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.

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.

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.

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.

All the original Ramones are no longer with us. While Dee Dee died of a heroin overdose, his three bandmates suffered from different forms of cancer. Joey died of lymphoma. Johnny? Prostate cancer. Tommy suffered from bile duct cancer. Coincidence? Maybe not.

Some suspect these cancers are the result of the conditions of a loft on East 2^nd Street where the Ramones rehearsed and printed t-shirts. It was the former home of a plastic flower factory and some believe that the toxic residue left over from the chemicals used in their manufacture. They permeated the entire building.

Oh, and one more thing: Arturo Vega, the Ramones’ art director and the guy who designed and pressed up all those t-shirts in that loft? He also died of cancer.

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

The Lions have secured a spot in the CFL’s post-season.

Taquan Mizzell ran in a pair of touchdowns as the B.C. Lions clinched a playoff spot with a 37-29 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Friday.

“It’s a big deal. Just ask teams that aren’t in the playoffs if making it in is a big deal,” said Lions head coach Rick Campbell. “To get to 10 wins and to secure a playoff berth, which is your first goal in the regular season, it is going to make our last four games pretty interesting.”

Quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns to help B.C. (10-4) win three games in a row.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done,” Adams said. “I know I have to be better for my team moving forward. We started off hot, but then I was kind of up and down.

“I just want to be better for the team, but it was a great win. Our team, we got fight in us.”

Canadian QB Tre Ford had two TD passes on 182 yards as Edmonton (4-11) saw its faint playoff hopes almost disappear.

“They did a good job game-planning, they were prepared for me. I couldn’t get out of the pocket and scramble much. They just did a good job containing me,” Ford said. “Even though I still thought we didn’t execute to the level we wanted to, it was definitely a step forward.”

The Elks at least managed to score a point against the Lions after stunningly being shutout out in both of their previous meetings against B.C. this season.

“The last two times we played them, we didn’t score any points and looking back last year, they blew us out a whole bunch,” said Ford. “So, definitely a step in the right direction.”

The Lions came roaring out of the gate with a surgical opening drive, needing just seven consecutive successful plays to set up a five-yard touchdown pass from Adams to Justin McInnis.

Things didn’t go nearly as well on their next possession, however, as Adams floated a ball too high and it was picked off and returned 56 yards by Kai Gray for the pick six TD, ending Edmonton’s season-long scoring drought against the Lions.

B.C. made up for it immediately, though, as Adams found Jevon Cottoy, who shrugged off a badly-missed tackle attempt by Mark McLaurin and scampered 57 yards into the end zone.

The big plays kept coming on B.C.’s next possession as well, as a 68-yard punt return by Terry Williams set up a 13-yard TD run by Mizzell to give the Lions a 21-7 lead after the first quarter.

“We got outplayed in all three phases,” said Elks head coach Chris Jones. “I thought, offensively, defensively and in the kicking game they beat us in this game. We’re closer than maybe what we were, but you don’t get consolation prizes for losing the football game.”

The Elks finally got their listless offence going late in the second quarter when Ford hit Dillon Mitchell in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown, the first offensive points recorded by Edmonton in 148:34 of game play against B.C. this season.

The Lions came flying right back as a 57-yard passing play to Keon Hatcher set up a 12-yard field goal by Sean Whyte.

Dean Faithfull kicked a 41-yard field goal for the Elks with no time left on the clock to make it 24-17 at the mid-mark.

Faithfull started off the third quarter with a missed 41-yard attempt that resulted in a single, but then nailed a 42-yarder with five minutes to play in the frame.

The Lions regained a bit of their cushion when Mizzell found a seam and turned on the jets for a 48-yard touchdown run.

Whyte kicked a 17-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

Edmonton kept it interesting as Ford found Mitchell for a four-yard touchdown pass with just under three minutes left in the game to pull within six points.

Whyte booted a 40-yard field goal with 36 seconds left to put the game away for the Lions.

NOTES

Of the nine CFL teams who have started seasons at 0-9 since 1958, only Edmonton this season and Ottawa in 1989 have managed to come back and record four wins… The game featured the two teams with the worst turnover deficits, with the Lions coming into the game at minus-eight and the Elks sitting at minus-12.

UP NEXT

The Lions play host to the Saskatchewan Roughriders next Friday. The Elks are on a bye week.

© 2023 The Canadian Press

Bruce McDonald’s second period goal held up as the game winner as the Erie Otters downed the London Knights 3-1 at Budweiser Gardens on Sept. 22 to complete London’s pre-season schedule.

The Knights finished with two wins and two losses as they split back-to-back games first against the Sarnia Sting and then against Erie.

