If I have to pick out one favourite song from the latter part of David Bowie’s career, it’s gotta be this one from his 1997 album, Earthling. Written by Bowie and Brian Eno, the song went through at least six different remixes that were mostly the work of Trent Reznor. The video shows a frightened Bowie (a European) in New York who is being menaced by a freaky-looking Reznor (the representative American who is named Johnny.)

As a Bowie fan, I can’t imagine how Trent must have felt working with Bowie, especially during a time when Trent was in the throes of all sorts of addiction. And later, he got to perform the song live with Bowie. I seem to recall a tour when Nine Inch Nails opened for Bowie, and this song provided the segue between Trent’s set and Bowie’s performance. Trent would start it, Bowie would join in, and then Trent would leave the stage as Bowie’s set began. Or am I imagining things?

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

What do you remember from history class back in school? Maybe a few dates and events. Maybe the names of some important people, and you probably recall how dull a lot of history classes were.

I remember being inundated with a bunch of facts, which was fine (I guess), but it didn’t really make history come alive, you know? And it didn’t have to be this way…

History is more than this country going to war with that one, who married who to create what royal alliance, and which explorers went where to subject what indigenous people. There are many other branches of historical study.

There’s social history, economic history, the history of science and technology, technology—and (my favourite) stupid history. These are stories of how civilization changed because of stupid people and stupid things. And if we were taught stupid history alongside all the record stuff, those classes would have been a whole lot more fun.

For example, in 1545, winemakers in Saint-Julien, France, were in a panic because their vines were being eaten by weevils. These vineyard owners were so upset that they brought legal action against the bugs.

This was all very formal. Documents were drawn up and the weevils were appointed a defense lawyer by the court. There was a trial with a judge, and when it was all over, the weevils were found guilty of, well, being weevils and eating grapevines.

Almost a year later, the presiding judge issued a proclamation demanding that the weevils cease with their ravaging of the vineyards. Dumb, right? But believe it or not, the weevils listened. The infestation stopped almost overnight.

There were no weevil problems for 40 years, and when they showed up again in 1587, the vineyards again took the bugs to court. The result of that case is lost to time. I love it. That is wonderful, stupid history.

Music has its own stories like this. Yes, there are things that require serious sober study. But then there’s also the stuff that makes you think “That really didn’t happen—did it?

Oh, yes, it did. This is another round of stupid history, the music version.

Songs heard on this show:

• Coldplay, Yellow
• INXS, Devil Inside
• David Bowie, Sound and Vision
• Coheed and Cambria, Here We Are
• Metallica, Orion
• Eddie Vedder, Betterman
• Rachid Taha, Rock the Casbah
• Libertines, Can’t Stand Me Now
• Blind Melon, No Rain

The Ongoing History Music can be heard on these stations. Don’t forget that there’s a podcast version, too, in case you miss any episodes. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
• Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
• Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
• FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
• Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
• 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
• The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
• The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
• The Goat Network/Interior BC
• Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

You might find it annoying when the music at a venue, restaurant, or party is so loud you can’t hear what the person next to you is saying. Here’s a weird little trick that might help.

Start by concentrating on the person as much as possible. Then start tapping your fingers in a steady rhythm. That’s it.

Researchers in France have found that the simple act of tapping your fingers in a noisy environment will make it easier to pick out speech and other sounds. Why? Well, they’re not sure. It seems to have something to do with a connection between our ability to process speech and our body’s motor system. Tapping your fingers somehow “contributes to the integration and reuse of temporal information.”

Try this the next time the music is too loud and you want to hear what your friend is saying.

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Leon Draisaitl took a pass from Connor McDavid and scored off the rush at 15:20 of overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knight,s on Thursday night, and a 2-0 lead in the second-round series.

“We knew they were going to come and they were going to push,” Draisaitl said after the win.

“I thought we weathered it okay. Obviously, they had us on our heels a little bit there; for a little bit. But weathered it, got it into overtime, and you know at that point all you need is one hockey play really and fortunately we got that tonight.”

After failing to capitalize on a five-minute power play when Vegas defenseman Nicolas Roy was assessed a major penalty for cross-checking 5:37 into overtime, the Oilers didn’t waste the opportunity later when the NHL’s most dynamic offensive duo combined for the winner.

“We found a way,” McDavid said. “That’s what we get paid to do. Paid to score goals in big moments and we found a way tonight.”

“It’s not going to be your best every single night, and we found a way to win on an off night.”

“I feel like our best is still coming, and I hope to see it at home here.”

