Episodes
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Look who's on a Roll - It's this week's guest, Author Luke Whittall Luke and his Sipster's Pocket Guides Books. In the third volume in the popular Sipsterâs Pocket Guide series, wine expert and educator Luke Whittall presents his latest top 50 British Columbia wines under $50 (including many under $30) and along the way shares his thoughts on wine country and common misconceptions about certain grapes, and offers up tangents on everything from scented candles to middle children to jazz hands. With food and activity pairings that range from Thai noodles and pool noodles to classic rock and hootenannies, and an index of attitudes that lets you choose a wine based on your mood (come hither, dressed to kill, razzle-dazzle), the Sipsterâs guides are equal parts freewheeling and focused. Divided into chapters on sparkling, white, rosĂ©, red, and dessert wines, the latest volume of Sipsterâs will snap you out of a catatonic funk in the liquor store and stick around for a quiet evening paging through a bookâperhaps this book and perhaps thereâs even a wine for that. Welcome to Volume 3, where a Viognier can be a lot like a bouncy castle, a red blend that is the icing on top of another layer of icing and also a wine that will upstage Taylor Swift and Kayne and an adventurous evening calls for a certain Trebianno (not the guy from Friends . . . but then again, maybe?). The Sipsters series are written in language anyone can understand. Words we all use and can remember a day later. Make no mistake, Luke knows his wines from the vineyards to the bottle. He just makes the journey much easier than it really is. We also start TRR with a conversation about vineyard damage & recovery, plus the coming discovery of BC Wines made with Washington grapes. So those damaged vineyards, wineries and wine-farming families can survive the next couple of years. And heads UP - The Sipster's Ontario Vol 2 is coming - just in time for Christmas. Then surely, the Luke Whittall film starring Ryan Reynolds. Www.sipsterswinepodcast.ca/books Luke Whittall Online: The Sipster's Wine Podcast - Sipsters Icons on Substack WWW. Books: "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 More Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 3" 2024 (Touchwood Editions) "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines, Volume 1" 2023 (Touchwood Editions) "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 2" 2023 (Touchwood Editions) "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 1" 2021 (Touchwood Editions) "The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide" 6th Edition (with John Schreiner) 2020 (Touchwood Editions) "Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia's Wine History" 2019 (Whitecap Books)
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The full title of Natalie Maclean's memoir is Wine Witch on Fire Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation and Drinking Too Much. For all of you who bought and read Natalie's book Red, White and Drunk All Over and listened to her podcast Unreserved Wine Talk, this memoir is a completely different read. She discovers her husband of many years is leaving the relationship and at the same time, her wine rivals decide to tell the wine world that she's not nearly as accomplished as we think. Despite multiple awards for her writing and knowledge, Natalie has to rebuild her career, fight for her son and find an elusive second chance in a business that rarely gives you any. All of this drama is played out in a wine world where many women are taken for granted and rarely given credit for their skills. Yup - Wine Witch is a thriller. And it's funny, just in time for Christmas.
You can get Natalie MacLean's new memoir Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much in paperback, ebook or audiobook from these retailers.
She hosts the podcast, Unreserved Wine Talk, and offers popular online wine and food pairing classes at www.nataliemaclean.com. -
Episodes manquant?
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We meet Blue Moon Marquee - Al Cardinal and Jasmine Colette - on the stage at the Osbourne Bay Pub in Crofton, Vancouver Island.
That stage was the first place they met and then played together many times as Blue Moon Marquee.
They've come a long way since that stage. Juno Winners, sweeping the 2023 Maple Blues Awards and still winning awards including this week.
After a decade of stages and touring comes the 5th album New Orleans Sessions. Recorded in New Orleans in two days - Four hours each day. One track Trickster Coyote was a first take. Recorded with some of the very best New Orleans players.
Lots of stories and new music. Also news of the next two projects they intend to present.
They start their next tour October 26th at Festival Place, Sherwood Park. October dates in Lloydminster, Daysland and Athabaska. - and April 5 at the Arden
(complete interview on Mulligan Stew Podcast)
We start the Mulligan Stew Podcast Stew remembering and celebrating the life and music of the late Kris Kristofferson.
From the Mulligan Stew archives we replay the Kris Kristofferson interview we did 2006 backstage at Calgary Folk Festival.
Answering media questions, including my own:
Kris talks about Johnny Cash, Willie and his sons, Hank Williams, movies, performing solo, the Nashville Underground, songwriters these days John Prine, Todd Snider, Shooter Jennings, and how nervous he gets singing for 12,000 people.
Please enjoyâŠhonoured to bring you both artists!!
