Quick update, Jay Reatard has passed on as of 3:30 am yesterday morning. Reatard was a well respected garage punk from Memphis who played and lived fast. Despite quite the mean streak and a reputation for controversial outbursts Jay was a huge inspiration or me personally in the music that I play and I am deeply saddened by this loss. As facts start to surface Jay will either become a legend, or fearfully the punch line to the end of a cruel joke. Either way I will always respect him for all that he’s done. May his true eulogy be whiskey stained and set aflame.

-lionsteeth

With all the Michael Jackson nostalgia circulating through the media and social landscapes these days, I thought that I would ad my own little tidbit. This is the real deal. In 1989/90 U.S. Gold and Sega released the Michael Jackson video game, “Moonwalker”, to coincide with the release of his movie by the same name. I remember playing this game at Chucky Cheese when I was a kid and as I recall it was quite a fun game. At the time it was just awesome, now it seems a bit creepy and weird, and a little more awesome. (more…)

I’m often guilty of shameless self promotion, though I’ve tried my best to keep it out of my writings here on bluegrassish.com. However tonight is going to be something really special and I’d just like to let all our Vancouverite friends out there know that 3 of our writers including myself will be preforming at Smileys at 911 W Pender st. around 10pm tonight! It is our debut show as Eeek! and we are super stoked on all our new material so if you liked us before as Wild Palmss or maybe never saw us, now is the time to do so! We will be preforming along side the Vancouver band Kick Evrything and from Philadelphia; Grandchildren. Grandchildren are a super slick AnCo inspired band with pretty bleeps and bloops and soaring vocal harmonies, I’m excited to say the least! So if you feel the need to come hang out with us, maybe do a little two-step while we play! Also, we can probably get you on guest list so if you want that shit, drop us a line in the comments section!

Grandchildren – Saturn Returns

Grandchildren – Cold Warrior

-lionsteeth

Add one chicken egg, one crazy and determined paleontologist, and some real life Jurassic Park science, and there you have it.

John “Jack” Horner has a vision.  When he walks into of one of his classes to give a lecture, instead of carrying a projector or some field notes, he wants to walk in with  a live dinosaur.  His own creation, hatched in his lab from a bird egg.  “It’s small, but bigger than a chicken,” he writes in his new book, How to Build a Dinosaur. “Let’s say the size of a turkey, one day maybe even the size of an emu.” The emu-size dinosaur, he adds, “might have a muzzle or a couple of handlers.”

Sound familiar? Horner was the scientific adviser for the Jurassic Park films. The difference is that unlike in the film, Horner doesn’t need Dino DNA to recreate the reptiles. Which is good, because dinosaur DNA has never been recovered from any source. Horner is working on genetically ‘tweaking’ bird DNA to activate genes that have been dormant due to evolution. and since the birds are direct descendants from dinosaurs, it wont be long before Horner completes his mission. He guesses he will have hatched  his first dinosaur within the next 5 years.

Read a more detailed article HERE.

I don’t think I have ever been more excited for anything. This could go a few different ways: the dinosaur hatches and it’s a huge step for the scientific community, and helps students in paleontology better understand a dino’s life. Alternativley, it could be a recreation of Jurassic Park, and we will all be eaten alive. What I’m afraid of, is that every creationist’s head will explode from trying to religiously explain away the  hidden dino genes in a chicken. Big mess. Either way, I’m still excited.

-artandstars

Tonight we will reach the nadir of western civilization sometime around dinner

victoria prince

For modern music fans, the choice of how to play your audio has come down to either Ipod and/or record player. Sadly, your high school boom box that played CDs and tapes is obsolete. We all know this and accept it, but few know the finer details of making all the new double Orange 180gm records in gatefold jackets that are filling up their collections.

