Grant Lawrence Superfeed: Recent Episodes
Grant Lawrence
The two remaining orcas in the Pedder Bay net pen have been sold to an American aquarium, but with local opposition heating up, an incredible event occurs that stuns all involved: the whales escape. But who helps them?
In this chapter, you'll hear about the desperate attempts to get the two remaining older whales - Charlie, and his mother 'Pointed Nose Cow' eating something - anything - for the first time in months. And some unlikely companionship: local children discover the orcas penned in Pedder Bay, Vancouver Island, 1970.
In the last chapter, you heard about Chimo, the young white orca, and her cousin Nootka, being moved to their new home: Sealand of the Pacific Aquarium in Oak Bay BC, on southern Vancouver Island, where they finally starting eating after a 24 day fast in 1970. In this chapter, you'll hear about Sealand's desperate attempt to feed the remaining three adult orcas left in the sea pen in Pedder Bay, all of whom fasted for much longer, and were suffering from starvation.
Transient orca Chimo, the young white whale, and her cousin Nootka, are transferred from their Pedder Bay net pen to the Sealand Aquarium in Oak Bay, BC. There, they meet Haida, a southern resident, and what follows is a profound moment in the captivity era.
Diver Bruce Bott shares what it was like to be underwater with the orcas on the chaotic night when the Pedder Bay 5 were captured, and his later experience diving down to Chimo, the prized white whale, when she got tangled in her net and was drowning.
The white whale and the rest of her pod have been captured in Pedder Bay, Vancouver Island... but now what? The handlers quickly realize that these whales are unlike any they have ever come across.
In this episode, Grant Lawrence takes you back to the serendipitous events of March 1, 1970, off the blustery coast of southern Vancouver Island: the capture of the one of the rarest ocean mammals of all time - a white orca whale.
In this gripping new West Coast adventure series, Grant Lawrence tries to crack a 55-year-old mystery that involves the tragedy and triumph of a unique family of orcas.
A fully updated and fascinating "where are they now" of all the main players in "Dirty Windshields", including members of the Smugglers past and present, beloved roadie Ska-T, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Larry Livermore from Lookout Records and more.
The Smugglers are pulled out of a dozen years of dormancy by a young promoter from a legendary venue: 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California, for an epic event that would eventually become known as "The Lookouting." In turn, "Dirty Windshields", and the Smugglers, received a surprise happy ending...
In this final chapter, the Smugglers meet the ghosts of their future at a freezing arts collective in Switzerland: the rapidly rising garage rock 'n' roll band The Hives.
NEW ZEALAND! The Land of the Long White Cloud! WE MADE IT!!! This was one of the Smugglers most exciting and fulfulling touring destinations in our many years on the road and in the air. Shows were packed, songs were shouted, Kiwi friends and lovers made. All this even though Beez barely made it into the country despite our endless internal crossing-borders training.
The Smugglers embark on their first tour Down Under, supporting Oz punk legends the Hard-Ons, but all does not go to plan due to a series of calamities involving various Australian wildlife, both human and otherwise, culminating in the Smugglers suffering their first-ever robbery on the road.
This chapter finally answers the oft-asked question: "Did any of the Smugglers ever get it on with any of the Donnas?" Also: the Smugglers make a triumphant return to Japan to begin their epic Pan-Pacific tour for "Rosie", infamously dubbed the "Pacific Rim Job Tour."
If you've ever wondered what it was like to tour with The Donnas aka the American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine, this chapter is for YOU. It was wild! It was skintight! It was non-stop party action! It was all over the U.S.A.! WHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
ROUGH PATCH! After years of slowly building up the Smugglers into something one might consider 'successful', the house of cards collapses when two members of the band quit. Upheaval at both Mint and Lookout Records doesn't help matters.
Ever heard of Isny? Neither had the Smugglers! The band comes down from the huge crowds of Italy to going up up up into the Alps for an out-of-control show at a tiny ski chalet in Bavaria... if they can find the town.
The Smugglers arrive at the most remarkable, filthy, amazing, huge, and impossible venues the band ever played: Forte Prenestino, an apocalyptic castle-like socialist squat, on the edge of Rome.
The Smugglers discover the smash 'em up demolition derby that is... Madrid during rush hour. Also, the band teams up with "Rock n Roll" Jimmy Garcia to help navigate Spanish clubs overflowing with elicit drugs and wild fans.
The Smugglers head to the Continent for their "Selling the Sizzle" European tour with mixed feelings. Would this tour do as poorly as their first trip to Spain a few years earlier, or would their newfound association with Lookout Records save their collective touring asses?
