Episode Transcript

Audio Transcript

E156_DesireeDorionEdit.mp3

Trevor:  Kirk, we're back.

Kirk: Hey, how's it going Trevor?

Trevor: Good. This is, I think, the second time I tried recording one of these zoomie-colly things from out at the lake. The cottage hasn't changed, the lake hasn't change, but Wifi on the lake is a nice thing, you know, solves one of my other 21st world problems. What do I do if I want to be near a beach and record a podcast? Yeah, we can we can do that now. Uh, so, Kirk? I'm going to ask you about an upcoming vacation, but first I'm gonna jump into, I just got back from, I guess, my yearly-ish fishing trip with a bunch of high school buddies, and it was fun. We caught a lot of fish, saw some people I haven't seen in a long time, yada yada, you know. That good stuff. The weather was awful. First day, well, we were delayed leaving because of thunderstorms, and then we were rain, like, and my rain pants split, my crotch got wet, you know, all the good. And then day two just this huge wind we decided we finally should go out fishing in this it's a big-ish lake but it's not this is not ocean waves but they're little boats on a bigish lake and yeah and the guy i was driving with full credit to John for his amazing boating skills but we really shouldn't have been where we were because you know we're just fighting wind and the brink of capsizing once or twice just because we really want to fish this one area where there's whole other freaking lake to but anyway that aside good times uh i brought out because it's now officially on the market and we'll give a plug for one of our previous guests Dauphin's own Greencraft cannabis is now officially officially on the market in their own name so i brought up some pre-rolls i brought a galactic cake and i bought out death bubba and I thank everyone I'm fishing with. Is now tired of me saying have you tried Dauphin's own Greencraft cannabis yet? And so people seem to try it and like it and Dauphins own Greencraft cannabis. Ask for it at your local store whenever you can.

Kirk: Or listen to past Episodes. Episode 126, we talked to GreenCraft. We talked to an Episode 81. So yeah, we've talked about Green Craft and we also have a project, an upcoming project working with Green Craft, so yeah. Yeah, local producer, try them out. It is.

Trevor: Yeah, no, you know, a local story, local company made good.

Kirk: So here's the question, you're on a raging lake storm and those people that understand being on lakes, those storms can come quick and pass quickly. So are you saying that bringing out the green craft calmed everybody down?

Trevor: Uh, it's more like after we left the lake, um, you know, whether we want, we would never be promoting, you, know, intoxicated boating or fishing because that would be bad. And in all fairness, just trying to keep the boat upright. There wasn't a lot of time for a beer or smoke or anything. It was the, oh my God, I think I have a fish. How are we going to do this while the boat is going to crash into those rocks? You know, little.

Kirk: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Northern Ontario or northern, northern Manitoba?

Trevor: We're still in Manitou, we're close-ish to the Ontario border, but we fly, my hometown's Pinawa, we drive a little bit out of Pinawa to Lac la Bonnie, and then we fly north out of there. For those of you who want to Google it, Google Erdly Lake, and yeah, middle of nowhere.

Kirk: Just a little west of Red Lake or of Pungassi and those communities?

Trevor: It is, I checked because, you know, why not? We're a little bit north of Pungassi.

Kirk: Yeah, I know that area. It's lovely up there. Big lakes.

Trevor: Yeah, this is this is not a huge but big enough and especially for the wind direction, but Instead of being in the middle of nowhere. You are going you and Michelle are going to go off to somewhere where there's lots of people

Kirk: Yeah we're taking a little bit of a different holiday. We're leaving for Barcelona next week and from there we're going to Morocco. I think we're spending three weeks in Morocco and we're spending some time in Spain and Portugal. So yeah and all those countries are medicinal cannabis. So I'm hoping to come back with stories. I hope to come with stories from Morocco and France and Portugal. Anywhere else I go, maybe an airport, maybe the Calgary Airport. I'll find a cannabis story.

Trevor: Excellent we we can't wait and neither can the listeners but let's sit let's bring it back to Dauphin again Kirk We are talking to I think it's very safe to call friend of the show responsible for our theme music Desiree Dorian for people who have haven't ever ever heard of Desirees before shame on you and Kirk Tell us a little bit about Desiree

Kirk: Well, Desiree Dorian, you hear every time you hear our theme song, Soul Back Jack, that's Desirees song. She gave us permission to use it. She's a country indigenous singer-songwriter. She grew up, again, you got to know where we live, right? We live in a prairie valley, so we're between two mountains. We got the Duck Mountains and we've got the Riding Mountain National Park. Mountains is a relative term when you live on the prairies.

