Back when Pearl Jam was at their height, they had the clout to do anything they wanted. Anything.

On September 26, 2000, the band released 25 double CD live albums—what they referred to as “official bootlegs”—featuring performances from virtually every show they played on European tour in support of their Binaural album. Of those 25, five immediately made the top 200 album chart. This was the first time any act ever saw more than two new albums show up on the chart in the same week.

Two other sets just missed the cut. Had they made the charts that week, Pearl Jam would have joined The Beatles, The Monkees, and U2 as the only acts to that point with seven albums on the charts at the same time.

This was decades before Taylor Swift came along.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Looking for a driving song? This one from Liverpool’s It’s Immaterial (especially in this 12-inch iteration) fits the bill. It began with a full-on country-and-western vibe recorded with the Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison, but the band didn’t like it. They returned to England to re-record it while Harrison took his name off the project.

The song’s full title is Driving Away from Home (Jim’s Tune). The “Jim” is Jim Lieber, a harmonica player in a blues band the group saw while in Milwaukee. He’s the guy we hear on the recording.

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A question from new parents: “Should I expose my baby to live music?” The answer is “yes.”

A recent study at the University of Toronto revealed that infants have longer attention spans when experiencing live music. Sure, you might want to give them an iPad to stare at, but that apparently doesn’t work as well as live music. Videos don’t captivate them a whole lot but live music elicits physiological changes like a synchronization of heart rate to the music.

The final conclusion? “Findings suggest that performer–audience interactions and social context play an important role in facilitating attention and coordinating emotional responses to musical performances early in life.”

The big caveat? Volume. The live music cannot be too loud for those delicate little ears.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Here’s some very fresh melodic punk from Calgary. Bring the Storm has spent the last while gigging throughout Canada and should have a debut full-length record in early 2024. If you’re into anything from Sum 41 to Billy Talent to Three Days Grace, here’s something here for you.

 

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Flaming Lips are certainly unconventional and experimental. One of their weird projects was a very, very long song called “7 skies H3” which, in its original form, ran for 24 hours.

It consisted of several separate pieces, each running anywhere from 25 minutes to seven hours. If that wasn’t enough, just 13 copies were released on flash drives that were encased in actual human skulls. They went on the market (appropriately) on Halloween 2011 and cost $5,000. And yes, they sold them all. If you can’t find your own copy—imagine that—they also set up a website with the song on a continuous loop.

And if you would rather have a physical copy, there is an edited version that runs 50 minutes and was released for Record Store Day 2014.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

North London four-piece Sorry released an album entitled Anywhere But Here about a year ago to considerable acclaim. The second-last track on that record was entitled Screaming in the Rain. This fall, they’ve re-recorded that song under the title Screaming in the Rain Again which is harder, faster, and stronger than the original. There’s a new video, too.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Back in the 1930s during the Great Depression, there was a phenomenon known as the dance marathon. Basically, couples would take up a challenge to see who could remain dancing longer than anyone else. They were held in ballrooms and auditoriums and could continue for not just hours, but days and even weeks.

Spectators paid to watch, too. The longer the marathon went on, the higher the admission price. Couples had to stay in motion continuously resulting in blisters, injuries, and collapse from exhaustion.

Why would anyone subject themselves to such a thing? Like I said, it was during the Depression. Many people signed up for these marathons because it meant food, shelter, and a place to sleep, even if it was just a few minutes an hour. Those who won were given a cash prize. Hey, the Depression was rough. People were willing to do anything to survive.

© 2023 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The first of thousands of residents who lost their homes in the wildfire that destroyed the Hawaii town of Lahaina returned to their devastated properties Monday, with some stopping for a moment of reflection and others searching for mementos among the ruins.

“They’re very appreciative to get in here, something they’ve all been waiting anxiously for,” Darryl Oliveira, interim administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, told reporters gathered outside the burn zone. “People who haven’t been here since the fire are taken aback by the amount of and extent of the destruction.”

In the days following the Aug. 8 wildfire, some people were able to return to their properties to evaluate the damage. But since then, the burned area has been off-limits to all but authorized workers. Authorities opened one small part of it on Monday, allowing residents in for supervised visits from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. By midday, about two dozen vehicles carrying residents had entered the area.

The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape.

The wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes. Some survivors jumped over a sea wall and sheltered in the waves as hot black smoke blotted out the sun.

Officials urged returning residents not to sift through the ashes for fear of raising toxic dust. The first area to be cleared for reentry was a zone of about two dozen parcels in the northern part of Lahaina.

From a National Guard blockade near the burn zone, Jes Claydon has been able to see the ruins of the rental home where she lived for 13 years and raised three children. Little remains recognizable beyond the jars of sea glass that stood outside the front door.

Claydon hoped to collect those jars and any other mementos she might find.