The Smugglers misadventures in Japan with the Queers and Supersnazz rage on, with Queers lead singer Joe ever threatening to quit the highly disorganized tour at any moment.
Dirty Windshields: the Audiobook is BACK for Part 3: "Sushi and Squats." In this chapter, the Smugglers journey to Japan for a tour with the Queers and Supersnazz, which begins on a bad note. Two members of the entourage disappear.
Handy Candy takes a terrible tumble from her shoreline rocks on the evening of Desolation Sound's annual Full Moon Float in this final chapter of the series.
Handy Candy shows a physical will and sheer determination to get to her cabin that has possibly never been seen before or since in Desolation Sound.
Handy Candy continues to improve "Camp Candy", and sees opportunities for other neighbouring properties to clean up as well, believing strongly that "how things look matters." Some neighbours don't take kindly to Candy's unsolicited opinions.
Handy Candy rents a broken down cabin in Desolation Sound which she discovers is already occupied.
Handy Candy decides it's time to buy a lot in Desolation Sound, but her husband Bob has other plans, which comes as a shock.
Handy Candy and her husband Bob discover the ultimate sea kayaking campsite in Desolation Sound, so good that it would remain their driftwood camping kingdom for 14 straight summers. Where is it? Have a listen.
Handy Candy and her newlywed husband Bob make their first-ever trip to Desolation Sound, in a double yellow kayak. On that trip they stumbled across a spectacular location that would serve as "Camp Candy" for the next several years.
Find out how Handy Candy Anderson went from a childhood of living all over the USA with a father who worked for the Pentagon, to discovering the coastal Canadian wilderness of Desolation Sound.
With her brand new boat hung up on the rocks on a dropping tide, Handy Candy makes a big mistake: she gets out of "Tinkerbell" to give it a shove, but the outboard engine is running, and in gear. Reverse gear.
In this new series, Handy Candy, one of the most beloved characters from Grant Lawrence's books "Adventures in Solitude" and "Return to Solitude", takes centre stage for a series that charts Candy's artistic, danger-prone, off-grid lifestyle that has spanned over 40 years in the oceanic wilds of Desolation Sound, BC. This is "Handy Candy: Coastal Crafter of Desolation Sound."
The Smugglers and the Queers make a shocking discovery while searching for the Buddy Holly plane crash site in the corn fields of Iowa.
We chronicle some of the most bizarre punk rock crash pads we ever slept at, which includes one of the most infamous and disgusting tour stories in Smugglers history. You have been warned!
Maxwell's, the famed music venue in Hoboken, New Jersey, infamously catches fire during a Smugglers performance.
The Smugglers tour with the Mr. T Experience devolves into a full-blown punk rock riot at the show in Denver.
The Smugglers make their most popular album with Mass Giorgini, plus the band hires infamous roadie Ska-T while embarking on the first wildly successful Lookout tour with the Mr T Experience. And Larry Livermore is everywhere.
The Smugglers meet pop-punk icon and Lookout Records co-founder Larry Livermore, learning of his fascinating history. As well, the Smugglers play a fateful show at the Purple Onion with the Ne'er Do Wells and the Groovie Ghoulies.
The Smugglers take a very, very wrong turn into the scariest town in America, then figure it out to play one of the most notorious venues in Texas: "Taco Land" in San Antonio.
Grant suffers his mostly potentially deadly physical assault while on tour (which is saying a lot) and the Smugglers tour the Deep South with bands like Man... Or Astro-Man? and the heavily armed trio the Subsonics.
The Smugglers meet cub, an all-women twee pop band that would become a North American indie sensation... and lead to several ego-crushing moments for the Smugglers when the two bands embark on tour together.
Hear the wild stories behind the Smugglers first-ever New York City show at punk rock mecca CBGB, their bloody Chicago show with the Dwarves, and more rock 'n' roll action!
The Smugglers enter the urban wilds of New York City for the first time, and the band gets a crash course on NYC street-smarts... or dumbs, in Grant's case.
The Smugglers lead singer Grant Lawrence pulls a horrendously stupid, life-threatening stunt on the way into Washington D.C. for a Memorial Day gig with Thee Flypped Whigs.
The shows are getting better, but the touring for beleaguered Smugglers drummer Bryce gets even worse in the American South.
The Smugglers suffer through their Worst Show Of All Time in Phoenix, Arizona, one that would leave a permanent and collective mental scar.
The Smugglers roll into a smouldering Los Angeles in the charred and shattered aftermath of the Rodney King Riots.
