KIND magazine: Summer 2023

KILLER MIKE, MEGHAN PATRICK, CYPRESS HILL AND JOHN LENNON ON LOVE

5 COOL SUMMER INFUSIONS

RECIPES FOR YOUR NEXT CAMPING TRIP

P.6

THE GLOBAL ICON ON HIS MISSION TO SPREAD GOOD VIBES WITH LIVE MUSIC AND KIND KUSH

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

The Global Icon with 40 million followers on Instagram, Wiz Khalifa, lights up our music issue in an exclusive KIND elevation

BY BEN KAPLAN

Wiz Khalifa is a Pittsburgh-born, Los Angeles–based rap star co-headlining this summer with Snoop Dogg. Beloved as much for his jingly, hypnotic trap songs as for his ahead-of-his-time cannabis activism, the 35-year-old founder of

Khalifa Kush is at the very top of his game. “Summertime means tour season,” he told KIND in an exclusive interview. “Snoop is an OG and my brother so you know we’re going to have a ton of fun.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOYCE CHARAT; COVER: BRADEN WALKER AND PAGES 23 & 25

KIND: What do you love most about the summertime and what makes it a perfect time for enjoying music?

WIZ KHALIFA: Summertime means it’s summer tour season. I love going on tour around the country and performing for my fans and meeting them in person. This summer will be with Snoop, Warren G, Berner and Too $hort—so you know we are gonna have a great time.

KIND: Hailing from Pittsburgh though you’ve settled into life in LA, you get what Canadians are now feeling. What can you tell us about how you fuel from the sun?

WK: Love when the sun comes out, man. It was always the best time in Pittsburgh when winter was finally over—makes summer that much better, man.

KIND: This is our music issue, and a cele-bration of life: when did you know that you loved music?

WK: When I was a kid my parents always had cool music on in the house, whether that was funk or whatever, and I got exposed to all kinds of different music. I

was always interested in finding something new—then I started creating music and fell in love, yea.

KIND: When did weed come into the picture?

WK: Weed came into the picture early on, it’s always been a part of my life whether I wanted it to be or not. My mom, my aunts and my cousin would always be smoking so it’s always been comfortable for me.

KIND: How do you combine cannabis with your musical appreciation and creativity?

WK: I combine cannabis with creating while in the studio to really loosen up and look at things a little differently, to relax and be myself. I really enjoy creating music when I’m stoned. It puts me in the right mindset to do what I love.

KIND: Tell us about your approach to the flower. From consumer to entrepreneur, businessman to activist— what does Khalifa Kush mean to you?

WK: Khalifa Kush has always been the best weed in the world, and I am always looking at what we can do to make the brand

Everyone who wants to smoke weed is smoking weed, so let’s make it legal and safe.”

stronger, make the weed better and get the products into as many people’s hands as possible. I really want to be able to bring the best weed to the masses and get everyone smoking what I smoke, so I’m blessed to be in the position I’m in.

KIND: The original strain was something developed for you in Los Angeles. How is it different from other weed in the world?

WK: Not just because of the genetics, but also the process. We work exclusively with the best growers in the world and hold our products to the highest standards, so when you get a jar of KK, you’re smoking what I smoke. If this means not packaging flower after a round, we are ready to do that and have actually done that. Quality and consistency is key.

KIND: You post often of yourself working out, in the ring or in the gym. What stigma around cannabis would you most like to see disappear?

WK: The stigma I would most like to see disappear from cannabis is that cannabis

makes you lazy. I think it’s more in how you operate and your goals and vision versus using cannabis as an excuse not to do what you want to do.

KIND: You’ve given lots for your relationship with cannabis. There’s been arrests. What’s your take on legalisation so far?

WK: My take on legalisation is that it needs to happen. There are far too many arrests and focus on policing cannabis, and it opens the door to knockoff products that are dangerous, whether that’s cheap vapes cut with other chemicals or weed covered in pesticides or totally synthetic and super harmful to your health. Everyone who wants to smoke weed is smoking weed, so let’s make it legal and safe.

KIND: What have you learned from seeing Canada’s approach to legalisation and what that could mean to federal legalisation in the US?

WK: What I’ve learned from seeing Canada’s approach to legalisation is that a lot of big

companies are going to capitalise and move the market to the detriment of the industry. I would hope that the US is able to do this in a way where that isn’t the case.

KIND: You’re touring this summer again with Snoop Dogg and the magazine drops before your Toronto tour date. What makes your collaborations work so well with Snoop?

WK: Snoop is my brother and OG. We have been rocking together for over a decade, collabing on music, tours, merch, everything. Weed brings us together well too.

KIND: And lastly—and thanks so much for doing this, and thanks for your activism and the great Khalifa Kush strain—what message do you have for Canadian readers of KIND?

WK: Enjoy that shit being fully legal! I’m excited to get KK up there eventually.

Wiz Khalifa plays Vancouver with Snoop Dogg, Too Short, Berner and Warren G on July 8 and Toronto on July 26. For more dates, see WizKhalifa.com

The stigma I would most like to see disappear from cannabis is that cannabis makes you lazy. I think it’s more in how you operate and your goals and vision versus using cannabis as an excuse not to do what you want to do.”

KIND INTERVIEWS

Cannara CFO Nick Sosiak on the Never Ending Quest for Unreal Genetics to Conquer the World

BY BEN KAPLAN

Cannara Biotech is a vertically integrated licensed producer based in Montreal that understands the cannabis community because the company is being built with love and passion. Nicholas Sosiak, Chief Financial Officer, sets the pace, leading product and brand development for the powerhouse brands

Tribal, Nugz and Orchid CBD, in addition to handling the books. But it doesn’t stop there. Nick’s commitment to genetics is what’s creating such an impenetrable bond between Cannara and the cannabis consumer, driving his brands to become the fastest growing in Canadian weed.

“EVERY PRODUCT WE RELEASE HAS TO MAKE THE CONSUMER SAY WOW!”

Cannara currently has nine different genetics on the market, with two more on the way by year’s end, each phenotype hand-selected by Sosiak and grown by his counterpart CEO Zohar Krivorot.

“When pheno-hunting, I need to be able to identify the strain blindfolded to pass the test. That uniqueness offers consumers the opportunity to explore the potential of cannabis across our house of genetics.” Sosiak says his goal is to see Cannara release more than 20 different genetics over the next two years. To reach that extraordinary number, the company recently inked an exclusive long-term deal with 50-time US award-winning breeder Exotic Mike, the founder of Exotic Genetix. Based in Washington State, the bustling cannabis hotbed of fire trends, Exotic Genetix could have partnered with any Canadian producer. He chose Cannara,

he says, because the partnership made sense: he wants to grow consistent fire with someone that understands scale. “I’ve met a lot of folks and have seen a lot of facilities across the globe. Cannara just gets what the culture is about and puts every bit of that into their product for their consumers,” says Mike. “Whether it be the CEO that gets his own hands dirty in the garden daily, or a CFO that cares more about the quality and experience of their products over all else, Cannara was the only choice for me to partner with exclusively in Canada.”

