Before the internet, it was reasonably easy to just disappear. Get a fake ID, leave the country with some cash, and you were gone. These kinds of mysteries can also be found in the world of music; artists who disappear without a trace…and I’m not talking about musicians who retired and then become recluses…there are plenty of those. We haven’t seen much of Steve Perry since he left Journey…he’s very much alive but isn’t interested in being famous anymore…Syd Barrett tripped out on too much LSD, ...
Jun 24, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Getting your hands on a concert ticket can be a difficult (if not impossible) task...beyond the cost (which can be substantial), there are all the hoops one must jump through to secure a ticket. You must be computer literate, you need to be at your computer, ready to go when the appointed on-sale time arrives, and you must be prepared to jockey for position in the queue with other fans who are not just from your area but who are logging in from around the world. And then there are the scalpers, ...
Jun 10, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 42
The music industry isn’t exactly the most moral or law-abiding place, either…if you know where to look, you’ll find crime all over the place. We’ve tackled this topic before…episode 4 of this podcast dealt with the mysterious disappearance of $200,000 of Led Zeppelin’s money from a hotel safety deposit box…there was the time when Joe Strummer and Topper Headon from the clash were jailed for stealing some pillowcases from a holiday inn…and another episode featured the epically violent theft of tw...
May 27, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 41
On the evening of February 25, 1682, Alessandro Stradella was stabbed to death in a square in genoa, Italy…Stradella was a classical composer of some renown…it appears he was killed by three brothers looking to avenge the honour of their sister…and when the knives were put away, Stradella became the first documented case of the murder of a professional musician. Fortunately, the purposeful killing of musicians was a rare thing until we got to the 20th century…then came a string of shootings, sta...
May 13, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 40
This is a show about censorship…wait, wait!...don’t run away…i know that can be a very touchy subject and once the arguments get started, all the grey areas fade away, everyone ends up in a big fight, and needless to say, the party breaks up. Let try this from a different angle…there is an area of study i’m trying to promote called “stupid history”…learning about the past doesn’t have to be about memorizing dates, who fought what wars, who was king or queen or emperor when. Humans are dumb creat...
Apr 29, 2025•45 min•Season 1Ep. 39
I once had a conversation with someone about the craziest tours in the history of music…the usual names came up. The who trashing hotel rooms…led zeppelin’s tours with their private jet, groupies, and tons of drugs…that time in Atlanta when Ozzy drank himself into oblivion, passed out in the wrong hotel room for 24 hours, and missed a show as a result. In 1976, ZZ Top tried to take the entire Texas experience on the road, which involved transporting real live animals to every gig…a buffalo escap...
Apr 15, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 38
It’s happening with increasing frequency…we’re doom-scrolling, and we see the message…we wake up to read the news…we get a text from a friend…or we turn on the radio and hear what happened…another rock star has died… This always comes as a shock…it’s mitigated somewhat if the rock star in question is older or has known health or substance issues…but when it’s someone young or seemingly healthy, it’s extra hard to deal with. This was the situation on the morning of Saturday, March 26th, 2022…Foo ...
Apr 01, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 37
When you go to a concert or attend a festival, you have every right to expect to be reasonably safe…there’s security…there’s inevitably a police presence…and EMS people are standing by with their medical tents and ambulances. In the last 25 years, security has stepped up…there are bag searches, pat-downs, and maybe even drug-sniffing dogs and magnetometers…there is also greater attention paid to everything from the paths people walk to crowd control to monitoring the weather. It’s not that organ...
Mar 18, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 36
The Chelsea Hotel sits at 222 West 23rd Street in Manhattan…since it was completed in 1884, the place has been a hangout for some very colourful characters…most were New York eccentrics and bohemians who needed a place to live…but it also attracted some famous people. At one point or another, it was home to sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke who wrote a big chunk of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in his room…later, Stanley Kubrick, the producer of the movie version of the book would stay there… Other long-...
Mar 04, 2025•45 min•Season 1Ep. 35
It’s right there…point four on the text downloaded to Moses’ tablet: “thou shalt not steal” …if you didn’t acquire something legally and morally, then it’s not yours and you can’t just take it…but humans being a thieving species, we need that spelled out in our religious texts and legal codes. Still, we steal a lot…money, food, clothing, cars, mobile phones, alcohol, drugs, jewelry, horses, razor blades—and music. There are two main ways to steal music: claim or copy something someone else has w...
