Here is the message that we originally posted on social media on February 15, 2017.

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I'd like to give my sincere condolences to Stuart McLean's family and The Vinyl Cafe team. Stuart was such a great human and I'm so sorry to learn of his passing today.

The Zunior Family has been connected with The Vinyl Cafe Family for a long time acting as their official online store. We were first connected with Stuart by our family at Outside Music almost 10 years ago. Stuart and his team have been so great to us over that time and it has been a pleasure to come to know him over the years.

On a personal note, Stuart was always so great to my wife and kids. He would even offer them a freezie when we would visit his house!

On a musical note, Stuart has been a great friend to independent Canadian music, live Canadian music, and new Canadian artists. He toured like a punk band and he has our ultimate respect for his passion and dedication to music as part of his live shows and his radio shows.

I know that Stuart's wit, intelligence, and compassion will live on for all time through his stories, recordings and connections he made with people all over the world.

Thanks for being an original Stuart, and so long for now!

Dave

Today we launched a new look for Zunior.com!  We'll be doing a few new things this year and we thought we should have a fresh update of the site to match.  The new site is geared for mobile and tablet users because this is how everyone likes to shop in 2015.  This is really only our third redesign since we started Zunior back in 2004, so we hope you like it!

Thanks for supporting independent musicians, writers and artists! - Dave

To highlight our 10-year anniversary next year, we are putting together a new special project.  We're not going to tell you the whole deal yet, but to start we need a list of the most iconic rock clubs from across Canada over the past 50 years.

We'll be using this list to create a special map, as a painting, done by an iconic Canadian painter, to create a really unique product to celebrate independent Canadian music.   

The feedback on Twitter has been great so far, so please keep it coming!   We're not throwing out any criteria other than 'iconic' from the past 50 years, and we're not sure how many cities we can actually fit on our map, but as of right now, here is what we have:

1. Vancouver - The Commodore
2. Calgary -The Republik
3. Edmonton - The Sidetrack Cafe
4. Regina - Channel 1
5. Saskatoon - Amigos
6. Winnipeg - West End Cultural Centre 
7. Thunder Bay - Crocks n Rolls
8. Toronto - Horseshoe 
9. Ottawa - Barrymores
10. London - Call the Office
11. Kitchener - The Starlight Lounge
12. Kingston - Toucan
13. Montreal - Foufounes Electriques
14. Halifax - The Double Deuce
15. PEI - The Barn

These picks are not set in stone by any means, so if you feel strongly about a different club in any of these cities, please let us know!

Zunior is happy to announce that Kingston, Ontario's The Gertrudes will be releasing their brand new album, Neighbourhood on Sept. 17. Check out the track listing below and grab some of their excellent prior releases here to wet your whistle.

Learn more about The Gertrudes at http://thegertrudes.com.

Track Listing - Neighbourhood

01. Well Dressed Man
02. All Give Thanks to the Banks of America
03. All Your Stars
04. Rhubarb Pie
05. Water On Your Body
06. All the Dollar Bills Sing Hallelujah
07. Walking With Lola
08. The Liar
09. Without Praise
10. People In Your Neighbourhood