Vasily Podkolzin, Jake Walman, Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane also scored for the Oilers, and Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two assists. Calvin Pickard, who appeared to be shaken up when Vegas’ Tomas Hertl fell on his left leg in the third period, made 28 saves.

Victor Olofsson scored two power-play goals and had an assist for the Golden Knights, Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist, and William Karlsson also scored. Jack Eichel had three assists, and Mark Stone two assists to extend their points streaks to five games apiece. Adin Hill stopped 33 shots.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Edmonton.

Kane’s goal 1:52 into the third period made it 4-2 before Olofsson answered less than three minutes later off a cross-ice pass from Eichel. Pietrangelo, who missed Game 1 because of an illness, tied it with 8:02 left with a shot from the right point.

The Golden Knights scored the only goal in the first period on Olofsson’s power-play shot from the right circle. Eichel set up the play by passing to Stone, who from below the goal found an open Olofsson for his first career playoff goal.

Edmonton rolled off three goals in a row in the second period — all from distance. The Golden Knights quickly responded with Karlsson’s redirect of Eichel’s shot with 1:50 left in the period cut it to to 3-2.

The Oilers, who trailed 1-0 after one period, have a record six consecutive comeback victories in a single postseason.

Vegas has never been swept in its eight-year history and even rallied from 2-0 down in 2021 to beat Colorado in six games, though that series began on the road. The Golden Knights also have been eliminated in five games just twice, including the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against Washington.

The Golden Knights’ 42-game playoff winning streak when scoring at least three goals ended. It was the second longest in NHL history to Montreal’s 52-game streak in 1945-57, according to Sportradar.

© 2025 The Canadian Press

It’s a plan that’s been on the community’s wish list for years and Vancouver Chinatown business leaders are once again pushing to revitalize a largely vacant and neglected city-owned space in the heart of the neighbourhood.

CoqouDak owner Jimmy Cho moved his Korean fried chicken restaurant into Chinatown Plaza on Keefer Street in January and said business has been slowly growing since.

“I would love to see more tenants move into the plaza cause it would drive more foot traffic into the plaza,” Cho said Thursday. “Plus it will create more business for me as well.”

Area merchants said Chinatown Plaza’s opening in 1995 marked a victory – with a retail concourse, street-level shops, offices, health care, the 1,000-seat Chinese restaurant Floata, and a seven-storey parkade – all in a city-owned property.

“It’s heartbreaking to see this space slowly deteriorate over time,” said Ross Lam with the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association (VCMA).

Three decades later following a global pandemic and a declining number of visitors, the ground floor of the once-vibrant mall is nearly 70 per cent empty with 15 of 22 retail units unleased.

“Chinatown Plaza was envisioned to be an anchor for Chinatown and it no longer can serve that purpose with the vacancies,” Lam told Global News.

180 Keefer Street was recently assessed at $2 for its land and buildings, while the combined assessed value of all 27 retail units including Floata and the parkade totals $16,081,300.

With the prime publicly-owned real estate languishing for well over a decade, the VCMA and Chinatown BIA are working with the City of Vancouver to transform the dying mall into a shopping space that celebrates the community’s culture and fosters prosperity.

“The hope is to revive it as a ‘magnet’ again, drawing people in with unique experiences, food, and cultural businesses that enrich Chinatown,” according to VCMA website.

It’s a pitch that’s been made before.

In April 2022, Vancouver Chinatown BIA president Jordan Eng told Global News he presented a preliminary proposal on reinventing Chinatown Plaza to the city in May 2020.

Eng said he hoped to see the city-owned mall brought to life as a neighbourhood food hub or culinary centre with food stalls, a market, and an Asian cooking school.

The City of Vancouver said it commissioned a study to investigate potential options to improve the commercial mix and opportunities of the Chinatown Plaza, but Eng said the BIA was not given access to the resulting report.

Prior to the pandemic, the city said the plaza’s vacancy rate was six per cent.

Currently, the city said Chinatown Plaza’s vacancy rate is 17 per cent of the total leasable area, down from 28 per cent in April 2022.

“I think the city needs to do better,” SFU city program director Andy Yan told Global News in an interview. “I think it needs to do better not only here in Chinatown but throughout the City of Vancouver when it comes to commercial retail space.

I think that there’s a level of creativity in terms of particularly renting space that’s owned by the city of Vancouver.”

Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung believes municipal bureaucracy may be to blame for the slow progress in reinvigorating Chinatown Plaza.

“I think sometimes our own rules get in the way of creativity and innovation,” Kirby-Yung said Thursday. “It really needs to have a concept I think to ensure that it is fully utilized and tenanted – so that requires the city of Vancouver to think creatively and hopefully, that’s finally happening now.”