Pano Fimis scored his second goal of the pre-season to give the Otters a 1-0 lead at the 8:01 mark of the first period as he got his stick on a shot from just inside the blue line.

Bruce McDonald gave Erie a 2-0 lead with a show of skill in the second period. After a Nicholas Holomego point shot went wide McDonald was able to snag the ricochet off the end boards, put the puck between his legs and lift it underneath the crossbar and behind London goaltender Zach Bowen who split duties with Owen Willmore in the Knight net.

Bowen stopped 17b of the 19 shots he faced.

The Knights cashed in on a late second period power play as Sam Dickinson began a rush out of his own zone and got a puck ahead to Sam O’Reilly who tipped a pass to a breaking Ruslan Gazizov who had stepped behind the Otters defence and beat Erie goaltender Jacob Gibbons with a shot between the legs. It was Gazizov’s second goal of the pre-season.

The Otters fended off everything London threw at them in the final 20 minutes including several chances on a late Knights power play that saw Willmore head to the bench for an extra attacker.

Malcolm Spence eventually knocked a puck into the empty London net to finish the scoring at 3-1.

The Knights played the game with 16 skaters. London is still missing five forwards (Jacob Julien, Easton Cowan, Max McCue, Denver Barkey, Kasper Halttunen) and three defenceman (Jackson Edward, Isaiah George and Oliver Bonk) who are all currently attending National Hockey League training camps.

Both Landon Sim and Will Nicholl remain out of the Knights lineup due to injury.

Noah Jenken was recalled by London from the Strathroy Rockets and made his pre-season debut.

The Knights will host the Niagara IceDogs on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m., to begin the 2023-24 OHL regular season.

Fan Fest will take place from 5-7 p.m. outside Budweiser Gardens. There is no charge and fans do not need a game ticket to participate in Fan Fest.

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

The suspect in four random and violent incidents within a span of 45 minutes on Vancouver’s west side last week has been arrested and released again – just five days after he got out of jail.

Best Prince, 22, was arrested on September 14 and charged with assault with a weapon and two counts of uttering threats.

Prince is accused of striking a woman in the leg with a chain on a bus near Broadway and Granville streets before threatening to hit a man and then threatening two other people with a concrete block near Broadway and Vine streets.

After a brief foot chase through Kitsilano, Vancouver police said they took the suspect into custody at Connaught Park.

Prince was released on Sept. 15 less than 24 hours after his arrest.

On Sept. 20, Prince was arrested on the University Endowment Lands and accused of breaching an August 24 release order with only one condition: not to attend the University Endowment Lands.

Prince was released again on Sept. 21 – his third release from custody in less than one month.

“The trend is to release people unless you can show there’s a likelihood the person is going to commit a criminal offence,” former B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal told Global News Friday.

Oppal, now a lawyer with Boughton Law, said judges must decide whether to release someone based on the material they are presented with, including recommendations from both the prosecution and defence lawyers.

Oftentimes, he said, if an accused has no criminal record, it may be difficult for the Crown to convince a judge to keep the person in custody.

Court documents list an Edmonton address for Prince, who has no criminal convictions in B.C..

Prince was charged with theft, uttering death threats and obstructing a peace officer for allegedly stealing two food delivery packages from a UBC student residence on March 13.

“Obviously what’s happened here is there’s been a mistake made because the person shouldn’t have been out,” Oppal told Global News. “But human behaviour is also difficult to predict so I’m not going to criticize the judge.

When asked if he would push for chronic offender legislation with regards to bail so people get the help they need before being released, B.C. Premier David Eby said the province has pushed the federal government to reform Canada’s bail laws.

Bill C-48, which would include “reverse onus” – leaving it up to accused violent repeat offenders to prove why they should be released – passed unanimously in the House of Commons Monday.

“I will be headed to Ottawa with colleagues to press and ensure that it makes it through the Senate as quickly as possible, there will be some meetings with senators because reform is certainly needed in this area and is overdue,” Eby said.

Oppal said the number of people suffering from mental illness or addiction issues is a real problem, and mandatory treatment should be seriously looked at.

“If we really want to cure all this we need to treat those people who are drug addicted or mentally ill,” said Oppal.

“In the meantime, they inflict a lot of personal harm on people who are innocent and have been victims of crime.”

Vancouver police believe mental health was involved in last week’s violent crime spree.

Prince must abide by nine release conditions – including no contact with his alleged victims, not possessing any knives or other weapons, and attending a “psychiatric intake, assessment, or treatment program through Forensic Psychiatric Services,” as directed by his bail supervisor.

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

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence writing generators has impacted B.C. schools, with education officials saying it has created a new wrinkle for teachers to deal with.

