Author Archives: Yuji Hyde

Can You Break The Secret?

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Owner: Yuji Hyde

 

 

I love a good treasure hunt. From Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island to Al Capone’s lost vault. Stories (both fiction and non) about finding that hidden gold always make a thrilling story. But what is more amazing is there are real treasure hunts anyone can join! Across the United States and Canada, there are 12 hidden treasures just waiting for someone like you to dig up. Since the birth of the internet, Byron Preiss’s The Secret is getting even more people hunting for his hidden gold. But this isn’t your typical “X marks the spot and dig” kind of map. The Secret is a true puzzle.

 

www.ripleys.com

 

In 1982, Byron Preiss, an American writer, and publisher, was looking at a picture book called Masquerade where he got the idea to create a massive treasure hunt. He took this idea and buried 12 boxes in the ground between Canada and the USA, then he released his book, The Secret. A Treasure Hunt.

www.ripleys.com

Within the book are Twelve paintings and verses. The reader must match one with the other and decode the cryptic message that will lead you to one of the hidden treasures. There are no other hints elsewhere and unfortunately, Byron Preiss died in a traffic accident in 2005, taking the locations to his grave. As of February 15, 2021,  three of the twelve treasure boxes have been unearthed. The first one in Chicago (1983); the second in Cleveland (2004) and the most recent (2019) was in Boston.

If you want more information about this massive hunt, check out the website https://12treasures.com/. I wish you the best of luck in finding that bounty.

Vancouver’s Red Herring newest Album: “Neon”

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Formed in 1984 and winning the CITR Radio’s first Shindig and with critical acclaim from the Vancouver Sun and Discorder Magazine for their debut EP, Taste Tests, Vancouver indie-rock band, “Red Herring” came out with a new album today, Neon. The Neon EP features the complete return of the original 1980s lineup, Enrico Renz (guitar and vocals), Martin Walton (bass), Stephen Nikleva (Guitar), Steve Lazin (Drums) Id Guinness (keyboardist), and Tania Gosgnach (backing vocalist).

 Included with Neon is the lead single and music video, The Brain Song. This song was also just featured on The Strombo show’s Halloween episode. It was a good fit because watching this psychedelic horror of a music video made me almost comatose with its kaleidoscopic visual and trippy sound. If this video was a child, its Father would be Frank Zappa and the Mother would be Tommy Chong.  Who needs drugs when you can just watch this instead. (please do drugs responsibly) 

 

Also including this album is the music video Julia, a slow pace love song with beautiful vocals and soothing guitar rips. A very relaxing song, with the opening reminding me of something out of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.  When William Cooks from “Vancouver Weekly”  interview the songwriter Enrico Renz about Julia said, “This is the most romantic song on our album Neon. I was reading a lot of Alan Watts (known for interpreting and popularising Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism for a Western audience) at the time, and I think you’ll find a lot of him in the lyrics.” –

The Album is now available on their website (https://redherring1.bandcamp.com/community) and Spotify. For more information about the band’s history, please check out their Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/redherringvancouver/ )or follow them on Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/redherringvancouver/ )

 

A Brief History of the Commodore Ballroom.

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The Commodore Ballroom. 1950 (Photo Art Jones, Vancouver Public Library, 83192

Since opening its doors in 1929, the legendary award-winning Commodore Ballroom has hosted music legends, from slick jazz singer, Sammy Davis Jr to grudge icon, Nirvana. Since then, this historic venue continues to open its doors to world-famous musicians and local indie bands. Located on The Granville strip, this venue has seen its difficulties but keeps marching on.

Built by the infamous bootleggers Reifel family (the Canadian version of Bugsy Malone), it opened on a cold winter day in December 1929 to a sellout crowd, who wanted to see Wendell Dorey and his orchestra. They were forced to close temporarily because of the Great Depression, but it reopened a year later. When the Commodore reopened on Dec 3rd, 1930, it made headlines for its English-style ballroom and sprung dance floor, which was the first in the city.

