the city of Toronto blocked his move by denying him a license to sell alcohol, rendering his plans moot.
[4] After six months of unemployment, by May 2002, Burke had lost the $18,000 he had saved from his time as the booker for El Mocambo, leading him to live on the streets again.
[4] During one show on 13 April 2004, Burke was involved in a brawl with musician John Dwyer of The Hospitals on stage, which ended with a guitar being smashed over his head.
[3] He told journalist Cathal Kelly, "It was so rude, what they did," charging that The Hospitals had been late to the show and were treating the Toronto audience poorly, which led him to confront them on stage.
[3] Burke is considered by many to be one of Toronto's best music bookers, albeit an unstable figure with serious substance abuse issues.
Still struggling with addiction, Burke lives an unpredictable day-to-day existence—his name having become synonymous with crack-cocaine, erratic behaviour and street-level hustling, but also with indie celebrity, and some of the most memorable rock shows Toronto has ever seen.
At the same time, his absolutely heroic intake of drugs, transient life-style, and subsequent inability to control his finances virtually guarantees him a life of marginalized vagrancy.
[4] Despite suffering a major heroin overdose during a visit to Manchester, Burke told Bimm that he had no interest in pursuing rehab for his substance abuse.
[3] Kelly described Burke as an unnaturally fit man for his age, with the build of a boxer, who was deeply passionate about music and maintained an intense work ethic.
[3] The journalist Jay Somerset, who met Burke in December 2010, described him as an oddity: one of Toronto's most successful music bookers with an annual income of about $40,000, yet homeless.
"[1] Burke's unconventional lifestyle inspired the 2011 documentary The Last Music Man as well as the song "Show Promoter Dan" by The Barmitzvah Brothers.
[11] In 2017, journalist Sarah Greene reported that Burke appeared to have overcome many of his drug addiction issues, with his principal vice at the time being cigarettes.
[11] In 2022, Burke played a prominent role as an expert in the documentary Kings of Coke, which focused on the West End Gang and the Savoie scandal.