“Maybe around March (last year), we were hearing reports (that) kids were fully doing their homework, writing everything (on AI generators) and teachers were saying, ‘What is this? How are they doing this? Help,’” said Jeff Spence, Vancouver School Board’s learning and information technology district principal.

The board’s learning and information technology division provides “relevant technological solutions,” and encourages district and school staff to “reach their intellectual potential.”

“(There are) concerns for sure. In secondary schools, teachers often know their students, they get to know the style of writing their students have, so that when something pops up that is clearly not in the voice they are used to hearing … it’s time for a conversation,” Spence said.

Spence compared the rise of AI generators to the days when calculators were first introduced into learning.

“I remember, ‘No calculators allowed.’ Then it went to, ‘Oh, you can use a calculator for this part of the test,’ and now we all use calculators whenever. It’s a tool at our disposal to use,” Spence said.

“ChatGPT is different than (calculators) but right now, we are treating it the same as that. It won’t be (forever) because it seems to be quite a bit smarter (than calculators).

“We are very much in the early stages of this and we need to have awareness.”

He said the first step for the school district is to inform teachers and staff that students are using these tools in their assignments and to have constructive conversations with students about using AI generators responsibly.

Vancouver School Board does have some policies in place but they are “standard” and have not been amended to include AI generator-specific language.

“It is not specific to AI but, of course, have policies around the arena of cheating and the inappropriate use of technology — which students and staff all sign,” Spence said.

“Like anything, it’s a tool. It’s new, it can be used for good and it can be used for bad but I am encouraging people to use it, right now.”

In class, pen and paper writing may be the solution for future tests and assignments to test student knowledge without using the “tool” of AI generators — something that has long been a staple in B.C. high school education.

In central B.C., the Prince George School District has similar messaging when it comes to students using AI generators.

Prince George School District assistant superintendent Lee Karpenko said there are two “factions” in staff thinking.

Group one is focused on in-class learning — a hands-on approach where assignments are done in person and students do not have the ability to use AI generators to assist in the school work.

Group two is focused on using AI to write content, where the class will then break down the AI-generated work.

“Bring your best essay from ChatGPT and let’s critique it. Let’s find the functions of writing in these essays or assignments and use the human brain, intellect, and critical thinking skills to teach those things out,” Karpenko said.

Both the Vancouver School Board and Prince George School District said it is extremely early in the process of understanding and working with AI generators and will be a learn-as-they-go process.

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

A community restaurant and bar in Emerald Park is shutting down after it was sold by the owner.

The Ice House restaurant and bar has been a staple of the community for 32 years, and was passed down through generations of the Kish family.

According to owner Joel Kish, “My wife and I have owned it for over 10 years. We bought it out from my mom and dad, and they had built it back in 1991.”

According to the owners, the liquor store and restaurant have been sold.

The Kish family decided to put the business on the market after the government began selling their liquor stores.

“Just with the government liquor stores selling when they did, we just figured, let’s take a shot. We put our licence up for sale and also the business just to see what happens,” Kish said.

Kish says the liquor store will remain open and continue its operations like it had done in the last eight years.  The building is now on the path to become a Browns Crafthouse.

“So, the liquor store is going to stay open the whole time. There’s going to be no changes at all except a new owner. It’s going to be Browns Crafthouse; that’s what the new owners tell me,” Kish said.

“It’s going to be the first craft house in the province. So, it’s going to be kind of under the same umbrella as the Browns, but it’s going to be different than the Brown Social House.”

The Ice House is saying goodbye to its loyal customers and the Kish family, for whom it’s been like a second home.

Looking back at how far they have come as a business, Kish remembered the good old days.

“I can’t even begin to tell you all the memories that we’ve got. I think probably the bulk of it is on Sunday nights afterwards after all the long week, we would order Chinese food and sit down here as a family. We also have family Christmas here,” Kish said.

The Ice House Tavern and Restaurant’s last day of operation is Friday 22. On Sept. 23, a cabaret will be hosted to celebrate 32 years of success.

“From the bottom of our hearts it has truly been an honour for our family to serve this community for the last 32 years. We cannot thank you all enough for your loyal patronage and support,” Kish said.

The restaurant also played a major role to many people living in White City and Emerald Park.

“I am excited for change,” Kish said. “I’m sad that the Ice House is not going to be part of the community anymore. It’s been a hub of the community for a very long time. But I feel like we’re leaving on a high note and the new plans that’s going to come in, is something new that would be great.”

Amanda Delesoy has been coming to the Ice House for as long as the restaurant been open.

“My mum use to work here for about 15 years, lots of memories here when it first opened. As a kid growing up here, we used to come in for fries on Saturday with dad. And now I’m bringing my daughter who’s grown,” Delesov said.

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