#558: Easter Eggs

GETTING MORE TALE #558: Easter Eggs

“Easter eggs” – Hidden content that you have to really search to find.  Often refers to hidden DVD/Blu-ray bonus features.  The first DVD Easter egg I heard of was on the original “steelbook” version of Terminator 2.  If you go to the right menu and punch in the exact date of Judgment Day, you can access a super-extra-extended version of the film, only visible in this specific way.  Another great DVD Easter egg was on Fellowship of the Ring.  Click around, and you will find a clip from the MTV movie awards where Jack Black has pierced his own wiener with the One Ring.

The term “Easter eggs” is common vocabulary today, and has expanded to include secret cameos or information in films too.  Recent examples:  The appearance of the droid Chopper from Star Wars: Rebels in the new film Rogue One.  Or brief glimpse of Lexcorp trucks, in Man of Steel.  They’re designed not to be immediately noticed, but only detected by die-hard fans after repeat viewings.

The old Record Store has Easter eggs too, so secret that I don’t think anyone who still works there even knows about them.  But they’re still there.

When I first began Record Store Tales, I made a decision to never publicly identify the name of the store.  For that reason, I’ll remain vague.  Back in the olden days when everybody more or less got along, at least two Easter eggs were hidden somewhere on the store website.  They were nods and winks at two employees:  myself, and one other guy who had been there a long time.  They are still there, hidden unless you know where to look.  They were never removed even after both of us left.

There is one more Easter egg, that only two people know about:  Tom (co-founder of Sausagefest) and myself.   Tom owned a franchise at the time.  When he eventually moved on to something else, he asked me to do him a favour.  He wanted to leave his mark in some way on the place.  I can understand that.  Tom, T-Rev, a couple others, and I put our blood, sweat and tears into that store.  It wouldn’t be right to call us “original members” or “founding fathers”, because there was only one owner who started it all.  T-Rev and I weren’t owners, we had no stakes.  It was all just pure passion.  We were there in the very early days as we made the baby steps.  We contributed all our energy to that place, helping to build it and make it grow.  I can’t speak for Tom, but I personally am very proud of that.  Tom pushed to be the first one that carried vinyl.  T-Rev helped actually build the stores, putting up shelving and all the works.  I trained dozens of people and came up with the idea of a store newsletter.  It’s not as if they have a “wall of fame” with our pictures on it.  Tom leaving his mark seems pretty justifiable.

So, he asked me to sneak something in there, and I did.  Tom’s little tribute is still on the website.  Only he and I know where to look.  His franchise was always kickass, and he personally supplied me with plenty of great rock from there, including autographed Helix records, some Foo Fighters singles and a rare live Judas Priest.  He had a 25 cent bin of vinyl that always had good stuff in it.  Let’s all raise our Romulan ale to a true rock and roll animal, the mighty Tom.

22 comments

      1. Not sure. I chatted with DLaw for a bit last night and he told me about the Sheepdogs.

        Booker T Jones, Steve Strongman and David Wilcox too.

        I love that fest. Mostly all free.
        My fave is going to the bars at night after the main stage is done and seekng the bands in an intimate setting. For free.

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        1. Strongman…I knew that. Wilcox would be good. Let me know if you’re going to anything, I might be willing to leave my cave. Change things up this year. Actually go outside and stuff.

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        2. I was filming the band on stage and DLaw jammed his big head into the frame and yelled HI!!!!
          Then asked “Oh. Were you filming.”
          Then he laughed about it.

          That guy is a funny dude.

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        3. He’s also an actual really nice guy. When my wife fell on the bus last year and fractured her knee, Daryl offered to drive her anywhere she needed to go. Who does that? A stand up guy like Law.

          This subject came up in these comments before, but at least from the people I know, Corus really hire some incredible people in this area. Gayle is a local hero as far as I’m concerned, with all the work she does here. Same with Daryl and Brad. Craig I consider a close friend. I’ve known Jessie David for years, and she always been passionate about music over everything else. I recently met Laura Geddes and she is another one that really gives 110% back to the community. I can’t say enough good about these people.

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        4. I think The Sheepdogs are the paid event.
          I’ve seen them a few times so I might skip them. However, if you bring a lawn chair uou can still listen to the entire show around the outside of Victoria Park. So maybe.
          The downtown mainstage is a shit show with soccer moms with kids misbehaving, piss tanks and meth addicts yelling and swearing.
          The Victoria Park venue is better.
          I like the intimate smaller bar scene best though.
          I will let you know once the Bluesfest app comes out. It lays out exactly where all are playing.

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        5. Let’s keep in touch about this going forward. I wouldn’t mind getting out a bit more this year, and it’s nice to have a wingman.

          I will absolutely skip the meth heads though, thanks. Not a big fan of soccer moms either!

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        6. I always seem to get in line behind a lady that looks like that.
          Everywhere. The bank. Coffee shop. Drivers license office. Grocery store.

          They always have a) complaint b) return c) coupons d) price match e)ask to speak to manager

          ARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

          EVERYTIME

          Honestly. Every place needs a separate line for coupons/price match/complaints/returns

          Leave at least 1 or 2 lines for the saps like me that have 1 loaf of bread and don’t want to wait 1/2 hour behind you.

          As for Blues fest lets do it. I think it’s usually around 1st or secend weekend of August so maybe keep thise dates in mind.

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        7. I like that Walmart have a dedicated returns counter…a lot of big stores like TRU and Best Buy do at Christmas time. I had to do a Christmas return at Best Buy and the line was long but very, very efficient. They had people walking up and down the line getting your exchange items ready in advance.

          I used to deal with a lot of those moms at the record store. A lot. One day when the computer was running slow, a mom goes, “Well I’m running FAST so fix it!”

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        1. The last time I was in a grocery store a soccer mom was in front of me with a slimy old piece of chicken in a plastic bag.
          Then she set it on the conveyor. Slime got all over it.
          Never mind the rest of us getting salmonella dumbass.
          She wanted to return it because it went bad.
          She paid for gas to drive there, gave us all Salmonella, to return a piece of chicken to get her few bucks back.
          The worker told her she had to go in a different line and she went ballistic.

          I just rilled with it because it happens to me every time.

          P.S. meat goes bad dumbass. No really. Look it up.

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        2. Jesus murphy!

          I’m not the kind of guy who returns a lot of stuff. I usually consider it a “buyer beware” moment. I just don’t shop there anymore if something bad happens. No big deal. Maybe I’d be wealthier if I couponed, and returned stuff, and complained for discounts. I’d probably be a lot wealthier. But would I be happier? Fuck no.

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        3. Placrs like Home Depot do price match plus 10%. If I see a saw ot something elesewhere I’m going there to save hundreds.
          I’m not worried about the 10 cents cheaper down the road bullshit.
          Life’s too short.

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  3. Man, I know lots of easter egss that get jammed into things (look at all the Logan references in the new Deadpool trailer). Etc etc. But I kind of grew tired of all the extra work of finding stuff, more often for little pay-off. Also, I don’t even know if some of it works when played on a computer versus on a DVD player. I stopped thinking about it!

    Good on you for leaving something of a legacy of yourselves online, though. That’s fun!

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  4. That extended version of T2 was great (I believe someone hooked me up with a copy rather than finding it… or maybe they found it on my copy… still, it was great). I must admit that I gave up searching for Easter Eggs on DVD menus, though. Just got to the stage I spent more time searching than watching!

    Great that your old store’s site still has them. Excellent stuff. Or should I say egg-cellent. Ha!

    … I’ll get my coat.

    (Have a great Easter, Ladanos… with proper good chocolate eggs!)

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