Trevor: They're, they're Manitoba Mountains

Kirk: Yeah, well, Riding Mountain is the most southern boreal forest in the world, it's undulating. But Desiree grew up very close to the Dauphin Country Fest and was a young girl that went to country music festivals and dreamed to be in a country music star and she's become one. She's Juno nominated, multiple songs, she's had on the top ten, top hundred in Canada's country music charts. She's a go-in concerned. Her web page will be linked to our, her web page is always linked to our web page. So, Desiree, I mean, she's been singing 15 years. I know her personally. What I found interesting is that Michelle, my wife, is a journalist and local journalist in Dauphin, has interviewed Desirees a lot and I believe interviewed Desirae 15 years ago for her first album. Little did we know, 15 years later, I would also interview her as a traveling band in her car. What we got... Is it, we've got a-

Trevor: But I want to throw in just because just because I love this part and you know, everyone from Dauphin has to be an overachiever, not just a country music star. She's a lawyer, so it's not like she's doing nothing in her spare time. You know, she, she did well in that their school and went and got that their bar and This country music thing, we hope it makes her millions, but it's not like she doesn't have a backup plan because, you know, she's a bit of an overachiever.

Kirk: I wasn't going to mention her backup plan. Yes, she was called to the bar and she's also a facilitator. She works in a business for herself now in facilitation, but in this circumstance she is a traveling band and I've seen her live so many times, I've see her acoustic, and I have seen her strum a guitar. Now I didn't want to talk about the quality of the guitar playing, but I did, I mean what occurred to me is I was asking her a question, as you hear this, I guess as you go into this I ask her a questions and she basically tells me that she is the eye candy. She's like, yeah, and and we should just go into the interview

Trevor: Yeah, yeah, no, and it works out well. We'll hear some members of the band and we'll talk about a little bit more when we come back.

Kirk: Yeah, yeah, we'll come out. Go into your interview. Desiree, I guess introduce your band.

Desirre Dorion: Yeah, okay. Well, I'm probably just gonna let them introduce themselves. But just by way of background, like we've been playing live together for I think just a year, all of us. And I say this everywhere I've been going, because we've gotten some really fun bookings in the last few months. And you know, I love my band. These guys are like my brothers. We spend a lot of time together, you know, on and off stage. And yeah, I just I feel right now with where I'm at in my career, that these are the best group of musicians I've ever worked with. And I know that they've got my back, no matter what. So I'm I love, I love working with them. And this is a cool and another cool opportunity that they're always just so open-minded about about these things. And so when I said, Hey, you guys, you want to do this podcast? They're like, yeah, let's do it. So here we are. But I'll let them introduce themselves.

Kirk: Who wants to start?

Bram Avery: Um, I don't know. I'm, uh, my name is Bram Avery. Um, I play all sorts of instruments and music is my passion and my world. Um, and I'm very fortunate to be able to share what I do with these amazing people and get to spend so much time with them and make, make beautiful music and be trusted with their art.

Kirk: Are you, uh, the percussionist? Are you the strings?

Bram Avery: I guess, I guess I'm the keyboard guy I get to make all the all the weird spacey noises in the background

Kirk: Okay, and you've been playing for, I guess, all your life or?

Bram Avery: Yeah, I've always played something.

Kirk: And without outing you, I guess, are there other musicians you have played with and how long ago? Like turn of the century ago kind of stuff?

Bram Avery: I have played music with a lot of different people, some more notable than others, but right now playing with Desiree is probably taking up the majority of my time.

Kirk: Okay, are you based in Winnipeg? Oh yeah, yeah. Okay, well that says enough there. There's enough musicians in Winnipeg to keep you busy for years.

Bram Avery: There certainly could be, yeah.

Kirk: Michel and yourself.