Feb 18, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 34
It’s a summer night in 1998. Vienna, Austria. And petty thief Daniel Blanchard is about to carry out the heist of a lifetime. Stealing a crown jewel. The last remaining diamond Sisi Star. His plan? A daring night-time parachute jump. Daniel is no ordinary thief. His heists are ingenious, meticulously planned; his escapes from the law defy belief. And Daniel knows that if he can get his hands on the star, it will launch him into the criminal big-leagues. Daniel’s exploits unleash a relentless gam...
Feb 12, 2025•36 min
TV has conditioned us to believe that crimes can be solved in less than an hour…a detective or two (and maybe even a whole team) is assigned to a single case, and they somehow manage to solve it over 60 minutes—43, if you deduct commercial time. That’s obviously not how it works in the real world…yes, some cases are solved quickly, but others take days, weeks, months, and even years…and then there are cold cases, crimes that don’t have any arrests, convictions, and in many instances, no suspects...
Feb 04, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 33
The world of rock’n’roll can be very, very strange…it’s loaded with strange creatures: performers, managers, fans, and various hangers-on…people get into the scene because there are (allegedly) no rules and rebellious bad behaviour isn’t just tolerated, it’s encouraged… There’s a sense in many quarters that anything goes and that the conventions of society and the law just seem to don’t apply…if you don’t participate, you don’t belong…you’re viewed with suspicion or distain…if that’s the case, y...
Jan 21, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 32
We’re largely immune to most the craziness that rock starts get up to…arrested for drugs?...yawn…got into a bar fight?...what else is new?...a DUI?...what, another one? There is a red line…anything to do with any kind of sexual assault is still properly greeted with revulsion…murder is still considered a bad thing…and if pedophilia is involved, there is no coming back from that. But once upon a time when all rock and roll was considered dangerous, any kind of bad behavior made the news and resul...
Jan 07, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 31
The holiday season is upon us and one questions is always present. Have you been naughty or nice? Depending on your answer you'll either be rewarded or you'll find a much more frightening fate will be upon you, and no, it's not a lump of coal. For centuries, disobedient children in Austria and other Alpine countries have faced a truly terrifying Christmas consequence for their misbehavior — a dreaded visit from Krampus. If you've misbehaved Krampus can be heard before he can be seen which makes ...
Dec 24, 2024•22 min
According to myths around the world, the devil is always looking for more souls…this practice isn’t anywhere in the bible, but there are plenty of accounts in other religions, literature, and art. For example, Dante’s “ The Divine Comedy, “ written in the 14th century, riffs on this concept. Other stories involve the devil and demons seeking humans to give up their souls in exchange for riches, favours, or the bestowment of special powers. These are the so-called “deals with the devil.” The best...
Dec 17, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 30
If you were around in December 1980, you probably remember where you were and how you felt when you heard that John Lennon had been murdered…it was unbelievable, inconceivable, that someone would kill not just a Beatle but a man who was famous for promoting love and peace around the world. On the surface, Lennon died at the hands of a disturbed, depressed fan who hoped to achieve immortality by snuffing out the object of his obsession…but there’s more to Lennon’s death than you might realize…a l...
Nov 26, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 29
The number “27” occupies an odd place in rock history…it’s the age when rock stars die—or so the story goes…and, if i’m honest, it does come up quite a bit…there are books on the subject, documentaries, and more. The age of “27” has an eerie hold over popular culture…even casual music fans think that this is when so many rock stars have died…given the ubiquity of the concept of “the 27 club” has, someone might guess that we’re talking dozens and dozens of deaths…just look how deeply “the 27 club...
Nov 12, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 28
When Nadine Bailey was 7 years old she woke up terrified of dark figures looming at the end of her bed and an eerie presence all around her. From then on every night was the same, she was visited by phantom-like shadows and no matter where she went, the ghostly encounters followed her. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits and the unexplained have consumed her entire life and for the past 20 years she's been an award-winning guide with Edmonton Ghost Tours Along the way she has taken people...
Nov 01, 2024•23 min
When you go to a big, loud rock show, you want a spectacle…lights, lasers, special effects, and, if all goes well, lots of pyro…flames, explosions, smoke bombs—they all add to the theatricality of it all. But if you’re going to blow stuff up and have open flames onstage, you gotta be careful…not only do you have to abide by health and safety regulations, local laws, and local building codes, you have to be very aware of the venue itself. Can it handle your pyro?... If it can’t—or if you don’t po...
