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US Odyssey Part 12: Mt Shasta Revisited

Since we mostly relaxed the last time I was in Mt Shasta (literally only a few days ago!), we made sure to do some more ‘tourist-y’ things this time around. Here they are in point form:

photo by Shannon Lepere (www.shannonlepere.com)

Radiostar Studios:

Not only is there a town nearby called Weed, but it’s also the home of Radiostar Studios,  run by Sylvia Massy. Why is this important and/or significant? Well, let me tell you. Not only are there very few female music producers in the world, but Sylvia is responsible for quite a few albums you may have heard of, including Undertow by Tool. We got a tour of her facility, which includes over 6 different studio spaces ranging an old theatre to an old church, chock full of the latest gear any musician/engineer could think of. I made sure to take a photo with the City sign, much like Sublime did quite some time ago (although our intentions weren’t the same!).

Lenticular clouds around Mt Shasta

The 13th Crystal Skull:

Mt Shasta is rife with folklore about aliens and our interactions with the spiritual world, so when we heard that there was someone that had a portal, of COURSE we had to visit it.

She owns a store in what used to be a gas station, and where the pumps used to be there were several rainbow triangular ribbons. Apparently that is the portal, the place where humans can connect with the aliens living beneath the mountains. That’s ‘Telos – the city under the mountains’, for those of you that are unaware. At certain times of the year, circular cloud formations appear over / near the mountain, and then stay there (yes – with next to no movement) for extended periods of time – even weeks. The strangest part is that the locals can pinpoint when the clouds will arrive – TO THE DAY – and there are often stacks of these disc shaped clouds. Because of this, Mt Shasta is believed to be the location of an interplanetary conference, which explains why the cloud-cloaked ships remain closely stacked for days.

More lenticular clouds

Once we were in the actual store front, we found out that she is the keeper of the 13th Crystal Skull. Yes, she’s seen the newest Indiana Jones movie, but she was given this skull in 2000 by a group of Mayans when she was visiting some ruins in Central America. After just one meeting, they felt so convinced that she was meant to be the keeper of this Crystal Skull, that they flat out gave it to her. However, If we wanted to see it, we’d have to cough up $85 a person for a viewing. I was tempted, but I held my ground in light of what was 99.99% a scam. What? So what if it intrigues me!? Leave me alone. Here’s the hilariously terrible website.

At the bridge from 'Stand By Me'

Stand By Me bridge:

As if we hadn’t seen enough neat things that day, we were told that they had filmed a part of the movie Stand By Me (based on Stephen King’s novella, The Body) about an hour away. What part? The train bridge scene! We drove there only to find out that the rails had been rerouted. While there were no tracks on the land, the bridge was still in great shape, however, it had been blocked off on either end. Likely, to prevent people like Shannon and I from recreating one of our favourite scenes.

March 26 – Saint John – Evolution Night Club

Aaron Collier of Scientists of Sound - photo by Shannon Lepere

Evolution Night Club is in the downtown of Saint John, so we got to see a little bit of a different area of the city than a few days before. I opened for the Scientists of Sound, who were doing a very special show. For two nights, they were performing Daft Punk’s album “Homework” from front to back, and I was the opening for both.

The Evolution show was interesting, because it was 19+, but there was an all ages rave happening simultaneously on the main floor (until 5 am). As I was loading in, there was a group of 5 kids waiting to get into the downstairs area, and I felt really guilty because they were shivering as I held the door open to cart gear in. So, to help make their day, I asked “hey, do you guys like apple juice?”

Quizzically, they responded, “Uh, …yes?”

“Would you like some?”

“Uh…I guess?”

“OK, I’ll get some.”

I returned a minute later with 5 cans of apple juice (that I had in my car), and gave them each one.

“Holy shit, I didn’t think you were serious!”

“Oh yeah, I’m serious about apple juice!”

The best part was that one of the girl’s then asked me if I had any weed. Obviously we don’t share the same values. Sigh.

Craig Mercer of Scientists of Sound - photo by Shannon Lepere

Besides apple juice, we also had fantastic pad thai from the inside of the convenience store. Despite the appearance of the place, it was honestly some of the best pad thai any of us had ever had.

photo by Shannon Lepere

The only downside about that night’s show was the rudeness of the venue, who turned on all the lights during Scientists of Sound’s last song, and leaving them on for the next 2 encore songs. At least have the courtesy to leave them off until the show is done! Either way, the Daft Punk tribute show was so good that it didn’t even matter!