Skip to main content

King Cake Baby

 9 years after his last Peanuts and Corn (P&C) album (just about 3 years after his last album [bangin' colab with Rob Crooks] Schadenfreude [that I wrote words about Dec 2020]), Bazooka Joe 204 (second under Bazooka Joe [luckily adding 204 with this release to really help his SEO {fka John Smith}]) blessed us with a stellar 9 track album this past October, Prairie Nilsson. If you want a breakdown of songs straight from the horses' mouth, go check out the 3 part podcast that Mr. Joe did with bigmcenroe (the albums producer, Mr. P&C) where they discussed each song from Prairie Nilsson and provided comparisons to songs in the John Smith P&C back catalogue. The beats on the album are lush and Ol' Man Winter wears his politics and life on his sleeve while also providing observations that paint a full picture of the good and bad without judgement. So, King Cake Baby is one of my favourite songs that Bazooka Joe, Sloppy Joe, John Smith, whatever you want to call him has put out. I think this is peak Joe providing observations that coming from a lesser writer could come off as either patronizing or judgemental, but from Joe's perspective it's a realistic and at times humorous story about a character that I definitely know my own version of...and the beat/production is borderline disorienting, especially with the layered and baby voiced chorus in the last half of the song. Something about The Prestige reminds of the aggression found on Schedenfreude, if you told me that this was a b-side from that album I don't think I would question it. Iowanna is a dense earworm that is just pummeling. That I Knew What For is a swinging banger, I was lucky enough to listen to this one for the past year because Bazooka Joe sent me it a while ago, which definitely set a high bar for my expectations of this album that was fully met. The Stone capping off the album is heavy, the beat is soothing and the lyrics are cinematic.

So, when Target in Canada closed up that meant the end of Spicy Ketchup chips which I lamented in one of my earlier blog posts in 2015. It was the end of a fantastic flavour, there were no other brands that produced a spicy ketchup flavour....until now. A couple months ago I saw a post from a fellow chip addict on IG (sorry, I can't remember exactly who it was) of Hardbite (handcrafted-style chips) SPICY KETCHUP potato chips. I tried to find them to order on the internets..but couldn't find any...until someone dropped me a tip. Costco baby! I could get a 625g bag of these (hopefully) bangin' potato chips. Now, I bet you're wondering if these chips lived up to my expectations. Well, in case this is your first time reading this blog and you didn't take a cue from the Prairie Nilsson words above...

The chips are kettle cooked and what I would consider bite sized (max 5cm diameter or so [I guess that's due to non-gmo?]). Good crunch, they're not greasy, but the oil is welcomed in the flavour mix. The typical ketchup chip seasoning (tomatoes, bitta sweetness, I'm pretty sure a bit of vinegar but that sort of gets blended into the heat) evenly matched with a nice natural tasting hot pepper heat. The ketchup seasoning mixes in just enough ketchup sweetness to pair with the spice beautifully. It's been so long since I've had the Target (Archer Farms) version of this glorious flavour, so I can't compare them that well..what I can tell you though, is that I believe these are a very similar flavour. The heat gets a bit of forehead sweat going without being a feat of strength. These chips are all flavour, no feat, and you are rewarded handsomely for dipping your toe..err, hand..into the bag. I hope they're here to stay, and if not I'll take em while I can get em.

Stay hydrated, 

Marc

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stairway to heaven 2

Dear Diary, I was in Dollarama last week picking up some last minute..well it doesn't really matter why I was there. Anyway, as I was in the line for the checkout and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a blue bag that I'd seen a million times before. For some reason this time, it's unassuming blue on blue top with stock photo potato chip bottom intrigued me (that in addition to it being 280g for $2). I thought, to myself, 'hey, they carry Covered Bridge..maybe these Made in Canada "D Gourmet" potato chips are some other high end chip that just happens to be carried in dollar stores.'. I proceeded to take the $2 leap and threw them in my basket. Within an hour of getting home I had cracked the bag and was happily consuming. These D Gourmet Salt & Vinegar potato chips were for lack of better term, pretty run-of-the-mill. The chips are somewhat sterile, no well done chips and no skins, and fairly lightweight. The seasoning is faint but fairly well di...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lean On Me

I first saw The Flatliners on May 9, 2003. They were opening for Bigwig/The Planet Smashers on the grind tour and kicked ass. Their sound has changed since that date but it hasn't stopped them from becoming one of my favourite bands both recorded and live. Because of my affinity for The Flatliners I was drawn to The Warehouse (Calgary) on September 26, 2007. Having never heard the other bands that were to be playing that night I had very few preconceived notions (I did very little, super lazy, research), I was just there to see The Flatliners and hoped the other bands didn't suck. To my absolute surprise and amazement, the opening? band (might have been 2nd of 4, I can't remember for sure [it really doesn't matter]) The Peacocks absolutely slayed. This 3 piece punkabilly band from Winterthur, Switzerland owned the stage. There was no fancy lighting, costumes or pyrotechnics..just three guys in jeans and black shirts rocking out. When they played there was pure uncut en...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grown Folks Business

I mention It's Alive Records a lot in my tales. It's a killer label (IMHO) and has released various LP's/7"s from two of my favourite bands; The Dopamines and The Copyrights . If you actively follow the current pop punk scene you may be familiar with these bands..if you don't know either of them..well, your loss I guess? I started listening to The Copyrights with their 2008 release Learn the Hard Way (Great album). Not long after Learn the Hard Way, The Copyrights were paired with The Dopamines (my introduction to this fantastic band) on a split 7" put out by It's Alive Records in 2009 titled Songs about Fucking Up . The album jacket for SAFU is light (almost lime) green with a cartoon face of a guy not having a good time (the album title and artwork is a tribute to the Big Black's Songs About Fucking). On this split EP, both bands dole out upbeat music with lyrics that are a little bitter and/or self-deprecating (hence the EP title). Everything eith...
Post a Comment
Read more