For Sosiak, who says that it can take up to eighteen months to bring a new genetic to market, the future lies in multiple mediums. Cannara, he told KIND, is the first company to release its genetics as dried flower, pre-roll, live resin, dabs and vape carts. “We’re first

“Whether it be the CEO that gets his own hands dirty in the garden daily, or a CFO that cares more about the quality and experience of their products over all else, Cannara was the only choice for me to partner with exclusively in Canada.”

— EXOTIC MIKE

in both the legacy and the legal markets to offer consumers the opportunity to find genetics they love in whatever method they choose to enjoy their cannabis,” Sosiak says. “We invest so much in research and development because we know that when we make something unforgettable, it has to reach the largest number of consumers. That’s why we’re excited about our partnership with Exotic. It’s going to be an amazing summer and many more amazing years to come.”

Between the three different Cannara brands—Orchid CBD, for health & wellness; Nugz, which shows up like your old legacy dealer; and Tribal, which dedicates itself to unlocking the amazing uniqueness of cannabis genetics at fire prices—Sosiak says Cannara succeeds because it’s a passion project for all involved.

He uses his lungs daily, he says with a laugh, to ensure his company has the country’s best weed.

“I went through the journey on the legacy side because I’ve been consuming for 20 years and because I can only accept the very best at Cannara,” he says, adding that he’s producing upwards of 30,000 kilograms per year, with capacity to scale up to 120,000 kilograms when the timing is right. “Thus far, our growth has been all word of mouth and our product is like, ‘if you know, you know.’ As we continue to launch fire genetics and expand across Canada, we’re gunning to be the Coca-Cola of weed.”

To catch all the latest Cannara releases, follow @nikodank on Instagram.

“We’re gunning to be the Coca-Cola of weed.”

— NICK SOSIAK

IT WOULD BE HARD TO ARGUE THERE’S A more vital, conscientious, thoughtful entertainer in music today than Killer Mike, the Atlanta-based half of Run the Jewels dropping his solo record, Michael, this month. Thoughtful, hilarious and among America’s most influential activists—whether it’s in response to the police killing of George Floyd, legalising pot or stumping for Bernie Sanders—the 48-year-old high school dropout introduced to the world through Outkast always, always has something important to say.

“The protests in the streets after George Floyd made it difficult for me to be in upstate New York where we were recording Run the Jewels III—to be frank, it was hard to be around White folks,” says Mike over a Zoom call, smoking a joint and introducing KIND to his wife Shana, with whom he has four kids. “It wasn’t so much that I was mad at White people, but there was so much pain, agony and suffering that I didn’t want to give any un-worked things to my friends. I didn’t want to be rude, mean, cold or dismissive— but I had these deep feelings that I had to get out.”

The feelings drop like barbells on his autobiographical second solo record, an album that was made in—and sounds like—his beloved Atlanta. “I had a chance to not just be a caricature that you hear talked about on a Run the Jewels record, but to show up as a character in the life of the movie that you’re hearing of a young Black boy who grows up in a strong Black community in a Black enclave of the city in the middle of the deep south,” Mike says. “It’s a deeply personal look at what it’s like to wake as a man and the result of a 16-year-old girl allowing her mother to raise her boy and leaving him her record collection, including Curtis Mayfield, the Isley Brothers and George Clinton.”

Talking about music with Mike is an exploration into the sonic history of the last hundred years of funk. Of course he shouts out Outkast and Big Boi, who gave him his start, but also his close friend T.I., the Eagles, Chuck D, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, Whodini, Pink Floyd and Shawty Lo. “Music is something that connected me and my

mom, and on Sundays—she used to have parties at her house, but by Sunday, the people would dissipate and we would listen to records together and dance,” says Mike, who not only took music from his mother but also both his biological and step father, each giving him an education in the power of rhythm, melody, lyrics and tone. “My mother taught me how to hold a girl’s hip and where to put your face, and we’d sit in her driveway and talk about art. My mother gave me culture through music—through music we had communication.”

Killer Mike, who hosts an interview show on PBS and owns a barbershop where he’s trained his staff to deal with the fog of men’s mental health, says he was raised with one primary objective: don’t embarrass the family. I asked him how he squares his cannabis activism with his lifelong north star. Can you be a leader in the Black community—a leader worldwide—and a cannabis activist at the same time?

“I’m a heavy believer in weed as a healer and a form of enjoyment and think every seed or herb bears fruit. My life is better for marijuana and the lives of others are better for it,” Mike explains. “I don’t smoke with random people. I’ll give you a joint, but my wife and I don’t smoke when we’re unhappy or unhappy with each other. We treat marijuana as an additional herb. I’m glad my mother, who was 16 years older than me, was progressive enough to explain it to me. Heavy indicas in particular help me when my brain gets anxious.”

Killer Mike’s been on a killer diet since COVID and it’s interesting how he’s been able to use cannabis along his quest to get healthy. Once again bucking lazy conventions, Mike beats to his own drum. “Listen,” he says, with his great Georgia accent, pulling on his joint and giving a laugh, “My doctor doesn’t let me eat sugar so I lost 47 pounds, but I’m still able to get stoned? I think it’s a fair trade.”

Run the Jewels will be touring this summer, including co-headlining dates with WuTang Clan, and Mike has acting gigs, charity appearances and television shows and more records he wants to make. After hanging up our Zoom call, taking one last puff—his wife was driving—he was heading out to a tasting at the restaurant he’s opening with Shana and T.I. in Atlanta, Bankhead Seafood. “Don’t you get tired, man?” I asked him. “You dropped a classic record. Don’t you want to take the summer off and just chill?”

“Shit,” he said. “I’m gonna hang around as long as Willie Nelson. I’m going to make hip hop proud.”

For tour dates, including the Apollo Theatre and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, see killermike.com.

I HAD THESE DEEP FEELINGS THAT I HAD TO GET OUT . ”

“ ROLLING WITH KILLER MIKE ON THE EVE OF MICHAEL, HIS SOARING, SMOKING NEW SOLO ALBUM.

“I’m a heavy believer in weed as a healer.”

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Coming to Ontario August ‘23

Growing up in Bowmanville, Ontario, Meghan Patrick listened to No Doubt and Muddy Waters. The music, she says, got into her bones. “I realised I had a passion to perform,” Patrick says. “I always knew I wanted to make music, but it’s only on this last record that I figured out exactly what I wanted to sing.” Patrick, 36, recently released her fourth record, The Greatest Show on Dirt, and sold out the legendary Grand Ole Opry. She has eighteen Canadian Country Music Awards and, like Willie Nelson before her, is an advocate for weed.

KIND: This is our music issue, so can you talk about the music of your youth?

Meghan: Neil Young, the Eagles, the Allman Brothers, and while my mom also listened to Motown, my dad gravitated towards the blues, Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters. As I got angstier, I turned to metal and punk.

KIND: You have a bit of a punk attitude. Is there any pressure to pose with whiskey instead of a joint in your photos?