Legendary punk band NoMeansNo help out the Smugglers in finding the ultimate touring van. In Portland, the Smugglers discover the X-Ray Cafe, the 24-hour Church of Elvis, and that... their new van isn't working properly.
The Smugglers actually win something and are flown to Ottawa to perform on national TV and dine with the Governor General of Canada. With mixed results.
Nobody ever believes the story contained in this chapter, but we swear, it's true! Bounce-bounce-SMACK.
The Smugglers get a smackdown of culture shock when playing their first-ever show in San Francisco. Also: your emails received and read!
The Smugglers enter California for the first time and almost immediately get into a nasty encounter with Golden State bangers.
The Smugglers perform at the International Pop Underground Convention in Olympia during the sizzling summer of 1991, which changes the band's fortunes for years to come in the U.S.A.
Grant is forced to ingloriously perform an entire set from a rainy sidewalk in Bellingham when he forgets his fake I.D. back in Canada.
Despite the band name, the Smugglers plot, strategize, and attempt to cross the border into the rock 'n' roll promised land of America.
The Smugglers take the blame for the thorough and absolute trashing of the Hoodoo Gurus' dressing room at an infamous show with the Aussie hitmakers and the Young Fresh Fellows at the University of Manitoba.
The Smugglers discover Amigos, wild new rock 'n' roll oasis on the prairies, and in the process, form a bond with the club that would endure for 30 years. And they discover what a "rider" is.
The Smugglers play another one of Nardwuar's wild all ages gigs, this time with Mudhoney at the height of their grunge infamy, and everything seems to go right and wrong all at once.
Smugglers drummer Paul offers a cash reward to harmonica player Adam if he completes a disgusting challenge in the middle of the scorching prairies.
Nardwuar and Grant host a gig for their all time favourite band in a church basement that turns into a congregation of chaos.
In this chapter, you'll hear about the profound impact that the Smugglers' high school friend and future media star Nardwuar had on the band and the culture at their high school.
Grant Lawrence poses as "Larry the booking agent" in an ill-fated attempt to hustle clubs across Western Canada to book the Smugglers in the late 1980s.
Grant Lawrence reads the fourth wild chapter - this time fighting off prairie bangers - from his award-winning rock 'n' roll memoir.
Grant Lawrence reads the third (and disgusting) chapter from his award-winning rock 'n' roll memoir "Dirty Windshields: the best and the worst of the Smugglers tour diaries."
Grant Lawrence reads the second chapter of his award-winning rock 'n' roll memoir "Dirty Windshields: the best and the worst of the Smugglers Tour Diairies" (Douglas and McIntyre, 2017).
Grant Lawrence reads the first chapter of his award-winning rock 'n' roll memoir "Dirty Windshields: the best and the worst of the Smugglers Tour Diairies" (Douglas and McIntyre, 2017).
Grant Lawrence is the author of "Dirty Windshields: the best and the worst of the Smugglers Tour Diairies" (Douglas and McIntyre, 2017), and the lead singer of the Smugglers. For the first time, Grant reads this award-winning wild rock 'n' roll ride for you chapter by chapter. First up... the hair-raising prologue.
This is a special updated Easter Weekend 2020 broadcast of the touring show "Grant Lawrence and Friends: Stories and Songs", recorded live at the Max Cameron Theatre in Powell River, BC in 2019. This show features musical performances from three Juno Award-winning Canadian artists: Said the Whale, Jay Malinowski from Bedouin Soundclash, and Kathryn Calder from the New Pornographers, as well as the Tla'amin Drummers. Stories provided by Grant. Enjoy!
When Wayne orders Linda to leave the cabin to allow him with to deal with his illness, she finds herself alone against the wilderness facing an uncertain future in Desolation Sound.
Linda is forced to take a treacherous night hike through forest and cliff edge when Wayne fails to pick up her at their oyster lease after another late night wild pick.
Linda is left stranded on a beach during a late night oyster pick with no source of light besides the moon.
Unexpected consequences are suffered after Wayne's boat smashes into a poacher's boat in the aftermath of a wild chase down the inlet in the middle of the night.
Linda and Wayne realize that the challenges of full time wilderness oyster farming has turned their lives and sleeping patterns upside down.
Linda and Wayne face off against a huge cougar that has pinned down one of their goats. Everyone and everything involved in the confrontation suffers the consequences.
Linda and Wayne slowly created a life for themselves in Salubrious Bay, first building their cabin, then creating an elaborate garden. It was when they added goats to the mix when the trouble started.
Through some crafty negotiation, Linda and Wayne purchase the property of their dreams from... host Grant Lawrence's dad. The 5 acre plot is in the Desolation Sound Marine Park. There, they meet an assortment of characters including the Cougar Lady and Russell the (future) Hermit.