Michel Bruyere: Hi there, Kirk and Trevor. I'm Michel Bruyere and I've been playing for 30 years professionally, but I've done dabbling in the music and drums. I am the drummer. I've played drums since junior high school. Grade seven is when the transformation happened and I heard the music room and I'm like what are those loud banging things and it was the drums and my teacher was nice enough to teach me everything about drumming. Most notably, I worked with Buffy St. Marie for 14 years, and I've been with Desiree Dorian for just over a year. She called me and asked me if I wanted to record with her. And I got nervous because I knew who she was. We never met, but within the Indigenous circuit, we kind to know the names. And I knew the name when she popped up and and So I started to research some of her music and I'm like, shit, it's like, you know, it's not a genre that I'm familiar with, you know, but the songs that she sent me were right up my alley as an alternative drummer and what I, what I can offer. And it's just been a really awesome ride. Um, there was a bit of a down and I don't want to get into it. A down spiral after, uh, after the Buffy, uh what came out and whatnot. And I really gotta thank you, Des, and for lifting my spirit and bringing me back into the music scene in 2024 last year. And here we are. You know, it's funny that she gets us into these, she gets in these, you know, like I'm so used to hotel life, Kirk. You know? You get your hotel key, you go to your room, right? But this band has just been amazing. Like it's the Airb&b effect. So we're all like in the room. We're all playing music. And... And then of course, we're all, some of us are out smoking pot, you know? But we're like, it's a community. It's very family and like what they're saying about us having her back, that's what it involved and just us really like getting to learn about each other.

Kirk: Very cool, so obviously you're the strings then Desiree.

Desiree Dorion: What's that?

Kirk: You're the string, you're playing the guitar, you're doing the melody.

Desiree Dorion: No, I'm the eye candy. Come on.

Kirk: Well, I've seen you. You found the guitar on stage.

Desiree Dorion: Well, mm, play might be an overstatement.

Kirk: Okay. All right. So have you guys traveled across the country? Where have you been in the last year?

Desiree Dorion: Oh my gosh. We've been to the west, like as far west as Prophet River First Nation, which is right along, it's northwest BC, right along the border, the Yukon border, close to the Yukon Border. We're actually heading there next weekend again. We been as far east as almost Ottawa, Michel and I and uh Leroy who plays bass, we went there last summer as a four piece. But as a band we played a festival in Toronto this year for National Indigenous People's Day. We've been down to Nashville together and we're heading to Germany in less than a month or so.

Kirk: Very cool, very cool, let's go and let's start talking about pot.

Bram Avery: Michelle thought you would never ask.

Kirk: There you go! So as artists, is it something to say, is cannabis part of an artist's world, in your world? Like you guys play instruments, has cannabis always been there?

Michel Bruyere: Okay, I'll definitely speak up. Yeah, it was. Of course, sorry. Of course, I smoked as a teenager, but it was something that stayed when I got into like rock and roll or like out of high school and got into your first band. And like, you know, the drinking was there and stuff like that. But pot seemed to be like always like you're traveling to the next gig, somebody's got a bag of weed and, you know, and, and then, um, and, and to be honest, it was just, um coming and then you go forth. Like you just asked a great question when it was a part of your life or your music career. You know, you think about it now, and you go, how many bands and how many artists have I met that, that we, we shared smoking pot? And to be honest, I'm going to say about 75% like I'm talking, I got to meet Cindy Loper. I smoked with Neil Young.

Kirk: Oh, buddy.

Michel Bruyere: Yeah. Yeah, like, like I, I, I'm always a little shocked when I run into somebody else and I'm in Australia and then Sinead O’Connor ask if I can, do you got another joint? You know, I like, yeah, sure.

Kirk: That's cool. That's one person, that's one hand I'd like to shake. I'd to thank Neil Young. He's been in part of my world for the last 50 years.

Michel Bruyere: You know what? I was so blessed because it was the artist I was working with. His name is Keith Sikola, and he was such a huge fan, like a huge fan, and we just happened to be at the same festival. So Keith made made sure that we got to go meet Neil was with his band, Crazy Horse. So we got meet Neil and Crazy Horse and then where he made sure he had chairs for us on the monitor. We're watching Neil Young and killing it to 90,000 people in Denmark. And then during their encore, he whispers and he calls us behind the curtain. Stop. That's when he has a joint for all of us. And I wish, this was in 1996. I wish we had cell phones, because I would have just been like, I can't believe we're in this little circle, like.