Oct 29, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 27
What do Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, patsy cline, Jim Croce, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ricky Nelson, and Stevie Ray Vaughn have in common? ...they all died when the private aircraft in which they were flying crashed. Holly, the Big Bopper, and Valens were on a single-engine six-seater Beechcraft bonanza when it went down in bad weather in an Iowa cornfield in February 1959…Cline and two other musicians died in March 1963 when their six-seater piper Comanche…bad weather was to blame there, ...
Oct 15, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 26
The 1920s were a time when people were after easy money…people flocked to the stock market, buying up shares in small companies with borrowed money…and for a while, returns were good. But this go-go atmosphere also attracted swindlers and con artists…Carlo was one of them…he arrived in the U.S. From Italy in 1903 with $2.50 in his pocket…he’d boarded the ship with more, but Carlo had lost most of it gambling. He eventually made his way to Montreal where, as a bank teller, he made connections wit...
Oct 01, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 25
You would think that going to a concert would be a safe thing for everyone…first, you have thousands of like-minded people looking to have a good time…no one sets out to ruin the evening for everyone else…you paid good money for your tickets and you’ve waited a long time for this night to come. Second, there’s security everywhere…the last thing an artist, a promoter, or a venue wants is there to be some kind of trouble where someone gets hurt—or worse. For 99.999% of all concerts, things run smo...
Sep 17, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 24
When you’re a rock star, life can be very busy…there are songs to write, rehearsals to attend, albums to record, promotional appearances to make, interviews to be conducted, and tours to organize and execute…there’s often not a lot of free time. Maybe you live in a large house or an estate… you might have multiple pied-de-terres around the planet: a home base, a vacation spot or two, and some condos in New York, or London, or Paris. As a rock star, you’re often away your home (or homes) for long...
Sep 03, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 23
On August 6, 1989, a chartered 757 nicknamed “The Magic Bus” took off bound for the USSR…on board were Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, The Scorpions, Skid Row, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderella, and a few others… It was the dying days of the soviet union…but other than the communist hardliners, few people were sad about that…Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR, had ushered in the era of glasnost and perestroika…reforms were being enacted and few freedoms were creeping into soviet society… This trip wa...
Aug 20, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 22
In 1960, after months of testimony and investigation, it was made illegal for anyone to bribe a radio station or any of its employees to play a record…payola was forbidden under punishment of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000… This, it was hoped, would keep the marketplace even and fair and no one—not a label, an artist, or anyone promoting that artist—would be able to jump the queue to get a record played on the radio…only songs with true merit would make it to the public…no more pay-for-pl...
Aug 06, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In a fair and just universe, we would live in a meritocracy…the best and most talented would naturally rise to the top and be properly recognized and compensated for their contributions to humanity…yeah, nice idea, but… We’d like to think that music operates this way…the best and the brightest naturally have their songs heard and become popular because, well, they’re good…these artists have hit records and are deservedly rewarded by the world with the fruits of their God-given natural abilities…...
Jul 23, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Episode 294: On the evening of December 21, 1883, near Bloomfield, Ontario, visitor Peter Lazier was murdered by two intruders at the farmhouse of Quakers Gilbert and Margaret Jones. The community, deeply affected, quickly organized a search. They traced footprints in the snow, leading to Joseph Thomset and the Lowder family's homes near West Lake. By the next day, Joseph Thomset and brothers David and George Lowder were arrested and charged with murder. The legal process moved rapidly. The coro...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min
In 1969, the Rolling Stones were about to enter their imperial phase, a time in their career where everything they did seemed to go right…they were on their way to being the biggest rock band in the world… In December 1968, they released “Beggar’s Banquet,” their biggest-selling album so far…work had started on “Let It Bleed,” another record that would become a classic…that would eventually be followed by “Sticky Fingers” in 1971, “exile on main street” in 1972, and half a dozen more albums that...
Jul 09, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 19
If you’re an artist and things are working out well, there will come a time when you need a manager…you need someone to take care of the business end of things while you focus on the music…that’s when you need a manager… A manager does everything from booking gigs to devising career strategies… which includes promotion and marketing, networking, and conducting any negotiations on your behalf…and the manager is in charge of financial management…hold that thought… A manager is incentivized by your...
Jun 26, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 18
