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.

Investigators with Waterloo Regional Police are appealing to the public for help in a two-year-old murder case.

On Sept. 24, 2021, 18-year-old Joshua Bennett of Etobicoke was stabbed in the Paulander Drive area in Kitchener around 4:30 a.m.

Officers arrived shortly thereafter and found a male lying next to a trail. He was pronounced dead.

A post-mortem examination showed Bennett died of multiple stab wounds.

Investigators with the major crime unit believe someone may have seen him in the area at the time of the stabbing.

They are asking anyone with information to come forward by calling 519-750-9777 ext. 8191 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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

Food security is one of the most pressing issues of our time. This weekend, the Calgary Food Bank is hoping to get support from 400,000 households across the city to help families put food on the table.

“This inflationary environment is really taking its toll on Calgarians,” said the Food Bank’s Betty Jo Kaiser. “We all know those grocery bills have gone up, up, up.

“We are seeing unprecedented demand at the Calgary Food Bank for food support.”

That’s why white bags have been dispersed across the city and left on hundreds of thousands of doorsteps. It couldn’t be done without the help of 8,000 dedicated volunteers, like the Giannakos family who lives in Mahogany. Over two nights, they handed out bags to 800 doorsteps — 400 with their local church group, another 400 just by the family of six.

“There are definitely families in this neighbourhood and every neighbourhood in Calgary that need help from the food bank,” said dad Mitz Giannakos.

In fact, he said when he and his wife were newlyweds, they too depended on it.

“We had to go to the food bank and we benefited from the support they gave us, so I think as Calgarians, if you have a little bit to spare and if you have some time to fill up the bag, you have no idea the impact your help is giving.”

As a family, it’s helped teach his children, who range from five years old to 17 years old, the value of giving back, serving one’s community and being grateful.

“Gratefulness,” said 13-year-old daughter Danea, describing the feeling she gets by helping out. “Of what we have that we don’t need, to take food from it, and that we have enough money to get our own food.”

Mom Charity said she notices the grocery bills going up in order to feed her large family, but admitted there are many more people who are worse off than her.

“It goes up every single day I go shopping,” she said.

“I was at the grocery store the other day and there was a gentleman counting what the deposit was on the bottles of water he was buying, because he was that tight.”

The family has been doing this volunteer work together for nearly 20 years.

“That family has been out every single year since almost the very beginning, and it completely warms our heart,” said Kaiser.

How can you help?

Fill that bag with non-perishable food items and set it back on the front doorstep by 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23. Volunteers will return to pick it up, take it to a central location where the food will be dispersed throughout the city.

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

Efforts to repair telephone, cable and internet lines damaged by the Bush Creek East wildfire will take longer than expected, says Telus.

That’s because some of the newly replaced lines in the Scotch Creek area were vandalized this week.

“Crews worked around the clock this weekend to replace critical infrastructure and maintain vital network connectivity, including installing extensive new fibre cables,” said Telus.

“Regretfully, it was discovered on Monday, Sept. 18 that vandals had cut the newly replaced cable, disrupting internet, TV and home phone services in the area and further delaying our ability to fully restore service for thousands of customers.”

As a result, Telus says, it will take a few more weeks to repair the damage.

The company added that its “technicians have made heroic efforts to restore service following the recent wildfires across the province that impacted numerous communities this summer, and it is deeply disheartening and concerning to see the vandalism that took place this past weekend.”

Telus said it’s working with the RCMP in coping with vandalism

“We understand the importance of staying connected with your loved ones, especially during challenging times,” said Telus, “and we will make every effort to keep the community informed of any updates.”

Global News has reached out to police for more information.

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

For Manitoba farmers, this year’s crop harvest is going strong with many already fully harvested.

The numbers, according to the most recent provincial crop report on Sept. 19, are 64 per cent. By comparison, the five year average for this time of the year sits ten per cent lower, at 54.

So far, winter wheat, fall rye and field pea are the crops that are completed. Spring wheat, barley, oats and dry beans are the crops that are nearing 100-per cent completion. The harvest for canola and soybeans continues at 55 and 21 per cent respectively.

Jill Verway, president of Keystone Agriculture Producers, says the province is in a good spot. But things could be in a better shape if the weather cooperates, with rainy conditions having been a staple this past week.

“You know, looking at the forecast, if we can keep the rain away here in the next little while, we’ll have a good chance to get everything off in a good shape,” said Verway. “We’re ahead of the five-year average by a bit….”

Dennis Lange, editor of the provincial report, agreed that the province is on a good track. And even while rainy conditions slowed down the harvest a bit, the aftermath of it has been beneficial to some crops — namely soybeans. One of the reasons, he said, is that it moisturizes the seeds.

According to him, the level at which soybeans are considered very dry is at 12-per cent moisture.

“What typically happens when you get rainfall… the seed rehydrate,” said Lange. “The moisture level becomes more even across the entire sample. The next time the growers get back into that sample harvest or soybeans again, the field will be more evenly mature.”

Lange, who is also the provincial pulse and soybean specialist, said the province’s top three crops are spring wheat, canola, and soybeans. The yield for canola is spread across 3.2 million acres; for spring wheat it’s around 3 million acres, and for soybeans it’s around 1.5 million.

In a previous interview with Global News, Lange noted that the lower numbers for later season crop — such as canola and soybeans — are not a cause for concern.

“Overall, it’s been a very interesting season. It was dry during the summer, but we’ve had enough showers to go through that. There (was) a lot of surprises,” said Lange.

“For farmers that were expecting maybe a lower yield in some areas, the yields were better than expected.”

The crop report also goes on to advise crop producers to check for weeds that are out of control. A type of weed noted is the waterhemp.

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

Whether or not you subscribe to the old adage that ‘stats are made for liars’, recent numbers don’t paint a very nice picture for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when you consider their history against the Toronto Argonauts.

The two bitter rivals are set to square off for the fourth and final time in the Canadian Football League’s 2023 regular season Saturday night at BMO Field.

The game will be broadcast on CHML radio, starting with the Pregame Show at 6 p.m. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Fans can catch The 5th Quarter postgame show 30 minutes after the final whistle.

The Tiger-Cats (6-7) are going for their third consecutive win after impressive outings against Winnipeg and Ottawa during the last two weeks. However, Hamilton has lost their past five games against Toronto (11-1) and nine of their last 10.

The Tiger-Cats have made just three lineup changes this week, inserting defensive back Richard Leonard, right tackle Tyrone Riley, and receiver Tyler Ternowski in place of left tackle Joel Figueroa, cornerback Lawrence Woods, and defensive end Anthony Federico.

However, the Ticats have not only lost all three of their matchups against the defending Grey Cup champion Argos this year, they have not looked very good in any of those contests.

Toronto won their first meeting 32-14 on June 18. The Argos beat the Cats on July 21 by a score of 31-15. And the Ticats fell to their arch-rivals again, 41-28, on Labour Day.

In those three games, the Argonauts have got off to an incredibly fast starts, outscoring Hamilton 32-0 in the first quarter and 59-13 in the first half. The Argos have also been perfect at home this season, sporting a 6-0 record, their longest such streak since 1997.

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