MP: I’m allowed to say whatever I want and honestly, I’m a huge fan of cannabis.

KIND: Remember the first time you got high?

MP: I was a competitive snowboarder and had a severe fall when I was 18 and broke my back—it was hell. I was taking five painkillers and didn’t like the way it felt.

KIND: It can be such a slippery slope.

MP: I was in pain, depressed, having trouble sleeping, eating. I was nauseous, and then a friend was like, “Have you tried smoking weed?” I’d have tried anything, but it helped with headaches, appetite, nausea and pain, and to this day it helps me with insomnia and when I want to be creative. I also use topicals, creams and balms. I’m a huge advocate for what it does health-wise.

KIND: I’ve also found it works when you’re outdoors in Bowmanville taking in an outdoor country music festival show.

MP: In terms of having fun, it’s great. I

enjoy getting high because it feels good, but there are also so many health benefits.

KIND: The tale you tell on The Greatest Show on Dirt feels immediately close

MP: I always wrote personally but never before like this.

KIND: I think a lot of people will relate to tunes like “He’s No Good for Me,” we all actively make bad decisions.

MP: I wanted to document the internal struggle of trying to move on to a new chapter of my life, including choosing healthier habits and getting rid of toxic aspects of my behaviour.

KIND: Are you talking about life as a Canadian rising star trying to find your way in Nashville?

MP: The last couple of years have been challenging. Obviously the pandemic was not great for anybody, but now I can see the value of those toxic struggles, which forced me to become more introspective.

KIND: It’s not just country music, but the drinking culture seems to be an all-around musical cliché.

MP: Nashville is very centred around drinking and being out at bars. It can be difficult to feel like you can fit into the community and have fun, but not to the point where it affects you negatively.

MP: I’ve been in a toxic relationship and wanted to get out of it, but after too many drinks wind up back at their place and it’s like, “What am I doing?” Or else after a few too many drinks I lose my temper. Alcohol is a depressant. It might take the edge off at the moment, but the next morning you feel ten times worse.

KIND: Do you consider yourself a Canadian artist?

MP: Absolutely. I only left home six years ago and I love Nashville, but, you know, I’m thoroughly Canadian, especially in the summer. Sometimes I think about summer in Canada and being on the lake fishing when I’m sweltering in Tennessee under 104-degree heat.

KIND: What are your plans for the summer?

MP: I’m making more new music and trying to get on the road and tour as much as I can, both in Canada and the US.

KIND: What’s it like performing live in the summer?

MP: The first few times I was onstage I’d never felt adrenaline or happiness like that. I understood quickly this is what I was meant to do.

KIND: We love that and look forward to seeing you out this summer.

MP: Being a great entertainer is my focus. I remember so clearly: in high school I saw No Doubt and I’d never seen a female artist like Gwen Stefani. I was already obsessed with her music and style, but after watching her performance, I thought: “I want to be like that.” I still feel grateful that the thing that made me feel my best is the thing that I get to do.

KIND: Obviously it’s hard to live through but, since George Jones, as fodder for a country album it makes great material

For the most up-to-date Meghan Patrick summer concert dates, including shows in Saskatoon, British Columbia and Ontario, see meghanpatrick.com.

KING OF THE CYPRESS HILL

BY BEN KAPLAN

B-Real from Cypress Hill brought cannabis into hip hop and hip hop into the mainstream. The west coast gangster rappers, over percussive, disruptive DJ Muggs beats—the California answer to the Bomb Squad making music for Public Enemy in the east—toured the world with the Beastie Boys and, in total, have sold more than 20 million records worldwide. Distinctive, iconic, still vital and ahead of their time, the artists behind jams like “How I Could Just Kill a Man,” “Insane in the Brain,” “Hits from the Bong” and “(Rock) Superstar” invigorated rap music with a Latin swing, weed clouds and denouncements over police brutality before Black Lives Matters reclaimed the streets. KIND spoke with B-Real from his home in Los Angeles, where he runs four cannabis dispensaries called Dr. Greenthumb—which also sells his bespoke line of weed.

KIND: Thirty years ago this summer you released Black Sunday with “Insane in the Brain” and reached number one on the Billboard chart. Through it all, you advocated for cannabis. You happy about where the fight is today?

B-Real: On one end, we’ve gotten it legalised and decriminalised in all these states and that’s a step in the right direction. But there’s still a lot of work to be done in getting it legal federally and making the industry fair.

KIND: Fair?

B-Real: Taxes here in California are ridiculous and they make it impossible on businesses to operate.

KIND: It’s the same here in Canada

B-Real: But you know, we don’t have people going to jail for cannabis like we used to and that’s a step in the right direction. It’s just

that a lot of work still needs to be done.

KIND: I took a flight recently and they confiscated my toothpaste and let me bring on my hash. I learned about weed from you. Does that amaze you?

B-Real: It means it’s being more accepted and that’s what we were hoping for through advocacy and activism—trying to lace people up as to what cannabis means.

KIND: What did you like about cannabis when you first got stoned?

B-Real: It settled me down and calmed me down and helped me to be aware and present. I was really high strung.

KIND: And it was that feeling that set you on your path?

The legendary B-Real takes a break from his summer of touring to talk to KIND about federal politics, where he found his voice, Jack Herer and writing the hip hop Stairway to Heaven

B-Real: I learned that it went well beyond me. I was hearing stories of how it helped people—medically, emotionally, physically—and being a consumer and enjoying the transformation thrust me into being an advocate.

KIND: What else did?

B-Real: Articles in High Times and the work that Jack Herer put out, all of that made cannabis a bigger thing for me.

KIND: Do you remember when you knew music would take over your life?

B-Real: My mother was always playing Latin music from Cuba and Mexico and she also liked the Beatles. My father liked doo-wop and stuff from the ’50s, and then I was in b-boy culture as a popper.

KIND: I had no idea.

B-Real: That was my introduction to hip hop and KDAY. They had a Friday night late show and I fell in love.

KIND: And you knew that you wanted to rap?

B-Real: At the time, I was writing poetry in my head. It wasn’t part of the school program, just something I did.

KIND: What did you like about rap?

B-Real: We were in love with hip hop. We kept getting on the mic and eventually it was like: this is what we want to do with our life.

hear of me rapping.

KIND: No shit?

B-Real: Muggs was telling me I had to come up with something or I’d be writing raps for Sen Dog—fuck that.

KIND: Ha!

B-Real: My normal voice wasn’t cutting through the track. My writing was decent, but one day Mellow and I were working on a demo and we were fans of Rammellzee and he had two different vocal tones—a deep tone and high-pitched nasally tone. I was joking around, but started rapping in that voice over what we he had written.

KIND: Like when Reeses first put chocolate with peanut butter.

B-Real: I didn’t like it. I thought it was fucking crazy!

KIND: I guess after 20 million records sold it’s grown on you a little bit?

B-Real: I got used to it, but I didn’t know how other people would receive it.

KIND: Back when you were popping, could you ever have imagined it would be received this well?

