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If I Needed You

Townes Van Zandt made and played beautiful music. At some point in the fall of 2009 I was reading an interview (I thought it was Paul Pendley of RCR, but I can't find the interview so I could be wrong) and the person being interviewed brought up Townes Van Zandt's Live at the Old Quarter album. I liked the way he described it so I went to CD Plus to see if it was there, and low and behold they had it (I know it was September 2009 because it was right before I drove to Calgary to pick up my things to move back to MB). Live at the Old Quarter is a double album (1h32m) and the perfect way to get into Townes' music, it's a stripped down version of his (sometimes melancholic, sometimes cheeky) folk/blues/country songs (just him and a guitar) that allowed his playing, voice, and poetic lyrics to shine. Townes made beautiful music that drilled straight into your soul, beautiful absolutely engaging stories. The live setting also showcased his sense of humor, I can't help but think that a live Townes set, like the one recorded at the Old Quarter (when he wasn't fall down intoxicated) would have been akin to a religious experience with the charisma that comes across through the recording. He comes off as a giant that either doesn't know his own size, or doesn't care to hold it over others. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir here, or maybe there's someone out there reading this (like me in 2009) that's still in the dark; Townes' music is a thing of beauty that I'd encourage everyone to take in.

Now lets all lean forward slightly to roll this into some chips (get it, segway..segue [I'm sorry for that]). Did you know that Pipers Crisp Co crisps are made by farmers? Well, that's what the bag says anyway. I'm not sure if the farmers are from Burrow Hill or if the Burrow Hill reference on the front is to the cider vinegar..anway, a couple weeks ago I cracked open a bag of Pipers Cider Vinegar & Sea Salt, all 150g of them. At first whiff there was a faint scent of vinegar, when I took a peek into the bag the chips appeared to look very light. The crunch of these chips is not aggressive, but the chips are mid to thick cut. I believe the low crunch to thickness ratio is why I picked up a bit more of an oil taste from the chip, not greasy necessarily just an oily flavour..that was paired with some fairly heavy distribution of sea salt and a faint to very faint cider vinegar tang to round out the mix. I'd say these chips would be more appropriately labeled as sea salt featuring cider vinegar. Even with the seasoning being heavy on the salt and light on the vinegar, I still dug 'em, the actual chip base was bangin'. The salt, oil, and potato mix together to make an almost buttery chip..it's as if they're a potato chip who hangs out with crackers and in turn has a hint of cracker in it. I'm really interested to see if Pipers offer any heavily seasoned chips, now that would be top notch. As it is, I'd grab another bag of Pipers Cider Vinegar & Sea Salt if I saw them again..being an import isn't not super likely that I will however. C'est la vie.

Stay hydrated,
marc




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