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The Fretless guest on The Stew. Karrnnel Sawitsky and Trent Freeman - one-half of The Fretless join us.
Saturday in the first hour. Their album - Glass Wing is brilliant. With 3 songs cowritten and sung by Madeleine Roger. Classically trained, raised on rock, jazz, blues, folk and heritage roots, they take all those influences and combine them into a sound unlike any other group. They take 100 year old shanty's and reshape the song without losing the original melody so it can last another 100 years. In Glass Wing, they write all their own tunes. Three co-written with Madeleine Roger. There is such joy in hearing violins, violas and cellos driving the beat where normally the drums and bass would be. Impressive my friends. Very impressive. Have a listen to Pipe Dreams! The Queen Nancy - named after a car and a make-believe BC Ferry. Icarus - a Madeleine beauty Or the lead track Lost Lake. This marks a new chapter The Fretless. With Lights, sound and stage design created especially for this album, these songs and this tour. The Fretless Tour Oct 3 Fanny Bay Oct 4 Comox Oct 5 Victoria Oct 6 Van October 10 Calgary October 11 Edmonton -
This week we welcome Donovan Woods and his latest album Things were never good if Theyâre not good now.
Wonderful insight into his songwriting and his place in the music business.
The first time he played in Victoria, he couldnât believe the audience knew the words to his songs.
And in the past year, he played in Australia and remembers an audience in Perth who sang the words louder than he could.
He has come a very long way has Donovan.
Struggling to find things to sing about or sing at all. A series of failures lead to an addiction counselling program and committed himself to getting to âthe bottom of myselfâ
He changed his mind about a lot of things.
â It turns out the truth does really set you freeâ
âI wonât be cheesy and say I feel like this is my first album, but it certainly feels like a new startâ
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Joel Plaskett's eleventh albumâOne Real Reveal is special for several reasons.
Joel sat down with a small Telefunken KM56 microphone and a 4-track recorder and recorded the tracks for One Real Reveal ON CASSETTE TAPE starting with the brilliant High Summer.
This album and its music is bare. Because it is, youâre forced to listen to the music and especially the lyrics. These are words and melodies that will still be the air in a concert hall.
IF you can get in.
Joelâs current tour out west is Sold Out. Fittingly, the tour ends at Massey Hall in Toronto.
It too will be Sold Out.
Discover the new sounds of Joel Plaskett, just like the old Joel Plaskett only quieter, more reflective.
Iâve been waiting many years to have Joel to myself. Just to exchange ideas and passions.
My timing couldnât have been better. One Real Reveal was well worth the wait.
The other welcome guest is our pal Leeroy Stagger. Host of Dirty Windshields Radio Hour on CKUA Saturdays.
But before Leeroy joined us, he was a highly respected singer/songwriter and he continues to write, record and perform his very personal songs.
Leeroy has just released his latest album 3 am Revelations.
In it, Leeroy reflects the life around him. The road, family, social issues and seeking the answers to all his inner questions.
Just a heads up â 3 am Revelations rocks. Bangers like Watermelon Pink, Count to 10, These Days. Then finds balance with reflective gems like
Itâs gonna be alright (someday), Alberta Stars, Lifeâs a Drag, etc.
It's good to have friends and partners like Leeroy Stagger. Great album Leeroy! You nailed it.
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Terry David Mulligan joins Blues lifer Robert Finley in the media tent at the Edmonton Folk Festival.
Robert spins the stories of how he went from losing most of his sight to becoming the hot new voice in the blues.
Inviting himself to do a cold walk-on at the Blues Festival in St Helena. It's quite a story he tells. The crowd loved him and that set things in motion.
The Music Maker Relief Foundation, a non-profit blues support system, heard him busking in the streets and offered to help.
Finley released his first album âAge Donât Mean a Thingâ in 2016.
Dan Auerbach
of the Black Keys heard him and they started recording together â with Dan as producer.
Theyâve now done 4 albums together. Each one is bigger and better.
The latest is Black Bayou. There will be no more busking for Robert Finley. Heâs 70 years old and an overnight sensation!!
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Iâve been waiting for new music from Winnipegâs Madeleine Roger for four years.
Thatâs how long it's been since I discovered her voice, playing and gifted songwriting.
Maddy took a solo career detour through the stellar chops of The Fretless.
They needed an exceptional vocalist who understood and was comfortable with, classical music.
Madeleine needed a different âbandâ to shine with. Perfect!
So here we are in early September and both artists are releasing new albums.
Madeleine has just released NERVE a new album filled with tales of lost love and found freedoms.