Linda and the crew of the Felicius were drifting aimlessly, somewhere off the coast of Vancouver Island, in the storm ravaged seas of November 1974, when Linda thought she heard something coming out of the grey mist.
Amidst the chaos of the constant life-threatening storms of the North Pacific, as their boat falls apart around them and a crew member's behaviour turns dangerous, Linda witnesses one of the greatest sights she has ever seen before or since.
Linda, her boyfriend Wayne, and two strangers find themselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a decrepit sailboat with an endless list of potentially life-threatening problems, as they attempt to sail back to Canada against the current and the weather.
Linda Syms and her boyfriend Wayne Lewis agreed to a last minute invitation to join their friend’s sailing adventure to Hawaii. It was the fall of 1974, and the couple only had $12 between them and no way to get home.
Linda Syms spent her childhood constantly on the move across the prairies with her large family, until they eventually wound up on the West Coast in the 1960s. In the summer of 1969, a teenaged Linda attended a basement party in North Vancouver that would completely change the course of her life.
In the early 1980s, host Grant Lawrence's family attended a nude potluck in the hippie wilds of Desolation Sound, BC, during which the conservative family refused to grin and bear it. The potluck was co-hosted by a woman and her husband, a modern day homesteading couple living in a cabin just beyond the beach of the potluck. That woman was Linda Syms. This is her story.
Wild Pick: the life and adventures of Linda Syms, oyster farmer of Desolation Sound, is the latest true story podcast series from Grant Lawrence. Get set for another epic wilderness adventure that chronicles Linda's wild life. At a very young age, she fell in love with an older man who completely changed her life. She eventually became a modern day homesteader and oyster farmer, which led her on a 40 year love story, eventually ending in tragedy.
This is a special Canada Day 2019 broadcast of the touring show "Grant Lawrence and Friends: Stories and Songs", recorded live at the Max Cameron Theatre in Powell River, BC. This show features musical performances from three Juno Award-winning Canadian artists: Said the Whale, Jay Malinowski from Bedouin Soundclash, and Kathryn Calder from the New Pornographers. Stories provided by Grant. Enjoy!
In this special addendum chapter to the series, Grant Lawrence details the shocking death of Russell Letawsky.
The hermit would become intertwined in the Lawrence family's life one more time in an unpredictable way.
The hermit’s shack that had stood at the edge of the woods in the cove for twenty years is finally torn down in the early 2000s by a new Desolation Sound neighbour nicknamed Bernard the German.
After more than a decade of living way off the grid, the hermit Russell Letawsky returns to civilization.
Russell gets into a vicious fight in the notorious Lund Pub at the end of the road, the closest watering hole to Desolation Sound.
The Hermit Russell Letawsky constructed a tiny one room cabin to live in permanently along the shore of Desolation Sound with no modern conveniences, running water, or electricity.
Russell settled in a little cove beside host Grant Lawrence's family cabin. Russell would become an unlikely friend of Grant's staunchly conservative father.
Russell and Audrey hitched a ride on a barge from Toba Inlet, getting off on a beach in Desolation Sound that was recently purchased by Audrey’s sister. The area would change Russell's life.
After a month of following only a map and compass from BC’s interior, Russell Letawsky and his girlfriend Audrey manage to cross the Coast Mountain Range, which was an incredible accomplishment, but it was still a long way down to the ocean, and they were out of food and starving.
Russell Letawsky and his girlfriend Audrey embark on an epic hike of a lifetime, with the goal of crossing the jagged Coast Mountain Range, from the interior of BC to the ocean, using only a map and a compass, and without the help of any roads or trails – straight up, through the bush, into an area infamous for its landslides and seismic instability.
Something snapped in Russell Letawsky in downtown Toronto. He felt compelled to get out of the rat race, which led him on a winding road trip to the west.
A series of events in the late 1960s and early 70s began to change Russell Letawsky from businessman to bushman.
Long before the future West Coast bushman found Desolation Sound, he grew up a farm boy in a small prairie town in Northern Alberta, surrounded siblings. He became a junvenile delinquent and car thief before leaving town to find his fortune.
Host Grant Lawrence was only 11-years-old when he and his family came face to face with the Hermit of Desolation Sound. Little did any of them know how much of an impact this grizzled bushman would have on their family.
Hermit of Desolation Sound is Grant Lawrence's latest true life adventure series, starring Russell Letawsky, the hermit philosopher who lived off the grid in a dank shack on West Coast of Canada for over a decade.