Who really cares about the finer details of an MP3? Not me! This is because my job is to make vinyl records at Vinyl Record Guru. The process of making a high quality record involves a large number of companies all over the continent, and it is quite a task to keep them all on track and on time. With a lot of fine tuning, we have got this down to a science so we can stand by our products. Since we are a Vancouver Island based record company, you might be surprised to see some of the records that are handled from the nerve center in my boss’s basement. We sit in a small room all day  listening to records(strictly vinyl) with his cats, coordinating the finer details of vinyl records by likes of Willie Nelson, Metric, and the Bad Brains.  I have managed to land this  job out of complete luck (and maybe a little charm); I was his bartender.

With 25+ years experience in the music business, my boss has some great stories of touring with the small-time early metal bands. He also has a first-hand account of the dying days of vinyl, the “resurgence”, and the evolution of records. One of my favourite stories  is of when he lost the lathe (a machine that cuts audio into a blank record) at his plant in New York and it was sold to the Church of Scientology. They bought it so they could cut all of L. Ron Hubbards speeches into copper disks, so as to withstand nuclear blasts… !? But I digress.

So if you have ever dreamt of putting out a record and have questions about the process, understanding pricing, or can’t seem to find what you want, drop us a line. We love what we do, and we always have time to answer a few questions.

Thanks Brent!

Heres a song from Brents band Los Tycoons, who will hopefully be preforming somewhere close to you in the new year.

Los Tycoons – Streamlining

I know I failed at documenting 5 scary stories this week; I admit I got quite lazy and ran out of content quite quickly. However I promise this will make it up:

Dyatlov Pass Incident

Our story begin in 1959, the date February 2nd.  9 Russian skiers enter the eastern shoulder of Холат Сяхл (Kholat Syakhl) also known as the Mountain Of The Dead. Kholat Syakhl is located in mid-northern Russia. The group of 9 had set out a few days prior on a week long ski/hiking trip, fully prepared with tents, winter clothing, food ect. The goal of the trip was to reach Otorten, a mountain 10 kilometers from the site of the incident. They would never return home from what seemed to be an exciting winter vacation.

The irony of a trip into the Mountain Of The Dead is almost sickening. Although the ski outfit where equiped and lead by a seasoned guide (Igor Dyatlov) to whom the pass would later be named. The fellowing events where later reported after a search group was sent out to retrieve the group after they did not return for days. The plan had been sent that Igor Dyatlov would send a telegraph when the team arrived back at the town they departed from, Vizhai, and when no telegraph was received a small volunteer search party was sent out. What they found was truely horrifying.

On February 26th, the remains of the groups camp was found. The tent was badly damaged, foot prints could be traced 500 meters to a forest on the other side of the pass. At the edge of the forest the search team found the remains of a fire and the first two bodies, both dressed only in their underclothes. 3 other bodies where found 300, 480 and 630 meters from the other two corpses, these bodies where in poses suggesting they had attempted to return to the camp. The last 4 bodies took another two months to be found, buried under four meters of snow in a ravine even farther then the other bodies.

Upon quick investigation of the first 5 bodies the cause of death was determined to be hypothermia, although one of the skiers had a crack in his skull. However when the next 4 bodies where found, the scene changed greatly. Fatal injuries caused three of the four deaths, including major chest and head fractures. Examiners of the body, claim the amount of force required to cause these injuries would have had to be extremely high, equivalent to that of a high impact car crash. None of the bodies had any external wounds, as if crushed by high pressure. The one woman of the group was found missing her tongue.

These facts are known:

1. The skiers abandoned their tent at night, braving temperatures of -25 degrees Celsius, only in their underclothes.

2. 6 of the 9 where killed by hypothermia, 3 of fatal internal injuries.

3. The tent had been ripped open from the inside.

4. Upon testing, the clothes of all the deceased  showed high traces of radiation.

The pass was closed for three years following the incident. The case was closed due to “absence of a guilty party” and the deaths where claimed to be caused by “an unknown compelling force”.

Later, speculation was raised after some startling new evidence was unearthed. Family members attending the funerals of the skiers claimed the bodies where ‘orange’ in colour with grey hair. Also a group of hikers 50 kilometers away reported seeing bright orange globes in the sky on the night of February 2nd.

-lionsteeth

Why does this exist? DJ Hero, get real.