Kirk: You're smoking backstage with Neil Young.

Michel Bruyere: As they are screaming for Neil Young, exactly. I was 26.

Kirk: The interview is over, gentlemen. We can end the interview now. Fantastic. OK, so, Bram, beat that one.

Bram Avery: I don't think I have any stories that are that crazy. No Willie Nelson in an outhouse behind the White House kind of a deal for me. But I mean, I mean weed has certainly been something that's been around all of the circles I've been in my entire life. I grew up I grew up in a home that had a lot of musicians in and around it and it was always something that I saw used when I was a teenager. I kind of tried that out for myself and it definitely, like you said before, definitely more of a party thing at that stage, trying to have fun, trying escape, trying do whatever. But yeah, as I've gone through my life and things have changed, it's certainly something that's now more medicinal, more even a routine sometimes. Most of the people that I play with before we go on stage, especially if Michelle and I are together, that's definitely part of our pre-show ritual. And it just sets a nice tone for what we're about to do. Puts you in a good creative space and makes you very relaxed and receptive and aware of what's happening around. And I think in our industry, that's not a bad thing.

Kirk: Well, it's almost stereotypical, isn't it?

Michel Bruyere: It sure is. Yeah. Yeah, that almost like it. You try to get away from you try to like to explain it, but it's just you can't explain it.

Kirk: Yeah, I'm not a stereotype, not at all!

Michel Bruyere: And like you said, there's half the band like outside backstage just before the show.

Kirk: And Desiree, 15 years you've been singing professionally with an album.

Desiree Dorion: Yeah, like more full time, yes.

Kirk: Yeah!

Desiree Dorion: Yeah, I mean, I like I don't ever I'm not a pot smoker, full, full disclaimer, and you and I have had this conversation, I think a couple of times Kirk over the years that I actually have asthma. And so for me, any kind of smoke ingestion is not is a really bad combination with that. But what I what I have found over the year is and it's it's still not 100%. It's gotten a little bit better. And Bram and I've talked about This is that. When you're traveling around a lot from hotel to hotel room and sometimes you're in different time zones and, you know, unfamiliar scenes, unfamiliar rooms, I've struggled with insomnia a lot over the years. And so, you know, for me, what has worked really well is indica gummies. And I just, I take into custom times, especially, especially before this band got together. Like when I was traveling alone a lot, because my partner's in our band, he plays bass in our band. And so I don't struggle with insomnia as much, but historically, like it was really bad. Sometimes I'd be up till four or five in the morning and then have to get up the next day to, to get to work and, you know, had to soundcheck and all of that stuff. And if you can't sleep, It gets really challenging at times. And so, yeah, so that's worked for me. But what I will say from a band leader's perspective is that I much prefer guys who are, you know, for folks who are using some kind of a substance, I much preferred guys who were using, or girls, who are a using pot as a substance as opposed to alcohol or something else. Like I just, I feel like. Um, you know, and I have, I have played with players who are intoxicated, you know, when they get on stage and it's embarrassing, uh, quite frankly. And so, um, pot just doesn't really have that obnoxious effect.

Kirk: Well, that was one of my questions. It was going to generally be, what is the comparing alcohol to pot? And the whole premise is you guys are a traveling band. You're spending a lot of time on the road. So compare alcohol to pod. I mean, the stereotype is the drinking and drug-addicted artist that jumps out of the hotel room into the pool, right?

Desiree Dorion: Yeah, I mean, we're we're like, we were speaking cuddly here and I have no problem sharing any of this information, but like we're not. We're not like super straight-laced people, but we're also still professional at the end of the day. If we get hired to play a show, we're coming, and we're playing that show to the best of our ability. And we're bringing the best possible show that we can deliver. Is there booze on the road? Is there pot on the roads? Of course there is. But we're not letting either of those things... Interrupt the work that we're doing or affect the work that we are doing by any means. And so, yeah, I mean, I think that I have seen alcohol be problematic for, you know, certainly some of the folks even that I've played with, and it requires hard conversations with some, you know, I've had to have hard conversations with people that have been in my band previously. But my take on it is, so long as whatever substance it is that you're choosing to use, so long as it's not affecting the work that we're doing.