The VCMA said it is currently engaging with Chinatown food and retail businesses for ideas and insights in order to develop a compelling “concept vision” for a reimagined Chinatown Plaza.

“It’s critical to the revitalization of Chinatown for Chinatown Plaza to once again flourish as it did when it first opened,” Lam said in an interview Thursday.

Drop-in sessions to gain community input on helping shape the future of Chinatown Plaza were held May 7 and 8.

Those interested in sharing ideas and inspirations for the city-owned mall can also participate in an online survey before May 12.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Andrew Gibson scored two power play goals for the Oshawa Generals as they grabbed Game 1 of the OHL Championship Series with a 4-2 victory over the London Knights on March 8 at Canada Life Place.

Oshawa came into the series with a 35.8 per cent success rate on the man advantage and scored three of their four goals that way to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7.

The first period showed just how tight things can get when two elite teams hit the ice.

The scoreboard read 0-0 through 20 minutes and shots stood at 4-4.

That changed at 4:05 of the second period when Noah Read skated across the Oshawa blue line on the left side and found Rene Van Bommel going to the net and the Strathroy, Ont., native scored his first goal of the playoffs and the first goal of the series to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

Gibson tied the game for the Generals on a power play at 10:08 but London climbed back in front when Kasper Halttunen rocketed a wrist shot past Jacob Oster on a Knights man advantage with 1:03 remaining in the middle period and London took a 2-1 lead into the third period.

Gibson tied the game a second time at 8:18 of the final period when he scored with three seconds remaining on a double-minor.

Oshawa took their first lead on a 4-on-3 power play when Cal Ritchie walked into the slot and wristed in his seventh goal of the playoffs at the 16:35 mark of the third.

The Knights pulled goaltender Austin Elliott with just over two minutes remaining in regulation time but could not find the equalizer and Matt Buckley sealed things for the Generals when he scored into an empty net with 40.7 seconds left on the clock.

London outshot Oshawa 32-26.

The Generals were 3-for-9 on the man advantage.

The Knights were 1-for-3.

Denver Barkey named OHL Humanitarian of the Year

London Knights captain Denver Barkey has been named the 2025 OHL Humanitarian of the Year. Barkey worked with the London Knights Official Fan Club to found Barkey’s Buds and was instrumental in creating opportunities in the London community for young people and their families to attend games but also for young people to play the game of hockey who might not otherwise have the means to do so. Barkey’s Buds was also responsible for donating over 1500 pieces of hockey equipment as part of a drive held during the season.

Up next

London and Oshawa will play Game 2 at Canada Life Place on Saturday, May 10 at 7 p.m., before the series shifts to Oshawa Games 3 and 4 on May 12 and May 13.

Coverage for both games will begin at 6:30 p.m., on 980 CFPL at 980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Another summer of Winnipeg Sea Bears basketball is near as the club opened training camp with just a little over a week to prepare for their season opener.

The Sea Bears had a lot of new faces on the floor at the Sport For Life Centre to start their third season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Of the 16 players on the Sea Bears training camp roster, only three are returning from last year in guards Alex Campbell, Emmanuel Akot and Mason Bourcier.

In their first two seasons, the Sea Bears were led by MVP type candidates in Teddy Allen and Justin Wright-Foreman, but Sea Bears general manager and head coach Mike Taylor took a different approach to build this year’s roster as they look for more team chemistry instead of individual achievements.

“The first two summers we had the star mentality with the team,” said Taylor. “We were really built around Teddy. And Teddy was a fantastic talent, and did a lot of good things for us. And then when we replaced Teddy — we brought in Justin. And Justin, you talk about two guys, MVP candidates in the league, two guys leading the league in scoring.

“But I think if we want to have that ultimate team basketball success, the best teams that I’ve been a part of, the championship teams that I’ve been apart of, the World Cup team that I’ve been apart of, are all about team basketball. So we’ve tried to change the roster in a way that we’ve got guys that are, let’s say, team oriented.”

Taylor said he got a good first impression from their first practice on Thursday.

The Sea Bears already have a berth at the CEBL Championship Weekend as this year’s hosts with a free trip to the final four, but Campbell, whose former teams have hosted in years past, believes you can’t coast your way into the semifinals to have success at the end.

“I think it’s just coming out of the gate playing championship basketball,” said Campbell. “It’s kind of a setup. Guys get into this comfortable state and then just kinda glide through the summer. And then try to ramp up closer to the championship game.