Produced by Josh Kaufman (Anais Mitchell, Bonnie Light Horseman) Recorded in four days. They threw away the headphones and sat 8 feet apart..making music.
There are actually four extra songs waiting to be released.
I am here to state â in my opinion - an exceptional new star has risen â her name is Madeleine Roger.
Enjoy the complete interview and the music included.
www.madeleineroger.com
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The last time I had the privilege of interviewing Rhiannon Giddens it was in 2017 at Edmonton Folk Fest.
In the next five years, she became a World star.
For example:
In October 2017, Giddens was named one of the 2017 class of MacArthur "Genius" Fellows.
In 2017 and 2018, Giddens appeared in the fifth and sixth seasons of the CMT's
In January 2018, Giddens co-produced Songs of Our Native Daughters for Smithsonian Folkways.
in early 2018, the Nashville Ballet announced that Rhiannon Giddens has been commissioned to write the music for Lucy Negro, Redux. In 2019, Giddens released two studio albums: Songs of Our Native Daughters and There Is No Other with Italian musician Francesco Turrisi
Giddens earned an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for her lasting impact on the UNCG community and her work in music. In 2023, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music from Princeton University
In other words, the last 5-6 years have been a delightful blur.
Thus my first question was âŠwhat do you remember of the last 5 years?
If anyone is going to change music in her lifetime â it's Rhiannon Giddens!!
Enjoy.
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Colin's 21st album is called Chasing the Sun. Today, Aug 17 is his Birthday. Happy Day Colin
Co-produced by Colin Linden in his Pinhead Studios in Nashville.
Colin's coming to the Mulligan Stew Podcast with the complete story of how he and his friends wrote and created these outstanding songs.
Colin singing a Lucinda Williams song, Protection, with Lucinda in the studio doing harmony. Two tracks with blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, co-writing memorable songs with Tom Wilson, Terra Lightfoot, Thompson Wilson, Jesse Obrien and others. A great rhythm section of Darryl Jones (Stones) Charley Drayton (Keith Richards).
A splendid cover of Paul Butterfield's classic In My Own Dream. Also vocals by The McCrary Sisters and Ruby Amanfu
Colin Linden leading the all-star band and co-writing with Colin James.
It's their 6th album together.
Colin and I have been doing interviews for a long time but there are still events and moments in his life that need retelling.
For example, when the two Colinsâ met on the Canadian Prairies Colin James was 13 and Colin Linden was 17. Both were into playing the blues.
A short time later Colin, still a teenager, got to play for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Stevie helped him take the next steps in his career.
This is the complete Interview.
His 2021 album Open Road won the JUNO Award for Best Blues Album and was nominated for Blues Foundation Best Blues Rock Album in 2023.
Catching the Sun may very well get the best reception yet.
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Terry talks with Rhiannon Giddens at the Edmonton Folk Music Fest in 2020
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Kevin Kane and The Hooper Brothers Chris and Tommy have been an original Canadian band for over 40 years.
The Grapes of Wrath.
Same three guys. Still making music.
This podcast is their first complete band interview in over 10 years.
Like many, I had presumed that the guys had moved on to solo efforts or other bands or other dreams.
When I saw that they were playing and selling out The Carleton in Halifax I started to dig and found â amazed â that they were in fact playing the Filberg Festival in Comox, Vancouver Island Aug 3.
Also Edmonton, The Maritimes, Vernon and The Dream Café in Penticton.
Bringing with them songs containing people's memories, whole lifetimes.
Peace of Mind
You may be right
These days
And the still brilliantâŠ
All the thingâs I wasnât.
Platinum records, multiple tours of Canada, the USA and Europe.
In 1992 they went separate ways only to rediscover the power of their friendship and music in 2010 at a festival in Surrey, BC.
The same three guysâŠLetâs celebrate The Grapes of Wrath. Enjoy the stories and the music.
Tour Dates:
www.grapesofwrath.ca
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The last two festival directors join us on The Summer Stew - Terry Wickham - Edmonton Aug 8-11 Many years later the musical leader at Edmonton Folk Festival. As you know, he's a natural storyteller and this year he's telling stories of the growing indigenous component of the festival. Also how it all started to grow within the fest, it involves the Chieftains. Terry talks about how he discovers artists, why certain artists strike a chord in him and how he had to keep a headliner booking secret for 7 months. The complete interview can be heard on the Mulligan Stew Podcast and the video on the terrydavidmulligan YouTube Channel. ââââ Jenna Klein Waller - Canmore Aug 3-5 It's year one for Jenna. She has stayed in touch with the other artistic directors. Learning even more as she went. The one thing the festival wanted to focus on was finding a younger audience. Jenna talks about the artists that her younger audience wants to see and hear.