B-Real: Our music has been passed down to younger generations like Led Zeppelin or the Beatles. It means the music is timeless, and that’s fucking awesome.

grandparents—which is fucking crazy. I give God thanks for the grace he’s allowed us to have this amazing run.

KIND: In the back of your mind did you know you’d last?

B-Real: You never know.

KIND: What’s your plan for the summer?

B-Real: A record with Psycho Les from the Beatnuts, an album with my partner Berner, music from Cypress Hill and Dr. Greenthumb on YouTube and B-Real.TV.

KIND: After taking it so far, what pumps you up to keep pushing in 2023?

B-Real: Muggs, Eric Bobo, Sen and myself— were of a competitive spirit. We always sought to be the best at what we do.

KIND: But just the athleticism involved.

B-Real: Rocking sold-out festivals with crazy-ass energy in our 50s?

KIND: And hip hop doesn’t age like the Beach Boys.

B-Real: We keep ourselves together. Stay fit. It’s important to us to do what we love and not break down, not proceed to do what we love.

KIND: You still love it after all this time?

B-Real: I love the opportunities God gave us and spread love to our fans, love to ourselves.”

KIND: No one sounded like you and, to this day, no one does.

B-Real: My regular voice is not the voice you

KIND: You were 19 and I was 16 when your first record changed both our lives. It’s cool we’re both still doing this today.

B-Real: Some kids got Cypress from their

For latest information and tour dates, including July 8 in Toronto, July 9 in Quebec City and July 15 in London, Ontario, and the digital 30th anniversary edition of Black Sunday, see cypresshill.com.

I GIVE GOD THANKS FOR THE GRACE HE’S ALLOWED US TO HAVE THIS AMAZING RUN.”

FORGET

EVERYTHING ON THE DANCE FLOOR

MND3GMA makes club bangers to give themselves—and the world—relief

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MND3GMA is the latest club act from Toronto that seems poised to explode. Making rhythmic electro for our post-pandemic age, the stylish duo fronting the act say that music is the connective tissue that runs through their bones.

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“I begged my parents for a guitar,” says Jordan Alexander, the buzzy pop punk sensation currently recording with her partner Sakina Garcia as MND3GMA, releasing their first single this summer. “It’s hard to explain the feeling. It’s like this is what I was born to do.”

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Alexander has been doing lots of things lately. The model and actress, who recently wrapped a starring role on the revisited Gossip Girl, records as a solo artist but, during the cold dark days of our lockdown, she met Garcia on a dating app and soon the women were inseparable.

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“Something magical happens when we get together,” says Garcia, who goes by Saki and is often credited with bringing her partner out into the night. It’s Saki with the hardcore interest in fashion and clubbing and what she calls “nightlife reinvention.”

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For Saki, a club is a place to get lost and explore.

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“The thing I love about clubbing is that everyone is

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I get to live joy and ecstasy.

the same,” she says, a tequila and soda perched in her hand. “There’s no rich, no poor. When you’re on the dance floor, we’re all trying to get high.”

Both women say that the goal of their music is connectivity. They came together to ward off isolation, and they stay together to bring people into their soul. “I make music from the heart to capture what’s uniquely happening to me, but since we all have a shared consciousness, the commonality of the human experience is what our fans have tapped into,”

That’s what our music is.”

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says Alexander, adding that she uses music, both the music she listens to and the music she makes, to sort out her emotions. “For me, music is language,” adds Garcia, “It says things I never could say.”

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Along those same lines comes the love of nightlife, the love of dancing, the love of parties, the love of fashion and the love of fun. We all feel the pressures and stress of 9-to-5 realities, the bills, the mortgage, the to-do list, the grind. Alexander says that while making music, she’s able to do away with all that. On wax, she gives herself permission to be free.

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“Music is a great way to explore the total extent of myself, myself at my most dramatic, obsessive, joyful or depressed,” she says. “I can exaggerate in a song how I’m feeling and it almost works like an exorcism—I record something to get it out of me.”

“Music is an amazing space to be whatever or whoever you are or want to be,” adds Garcia, “That’s why on this entire project we feel so blessed.”

When MND3GMA first started recording, they’d cut three tracks a day in an experimental purge. Now, ahead of their first single, “Tayong Dalawa,” the band says they can’t wait to perform this summer live in the clubs. “Saki has been such a powerful collaborator because she embodies being open to

Music is language. It says things I could never say.”

what the world has to offer and believing the world is a party, as it should be,” Alexander says.

“I envision our music on all the outdoor patios and blasting out of bars and clubs where people are day drinking and on the beach and believing in the best version of their life,” Saki says. “I get to live the joy and ecstasy and that’s what our music is—joy and excitement and a reminder that you can lift your fucking life and have fun.”

LOVE ON THE ROC KS

Music-inspired infused Dope Mocktails to elevate your summer nights

COCKTAIL RECIPES BY ADRIAN STEIN, DOPE COCKTAILS

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT SEE

TUMBLEWEED MOJITO

10mg THC, 5mg CBD

Inspired by a hot day at the country western fair, Georgia peaches and a big daisy, this is the essence of this Southern sipper.

INGREDIENTS

Dope Mocktails Sweet Dream Syrup + peach juice + lime + mint + soda

METHOD

Fill glass with ice

Pour Dope Mocktails

Sweet Dream Syrup into glass

Pour soda over ice, 2/3 to the top of glass

Pour splash of lime juice

Top off with peach juice

Garnish with lotsa mint on top

Mix, Pour, Giddy UP!

SUN’S ‘N’ ROSES

SPICY GRANITA

10mg THC, 10mg CBD

Inspired by a perfect day spent on the back deck with friends and a bucket of something icy, electric and spicy. Take us down to the Paradise City where the grass is GREEN, and everybody’s pretty.

INGREDIENTS

Dope Mocktails

Limonene Syrup + guava juice + lemon + green

Cholula hot sauce

METHOD

Fill glass with ice all the way to the top

Pour Dope Mocktails

Limonene Cordial into glass

Pour guava juice into glass, ¾ to top

Pour splash of lemon juice into glass

5 dashes green Cholula hot sauce into glass

Top with ice, dump into blender, blend for 5-8 seconds

Pour back into glass

Mix, Pour, Rock ‘n’ Roll!

COMPASSION COLADA

10mg THC, 5mg CBD

Inspired by the seven chakras, the lime sorbet represents the “green heart chakra,” when the heart chakra feels surrounded by love, compassion and joy, and connected to the world around you.

INGREDIENTS

Dope Mocktails Sweet Dream Syrup + coconut cream + ginger beer + Angostura bitters + Summer’s Key Lime Sorbet + flowers

METHOD

Fill glass (or coconut) with ice

Pour Dope Mocktails

Sweet Dream Syrup into glass

Pour ginger beer into glass, ¾ to top

5 dashes Angostura bitters into glass

Add 1 healthy splash of coconut cream, and stir

1 scoop of Summer’s Key Lime Sorbet

Add edible flowers and fennel fronds to garnish Mix, Pour, One Love!

