Back 1990, The Pixies were an extremely hot commodity. One of their biggest fans was Eddie Vedder, who considered them a major influence, especially with the way singer Black Francis attacked a song.

When Pearl Jam got a deal with Epic Records, he discovered that Pixies drummer David Lovering was married to a publicist at Epic. Eddie contacted David looking for guidance. What did the band need to do? How should they treat the relationship with their label. What did a brand new band have to do to cut through all the noise?

David gave him this advance: “This is something that you love, playing music. Just enjoy yourself.” That seemed to work, didn’t it?

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

All through his professional life, David Bowie was a big fan of Bob Dylan. In fact, there’s a song on Bowie’s 1971 album, Hunky Dory, entitled Song for Bob Dylan. There was also a considerable amount of respect coming back from Dylan, too.

In fact, Bowie says he wrote a lot of things with Zimmy, and at one point, there were plans for the two of them to duet on an unnamed song. “We got it in our heads that we could do a duet, like a thing,” says Bowie. It seemed to be a thing one evening, but the morning after, Dylan ghosted Bowie on the idea and it never happened.

You have to wonder what such a recording would have sounded like? I’ll bet that the lyrics would have been great.

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

Before Sweden’s Karl Martin Sandberg changed his name to Max Martin and became a writer and producer of number-one pop hits for Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Pink, the Backstreet Boys, and so many others, he was—wait for it—in a hair metal band.

Martin began in music in 1985 while still in high school when he was the lead singer of a glam metal band called It’s Alive. They eventually released a couple of albums and developed a sound that wasn’t unlike what we hear from Faith No More. Unfortunately, things did not go well for It’s Alive. Outside of a bit of a bump in Sweden, the group went nowhere and the band broke up.

Martin moved into writing and producing under the mentorship of a Swedish producer named Denniz Pop. That worked and within a few years, he was cranking out some of the biggest pop songs the planet has ever seen. Talk about a career change, huh?

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

Diabetes is one of the most common afflictions found in the general public and there are many different drugs that can be used to treat it. But how about music? Can it be used to stimulate the body’s production of insulin? Apparently so.

Earlier this year, Swiss researchers published an article in the medical journal The Lancet detailing a procedure where insulin-producing cells are implanted in the body and subjected to different triggers from outside. They tried light, temperature, and electric fields. But there’s also another way to stimulate these capsules: music.

By exposing the patient to certain songs, the capsules do their magic, causing them to release insulin within just minutes. They tried all sorts of different tracks, but the one that’s worked the best—at least so far—is We Will Rock You by Queen.

A clinical application is still not feasible—this is just a proof of concept so far—but the results have been promising.

 

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

This week’s Five Songs list features a new material from a couple of greatest hits material and a pretty freaky Blue Velvet trip.

1. Bush, Nowhere to Go But Everywhere
Loaded: The Greatest Hits 1994-2023 (Round Hill Records)
Recommended If You Like: 90s alt-rock

Bush has been around for 31 years and has sold more than 24 million records and Gavin Rossdale has only now decided to release a greatest hits record. (I’m not counting 1997’s Deconstructed because that was a remix album. Besides, that was still more than a quarter-century ago.) The collection features 21 songs, twenty of which are from the band’s career. The twenty-first is this new track.

 

2. Johnny Marr, Somewhere
Spirit Power (BMG)
RIYL: 80s-inspired jangly goodness

Speaking of greatest hits album, ‘tis the season. Such compilations are usually decent stocking stuffers (for those who still buy physical product) and are good for refreshing the public’s mind about an artist’s career. Johnny Marr would like everyone to know that there’s more to him than those Smiths records back in the 80s. This collection features Johnny’s personal favourites from his career along with two brand-new songs. Fork out for the deluxe double CD set and you’ll also get a bunch of never-heard demos.

 

3. The Dirty Nil, The Light, The Void and Everything
Free Rein to Passions (Dine Alone Records)
RIYL: David Lynch’s Blue Velvet

Everyone in Dundas, Ontario’s Dirty Nil is a big fan of the films of David Lynch. They had this idea for a video treatment based on Blue Velvet for years but never really found a use for it. That is, until it came time to release this single from their most recent album. Note that Wade McNeil of Alexisonfire plays the role of Frank. Creepy, this.