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It's festival season. Full ON.
Everywhere you go someone is kicking off a festival.
Weâre concentrating on the music festivals of Western Canada.
I couldnât do them allâŠ
Vancouver Island and Winnipeg festivals have started
This weekend our guests are â artistic directors Kerry Clark from the Calgary Folk Fest and Fiona Black from the Vancouver Folk Fest.
We finish our festival updates on July 20 with Jenna Klein Waller artistic director from Canmore Festival and Terry Wickham artistic director of Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
Check out the artist lineups at
www.calgaryfolkfest.com July 25-28
www.thefestival.bc.ca July 19-21
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It all started as a single interview about the Edmonton Folk Festival. We seemed to be talking about the âotherâ festivals and could they survive the Covid years.
That conversation turned into the first group interview with the artistic directors of Calgary, Winnipeg, Canmore and Vancouver Folk Festivals.
It was fun and informative, so weâve decided to make it a yearly gathering.
Hereâs the guest lineup this year. They each bring with them stories of the artists they booked and why.
[caption id="attachment_29315" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Vancouver Island Music Festival[/caption]
Doug Cox â July 12-14 Vancouver Island Music Festival (Courtney)
Chris Frayer â July 11-14 Winnipeg Folk Festival
Fiona Black â July 19-21 Vancouver Folk Festival
Kerry Clark â July 25-28 Calgary Folk Festival
Jenna Klein Waller â Aug 3-5 Canmore Folk Festival
Terry Wickham â Aug 8-11 Edmonton Folk Festival
This week our interview guests areâŠ
Artistic Directors of Vancouver Island Music Festival (Doug Cox) & Winnipeg Folk Festival (Chris Frayer)
Both festivals start next weekend. Next Saturday itâs Fiona Black from Vancouver FF and Kerry Clark from Calgary FF. Bringing insights into their artist guest list and special events.
The complete interviews can be seen on the terrydavidmulligan YouTube Channel -
They are Canadian music royalty. Who better to have joined us on the Canada Day weekend than Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo?
AND Jim brings his 6th solo album All the World Fades Away.
There is much to talk about. In the first half of the Podcast Greg and Jim take us through Blue Rodeo's plans for their 40th year together in 2025.
Taking part in the Lightfoot celebration at Massey Hall. Being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.. Then Greg bugs out and Jim and I talk about his 6th solo album with The Jim Cuddy band.
It's called All the world fades away and itâs a beauty.
Stories about his Father, our friend the late John Mann and his family, his early years on The Yukon, and his duet with Greg on the solo album. The dialogue between the two of them on the meaning of the song is WILD!
We talk tours and plans for the year. Comments about playing the Canmore and Edmonton Folk Festivals this summer. Our thanks to the boys...
Enjoy â Happy Canada Day
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Two remarkable guests this week
Celeigh Cardinal and her new album Boundless Possibilities and Bridget Kearney â Bassist and songwriter for Lake Street Dive
Both guests have albums that came out Friday.
Celeigh Cardinal has her latest dropping Friday - Boundless Possibilities.
Personally written songs that describe the feelings of losing her son's Father in a murder and the death of a friend by suicide. Also surviving the pain and loss and changing her life forever.
It's not your average album and certainly not your average interview. Open, bare and loving.
The second guest is Bridget Kearney. Bassist, vocalist and songwriter for Lake Street Dive. The album is Good Together and after 20 years together, they've decided to write songs and play together in the same room. It shows in the exceptional songs.
They appeared this week on Colbert and they're on tour. One of the dates is Madison Square Garden.
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For years, there have been multiple wine competitions no matter what country or region.
The BC wine industry is no exception.
The latest wine awards are The BC Top 50 wines and Wine of the Year as part of the 2024 Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, which is on now.
Friday night the results were announced at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and then hundreds descended on the trade floor to do their own judging.
Kimberly Hundertmark, the GM of The Wine Fests said on Tasting Room Radio last week that wineries were asked to send their very best releases.
We have two guests and dear friends on this Podcast. Both are wine stars and both were judges at this event
DJ Kearney. A Global wine authority, educator and Director of Wine at Terminal City Club. Black Belt.
Rhys Pender â Master of Wine. Co-owner of Little Farm Wine in Cawston and owner of Wine Plus. World's greatest fisherman.
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Iâve had the distinct pleasure to host and produce Tasting Room Radio for 17 years.
Most weeks we consider featuring some of those stories on the podcast but music, arts and music history seem to carry the day.
These two interviews deserve to be featured because they tell the story of the current state of the BC wine industry.