“But I think it’s just about attacking every game knowing that we’re building for something great at the end and keeping that consistency throughout the summer.”

The Sea Bears will play their season opener next Friday against the Edmonton Stingers at the Canada Life Centre starting at 7:30 p.m. All the home games can be heard live on 680 CJOB this season.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

David Steinebach from Langley was returning to B.C. in April after going down to Lynden in Washington state to buy some gas.

“I would still go down there every week to go get gas,” he told Global News.

“I have Nexus, so it’s very easy and fast for me to go down. And I go down through the Aldergrove-Lynden border crossing.”

Steinbach said it was 9:30 a.m. and he got to about 150 to 200 metres before the Canadians border and there was about six or seven U.S. border patrol officers that stopped not only his vehicle but all the vehicles.

“(They) started looking through my car and they were putting down the seats and looking in the back in the trunk and even went into my glove box, opened it up and used the flashlight to look in behind the glove box,” he said.

“It was just very strange, the whole incident. I don’t know what they were looking for. They didn’t even have me step out of the car, I just had to put the car in neutral.”

Steinbach said the search lasted about two to three minutes and then he was able to move on and cross back into Canada with no issues.

“I’ve never had that happen ever before,” he said.

“It was very strange and actually took me by surprise being stopped like that — not at the border, but on the state highway, I guess, on the way back, which is very strange.”

Additional checkpoints at the B.C.-U.S. border have shocked travellers recently, noting they are being stopped coming back into Canada but before the actual border check.

In a statement to Global News earlier this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it routinely conducts inspections on outbound traffic as part of its national security mission.

“These inspections are a vital tool in apprehending wanted individuals, as well as in seizing a variety of contraband, which ultimately makes our community safer,” the statement read.

Steinbach said it did feel like an invasion of privacy because there didn’t seem to be a reason for the search. He said they didn’t ask for his phone but they did ask for his passport.

“I have a clean record,” he said.

“I don’t have any record. I have Nexus and there wasn’t anything to provoke that incident. For myself, they stopped the car behind me as well, too, and a semi-trailer that happened to be beside me as well, too. Very strange, just very strange.”

Steinbach said he has always enjoyed going to the U.S., but after that incident it made him think about what is going on south of the border and he has since stopped going.

“I’m not going to go anymore to the States unless there’s something urgent or important that I have to go down there for, but I won’t be going there any time in the near future, unfortunately,” he added.

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is revealing some details about a multi-day border checkpoint operation that caused major northbound delays for travellers heading back into Canada.

Multiple unexpected checkpoints appeared just before the Peace Arch border crossing this past week.

“Every single car, they opened up the hood,” U.S. immigration lawyer, Len Saunders, who has worked in Blaine WA. for 25 years said.

“They went through the trunk of the car. They asked questions. It was not a random search. They are basically targeting every single car going in to Canada.”

U.S. border officials said as part of its national security mission, border agents routinely conduct inspections on outbound traffic.

“These inspections are a vital tool in apprehending wanted individuals as well as in seizing a variety of contraband, which ultimately makes our communities safer.”

The agency said that over four days of searches, officers found “some minor narcotics seizures and nearly 300 rounds of 9 mm ammunition as well as close to 40 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition.”

“For additional reference, on the success of outbound operations, here is an example of an outbound meth seizure at Sea-Tac: Seattle CBP officers seize more than 18 pounds of meth and an outbound cocaine seizure in Detroit,” they added.

Saunders said what officers found at the Peace Arch and Blaine border crossing was “hardly anything.”

“It was a colossal waste of time, colossal waste of government resources.”

The number of Canadians heading to the U.S. continues to drop and the mayor of Blaine told Global News businesses are suffering.

“Anything that gives the impression that there is anything nefarious going on really doesn’t help,” Mayor Mary Lou Steward said.

“I really don’t want any more disruption to any kind of Canadian traffic coming down into Blaine. We really do need people to come back and shop in Blaine and go to the restaurants and just be here.”

Steward said they don’t get any notice these additional spot checks will be going on but they are not totally out of the blue.

For Saunders, he said this could be the “final nail in the coffin.”

“Nobody’s going to come down here if they hear that they may be subject to these inspections. So my hope is everything will go back to normal shortly and you won’t see these routine daily operations still in effect.”

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

What the additional U.S. border checkpoints turned up that has critics calling it a waste of time. A Conservative MLA calls for increased security for the safety of healthcare workers and patients. And an ambitious proposal for downtown Vancouver that could transform the city and skyline.

Click here for more Global BC videos

© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.