Warm Beer & Wild Times

This past summer I was in an independent dollar store and I came across a brand of chips that I had never heard of; (Beyond Good Brand) Uncle Rays (Always Made Fresh from Nature's Best). There were some interesting flavour titles which piqued my attention. Upon closer inspection of the bag I noticed that there was a "chapter" of "The Life and Times of Uncle Ray", what the what? I started looking around at the other bags, each bag had a different "chapter" (and it wasn't flavour dependent). I'm not sure how many chapters there are to Uncle Ray's story but I can tell you there are at least 36. At this point it should go without saying their marketing sucked me in, I took home a handful of Uncle Ray's (hopefully tasty) chips.

Fast forward to Uncle Ray's Kosher Dill.

• Visual Inspection: standard potato chip.
• Density: Light and thin
• Flavour: Well..the seasoning is quite light in general and fairly uneven. Some chips tasted like sour cream & onion..others were somewhat sweet. Pass.

Zipzipzip..further into the future, Smokey Chipotle & Jack Cheese.

• Visual Inspection: ridged chips
• Density: Have you ever had Wavy Lays..well, similar to that. Mid weight.
• Flavour: Um..Inconsistent to say the least. Range from plain salted to BBQ (the old school smoky bbq vein) to mesquite bbq to like..crispy bacon? I dunno man. I think they just threw words in a hat and came up with the flavour by pulling out random words..and filled the bag with random chips. But not necessarily in a good way. Pass.

I stepped into the Kosher Dill a while ago and took notes but don't remember what the story was. Smokey Chipotle & Jack Cheese.."I remember the day that Kennedy died". Talks about being a door to door salesman for a bakery and meeting up with his AT&T employee wife for lunch. He used a payphone to call her on the day Kennedy was shot, lost the call, tried to call back and 80 quarters ended up coming out of the pay phone. He then went to one of his best customers, sold her baked goods, told her about the assassination and they watched the news. Everyone was bummed. After the chapter there is a bold word Sensitivity "Perceiving the true attitudes and emotion of those around me." then lists things to remember to help you demonstrate Sensitivity in everyday life. Followed by a link to www.characterfirst.com. I'd be super down with Uncle Ray's if the chips weren't wack, too bad. It's borderline worth it just for the oddness of the story and such on the back, not your run of the mill, "our family to yours with natures ingredients blah blah blah hippies blah" spiel that indie chip companies tend to put on their bags.

Being that the best part of Uncle Ray's chips are the stories I figured I may as well veer to the very edge of my scope on this here blog. Have you ever heard of GFY Press (www.punkbooks.com)? No? Bummer, up until a few years ago (2013) I was in the same boat. I dig music bio's (usually punk) and through reading Perfect Youth I was turned onto Chris Walter's (and GFY's) existence. He grew up in the original Winnipeg hardcore scene, moved to Vancouver, bottomed out then kicked a junk habit and since '01 has been releasing DIY published bio's, (semi?)autobio's and fiction. His works are influenced by punk/street life and based in Canada. I've delved into 7 so far and absolutely love what he's doing. I'd suggest starting with the Mosquitos and Whiskey/I was a punk../I'm on the Guest List trilogy (I believe semi-autobiographical..memoir [at least I think it's semi..could be full on auto]). The trilogy spans his life from being a kid in Winnipeg at the inception of the punk scene to DTES Vancouver. His music biographies are fantastic, always focusing on Canadian punk bands/artists that have truly shaped not just Canadian punk but punk in general. [to date: Personality Crisis, Dayglo Abortions, SNFU, Real McKenzies and Randy Rampage (D.O.A.)]. I've only dipped my toe into a couple of his fictional books but he brings filthy realism to what I've read thus far. Good shit.

Stay hydrated,
Marc