 

4. BoyWithUke, Migraine
Lucid Dreams (Mercury Records)
RIYL: Anonymous singers

Who is BoyWithUke? No idea. We know that he was born in Daegu, South Korea (well, maybe), and may or may not currently reside in Boston. Whatever the case, we’ve never seen his face, even when he performs live. He claims he wants people to focus on the music and not his looks. Vanity? Or personal protection? Whatever the case, fans seem to love the mystery. Lucid Dreams, due October 6, is his fourth album (there are also three EPs if you’re interested in going down this rabbit hole.)

 

5. Fur Trade, Monaco
Dark Celebration (Fantasy Records)
RIYL: When long hiatuses finally come to an end.

Remember Victoria, BC’s Hot Hot Heat? They officially split in 2016 but before then, Steve Bays and Parker Bossley formed Fur Trade and released one record, Don’t Get Heavy, in 2013. One song from the album, Same Temptation, was even nominated for a Prism Prize for its music video. Fur Trade is back with their second album after a break of ten years. Let’s see where this takes them.

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

If you’re familiar with Green Day’s 2000 album Warning, you may have wondered what’s going on in a song called Blood, Sex, and Booze. Billie Joe Armstrong was inspired by the old Velvet Underground song Venus in Furs which is about a dominatrix and a little S&M.

To add colour to the Green Day track, drummer Tre Cool thought it would be appropriate if a dominatrix friend of his came down to the studio with her collection of whips and chains. To get the necessary sound effects for the song, one of the band’s roadies was tied to a chair in the middle of the studio and subjected to a whipping, which was recorded.

You can hear what’s happening to the guy just before Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar kicks in. The things people do for employment…

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

Mason Nyhus has walked through the gates of Griffiths Stadium hundreds of times over his football career.

On Friday night, however, the former University of Saskatchewan quarterback did so for the first time wearing navy blue instead of his familiar Huskie green.

“Once you cross the white stripe for two and a half hours, I’m on the UBC Thunderbirds to win a football game,” said Nyhus. “It’s that simple, but obviously I’m just excited to see guys and I’m excited to come back to Saskatchewan.”

Bleeding green and white for five years with the Huskies, Nyhus returned to Saskatoon with the UBC Thunderbirds not as a player, but as part of the team’s coaching staff.

Hired by the Thunderbirds in the off-season after graduating from the Huskies program, Nyhus has taken on the title of quarterback coach, guiding UBC’s group including Garrett Rooker, Derek Engel and Shawn Lal.

“I think I wore a green sweater on the first day of this week,” said Nyhus. “It was raining outside, it’s Vancouver, I was wearing a sweater. The guys were like, ‘Green sweater this week?’ I’m like, ‘Fair enough.'”

Moving into coaching from his time on the field has been a big change for Nyhus, who is now pursuing a full-time job in teaching while assisting the Thunderbirds offence.

“I’m waking up, teaching career education and economics, living with my girlfriend and whatnot,” said Nyhus. “So it’s a very different lifestyle than living with your teammates and going to practice every day. But it’s been a fun and interesting transition in kind of moving on with life.”

UBC head coach Blake Nill was first contacted by Nyhus in January when it looked like he was moving to Vancouver, which prompted a discussion between the pair of joining the Thunderbirds coaching staff.

“I really believe he’s brought incredible value to UBC football right from the beginning,” said Nill. “Just with his youth, his enthusiasm, but most importantly with his knowledge and understanding of the position.”

“We’re very fortunate to have him in there. We really, I feel, got lucky and I’m totally embracing having him in the program.”

A star behind centre during his time in Saskatoon, the Regina product became one of the top quarterbacks in all of U Sports over his five seasons.

With Nyhus at the helm, the Huskies made back-to-back Vanier Cup appearances in 2021 and 2022 while Nyhus also set the program’s single-season passing yards record with 3,829 yards thrown in his senior year.

Finishing his career with over 9,600 yards passing and 25 touchdowns, Nyhus has gone down as one of the most prolific quarterbacks in University of Saskatchewan history.

But more than that, his personal impact on the team is still being felt even after his graduation.

“He was a great leader for our program,” said Huskies football head coach Scott Flory. “Not only a great quarterback, and you saw that on the field, but I think just his attitude and how much of a leader he was within our locker room.”

Those connections formed in the locker room at Griffiths Stadium are something that Nyhus still holds close to his heart, even though he’s now helping to lead a Canada West rival.

“They really built me up into the man I am today,” said Nyhus. “My football knowledge, the reason why I’m into coaching is everything to do with those guys. So really, it’s about the relationships.”

Staring across the field at friends and teammates he’s grow up with, there were plenty of reunions Friday for the former Huskies quarterback.

While the bonds will remain no matter what logo he wears, his competitive spirit now lies on the west coast.