The Okanagan has been burned by summer fires and choked by summer smoke, blocked by road closures at the peak of the summer season, deep frozen by two successive winters and disappointingly shunned by liquor governing bodies in Alberta.
All the while the BC wine industry is making better and better wines. So it all feels like three steps forward and two back
Kimberly Hundertmark, the GM of Okanagan Wine Festivals brings great news. Right now, they are kicking off the Spring Wine Festival all over the Okanagan Valley. Itâs an amazing collection of events. Huge gatherings like 2024 BC Top 50 and the Wine of the Year. The TASTE series, carefully curated in locations North and South, the Naramata Bench this Sunday, June 2 and the District Wine Village in Oliver Sat-Sun June 8/9 and Saturday, June 8th at the Summer Sips at Spirit Ridge Osoyoos. Kimberly brings all the news and tips for making plans.
The complete list of events can be found at www.thewinefestivals.com
John Skinner is the co-owner/co-founder of Painted Rock Estate Winery, on the Skaha Bench in Okanagan Falls.
If you go to their website www.paintedrock.ca have a look at the wines and also the awards those wines have won over the years.
Pages and pages of awards and outstanding reviews.
Johnâs comments about his wines and two new releases â Rose and Chardonnay can be found on Tasting Room Radio. www.tastingroomradio.com
These comments by John are about the state of the BC wine industry â the good and not-so-good.
Above all, itâs Johnâs belief in BC Wine. He shows leadership and well-thought-out decision-making.
If youâre interested in supporting the BC wine industry â and I truly hope you are â then John brings clarity and commitment to all of us.
John Skinner reminds us that most of these wineries are owned by small farming families.
âsupport the little wineries first. Find your favourites and support them when you canâ
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Wonderful article from Charles P. Pierce Esquire Magazine May 25
Let's get the whole gang together: Davey Moore, Hattie Carroll, Hollis Brown, Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, the motorcycle black Madonna two-wheeled gypsy queen, Ma Rainey, and Beethoven, John the Baptist, the Commander In Chief, Louis The King, Napoleon in rags, Lucille, Johanna, Sweet Marie, John Wesley Harding, St. Augustine, the joker, the thief, Big Jim, Lily, Rosemary, and most of all, the Jack of Hearts, Rubin Carter, Isis, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Blackjack Davey, Charlie Patton. All of them. Play me a song, Mr. Wolfman Jack, because if you want to remember, you better write down the names.
Bob Dylan turned 83 on Friday. All of him did. All of them did. All the personae, the entire kaleidoscope of masks, the false fronts and head fakes, and, finally, the last, and in many ways, best of them all. The travelling storyteller, the seanchai as the people in the old country would call him. Out on the endless tour, up the endless highway. I think of him and I think of Turlough O'Carolan, the legendary blind Irish harper who would travel the countryside, composing his songs on the spot for whomever would give him food and drink. Go back further. Go back to Homer. Sing to him, O muse. When Dylan dropped "Murder Most Foul," virtually out of a clear blue sky, blessing us with it as consolation for the years when America had gone so terribly wrong, it was Homer of whom I thought, poet and historian both, protector of the shadowland between myth and reality, chronicler of what Greil Marcus called "the old, weird America," a phrase I wish I'd written.
He'll be around all summer, travelling with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp and a whole clutch of other artists in something called the Outlaw Music Festival Tour. It's a high-priced extravaganza but, in a very real way, he's just on the road, heading for another joint. Move along, brother Bob. The highway, as you taught us, is for gamblers, and we take what we have gathered from coincidence.
Hereâs a collection of comments and reflections from Dylan's artistic partners and others just sharing the same spaces with Bob. Interviews Iâve done over the years to be added to when Dylan turns 85.
Interviews with
David Bowie
Robbie Robertson
Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
The Avett Brothers
Barney Bentall and Steve Dawson
Greg Keelor (Blue Rodeo)
And Colin Linden (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings)
Wine and Dine â Tofino June i/2.
The second story takes place next weekend June 1 and 2 in one of Earthâs most beautiful places - Tofino, British Columbia. The western edge of Canada on Vancouver island. The community includes surfing, golfing, fishing, underwater adventures and an unusual gathering of chefs. It is where they come to learn how to create seafood dishes and cook with what the forest and oceans give them â and surf their minds out.
It's the second annual Wine and Dine gathering on the front lawns of Best Western Plus Tin Wis Resort.
All of the details can be found at www.tofinowinedine.com
Our guests are the organizers and founders of Tofino Wine & dine
Ronnie Lee and Ryan Orr.
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