DISCO & TONIC 10mg THC, 10mg CBD

Inspired by all the club kids who created a revolution that has become an evolution, from the rainbow days of disco to hot, sweaty electronic music festivals.

INGREDIENTS

Dope Mocktails

Limonene Cordial + Fever Tree Tonic Water + rainbow nugget ice

METHOD

Fill glass with rainbow nugget ice

Pour Dope Mocktails

Limonene Cordial over ice

Top up with Fever Tree Tonic Water Mix, Pour, Disco!

ELEVATED OUTDOOR COOKING

Chris Nuttal-Smith is a food and restaurant writer, judge on Top Chef Canada and the author of Cook it Wild: Sensational Prep-Ahead Meals for Camping, Cabins and the Great Outdoors. A consummate outdoorsman, Nuttal-Smith, who also shot these beautiful images, has designed recipes perfect for your next summertime adventure—at the cottage, at the lake, at the beach, or wherever you choose to be outside. . Recipe on page 48

Excerpted from Cook It Wild by Chris Nuttal-Smith. Copyright © 2023 Chris Nuttal-Smith. Photography by Maya Visnyei and illustrations by Claire McCracken. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved. Author photo by Toby Lennox.

CHEESY TOMATO HOT-HONEY TOASTS

INGREDIENTS

Ingredient Weight: 29 ounces [cooler] [fire] [stove] [paddling] [car/rv]

AT HOME

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

¼ cup mild honey (such as clover or wildflower)

1 Scotch bonnet chile, halved and seeded (see Note)

AT CAMP

2 large ripe, flavourful tomatoes, sliced

½ pound burrata (excellent) or Stracciatella (burrata’s even sexier cousin) cheese

Prepared hot honey (thawed) [F]

Kosher salt

½ baguette or country sourdough loaf, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons best-quality olive oil (thawed) [F]

INSTRUCTIONS

MIX THE HOT HONEY

SERVES 4-6

Using a mortar and pestle, spice grinder or a random heavy object, crush the coriander and fennel seeds into a coarse mixture. In a small saucepan or microwavable bowl, combine the crushed seeds and honey. Add the chile— half of it if you’re spice-averse, or all if you like things very hot.

SIMMER, STEEP, AND PACK

Set the pan over medium-high heat or microwave the bowl on high power, bring the honey mixture to a boil, then remove from the heat. Let the mixture steep for 1 hour, then remove and discard the chile. Transfer the mixture to a leakproof condiment bottle and refrigerate or freeze. (It will keep for 2 months, frozen.)

SET OUT THE FIXINGS

Prepare a platter with thick, sloppy slices of tomato, the cheese, hot honey and a little dish of salt.

GRILL THE BREAD AND SERVE

Drizzle or brush both sides of the bread slices with the olive oil, then toast each side over a fire or in a pan, watching carefully so they don’t burn. Transfer the bread to the platter and serve immediately.

NOTE The spice from Scotch bonnets lingers. For best results (and less capsicum-inthe-eyeball-induced hyperventilating), wear kitchen gloves while prepping the chile and wash your board and knife well once you’re done.

KEEPS The cheese, up to 4 days, kept cold; the hot honey, 2 weeks, unrefrigerated.

ROASTED STONE FRUIT WITH WILDWHIPPED CREAM

INGREDIENTS + EQUIPMENT

Heavy-duty aluminum foil, 18 inches wide

AT HOME

¼ cup granulated sugar

Zest of ½ lemon

½ vanilla bean

AT CAMP

1½ pounds fresh, ripe stone fruit

Prepared vanilla sugar

1 cup cold whipping cream (thawed) [F]

KEEPS

The vanilla sugar, 6 months, unrefrigerated

SERVES 4-6

PREP AND PACK THE VANILL A SUGAR

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Using a sharp knife, slit open the vanilla pod, then scrape its sticky black pulp—the seeds—into the lemon sugar. Reserve the pod. Rub the mixture with your fingers to break up the pulp and distribute it evenly. Transfer the vanilla sugar and reserved pod to an airtight container or resealable bag. (The pod will add flavor when the fruit roasts.)

CHOP, SEASON, AND WRAP THE FRUIT

Remove the pits from the fruit, then chop the fruit into bite-size pieces. Cut a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil that measures 22 inches long. Transfer the fruit onto the foil and arrange lengthwise down the middle of the foil, stopping 2 inches shy of either end. Sprinkle the fruit with the sugar, add the vanilla pod and toss to coat. Gather together the long edges of the foil, folding them over each other two to three times to form a tight seal. Seal both ends of each packet in the same way—you want to avoid any leaking.

ROAST THE FRUIT

Set the foil packet on a grill placed over medium-hot coals, or directly beside them. Roast the fruit, turning the packet occasionally, until it feels very tender through the foil and smells incredible, about 25 minutes. Cut a hole through the top of the packet and continue roasting until the juices have reduced and thickened and the pieces of fruit are beginning to colour in spots, about 5 minutes more.

WHIP THE CREAM AND SERVE

Meanwhile, pour the whipping cream into a clean, 32-ounce, wide-mouth water bottle and seal. Shake vigorously until the cream forms soft peaks (or your arms give up), 4 to 8 minutes. Spoon the roasted fruit and its juices into bowls or mugs, then top with dollops of the whipped cream. Serve immediately.

BEACH? BLANKETS? BINGO!

One of the best parts about living in a country bookended by oceans and speckled with hundreds of thousands of lakes is experiencing the beautiful beaches that accompany them. From the soft, sandy shorelines of the coastal waterways to the fresh inland lakes that punctuate the provinces, we are spoiled by nature’s bounty of beaches. This is a small sampling of some stunning, sandy stretches and perfect pebble beaches on which to soak up the sun, celebrate summer and kick back after enjoying a nice, refreshing swim.. Ali Becker crisscrosses Canada, one beach at a time.

Another coastal gem can be found curving its way along Newfoundand’s sparsely populated southwestern seaside. Cape Ray Beach has some of the softest sand in the land and remains under wraps as most visitors head further north for the fjords. With a long stretch of pristine beach to offer up, you could easily carve out a small piece of paradise all to yourself and spend a hot summer’s day weaving in and out of the water before stopping to watch the stars light up the night sky. With the nearby Wreckhouse winds at play, you might be wise to avoid getting too attached to your Cape Ray sandcastles and be prepared to find fine grains of sand in most of your crevices for weeks to come.

CAPE RAY BEACH, NEWFOUNDLAND

LA DUNE DE BOUCTOUCHE, NEW BRUNSWICK

A visit to the Bouctouche Dunes is a great way to blend leisure time with learning, as you stroll the purpose-built boardwalk above the longest stretch of sand dunes on North America’s east coast. Designed to help preserve the fragile, ecologically diverse dunes, waltzing the wooden walkway reminds us of the immense impact we can have on sacred spaces—and to tread mindfully. Aprés walk, dip your toes in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence or watch the small sea creatures as they cruise across the sand while you sunbathe on the spit.