“They’re all still my best friends and I love those guys,” said Nyhus. “But obviously 7:00 comes and for three hours, they’ll be off for a little bit.”

The Huskies were able to get the better of Nyhus and the Thunderbirds on Friday night, holding on for a 34-31 victory to improve their record on the 2023 season to 4-1.

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

Brad Malone scored with 2:36 left in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames Friday night.

“Very similar to what we see in through the first four exhibition games — and through all the practices and training camp — our fellas are really digging in and embracing this idea of having a blue-collar work ethic,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. “Obviously we had a younger lineup in tonight. Got better as the night wore on. Started to find ourselves more and more offensive chances.”

The Flames outshot the Oilers 11-4 in the first, but Dylan Holloway looked good, powering to the net for Edmonton’s two best scoring chances.

Jack Campbell, making his first appearance of the pre-season, was strong in the Oilers net, making several good saves on a Flames power play early in the second. He was finally beaten with 7:05 left in the second when Jeremie Poirier’s point shot was tipped in by Elias Lindholm.

Warren Foegele had a glorious chance to tie it on a breakaway in the third, but his backhand went off the post.

The Flames briefly celebrated a 2-0 lead when Mikael Backlund scored on a rebound with 2:38 on the clock, however the tally was disallowed when Blake Coleman was deemed guilty of goalie interference. The Flames unsuccessfully challenged the play, putting the Oilers on the power play. Holloway ripped home a pass from Foegele to tie it with 1:40 to go.

In overtime, Seth Griffith flipped the puck ahead to Malone, who went to the backhand to beat Dan Vladar on a breakaway.

“I think I got caught there, forechecking the goaltender there,” Malone joked after the game. “I was trying to direct Griff to take away the other side and I don’t know, I guess he can’t read sign language because he went to the middle of the ice, but he made up for it, so here we are. I mean that’s what he does every night and he’s got a ton of talent, a ton of patience — it’s a pleasure being on the ice with him. That’s something the two of us won’t forget for a while.”

Campbell finished with 34 saves.

“Frankly I was a little nervous,” Campbell said. “I put a lot of work in this summer and wanted to do well. Just really excited to go out and have a good performance and just keep building on the things I’ve been working so hard on.”

The Oilers will visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m., game at 7 p.m.).

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

It took a good portion of the first period for the Kingston Frontenacs to find their legs, as they kicked off the home portion of the regular season Friday night hosting their division rivals the Oshawa Generals, but when they did, they were able to make good on just enough chances to skate away with the win, taking the game by a score of 4-2.

“We didn’t start on time,” Frontenacs Head Coach, Luca Caputi said. “But you’ve got to credit some of the character in that room for standing up for each other and just finding a way.”

Opening the scoring for the Frontenacs was rookie forward Tyler Hopkins who tallied his first Ontario Hockey League goal in front of the home crowd. Hopkins jumped on a loose puck in front of the crease and shovelled it into the open Oshawa goal.

“You see the net, your eyes get all wide, you get excited and you just hit it.”

Hopkins, who also got time on the penalty kill has impressed his new Head Coach with his play through the first two games of the season.

“I’m not hesitant to put him out there,” Caputi said.

“He’s done a really good job through (training) camp of adapting to our system, the league and I think he’s well on his way to being a big part of what we are as a team moving forward and he has a bright future.”

It may only have been the second game of the year, but playing against their division rivals definitely gave off a playoff vibe for the Frontenacs faithful. The play was often physical and included two fights. Tyler Hopkins wasn’t one of the primary participants in the rough stuff, but he definitely took note of tonight’s style of play.

“These guys came out hard, we’re going to see them a lot,” Hopkins said of his newfound rivals. “It shows the energy of the game. It’s fun to be in but you’ve got to make sure you have your teammate’s back like our teammates showed today.”

Mason Vaccari played a stellar game in goal for Kingston, turning away 30 of 32 shots against the generals, for which Caputi had nothing but praise.

“He’s been excellent since the day he got here and he just continues to evolve,” Caputi said of Vaccari. “He’s a pillar back there for us so we’re really fortunate to have him.”

“In certain situations, we could do a lot better out of there in front of him, but when we don’t he’s there to help us out.”

The Frontenacs could easily have found the net several more times throughout the night but weren’t able to capitalize on sustained pressure gained throughout the game. After the win, Caputi was able to joke about how they’ll address that area of play.

“We do push-ups in practice when we miss the net, maybe we’ll make it 20 instead of 10,” Caputi said as he chuckled.

