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Love the World We Have

This past summer a friend of mine sent me a picture of chips that he had found at the..I believe..Rossburn Co-op. They were something I had never heard of or seen before..so I did what any inquisitive person would do, I googled them. Tomahawk Chips. Aboriginal Owned, No Financial Assistance, Friendchip Choice Native Canadian Chip Corporation (Riverton, MB). I had mentioned these chips to people in the following weeks and low and behold, my family was in (I think) Onanole and they found some of them, BBQ and Ketchup to be exact. Now Tomahawk is a strange chip company, the chips seem to come secondary to the packaging. They have a website with an online store, that does not sell chips, just prints and shirts. I believe that their primary goal is to advertise Native Canadian artists through chip bags and raise founds for (it appears) the Riverton Friendship Centre. I dig what they're doing, it's uplifting (my only gripe is that I haven't seen them in Brandon and can't order them online (I really want to find out what "Fire Chip" flavour tastes like [gonna email once this is up to find out where I can procure some more for myself]). So that is a brief explanation of this entry's brand.

BBQ. Bag artist: Lloyd Dubois (Strong Thunderbird Man). The chips are on the light side of standard potato chips. The BBQ flavour is the old school style barbeque as opposed to the more common sweet mesquite BBQ that most companies slang these days. Straight forward BBQ flavour with the odd hint of sweetness, I enjoyed. The chips taste a tad more greasy than your standard fare, it's not like they're shiny coating the bag Kettle Brand style, but when you bite into them you can taste a bit of the grease (I personally enjoyed what it added to the chips). All around, tasty BBQ chips that support a good cause. Buy 'em if you see 'em.

Ketchup. Bag artist: Leonard Bighett. (caveat, both these bags have a BB of 2017 JL 02, it didn't affect the BBQ however there is a slight staleness to the Ketchup). The same light chips as the BBQ mentioned above. Tart ketchup seasoning (I'd say if your standard Ketchup chips are a 5 in tart and a 5 in sweetness these are a 6 in tart and 4 in sweetness, bangin) that is fairly evenly distributed. Same grease, vegetable oil, level as the BBQ above. Once again, buy 'em if you see 'em, enjoyable chips.

Last year Anxious and Angry put out the first Ezra Kire solo album, Speakers in the Sky. I didn't initially check it out, I've enjoyed Morning Glory (his other post CV/LOC/INDK band that he was the primary artistic force in) albums but I wasn't smitten. Luckily for me Ryan put up an episode of the A and A podcast that was just a stream of Speakers in the Sky..and gee golly that is a beautiful album. Piano driven songs that have the most beautiful melodies mixed with Ezra's somewhat weathered voice (at times there's almost hints of Freddie Mercury? to his voice. I dunno, there's familiarity that's completely new). Odd additional instrumentation here and there (I believe Ezra plays everything on the album [there's no lyric sheet {bummer} or much for credits other than songs and words by: Ezra Arrow Kire, mixed and mastered by: Jesse Cannon, front cover: David Mitchell, back cover: Elisha Murphy, layout and lettering by: St. Savage]). The lyrics are uplifting while rooted in a reality that isn't always pretty, basically just trying to make the best of life without being complacent. It's such a cohesive album that it feels like one long song (which is almost certainly intentional [almost like sitting through a musical]) however the songs still stand on their own. Speakers in the Sky is epic without pretension. One of the best albums that came out last year..that I was a tad late on. Take 30 minutes out of your busy schedule and give it a listen, then repeat.

Stay hydrated,
Marc

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