Commodore Dance Floor. 1930. Photographer Stuart Thomson.

They also featured a house band, meals, and alcoholic drinks. During prohibition, The Vancouver Police would routinely raid the venue looking for alcohol and intoxicated patrons. Luckily by the time the police entered from the street, the Doorman would signal a buzzer, notifying the band to play “Roll out the barrel”, a warning song to let the audiences hide their drinks.

Drew Burns. Bc Entertainment Hall Of Fame

In the summer of 1969, The Commodore changed hands to Drew Burns (1969 to 1996); he shifted away from its jazz roots and embraced the new rock sounds. Since that change in direction, he brought in bands such as The Ramones, David Bowie, and The Pixies.

During the 1990s, The Commodore fell into a legal dispute with the owners of the building when Burn’s lease ended. Burns wanted to sell the Commodore and retire, but the owner’s lawyer filed an injunction and the matter went to Provincial Court. Judge Wally Oppal, who was presiding over the case, was sympathetic to Burns’s situation, but could not legally rule in his favour. The closure was detrimental to Vancouver’s music scene because there were no comparable venues of its size in Vancouver. Many tours just skipped Vancouver. The Commodore stayed closed for over three

After three years of renovations by the new owners (Live Nation), on Nov 12th, 1999, The Commodore was back and has since remained one of the country’s most important live music venues. In 2011, Billboard Magazine ranked the Commodore, alongside Chicago’s Metro, Los Angeles’s Troubadour, and San Francisco’s Fillmore, as one of the most influential concert venues in North America.

Today, however, The Commodore is temporarily closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the venue is adding new acts for next year, such as The Flaming Lips (January 28th) and The Zombies (June 24th). For more information, please go to http://www.commodoreballroom.com/

 

 

Indie Week Canada Starts In Two Days!

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As COVID-19 is keeping everyone inside, many musical concerts still cannot play, they are instead turning to online streaming services such as Twitch, YouTube Live, and VRChat. With these online services, fans will chat and see their favourite band on the virtual level. Because of that, there are many music events that will be organized online, including “Indie Week Canada 2020”.

Starting from November 10 to 14th, the 18th edition of Indie Week Canada is a yearly music conference that gives bands all around the world the opportunity to network and meet many industry representatives and fellow indie artists.  This year, what would normally be an in-person event, is now a 5-day online conference.

The topics of this year’s event will be, Mental health education, international, mentorships, and networking. Each day of the conference will have different music industry representatives and artists to give their valuable knowledge to those who attend.

Here is the list of music industry representatives and indie artists that will attend the conference.

Ace Piva, Aly Gillani, Andrea Higgins, Andrew Karis, Barry Rooke, Beverley Whitrick, Brian Moncarz, Byron Pascoe, Catherine Jones, Cecilia Soojeong Yi, Chris Robley, Cory Crossman, Daniel Melnick, Danny Keir, Darryl Hurs, Dave Cool, David “Prz” Przygoda, David Silbaugh, Dmitri Vietze, Doug Elliott, Eric Alper, George Clark, Heli Del Moral, Jason Joven, Jeff Rogers, Jenn Ivanovs, Joel Jelinski, John Seo, Jordi Puy, Karabo Motijoane, Katya Bazhanova, Keith Tan, Kevin Breuner, Leon Harrison, Linda Bloss-Baum, Luke Danelon, Magdalena Jensen, Marcos Chomen, Martin Atkins, Matias Moreno, Michael Bamfo, Michael Perlmutter, Michelle Holtzkener, Mike Strano, Mike Tanner, Mike Warner, Milica Cuckic, Nicole Sarmiento, Olly Rowland, Peter Albert, Piyapong Muenprasertdee, Radek Chudzio, Rebecca Helgeson, Rebecca Webster, Ritnika Nayan, Sarah Hagerman, Stacey Bedford, Stephen Carroll, Tagui Sole, Tara Tank, Tony Duckworth, Tracy Maddux, and Tristra Yeager.

For more information, please go to their website, https://www.indieweek.com/.