GREENWICH BEACH, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Situated within PEI’s least visited but most spectacular Greenwich National Park, Greenwich Beach is an adventure just to arrive at as it’s accessed by a long, floating boardwalk that extends out across a big, bright marsh. Along the way, you’re treated to a stunning display of rare parabolic sand dunes whose beauty beckons you further until you end up at one of the most spectacular and serene beaches on the Island. Running your toes along the warm, white sand, you’ll be following in the footsteps of the early Mi’kmaq peoples, French and Acadian settlers and Scottish, Irish and English immigrants that shared in these sacred lands.

PANCAKE BAY, ONTARIO

Three kilometres of soft, sandy, stunning beach make Pancake Bay one of the finest spots to stop along Lake Superior’s northern shores. Legend has it, the voyageurs thought so too, resting here to whip up a batch of flapjacks before continuing their travels to Sault Ste. Marie. The turquoise blue waters give visitors a sense of being transported to the Caribbean (though the refreshing lake temps bring you right back to Canadian soil). This is also a perfect place to bring the young ones, as the water is easy to access and shallow for a good stretch. There are plenty of great campsites near the beach, hiking trails across the way and kayaking or canoeing opportunities galore. After a long day of excitement, you can replenish your inner adventurer with a stack of pancakes at the nearby Voyageur’s Lodge and Cookhouse—just like the good ol’ days.

STEEP ROCK BEACH, MANITOBA Perched above the northeastern shoreline of Lake Manitoba, Steep Rock Beach lives up to its perfectly descriptive namesake. With mesmerizing limestone outcroppings and mind-bending rock formations, this Canadian gem provides a landscape like none other. While short stretches of sand beaches brace themselves between ragged cliff walls, you’ll likely find yourself more drawn to exploration than relaxation at this Manitoba wonder.

PLAGE DE HALDIMAND, QUÉBEC

Sparkling in the sun on Québec’s gorgeous Gaspé Peninsula, the fine golden grains of sand light up the beach at Haldimand Park. Located in one of the most scenic regions of the province, the long, linear sandbar reaches out to a tree-lined tip at one end and leads beyond the Saint-Jean River to the wilder Douglastown Beach on the other. On a clear day, Haldimand offers great views of the meandering mountain range in nearby Forillon National Park and hosts awe-inspiring sunsets that’ll keep you there all day long.

LAWRENCETOWN BEACH, NOVA SCOTIA

Just a stone’s throw from Halifax lies the lovely Lawrencetown Beach. This epic east coast surf zone is home to wicked winter waves, superb summer swells and a surf community that extends a classic Maritime welcome to outsiders and first timers alike. Arching itself along the vast Atlantic Ocean, the nearby waters can get rough enough to warrant designated swim zones, while the shorelines remain soft enough for sunny afternoon siestas. Be sure to stroll the wind-battered boardwalks, admire the tall coastal grasses and skip some saltwater-smoothed stones while you wait to catch a glimpse of those legendary Lawrencetown sunsets.

DRUG STORES

Unlicensed retail psychedelic shops have opened all over Toronto, which pale in comparison to the store in Vancouver selling ecstasy and coke. Is every drug on the doorstep of following weed into legalisation?

BY BEN KAPLAN

ILLUSTRATION BY GISELE MURIAS

THE GUYS WITH THE SHROOM SHOP ON Queen Street West in Toronto are sitting in a pub in Liberty Village and saying business is exceeding expectations. “We’re not just looking to make money. We believe we’re creating value and we truly believe in our product,” says the muscle-bound 27-year-old from the Jane and Finch neighbourhood, adding that his life has been permanently enhanced from his psychedelic explorations. “We believed in the business because we believe in the product—but we had no clue we would grow this fast.”

The growth in revenue for our psychedelic shop owners—who illegally offer their psilocybin-infused chocolate bars, teas and gummies for prices as low as $15—mirrors the growth in the overall market of illegal drug stores. Earlier this spring, Jerry Martin, a Vancouver-based activist, opened a mobile drug shop selling laboratory-tested heroin, meth, cocaine and MDMA. He told Global News, “It’s going to stop a lot of the overdoses as people don’t even know what they are getting. It’s very important that people know when they are buying something that they

psilocybin as medicine, and Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act—which allows physicians exemptions to prescribe psychedelics for end-of-life care—the stores seem to indicate the fine tip of the spear towards the future of the legalisation of all drugs in Canada. According to Akwasi OwusuBempah, author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalisation and the Fight for Racial Justice, momentum is turning in the War on Drugs. “Jerry Martin is most certainly expressing civil disobedience and I think it’s completely justifiable,” Owusu-Bempah told KIND, adding that he expects to see complete regulated drug legalisation occur in this country in the

their community. During our conversation, they discussed the potential benefit of psychedelics to treat trauma in Black neighbourhoods, and the disproportion of white CEOs who reaped the financial benefits of the first wave of cannabis IPOs.

“We’re not transactional. We’re here for the long run and all we want for being pioneers is a seat at the table when the laws do change, as they should change and we know they will,” said the psychedelic entrepreneur, mentioning that he’s putting all of his money back into his business and looking to hire more staff and open more stores.

“We want to be permanent stakeholders in the space because we believe in our product and believe in its benefits medicinally and financially for our community. This is not a drug dealing operation. This is a medical dispensary business, and we’re going to be around for a very long time.”

The cannabis industry is currently undergoing financial challenges, as well as the legal challenges it’s addressing as part of the year-long Cannabis Act review, to be

All we want for being pioneers is a seat at the table when the laws do change.”

Tiny bubbles for a giggly summer

We can’t help it, we’re sparkling.

3mg THC + 6mg CBD, 0g sugar, only 5 calories, gluten-free and vegan-friendly.

@greenmonkécan + greenmonké.ca

SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND, AND ME

Paul Saltzman was 23 when he met John, George, Paul and Ringo in India and photographed them as they wrote, among others, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” “Their creativity just emerged as this joyful brilliance,” he says. “I was in a state of bliss.”

BY BEN KAPLAN | PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL SALTZMAN

Paul Saltzman has won two Emmys and been involved in more than 300 films, but the producer, director and writer says it was meeting John Lennon, as much as anything, that taught him about love. “I was in a place of almost unfathomable heartbreak when I arrived in India,” he says. “After meeting the band and learning meditation, I knew I’d never be the same again, for which I hugely felt thankful.”

KIND: This was God?

PS: I’d been brought up to be an atheist. There was no God, no soul, no spirit. There were parts of myself back then that I didn’t like, but in this one moment, I hear this calm, all-loving voice of kindness actually speak to me. And so I responded: “Where do I go?” To which my soul said, “India,” and that was the end of that first conversation.

KIND: You say discovering things in yourself you didn’t like was “a gift.” How so?

PS: Being conscious is the road less travelled. Being unconscious is easy. But it’s a thousand times more fulfilling—you feel more joy, love and wisdom—when you awaken. I’ve lived unconsciously at various points in my life, but then I wake myself up: this is not what I want. And that’s the mind I was in when I met the Beatles.