Kirk: No, that makes a lot of sense. Desiree, I'd like to go a little further on those indica gummies. How did you learn about that? To try that?

Desiree Dorion: I'm trying to think of how the hell I learned about that. Oh, you know why? Because when I was a kid, every time I would smoke pot, cause like when I as a kid I smoked pot just to fit in with my friends or whatever. But every time, I would smoked pot, it always put me to sleep. And so I just kind of never used it cause it was boring for me. Like it was, I don't want to go to sleep, it's eight o'clock at night and I know I'm gonna, I know, I'm going to go sleep. And everybody's response was always, oh, you're not using the right kind or you're not, you know, and they always had some kind of reason as to why I was falling asleep and can't remember who I was having that conversation with, but oh, no, I remembered, I remember that it always made me fall asleep. So then I went, when pot became legal, I went to the, like, I don't know which store it was, but I went the pot shop and I said, Hey, like is there something that can help me sleep? Because I struggle with insomnia. And whoever it was just explained to me that, you know, this this Indica stuff will will knock you right out.

Kirk: Put you in the couch, yeah, yeah. Interesting because what you've just demonstrated there is how you're truly using cannabis as a medicine. I mean, by definition, you know, you're taking it to sleep. So you learned, and this is just a commentary as a nurse. This is what's happening in Canada right now. People are going to the rec shops to learn how to use cannabis as medicine. Yeah. And it's, I find that, I first of all as a nurse, I found that incredulous. However, it's the way of the world and it happens in organic conversations like this. And when you look at a product and it says sleep ease on it, you know, so well, hey, that's going to help me sleep.

Desiree Dorion: I never took those kinds of, I was always scared to take pills. I remember having a conversation with my family doctor about my insomnia and what options were available to me and she was going to prescribe me sleeping medication and I thought, well, I'm not taking that because I have no idea what it's going to do to my creativity. The next day or you know how long is it going to stay in my body what's it like am I going to be able to and then there's certain medications and you'll know this that there are certain medications that will actually affect your vocal cords and your you know other parts of your body and so I'm always kind of hesitant to take something without really knowing what the full implication of that medication is and so yeah it was around probably about 10 years ago where I started exploring other alternatives and Indica has worked really well.

Kirk: That's cool. Well, I always say that when you go see a family doctor, what do they do? They practice medicine. So they're gonna give you medicine and they're going to give you pharmaceuticals and cannabis is not considered a pharmaceutical though people use it as medicine. Perfect example. How about the backup band there? You guys, yeah, you're backstage with Neil Young glowing a fatty, but are you using, are you now that we're legal, do you find that you're using cannabis different?

Michel Bruyere: Oh, yeah. Oh, hell, yeah, it was the same for me. I don't know when it happened. I think it was legal already. But like I said, I've been a 30 or 40 year pot smoker and and I was during the Travels Kirk. So I'm going to America before legalization in America, which I love that a lot of states are now legal. But imagine you say, you know, I go to America and cut off and wait until I go like find a dealer, you now. And my band at the time started, you know, trying to give me their like pharmaceuticals, melatonin and all these other things. And I, first of all, I was just against that type of pharmaceutical and I tried it and it didn't put me to sleep. And then when the gummies started to come around, or I think I found somebody who was making cookies or brownies, that was the first taste of eating something and it did its job. It knocked me on my ass. I just finished like a music rehearsal session, and the lady came to drop off some brownies for the singer to take care of his arthritis Older gentlemen too, and that's what you're saying, like a doctor, right? She's coming in, giving him his little brownies, and then he looks at me and I said, oh man, I'm a little tired, I hope I sleep tonight. It's just common talk, we all talk on the band on the stage. And he heard that and he said, hey, Michel, take one of the take half a brownie, he says. And of course, me, I took the I ate the full thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I was in my room and I could not. And I just like and I let it take its work. I was like, holy smokes, I'm getting really did like tired. And I'm like, I want to sleep. And I woke up that next morning and I was a like a fan. So like a Des saying, like, we're going to we're going to Germany and that's going to be a long trip. My first instant instinct is to go to my dispensary and make sure like I eat a ton of gummies for my body and for that, that whole relaxation of sitting in a chair, you know,.

Kirk: I think Germany now is legal for medicinal.

