Food Truck Warz is Brandon’s largest food truck event bringing together the best food trucks from across the province. Twenty-eight different food trucks will converge at the Keystone Centre on September 15-17 in 2023. The public is invited to come down and experience the delicious food creations being served by the many different culinary experts. Along with showcasing delectable curbside cuisine, bdnmb.ca will be handing out an award to recognize the public’s favorite truck. Smoked & Sauced Mobile BBQ and KYU Grill, two previous winners will be on-hand looking for your vote. Voting will take place at the Fusion Credit Union tent on the festival site. Voting closes Sunday the 17th at 2pm. The winner will be announced at 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 17, 2023! *voting must take place at the Fusion Credit Union tent. Vendors are NOT permitted to take voting pads to their respective trucks and pre-filling them out.

Geordie Kieffer will be bringing his Just Kill Me Already Tour to Brandon on Friday, September 22. Kieffer is known for viral songs like Red Line, Swinger and ICON KILLER. His Brandon show is slated to take place at  Houstons starting at 8pm on the Friday, with the doors for the show opening at 7pm. Tickets for the show are available here.

Being branded as "Sunrise The After Party" a new event will become hopefully a regular show once or twice a month at Eastside Eatery. DJ Dirtybird told BDNMB.CA he is jealous of 20 years ago when Manitoba had a thriving local music scene.   That is his plan along with partner DJ Kaotik to hopefully give the people what they want. The show will be Saturday September 30th from 1am - 5am at Eastside Eatery on Richmond Ave East. No alcohol will be available and they will have slushee machines and potentially a Food Truck on site. Performing will be  Kaotick DJ Dirty Bird Two local rappers - Brad Tapper and TJ Dirtybird also said they will have cool production that people will be very impressed with. Tickets are available at -  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sunrise-the-after-hours-party-tickets-702036258347?fbclid=IwAR09S8ifwac-wNZ5sec7cVxd4SajZSwxQ9UHPpJo191YpB8P6qv62c_iJqc    

Firebird Grilled Chicken & Smokies is grillin' up a whole lotta goodness...on the road. The food truck truck will be making their first appearance at Brandon's Food Truck Warz in 2023. Owner Pete Klippenstein told bdnmb.ca that they only use top quality ingredients including their meats which are supplied by Earl's Meat Market out of Steinbach. Their signature potato buns are sourced out of Pennsylvania and the BBQ sauce is from South Dakota. They also have an inhouse made Firebird splice blend for the grilled chicken burgers as well. Organizers of Food Truck Warz was able to sample some of the food yesterday and can list both the Majestic Club and the chili as "must try's" at this years event. The chili had a nice, bright profile and there was a lightness to the flavor and texture. The grilled chicken sandwich was tender and juicy and the BBQ sauce took the burger to the next level. They also added a smash burger to their menu this year that will get the taste buds tingling. The burger patty is made from black angus beef and you can choose a single or a double when ordering. The double with cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and smash burger sauce is perfect for those with a health appetite. Food Truck Warz  will take place September 15 – 17, 2023 at the Keystone Centre and will offer 26 Food Trucks from all over Manitoba & Saskatchewan. In addition, Select Shows will return to Food Truck Warz. $5 per person Children 12 & under FREE. Free Parking. Facebook event page.

Brandon's Matt Cory has been making steady strides to becoming a major player in Canada's music industry.   This week he has been given 4 nominations for the upcoming Manitoba Loud Music Awards Matt please explain to all the BDNMB.CA followers what the Manitoba Loud Music Awards is this something new? Cory - The Manitoba Loud Music Awards is an award show showcasing “loud music” in Manitoba. They utilize a voting system to pick winners in a variety of different categories including Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, Metal and more. The voting period is open September 1st to 30th at https://loudawards.com/vote/ but there will be in person ballots available at the fundraiser on September 15, 2023 at XCues Cafe & Lounge (551 Sargent Ave) in Winnipeg. From the Manitoba Loud Music Awards website: Our goal is to show support to musicians, whether it’s a new band that wants to gain exposure, an established band that just wants to share their passion and new music with fans , or a touring band that’s rolling through our beautiful province. We thrive to inspire young musicians to present their music with us. One of our main goals is to help heal mental health through the love of music. We Support Your Local Scene Now you have been nominated for 4 awards 1 – Band of the Year 2 – Singer of the Year 3 – Guitarist of the Year 4 – Single of the Year – Lit Up and Out of Line Cory - In regards to my nominations, I am incredibly honoured to have been recognized! I’m very proud and grateful to have my work and dedication be acknowledged in four different categories. None of this would’ve happened without my band. I want to give a huge shoutout to Nick Schoonbaert, Ian Morrice, Terry Brown and Cy Arthurson for all their effort, talent and patience in working with me. I’d also like to mention past members as well including Wes Lipischak, Troy McKenzie, Ryan Felstead and Mike Leech for all their help. My life is music. My passion is music. It is constantly on my mind. I never stop thinking about it. If I could perform every single night of the year I would without hesitation. I live to create, perform and write music. It’s what I’m on earth to do. I’m not necessarily in it to win it in regards to the Loud Music Awards. I’m just so happy that this style of music has an outlet to be seriously recognized in Manitoba. As Chris Jericho once said on his Talk is Jericho Podcast, “Winnipeg is a true metal town.” I agree with this, but I think Manitoba is truly a metal province. I am ecstatic that through the Manitoba Loud Music Awards, we can finally acknowledge that loud music has a place as some of the government bodies that are supposed to help our Manitoba artists grow have put in almost zero effort and will not take loud music seriously. Matt Cory performing at the Salamander Music Festival What is wrong with Rock Music today for example local radio loves artists like Trooper and Toronto but where are the new bands?   Cory - I can only speak for myself in regards to what’s wrong with rock music today. There are tons of amazing rock acts out there making fantastic music. Unfortunately, you just have to seek them out at this time. I’ve had the honour of sharing the stage with many of these acts over the years across Manitoba and they continue to blow my mind and push me to be better. I feel that certain rock radio stations aren’t willing to take a chance on newer acts and often rely on old acts because they know it “works”. Unfortunately, our local “rock” station isn’t interested in new rock, that’s just not what they do. The play the classics. As far as I understand, our local rock station doesn’t even pick their own material. It comes from an office outside the province… which leaves djs hands tied and that seems very strange to me. This leaves listeners unaware of what’s going on in their area. If we want rock to comeback into the mainstream in a big way, I think rock radio need to seek out 10 Canadian rock acts that are the whole package. They need to have the look, the business savvy, the following, social media skills, but most importantly they have the songs. They need to take these 10 bands and pump the hell out of them on stations. They don’t need to remove the older bands all together, but mix the new and old together like stations do in larger cities. Westman needs a station that will play NEW rock! Simple as that. Why does Canadian Rock Music seem to be in a slump so to speak? Cory - Rock isn’t dead. It’ll never die. The analogy I like to use is rock music is like mosquitoes… no matter how many times you think it’s dead, it keeps coming back and will continue to do so. At a local level how can people support local not only rock music but all types of music? Cory - It’s so easy to support local acts, go to the shows, buy their merch, listen to their music, share their music across social media if it speaks to you, request their music on stations and if they say they can’t help, keep bugging them until they need to make a change! The Manitoba Loud Music Awards will take place at the Park Theatre (698 Osborne St.) in Winnipeg, MB on Saturday, November 18, 2023. Good luck and thank you Matt from all of us at BDNMB.CA