KIND: The Beatles today are hard to fathom as actual people. John Lennon seems to me more than a man, almost like a saint.

PS: When I met him I had been waiting outside the ashram for eight days. I didn’t go to the ashram to meet the Beatles, I didn’t even know that they were there. I was devastated from a deep heartbreak so when I made it inside, and experienced my first meditation, I was transcending normal consciousness and the agony just disappeared.

KIND: Experiencing bliss?

PS: Yes, and it was my first time ever attempting meditation. And it was like I had gone out of my body and let my consciousness go, and connected to the presence of universal love—what people call “God” or “goddess”—and it was like I was stoned. I felt no stress, no heartbreak, just a state of bliss. And because of that altered state, when I saw the Beatles sitting by a cliff, I found myself curving towards them, walking in bliss.

KIND: For a minute, you almost choked.

PS: My heart was beating a bit faster, but I didn’t want anything from them and then again I heard my soul speaking. It said, “They’re just human beings. Everyone farts, and is afraid in the night.”

KIND: That’s right.

PS: John looks up at me. I asked, “May I join you?” And he says, “Sure, mate,” and that was it. For the next week I was accepted into their little family. Magic, which has a very specific meaning, “That which is real, but as yet we don’t understand.”

KIND: What were they like?

PS: Lovely. They were in a great, free, creative moment. They were writing and snapping photographs of each other. Very in tune. Joyful brilliance. And very wise.

KIND: You talked to John about your broken heart.

“

PS: Yes. He said, “Love can be very tough on us. But the really great thing is it always happens again.”

KIND: My God. And then at some point it must have dawned on you to take out your camera.

PS: The whole week I spent with them I was in the flow. I’d been suffering and now I’m in joy, and in this state of bliss. I only took out my camera twice.

KIND: I could see that breaking the spell.

PS: Two or three days after hanging out with them I’d become part of the group, and they all had Nikons and were taking snapshots of each other, and I wanted to be respectful. So I asked each of them individually if they minded me shooting and they all said, “Go right ahead.”

KIND: And you not only got John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo, but also Mia Farrow, Donovan and the Beach Boys’ Mike Love. Like a music lover’s heaven.

PS: Yes. Ringo showed me how to use his 16mm camera so he would be in the footage.

KIND: Talk about the role Beatles music now plays in your life.

PS: Joy.

KIND: Can you explain?

PS: Their creativity is joyfully brilliant, so what it does for me is lift my soul. When I was sitting with them, Paul and John were working on “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” and they were singing bits and pieces of it. Fooling around. Playing! Singing it over and over again, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, and under Paul’s sandal was a little yellow piece of paper that had just those words written on it and they’d be increasing the tempo and bending the words. They were exploring the words and melody.

KIND: One of the greatest songs ever written in the history of music and you were there with your camera, in a state of bliss, firing away.

PS: The joy that their music has provided me has been a key part of the evolution of my life.

KIND: It’s interesting how so much of their music is about love.

PS: If we had more love for ourselves and others, there’s be no war. All you need is love and it has the potential to be infinite.

KIND: What remains of your memories from your time in India with the band?

PS: Explore! Find yourself in delight! Take care of your body and soul and listen to your soul because in that part, the part that is sometimes easier to ignore, you find yourself. And you find love.

The Beatles in India, photographs and text by Paul Saltzman, with a forward by Pattie Boyd and an afterword by Donovan, is available at thebeatlesinindia.com.

IF WE HAD MORE LOVE FOR OURSELVES AND THE WORLD, THERE’S BE NO WAR. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE AND IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE INFINITE.

PICKLE GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

The fastest growing sport in the world might be enroute to the 2028 Olympics. In the meantime, it’s bringing maximum fun

BY ERICA COMMISSO

IT’S A WEIRD SIGHT TO SEE—A SMALL field, roughly the size of a doubles badminton court—populated with people of all ages, sizes and expert levels. A 47-year-old woman, wielding a fibreglass paddle with pickle graphics, facing off against a young man in expensive, brightly coloured sneakers—and remaining fiercely competitive. Katy Luxem turned to the sport she had fond high school memories of when she injured both of her ankles in roller derby in 2019, forcing her to hang up her skates. She’s from Seattle, the mecca of pickleball and the birthplace of the world’s fastest growing sport, and her hometown offered her the solution she needed. “I was looking for a way to do something competitive and athletic, get a workout in, but wanted it to be fun, so I picked up pickleball and started training again. I found it to be fun and inclusive,” she says. “Right during the pandemic, I feel like it started to take off, because people wanted to do something social but distant, but also be outside.”

Pickleball has taken the world by storm, sweeping grandmothers, high schoolers, celebrities, stoners and every one in between in its midst. There’s already rumours suggesting that the sport, which was originally invented just outside of Seattle in 1965 by an American politician and a wealthy businessman (seriously) will become an official Olympic sport in 2028. In short, it’s blowing up. There’s epic shots of Bill Gates playing, and Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kim Kardashian. Apparently LeBron James is a fan, and so is Jamie Foxx. And George Clooney. There’s even a CBD sponsor of the Association of Pickleball Professionals, SUNMED. “This partnership allows us to highlight the wellness benefits of CBD. We’re excited to showcase our science-based, award-winning, third partytested, and globally recognized products and our soon to be launched Pain Relief Roll-on and Topical Spray products can help players perform at their best and experience quick, natural, and effective muscle pain relief so players can get back on the court,” said the SUNMED CEO in a press release, touting the partnership.

Pickleball has come a long way since its origin story. Back then, the politician, Joel Pritchard, and the businessman, Bill Bell, sought to offer their bored children the only thing they could think of that would satisfy: a friendly badminton match. When they realised they did not have the necessary equipment to execute the solution, they improvised—reaching for some ping pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. The result was a game that garnered unanimous support from the nolonger-bored children, which would go on to be named pickleball. Now, some of the Toronto Maple Leafs own a pickleball team and the Toronto Blue Jays are giving out pickleball paddles at games.

Canadian retailer Tyrol operates in both Canada and the United States, and developed the sport’s first dedicated shoe in December of 2018. Kevin Huckle, the company’s CEO, says the idea came after his wife told him he was flunking retirement. “My wife took up the sport in 2017 while we were in Naples, Florida

and we went out to purchase her a pair of shoes. She was complaining that every shoe she tried was giving her foot pain and in particular sore toes,” he says. “I was disappointed in what was being offered and suggested to her that I thought we could build a better product than some large national athletic footwear brands.”

Tyrol’s pickleball shoe, imagined by Huckle, officially hit the market the next year. “We developed our own last—the foot form that is used to build shoe around—to ensure we could build proper toe height and allow for correct lateral support,” Huckle says. “We tested several upper designs until we found the proper density that would give both comfort and support on the court. We worked with a number of instructors who were on their feet for six to eight hours a day before we launched our first shoe in 2018.”

