Record man stops spinning
Sam ‘The Record Man’ Sniderman, the man behind the eponymous record stores that once dotted the Canadian landscape, passed away last week “peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by loved ones” according to a statement released by Sniderman’s family.
The first ‘Sam the Recordman’ store opened on Toronto’s Yonge Street in 1959. It soon became the go-to place for countless Canadians to get their groove on; its record neon sign attracting young and old music aficionados alike up until it finally closed its doors in 2007. Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachmann paid homage to the member of the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in an interview with CBC news: “He will be missed by all and Toronto and Canada will never be the same.”
Reappearers
Alt-rockers Sonic Youth had a stroke of good luck last week when two guitars stolen way back in 1999 resurfaced and found their way back to their rightful owners, with some help from a few dedicated fans. “It’s kind of wild,” guitarist Lee Ranaldo said. “After all this time, things are still surfacing thanks to the diligence of fans.”
The first guitar to be recovered, a white jazzmaster belonging to Thurston Moore, was discovered by a Belgian fan on eBay, who promptly alerted the band of his discovery. The second, a burgundy jazzmaster, was put up for sale at a pawn shop, at which point guitar junkies realized what the origin of the instrument was in a thread at offsetguitars.com. Two guitars found independently from each other in one week, thirteen years after their disappearance. What are the odds?
FBI vs. ICP
Last month, the Insane Clown Posse said they were looking into taking legal action against the FBI for the inclusion of their fan base, known as “juggalos,” to the National Gang Threat Assessment List. Fans of the hip-hop clowns were added to the list back in 2011, which alleged that “a small number of juggalos are forming more organized subsets and engaging in more gang-like criminal activity, such as felony assaults, thefts, robberies, and drug sales.” Now, the shock rappers have made good on their word, filing papers against the FBI last Wednesday after their initial Freedom of Information request filed two days earlier went without reply. This comes on the heels of their “Juggalos Fight Back” campaign started in August in order to help those who faced harassment from officials after being identified as fans of the duo.
