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This article was published 05/10/2017 (2931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chip-loving U of W prof books it 

Be it savoury or sweet, we’ve all got our favourite snack. For Janis Thiessen, an associate professor of history and associate director of the Oral History Centre at the University of Winnipeg, that snack is Old Dutch dill pickle-flavoured chips.

Her new book, Snacks: A Canadian Food History, is a comprehensive look at some of our country’s most iconic edibles, including cherished chip company Old Dutch, whose chapter subheading A Canadian company? sets the stage for a thorough examination of the company’s history. (Spoiler alert: Old Dutch was founded in Minnesota before the Canadian company Old Dutch Foods Limited — still American-owned — was established in Canada the mid-1950s.)

Other Canadian snacks examined in the book by Thiessen include Hawkins Cheezies (some recommend eating the orange-dusted delights heated up!), Robertson’s Candy, Scott-Bathgate (purveyors of Nutty Club) and many more. The culture of snack advertising is also explored by Thiessen (with many cool photos throughout), as is the process of making many of our flavour favourites, to paraphrase the Old Dutch slogan.

Thiessen’s book touches down in Winnipeg numerous times including in the introduction, where she recalls her own favourite childhood snacks and rituals. Which is not to say it’s all anecdotal here — Thiessen conducted dozens of interviews and includes dozens of pages of end notes as well as an extensive bibliography on her scrumptious subject matter.

Thiessen will launch Snacks: A Canadian Food History on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers, where she’ll be joined for a conversation by University of Manitoba associate professor of history Sarah Elvins.

Oh, and if you’re on the fence about checking out the book launch, know this — publisher University of Manitoba Press has picked up some Hawkins Cheezies, Old Dutch chips and Pic-a-Pop soda for those in attendance to enjoy.

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

 

Miranda Lambert

Expect an emotion-filled evening when country superstar Miranda Lambert’s Livin’ Like Hippies tour makes a stop at the Bell MTS Place on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Lambert’s show will be the first big country music show in Winnipeg since a gunman fired upon the crowd during Jason Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, killing 59 spectators.

The event has shaken the country music community, and Lambert was one of a host of country performers who took to Twitter after the tragedy to express her feelings. She posted a broken heart emoji, adding “my heart.”

Earlier in September, Lambert, was one of several Texas native sons and daughters who performed at a one-hour benefit telethon for those affected by hurricane Harvey, which battered the city of Houston and the surrounding area at the end of August. Lambert was born in Longview, Texas, about 320 kilometres north of Houston.

Lambert’s career has skyrocketed since her debut record, Kerosene, came out in 2005, and included singles such as the title track, Me and Charlie Talking and Bring Me Down. Her fifth album, 2014’s Platinum, earned her a Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and spawned two No. 1 hits, Heart Like Mine and The House That Built Me.

The 33-year-old’s latest album, The Weight of These Wings, was released in November 2016, her first record after her divorce from fellow country singer Blake Shelton.

Tickets are still available for the Winnipeg show, and sell for $39-$89 (plus fees) at Ticketmaster.

— Alan Small

 

Move your body — it’s the Pedrito Martinez Group

The rhumba rhythms of Afro-Cuban jazz will ring out at the West End Cultural Centre on Saturday, Oct. 7 as the Pedrito Martinez Group performs as the second stanza of the 2017-18 Asper Jazz Series.

The group plays two shows Saturday, at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are available online at radyjcc.net and sell for $42 and $20 for students.

Martinez, a 43-year-old singer and virtuoso percussionist, left Cuba in 1998 to join Canadian Jane Bunnett’s band, and later settled in New Jersey. He formed the Pedrito Martinez Group in 2005, and they released their self-titled first album in 2013, which earned a Grammy nomination. Their latest record, Habana Dreams, which includes collaborations with Wynton Marsalis, Ruben Blades and Angelique Kidjo, came out in 2016.

In concert, Martinez has performed with the likes of Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Sting and plays an infectious beat with a variety of percussion instruments, from the conga to the timbale to the double-headed bata, a traditional instrument associated with the Santeria religion of Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean.

— Alan Small