I get guitar hero (kind of), but is this niche that really needs to be filled? Whats next Yodel Hero? Accordion Hero?

-lionsteeth

The Greyfriars Cemetery

Greyfrairs Graveyard in Edinburgh Scotland is known as one of the most haunted sites in the world. The haunting is directly linked to the ghost of George Mackenzie, a Scottish lawyer who died in 1691. George Mackenize had a large role in King Charles I’s clash with the Covenanters, a group of christians opposed to the new rule of the Episcopalian church.

In 1679, there was a large battle between the Covenanters and Charles II’s army in which Covenanters were outnumbered and hundreds were taken hostage. George Mackenzie had a heavy hand in the torture and death of many Covenanters. Many who were not imprisoned in Greyfrairs Court were sold as slaves and shipped to the West Indes; However due to some unfortunate twist of fate, the ship that carried the slaves crashed off the coast of Orkney in northern England.

According to accounts dating back to 1990 (when the grave of Mackenzie happen to be disturbed) over 500 people have reported being assaulted by some sort of other-worldly being. Attacks include cuts, bruises, physical pushing, and most commonly black outs. Mackenzie’s grave was ransacked supposedly by a homeless man whom upon seeing an unlocked gate entered the tomb in hopes of finding some sort of shelter. Seeing a coffin, the man broken open the lid in hope of finding anything of value (he was unsuccessful).

Since that night countless reports of poltergeist activity have been claimed; the first of which happened just days after the tomb was broken into. The area around Mackenzie’s tomb in Greyfrairs Cemetry has been completely gated off in a bid to protect future guests from his ghost.

-lionsteeth

Well there are only 5 days left till Halloween. I’m excited, your excited, hell even Rob is excited!

I figured I needed a theme for the next 5 days so here it is: One scary story a day for 5 days, ending with the most terrifying of all! Today’s Tale Is:

Brother 12,

Press Play

Brother 12 was born J.C Skottowe in England. At an early age he claimed to be subjected to many visions warning him to travel far and wide to find a land to set up a religious foundation. In the 1920′s, Brother 12 found him self on Vancouver Island,  around the area now known as Cedar, part of Nanaimo. Brother 12 had laid the ground work for what would come to be known as The Aquarian Foundation, a group of men and women assigned to save humanity. Upon joining the Aquarian Foundation, as with most cults, a large financial donation had to be made. Following a trail of money, Brother 12 then set his sites on California, but after only a few weeks he had a vision telling him Nanaimo was the safest place for him to reside. In 1926, ‘Cedar By The Sea’ was established on a farm a few miles out of the town of Nanaimo. In the compound of Cedar By The Sea, Brother 12 began to what some would call brain washing the members of The Aquarian Foundation, rumors have been spread that Brother 12 had purchased a supply of microphones to spy on all the members of the foundation, and anyone caught speaking ill of their master Brother 12 was never heard from again. Religious type cerimonies where also held, in which brother 12 would gather all his followers out doors and would ‘speak to god’ which also included him having sex with multiple women. During the year of 1926, residents of Nanaimo and Cedar began to suspect the Foundation of being more than just a farm by the ocean. Attempts where made to exile Brother 12 from the land, and with his large bank account he took to buying up land on De Coursy Island, across the water from Cedar By The Sea. However at this time Brother 12 and The Aquarian Foundation began losing popularity within, falling from 200 members to just over 12. At this point Brother 12 fled back to his home land of England, where he purchased a ship entitled The Lady Royal and sailed it all the way across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and back up to De Courcy island. Upon returning and fearing arrest Brother 12 fled from De Courcy, withdrawing all the money from his vault in Nanaimo in golden bars and vanished. Many sightings where reported of his were-abouts, from Victoria to The Sunshine Coast. He later was found in Switzerland, suffering from heart conditions and later died at the age of 57. Brother 12 was succeeded by his mistress Amiel De Valdes who attempted to carry on the Foundation on Valdez Island. She later died in 1947. The whereabouts of the Brother 12 treasure have still yet to be discovered although many believe it to be hidden somewhere on De Courcy or Valdez Island.

-lionsteeth