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My Great Gatsby

This past summer I ordered a 50 cd's for $50 deal from Suburban Home Records (I love when labels are clearing out their old stock/distro [I hate the current US/CDN exchange rate / cross border shipping rates]). After all was said and done I figured that as long as I dug 5 of the cd's I received it'd make the $103 price tag acceptable..anything more than that was gravy. Shit ended up being a great deal, they sent 60 cd's including a lot of the Suburban Home back catalogue, a bunch of G7 cd's and just all around great music spanning most rock based genres. Among the 60 cd's was Two Cow Garage's Sweet Saint Me. Up until I popped the cd into my car's compact disc player I had heard of Two Cow Garage but never took the time to check em out (I think it was once again one of those "not feeling the name..I'll use my time to listen to other stuff" mixed with "ugh, might be on the shit side of country influence" type situations). Well gee golly was I making a mistake. What came out of my speakers was some straight forward rockers with obvious, but not overwhelming folk/country and punk influence. The vocals are raspy and somewhat strained? (at times)..(kind of Bruce Springsteen meets Bobcat Goldthwait?)] this may not sound like a selling point but it works so well giving the music emotive weight without sounding affected. It's just the singers beautifully weathered?..natural? voice. As an oversimplification, they remind me of a gruffer '59 Sound era Gaslight Anthem with more twang, a bit of gypsy and a dash more pop at times (Two Cow Garage predates Gaslight Anthem). I dig, i dig. Check em out.

I generally approach meat flavoured chips with apprehension based on the assumption that they'll taste like a salty packet of gravy mix sprinkled on deep fried potatoes [buffalo wing chips are usually the exception]. When I picked up a bag of Ruffles Flame Grilled Steak chips this past summer it took me a while to crack the bag because, well, I just said why. When I finally peeled the bag open this past fall I was greeted with the smell of partially composted grass [great]. I placed a chip in my mouth expecting blah and wabamo! It actually tasted very close to it's stated flavour, a dry ass steak but still, similar to flame grilled steak. There was a faint smoke taste with a light sprinkling of what tasted like a cross between pepper corns and Montreal steak spice. These chips were a lot better than I thought they'd be, Ruffles came through on their simulated meat flavour promise. The actual chips were standard Ruffles with small ridges and a decent crunch. I thought they could be a great replacement for croutons in a Caesar salad...when I tried that it wasn't bad but it wasn't anything to write home about.

Stay hydrated,
Marc

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    1. Hah. Just saw this comment. Laurel Street Demo 2005 and 28th and Stonewall. I think just the 2 TB cd's

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