Luxem also found a way to market pickleball, founding the Big Dill Pickleball Co. as the pandemic raged on. She began selling her products online in March of 2021. “I specifically designed the products for a beginner or intermediate player who’s maybe played with their friend on the weekend and wants to grab their own gear,” she said. “Pickleball, it’s got a funny name and there’s lots of funny words, so I wanted to capture the pickle element and put it on the paddle. I thought it would be kind of a nod to the fact that this is a fun, unique sport that everyone can play.”

Like the celebrities and the CBD companies, both Huckle’s shoe and Luxem’s gear appeal to the increasing group of people who were drawn to the sport. “I think the main reason is that everyone can play,” Huckle says. “It’s a game that reawakens your competitive spirit for retirees who are getting off the couch and enjoying a fun way to get their workouts and daily steps in and families started to play and the kids are also seeing that it is a lot of fun. The game can get super competitive and tournaments then started and people found they could compete at events. The sport now pro players are playing in tournaments for sizable cash purses.”

Our hope is to make pickleball the official sport of Canadian summer.”

“

Pickleball is probably the only sport in the world that sees professional accountants and retirees sign up for its Canadian national league. “The diversity of the athletes trying out for the CNPL is reflecting both the diversity of Canada’s population and the diversity of pickleball itself,” says Mike McAnnich of the Canadian National Pickleball League. “Pickleball players often come from other sports backgrounds and all racquet sports are currently seeing a surge in diversity both in terms of age and ethnicity.”

Of course, the pandemic helped the rapid growth of the sport, as the naturally socially distant dynamic and sense of community perfectly aligned with the selected antidote of the masses. It’s an inexpensive hobby to pick up, requires little to expertise, and requires nothing more than a summer day. It’s an easy thing to equate to summer and, in warmer climates like Luxem’s adopted

home of Utah, can be played year round, though peak season for other climates is obviously the summer. “Golf is probably the only other sport that you can play with both your 7-year-old and your grandma,” Luxem says. “As more courts are being built in recreation centres and in free spaces where people can play, the summer is going to be the peak season for the sport for sure.”

Established in November of 2022, Mike McAnnich says he hopes the rapid growth of the Canadian National Pickleball League will continue, expanding beyond the few hundred registrants the inaugural year attracted. “We hope to expand the pickleball audience and pickleball participation in Canada. If all goes according to plan we will start to see team based pickleball events at the highschool and college level,” he says. “Our hope is, over the next few years, to make pickleball the official sport of Canadian summer.”

“

KIND SUMMER

TORONTO’S MOST EPIC OUTDOOR PATIO

Inside RendezViews, the dazzling The Fifth Group location playing host to the KIND Summer Fair

Ponder this. How are you going to fill your 2023 summer bucket list this season? What if we told you that a place exists where all your wishes and activities could literally be fulfilled all at once? The Fifth Group is re-defining what summer is and the experiences to tick off your bucket list.

Located right in the heart of downtown Toronto, this epic place is defining how to Bring the Fun Back to Toronto Summer.

Summer starts with being outside, right? Well, IYKYK that RendezViews, who blogTO says is “Toronto’s Most Epic Outdoor Patio Ever” is doubling down on epic in 2023. Mind blowing views of the CN Tower, 45,000 square feet of mural art, plus Michelin-recommended Chef Nuit Regular creating delicious seasonal food delights. But they are not done yet! They are the go-to place to watch sports, hosting

culture festivals, lifestyle annuals like Wine Fest Toronto, and the list goes on! But get this! New to the season are two Olympic-grade Beach Volleyball courts in partnership with The Jam Group, as well as the Vizzy Pickleball Court in partnership with Molson Coors.

The beauty of this destination is that it’s a true one-stop bar hop! Literally 25 metres away you will find Selva, the world’s first immersive, multi sensory art/resto/bar experience. You might have seen we wrote about it back in our July 2022 issue. Helmed by Chef Nuit (yes, the same award winning Chef from RendezViews), you will no doubt feel transported to a mind-blowing lush tropical destination your eyes have never seen before. Enjoy the much celebrated “Seafood Journey,” including what many feel is the best Seafood Tower in the city! Features also include $1 Oysters on selected

days, as well as half price Cocktail Towers (they are amazing) and an inviting patio offering with once again—some of the best views of the CN Tower.

But, wait, your night is not done yet! Steps away just above Selva is the infamous The Fifth Social Club, a place where all definitions of fun collide. Not a bar, not a club, but a oneof-a kind loft space to dance and have fun. Open Friday and Saturday nights, look out for their monthly themes, WTF (in a good way) entertainment, surprise and delights, and some of the most fun staff in the 6ix.

Play, Eat, Drink, Watch, Learn, Move, Dance, Discover, Meet, Hope, Laugh, Feel and Be. That is what this special place is. Join them for the best summer yet.

BUDTENDERS SAMPLE SIMPLY BARE BC ORGANIC WHITE RAINBOW

The BC Organic White Rainbow from Simply Bare is the rarest of blends of Fish Scales, Apples and Bananas, and, since its release, the packages of prerolls and flower have set the legal market ablaze. Harvested by hand, hand-picked and packed, the beautiful flower comes as large nugs and the indica smoke has sweet, fruity and grape flavours, a candy aroma, and a subtle hint of purple in the supple, juicy bud. We recently purchased a few jars and asked some of our favourite local budtenders to spark up some love and tell us what they thought of the very kind smoke.

“I’ve been a fan of Simply Bare since I stepped into the world of legal cannabis. They were one of the first organic brands I tried, and I have been impressed by their strain profiles and consistent quality. Their BC Organic White Rainbow (fish scales x apples & bananas) upholds that legacy. Coming in at 27.1% THC and hitting 2.88% in terpenes, the scent when I opened the jar was crisp, sweet, spicy, and warm, with a hint of soap. The buds are gorgeously manicured and deep earthy green in colour. Rolling is made easy as the flower is sticky in texture, and the taste is clean and soapy, with a hint of sweetness at the back. The effects for me solidify my love of the terpene farnesene. Starting behind and around the eyes, then moving to the tops of my cheeks—almost like a smile spreading to the eyes—the high is clear-headed and calm, easing into the body with a soothing sense of relaxation and heavy eyelids. If you’re looking for flower that is a sensory experience and to incorporate into your evening self-care routine, this is the one!

“Upon opening the jar you are met with a mixture of sweet and gassy notes and dark green buds covered in trichs.

I had two perfectly sized nugs in my jar—both with a good amount of stickyness still to the bare touch. I was excited and then the grind released even more of the initial aroma into the room!

For those looking for great flavour, don’t miss out on this one and be sure you take a nice dry pull before lighting: that Apples and Banana cross really comes through, it’s distinct and terrific. It’s a marvel how far legal weed has come.

Available in B.C as Organic White Rainbow and currently in Ontario under Simply Bare’s “Insider cut”

Finally, when smoked in a joint, much like most other Simply Bare products, I was greeted with a lovely, delightful high, complemented by the nice white ash.”

JESSICA NEIL, BODEGA

KRIS BERTUCCI, STICKY NUGGZ

10MG THC & 10MG CBG FOR MAXIMUM CHILL