Michel Bruyere: Awesome. Thank you for that.

Kirk: I think so.

Michel Bruyere: I don't know if it was me trying to influence Desiree, but he's got us flying into Amsterdam.

Desiree Dorion: We're flying him. Yeah, we're flying into Amsterdam. I, I don't know if that's a coincidence or a gentle manipulation, but

Kirk: Well, Michelle and I are on our, my Michelle, we're on our way to Spain, Morocco in a couple weeks here. So I'm quickly Googling Morocco and they're medically legal. And yeah, and of course, they're also the biggest exporter of hash as well.

Michel Bruyere: Oh my gosh.

Kirk: So yeah, I got to figure out how to get to that region that most hashes is yeah, go run through a cannabis field and make hash. And Bram, are you using cannabis medicinally at all?

Bram Avery: Yeah, I mean, with with myself, I'm a pretty tall guy and do a lot of a lot of standing up, moving around, spending a lot of time cramped in tiny vehicles, sometimes getting where, where we're going. And that's, you know, it's hard on the it's heart on the joints. It's hard on the kness and I used to use gummies a lot, but with everything being legal, it's easier to get, well, certainly in Canada, it is easier to have Flower or go get a vape or go, you know, get something pre-roll and with them being able to break down all the different components that make you know what maybe people just thought of as weed well now we know with different cannabinoids and things more targeted at how it'll affect your body so you can take stuff that's more going to physically put you at ease and not cloud you mentally so you can still get through your days. So that's a big part of the reason that I like to use pot.

Kirk: I'm going to talk about jurisdictions, you guys. Going all the way to BC, I was out at Haida Gwaii and we went up to the northern part of BC there, so Danes Lake and that sort of stuff. So have you guys considered jurisdictions when you're traveling? Like do you ever cross your mind crossing provincial borders with cannabis or has that ever bothered you or any problems with that? Like in Manitoba. You know in Manitoba, there's no legal place to consume cannabis except your residence, right? Yeah. So BC is a little different. You can consume cannabis, I believe, in any smoking area, I think, because there's usually a leaf and a cigarette that you can consume here, especially at the Vancouver airport. Have you ever had a problem with jurisdictions?

Michel Bruyere: Yeah, I think one of the strongest, well, not one of them, but I'm sure my wife hears this one, but I went and attended our last condo meeting. We were living just close to Deep Cove on North Vancouver. We've been residents of Winnipeg for about four years now. We've been out in BC for quite a time. And then I thought to go to my first condo meeting. Okay. I went where I went. I went down. I think we both went down and in beautiful B.C. We're on the mountains and we voted, I guess. Oh, yeah, because I was what was I doing? I was smoking on my deck. I was outside, you know, I'm in the woods. The trail was right there to nature. You know, right there. And people walk to walk by our place, our our condo area to go to the trails. So I'm smoking outside and I can hear somebody on the third balcony bitching and complaining about smoking. And then that was one of the topics at the condo meeting. And so what did we do? Or what did everybody do? They voted to smoke indoors. Nobody's smoking on the condor grounds anymore. And you should have smelled the hallways and the elevator. All of a sudden it smelled like a hotel, like an old 1990s bar. I like it. Smelling like cigarettes and then I didn't smell pop. But what I smell was a lot of like, you can smell the cigarettes, you know.

Kirk: Interesting. Actually, I just did some research. We're doing a commercial. We are working on a commercial, Trevor and I, and we're talking about using your music, Desiree. But condo associations in Manitoba can, they're allowed to designate an area for consumption, for smoking and vaping, as long as it's eight meters away. So if you belong to a condo association in Manitoba, You can you can vote I guess, and create a smoking area. It's one of the exceptions in small print. Yeah. And I didn't know that because I had the government online and I said to him, you know, there's nowhere to legally consume cannabis if you're a renter. Where do they smoke? They can't smoke on the street. They can smoke in the backyard if you know. And they said, well, that's just the way to go. She basically said, well, maybe they can eat it instead. And I said, Well. Okay, thank you for being open-minded, but it doesn't solve the problem. So yeah, but there is a small thing that apartment dwellers and, I guess, condo people can vote, so they can't do that.

Michel Bruyere: Exactly. So I ended up having to go up the trail or at late at night, I'm in the washroom, like by my fan, you know, like it was just like, what am I living?