The Generals opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Ryder McIntyre cut in through the middle of the Frontenacs zone and let go of a wrist shot that found its way past Mason Vaccari.

The Frontenacs produced several chances to score towards the end of the opening period but couldn’t get one by Jacob Oster.

The teams headed into the first intermission with Oshawa holding a 1-goal lead and a 14-11 lead in shots on goal.

The second period was one to remember for Kingston rookie forward Tyler Hopkins as he scored his first OHL goal just under five minutes into the second after a series of saves, Hopkins was able to jam home a loose puck to tie the game.

Momentum would continue to swing in the Fronts favour as they would add a power play goal from defenceman Jacob Holmes at the 16:18 minute mark of the middle frame.

But that lead was short-lived, just over a minute later centreman Dylan Roobroeck stripped the puck off a Frontenac defender in the neutral zone, stepped over the blue line and wired one over Mason Vaccari’s shoulder to tie it up heading into the second intermission.

The game would stay tied until the 17-minute mark of the third. Nathan Poole found the puck in front of the net and waited just long enough to find an opening and beat Jacob Oster to take a 3-2 lead.

Kingston would seal the win with 26 seconds left when Linus Hemstrom found the back of the empty net after the Generals pulled their goalie to take a 4-2 lead.

Oshawa outshot Kingston 32-30.

Nathan Poole was rewarded with the First Star for scoring the game-winner, Mason Vaccari was the Second Star and Tyler Hopkins got the Third.

Kingston and Oshawa don’t have time to dwell on Friday night’s result as the two face each other again Sunday night in Oshawa.

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

It may not have been a true battle of two of the CFL’s top teams, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers left with a key victory.

Brady Oliveira rushed for 169 yards and Sergio Castillo kicked six field goals as the Bombers defeated the Toronto Argonauts 31-21 in front of a sellout crowd at IG Field Friday night.

The Argos, who lost just their second game of the season, chose to rest starting QB Chad Kelly and multiple starting defensive players, while starting running back AJ Ouellette carried the ball just once.

“It doesn’t matter who they line up in front of us,” said Oliveira. “We knew it was going to be a battle from start to finish.

“We didn’t finish in the first half, in the score zone didn’t finish with points. I think in the second half we did a better job coming out there and just play physical and outworked them in the second half to get that win.”

Oliveira’s rushing total was his career best on the ground and he also added a touchdown catch in the first quarter.

The Bombers certainly weren’t at their best, and trailed for most of the game, but took the lead for good with just over three minutes left.

“We won, which is the outcome we desired,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “I’m not sure it looked the way we wanted to look, especially parts of the first quarter, but we all know, everybody understands that Toronto is a very good football team.

“When you end up winning a football game against them, you got to be happy about that.”

The Bombers finished the game with 443 yards of net offence, but struggled to finish drives, instead making seven field goal attempts.

“I thought we did a good enough job of accumulating a lot of yards there, especially in the first half,” said quarterback Zach Collaros.  “When we get into the score zone, we’ve always been great at finishing and scoring touchdowns. We didn’t do that well enough tonight. Take a look at the film and see why. And it’s probably something I could have done better for us.”

Collaros completed 22 of his 33 passes for 258 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Another interception was called back due to a penalty flag.

In making his first career CFL start, Argos QB Cameron Dukes passed for 231 yards and had both a touchdown pass and a touchdown run. Argos third stringer Bryan Scott also saw some action in the fourth quarter.

The Bombers defence surrendered 17 points in the first half but clamped down in the last two quarters, only allowing four more points the rest of the way.

Toronto (12-2) has already locked up first place in the East Division.

Winnipeg moves to 11-4, which puts them ahead of the B.C. Lions for first place in the West Division at the moment. The 10-4 Lions were hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders Friday night.

Despite those roster moves, the Argonauts held an 18-16 lead through three quarters before the Bombers scored 15 points in the final frame to pull ahead.

Trailing 21-16 with under 10 minutes to play, Winnipeg drove 79 yards down the field with Dakota Prukop punching it in the endzone from two yards out to give the Bombers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Dalton Schoen caught six passes for 101 yards, which moved him into the league lead with 1136 yards.

Oliveira now has 1359 yards rushing on the season and leads all running backs in the CFL by more than 300 yards.

Bombers DB Demerio Houston left the game with an injury and did not return. The coach didn’t have an injury update following the game.

Winnipeg will head to Vancouver next week for a massive game against the B.C. Lions on Friday, October 6 with the winner moving into first place in the West Division and taking the season series.

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