“I want the freedom to just be there and absorb what happened,” Claydon said. “Whatever I might find, even if it’s just those jars of sea glass, I’m looking forward to taking it. … It’s a piece of home.”

Claydon’s home was a single-story cinderblock house painted a reddish-tan, similar to the red dirt in Lahaina. A few of the walls are still standing, and some green lawn remains, she said.

Those returning were given water, shade, washing stations, portable toilets, medical and mental health care, and transportation assistance if needed. Nonprofit groups also offered personal protective equipment, including masks and coveralls. Officials say ash could contain asbestos, lead, arsenic or other toxins.

Most journalists were confined to an area where they could not see people visiting their properties. Oliveira said officials wanted to ensure residents had space and privacy to reflect or grieve.

A team of more than two dozen people from Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian ministry, was on hand to help residents sort through what was left of their homes, said Todd Taylor, who works with the organization.

“It’s like losing a loved one. That’s exactly what these folks are going through,” Taylor said. “Those homeowners can talk to us about their house _ `This is where my bedroom was, and I had a nightstand here with my wedding ring,’ or, `My grandfather’s urn was on the sink’ _ those type of indicators that can help our volunteers sift through the ash and look for very specific items.”

© 2023 The Canadian Press

The last remaining evacuation alerts for the McDougall Creek wildfire in the West Kelowna area were rescinded on Monday.

The fire is listed as being held, and the announcement comes as scattered showers drizzle throughout the Central Okanagan.

The news also follows an announcement by Central Okanagan Emergency Operations on Friday that rescinded several evacuation alerts, but left a few in place.

For now, just one evacuation order remains, and it affects just one area: 550 Westside Road South.

“BC Wildfire Service crews continue to patrol the fire’s edge and move inward as they extinguish remaining hot spots,” Emergency Operations said on Monday.

“Tree-faller teams will be nearby to ensure safe working environments.”

It also said though fall has arrived, and cooler temperatures, nearby communities can still expect to see smoke over the coming weeks.

“This is common with large wildfires and will continue until significant rainfall or snowfall,” said Emergency Operations.

“If you see smoke coming from well within a fire’s perimeter and the area is surrounded by black, burned material, this is typically not a concern.”

Still in effect is an area restriction order, which will remain in place until Oct. 3 or until it’s rescinded.

 

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Cautious optimism is building in British Columbia’s film and television industry that a historic, months-long work stoppage could be drawing to a close.

The U.S.-based Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Sunday that could bring an end to a bitter 146-day strike.

The deal has yet to be ratified, and Hollywood actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) remain on strike.

“It’s awesome,” Shawn Williamson, a Vancouver-based television producer with Bright Lights Pictures, told Global News.

“Pending ratification, we’re all back to work. At least there’s light now. Likely shooting in about eight weeks.”

Williamson’s company produces upwards of 10 shows at once, including popular titles like The Good Doctor, employing up to 2,000 people.

He said all eyes are now on negotiations between actors and the the film and TV industry. If a deal is reached there, he said, Canadian production could ramp up very quickly.

“The hope is they will use the framework that came out of the writer’s guild agreement to base the new actors agreement on — there will be unique issues within it, but if they can use that and hopefully negotiate and come to terms within a few weeks you could see a very, very fast return to production,” Williamson said.

“If I have scripts, we can be shooting with working actors in less than two weeks on a typical episodic show that’s established.”

That would be welcome news to British Columbia workers sidelined by the dispute, despite not actually being on strike.

Film and television production was worth an estimated $3.6 billion to B.C.’s economy in 2022, according to industry-focused Creative BC, and supports up to 70,000 full-time and part-time jobs.

“Normally around this time of year we’d probably have between 25 and 40 productions at some level of production, whether its pre-production, post-production or actually in production,” Creative BC CEO Prem Gill said.

Currently there are about 15 productions active in B.C., she said, including two or three scripted Canadian series.

“Obviously a lot of people have been having a challenging time over the past couple of months,” she said.

“We’re still trying to understand what happens over the next few days and couple of weeks through the ratification process, what kinds of things may come back sooner, what level of things, obviously the actors are an important piece of the work, so that has to be a big part of it.”

Some 11,500 WGA members walked off the job May 2 over issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of scripts. A ratification vote on the new deal, which has not been made public, is expected to take about two weeks.

Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet.

Gill said she remains optimistic that B.C. will still be a top destination for U.S. productions once the labour dispute is fully resolved.

The local industry has experience with everything from episodic TV shows to blockbuster films, and remains one of the most attractive production hubs in North America thanks to including infrastructure, skilled workers and tax breaks, she said.

“All of this in combination to our proximity to Los Angeles probably puts us in a stronger place than maybe some other jurisdictions, but again, what the models will look like a year from now … I’m not sure,” she said.

“But I do think we have such a strong industry and really 40-year-plus industry here that we remain at the top of the list of choices.”

— with files from the Associated Press. 

© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.