Kirk: Living the 70s again.

Michel Bruyere: Yeah, yeah, totally. I was like, I thought we like we loaded on this and like I thought it was cooler, you outside on my chair. And it bothers a few people and we're smelling gasses like there's a plant beside us and stuff I'm like okay.

Kirk: People are weird eh yeah.

Michel Bruyere: I just don't have to get it a plant scares you it's like

Kirk: I didn't ask you Desiree, do you use cannabis for songwriting? Do you use it in creativity?

Desiree Dorion: No, in fact, I find I find, for me, I am my most creative when I am completely substance free. And if I'm going to do a writing trip to Nashville, I'll like, because I love wine. I admit that I love wine. These guys know I love one. But I really try and clear my head and give myself some like, a before I go into rights and I'll often even try and like head to the lake. For a weekend, I find that I gain more clarity when I ground myself in nature and the outdoors and stuff. And so, for me, that brings me the most clarity.

Kirk: That was a mess.

Trevor: No no that was great that really really was good and we went out in on eye candy we'll come out on eye candy yeah you know the lawyer bandleader guitarist vocalist songwriter yeah she calls herself eye candy sure yeah you're you're everything else Desiree right you might as well be eye candy

Kirk: No, and she is in the front of the band, and it didn't occur to me, I mean, when I was talking, I met her band, right, so here I'm thinking, you know, naively thinking, she's a three-piece band. She's not a three piece band, I'm trying to think, have I ever seen her play in a three- piece band? I don't think I have. So no, there's a greater band that didn't join us. But the three of them, it was fun. Like, I think... I think this one, this is one of those podcasts, Trevor, that I think you're going to have to watch the video.

Trevor: Well, no, but even there's the stories for the audio only, because as usual, I'm usually doing something while I'm listening to these. Kirk, I can't believe you haven't jumped up and down on Michel backstage in front of 90,000 people smoking a joint with Neil Young. Kirk, a little jealous.

Kirk: Okay, I'm now one degree removed from Neal Young again. I mean, I became one degree removed from him when we talked to David Crosby, and I'm now one degree removed again. We will eventually get Neal young on this podcast. I truly believe it's going to happen. And yes, yeah, there he was in 1996 he said. 96

Trevor: Yeah, yeah, that that's what I heard and then dropped, you know, a couple of their names of Sinead O’Connor and Cindy Loper

Kirk: Yeah, yeah

Trevor: You know, we're just just just name-dropping people we've had a joint with yeah, but Should we swing into? Like you said, maybe it's just a stereotype for the musician smoking pot and maybe some things are a stereotype for a reason but um The pharmacist in me was interested in you know, no one here is 19 anymore and uh They're now using Cannabis for other stuff. It's not it's not just fun anymore

Kirk: Yeah, yeah for sleeping well one and as Desiree said 

Trevor: sleeping and arthritis, and yeah.

Kirk: But also, you know, we talked to David Crosby, and he said, you know I'll take the guitar off the wall and I'll go smoke a reefer or I'll have one of my wife's cookies and I will see what comes out. And yeah, stereotypical. You know, some guy, some artist is picking up his guitar, smoking a spliff and playing his guitar. But not always, and not in this case. I mean.

Trevor: Yeah, no, that's an excellent callback. I specifically remember Crosby because you think about, you know, he used a drug or two in his day, but him specifically saying, no, no I'm not, you know waking and baking and being high all day. I've got shit to do. And that reminded me a lot when Desiree was saying, when she's going off to write songs, whether it's in Nashville or out of the lake, similar to what I'm doing now, cause no songwriting. Free of intoxicants because that's how her process works and just you know famously high David Crosby same sort of thing during the day I've got shit to do of course I'm not high in the evening after supper you know I don't have any more stuff to do why not so it just you know the whole constantly high or constant constantly drunk is just doesn't work and nicely because i i know you are going to be all over this but again maybe not a surprise what do you think about Desiree's thought about the in the past the musicians she's played with drunk versus musicians she has played with high

Kirk: Yeah, yeah, exactly, right? Alcohol versus cannabis. And I mean, I have gone to concerts, you know, or even bar bands, where the music is good, they're playing good music, but they're bombed and they're stumbling around and it's not fun. Whereas gone to a lot of concerts and the guys you can obviously the guys are high and they're digging in so we've said this a thousand times would you rather bust the party of a hundred people with a mickey of vodka or a party with a thousand people with one reefer. People are calmer. So as an employer I mean she is the band leader she's the employer i'd rather have my guys high You know that they come to work Yeah, so.

Trevor: They're still, like Desiree said, they're still professional musicians. We have been paid to show up for this gig and we are going to do it to the best of our ability. Yeah, that, you know, that makes sense.

Kirk: Yeah, and so again... Cannabis is seen as a positive thing. I got to, and one of the reasons why I said up front that it's important to watch this particular podcast on the video is when Michel is, she starts to talk, he's obviously on his porch and he's obviously participating in a ceremonial hoot with us and decides to talk in the middle of it and starts coughing. You got to see the faces on the team as we're waiting for this guy to cough his way through, a stereotypical reefer. So that's what I was saying. So there we had it. You know, we had a guy that obviously, you know, cannabis is legal. I enjoy recreational and the rest of the team, you know they're out there. Some of the teams is out there beforehand, having a hoot before they go on stage and some of them using it to sleep. This is a traveling country band.

Trevor: It is and I'm hoping I have the name right and if I don't Rene can fix me but I think it was Bram who at least recently had had property in Vancouver and sort of had intimate knowledge to well maybe not Vancouver BC in particular

Kirk: Deep Cove, that was Michel. That was Michel, and it was in Deep Cove, I know the area.

Trevor: Yeah about how you uh needed what's the word I'm looking for controversy over the smell of cannabis you know is it a good idea for you to be on your deck and have people smell it and their condo board voted no and now all the cigarette and other smoke had moved inside and i i'm not saying which is right or wrong but this is this is with legalization this is going to come up more and and I guess sort of as a society we've got to sort of think about. The right way to go.

Kirk: Well, in the province of Manitoba, and I say this, I say in the thing, is that if you live in an apartment, go smoke outside, but create a designated area, right? I don't agree with smoking anything indoors. Tobacco, cannabis, just don't smoke it indoors, man. It just doesn't make any sense. Go outside, go on your balcony, go to a designated areas. And Manitoba does allow us to have a designated area if you live in a communal place. So yeah, I found that really odd that they all chose to allow people to consume inside because they're all sharing the same air, right? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Trevor: Yeah, no, I really enjoyed it. And the band, Desiree, Bram, Michel, thank you very much for sharing, not just the Neil Young stories, which were really cool. But no, we've all heard what goes on on the road. It was nice to get a little glimpse and sort of how Cannabis fits into, this is their workplace. This is like me being at the pharmacy. Do I need an Advil because my knee is sore for standing for eight hours. It's that kind of thing. It's that kind of thing. .

Kirk: Interesting but go out and have a hoot from your medicine and see what happens. That's a whole different podcast.

Trevor: Well, that's a whole different podcast, but you know, but that's it. People at my work talk about things like, you know. In a predominantly female thing. So, you know, are there people at my job who are taking things for their menstrual cramp or their migraine to get through the day? Absolutely. And are these people at their workplace taking something to help them sleep because they go through a bazillion time zones or to help with their achy joints from standing all day at a festival? Different medicine, different group, but it was interesting to hear. And anything else we need to know about Desiree and her band other than they're off to Germany

Kirk: No, yeah, going off Germany, I didn't fact check myself. I guess I'm gonna have to fact check myself, is Germany medicinally legal? Hey buddy, Michel, don't go there on Kirk's thing before you fact check me. Anyways, I'm Kirk Nyquist, I am the registered nurse and we're at reefermed.ca, check out our web page.

Trevor: I'm Trevor Shewfelt, I'm the pharmacist. You can find us on most of them there social medias at Reefer Medness. Kirk especially is really big on the LinkedIn and I am there relatively often too, but we definitely have some Instagram, some Facebook, the occasional X / Twitter if I get around to it. But yeah, look for us on the social medias and go to your favorite podcast player and leave us a review. It does really help.

Kirk: Like us, peace and love, like us, peace and Love.

Trevor: All right, have a good night everybody. We'll talk to everyone later.

Kirk: Bye bye.