Heron

One of our absolute favorite records we've ever had the pleasure of listening to is Heron's 1970 self-titled debut. The album was recorded outside in the middle of a field near the River Thames. You can actually hear birds chirping on several songs and at the end of "Car Crash" a band member laughs as he quietly whispers, "little black things are crawling all over me." Heron will make you want to move to the country, buy an assortment of farm animals, and live in a never ending time where spring straddles summer. It's strawberry pies and gooseberry pudding.MP3: Heron - Yellow RosesMP3: Heron - Sally GoodinMP3: Heron - Car Crash

Coat Of Many Colors

If I had some money to bet, I'd bet that God got real proud of what he had done when he put the needle down on Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors. He turned the volume up, sat back in his favorite green leather chair, opened the window in his living room, smiled, and quietly whispered to himself, "You did good. You did real good."Ms. Parton will go straight to heaven for giving the world this 28 minute wound-healer. Perfect in ever way, at every second, at every turn.MP3: Dolly Parton - My Blue TearsMP3: Dolly Parton - Here I Am

Appalachian Trail

If you live in New York City, one of the best things you can do on a weekend is hike some of the Appalachian Trail. Get on the Harlem line of the Metro North and take the train to the Appalachian Trail stop. When you get off, start walking west  through a long swampy boardwalk of nine foot high cattails, wildflowers, and dragonflies. You'll wind through some woods and then find yourself in an open field that cuts across the side of a local farm. It's a breathtaking 1862 looking stretch that you should take real slow as there's a road you're about to cross in just under a mile. After you cross that road, continue on for about a quarter mile and drop your stuff off at Telephone Pioneer Shelter, one of the many AP lean-tos. Drink some water and go another three miles in the woods past long stone walls on the white blaze to Nuclear Lake. Take a right at the lake's loop and lay down in the huge green open field and jump in and swim for the rest of the afternoon. The lake gets its name from a nuclear testing site that used to be there in the late 70s. The plant had a little explosion that leaked into the lake but it was cleaned up and is now safe to enjoy. And enjoy it you will. When you're done swimming, hike three miles back and stop at Cat's Rock to watch the sun go down over the farm that you hiked across just a few hours previous.If you're traveling around June and July, most likely you'll have some Appalachian Trail thru-hikers to share your campfire with and provide the evening's storytelling. Pack some extra food for them. They love quesadillas and Twizzlers.I wish I could use a few more adjectives and paint a better picture of how monumentally beautiful this stretch of Appalachian trail is, but right now I think I'll leave it to the very poorly developed pictures that are linked above.MP3: Fleetwood Mac - Save Me A PlaceMP3: Grateful Dead - Ramble On Rose

Roots

In 1968, Don and Phil Everly put out Roots, a collection of old country and blues tunes that sound just as sweet as cherry wine. It's a Sweetheart Of The Rodeo kind of affair and it'll put you in Kentucky after the first 30 seconds of their take on "Mama Tried." You can sort of tell how hard they're trying to sound "country" but the album's cover will put those fears to rest. Highlight is Randy Newman's "Illinois" with the Charlie Brown piano solo, but I'll let you find that one yourself. Best to listen from the safe distance of your rocking chair and fields of wildflowers.MP3: Everly Brothers - Mama TriedMP3: Everly Brothers - T For Texas

Fiddleheads

If you're from the New England area, you've definitely eaten fiddleheads one or two times before. Fiddleheads are the young leaves of the Ostrich Fern and they are harvested for a short time each year, usually around April and May. It's June now if you haven't noticed, so you can still find them around if you look real hard. It won't be long until they're gone from your local grocery store, so you better hurry. A good list of what to do with them when you get home can be found here. MP3: Old And In The Way - The Great Pretender

Map O'th Day

If there’s one thing we've learned from our friend Boss Hoss, it’s to never underestimate the importance of a good map (or someone who knows how to read one). And no one knows more about good maps than the National Geographic Society. So it sounds about right that the Map of the Day feature on their magazine’s website is just about one of the best ways to spend a few minutes kickin around online.

National Geographic - Map of the Day

MP3: Delaney & Bonnie - Look What We Have Found

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Indian Creek Chronicles

In 1990, while in college, Pete Fromm volunteered to spend seven months at Indian Creek in Idaho to protect two million salmon eggs. He had no real knowledge about living in the wilderness, had no idea how to shoot a gun or tie a knot, but had just read A.B. Guthrie's The Big Sky and wanted to be Boone Caudill. So he bought a dog, named it Boone, and spent the next few months cold, longing for fresh food, and teaching himself the skills he'd so badly wanted to learn. Someone should really put this on the silver screen, but until then, read his story as soon as you can. If you hate the winter and hate thinking about being cold, then just skip ahead to mountain lion scene.MP3: Willie Nelson - Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer)

The Explorers Club

Last year around this time, we got up before the sun rises on a Saturday to go to the Upper East Side of Manhattan to The Explorers Club. The Explorers Club is "an international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore. Since its inception in 1904, the Club has served as a meeting point and unifying force for explorers and scientists worldwide." The Club is filled with stuffed polar bears, free coffee, ancient scientific and camping equipment, old flags, and loads of pictures from its' 100+ year history. There was a film festival going on that day that featured a film about eels in Australia and a Jean Michel Costeau film about sharks. Pretty great stuff and a wonderful place to watch a movie with a bunch of sharply dressed 60 somethings. Anyway, there's another one going on real soon and it looks like it might be better than last year. The film is the Conquest Of Everest:

The classic 1953 feature documentary of the British expedition to Mt. Everest, led by Sir John Hunt, which culminated in Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay's historic summit. Directed by George Lowe. 90 mins.Introduced by Norman Dyhrenfurth, Honorary Club Fellow, who led the first successful American team to Mt. Everest, having spent three years on the organization and fundraising of this privately-mounted venture. Mr. Dyhrenfurth is coming from his home in Austria as theFestival's honored guest.

MP3: Colin Blunstone - I Can't Live Without You

The River is Wide

Not too long ago, we were sitting on the Metro North railroad, headed back to NYC, sore from hiking, reeking of campfire, tired as hell, and feeling just a little bit depressed knowing that around the next sunset would be a week filled with meetings and subways, instead of camping and waterways. Quite a shock to the system, it would be, if not for that massive and stunning Hudson River guiding the train all the way home, like a series of awnings bracing the fall from a roof.Now that fragile river has been in the news a bit recently – subject of a study by a group called Riverkeeper, and an editorial in the Times – reminders of the impact that that city will have on anything it touches. It was also the subject of a recent American Masters on Pete Seeger, one of that river’s first defenders.In 1966, Seeger started to build a 106 foot sloop called Clearwater (photo above), to sail down the Hudson, sing folk songs and heighten awareness for a river left for dead. That ship and Pete Seeger have since sailed 400,000 students up and down the river, fought polluters, and made a heck of a lot of progress.As Pete’s daughter says in the film, “He made a promise to me, when I was about 12 years old. He said when you grow up, you’re going to be able to swim in the river. And I did.”Catch the documentary if you can – the man was black listed for 17 years, hand built his home, and continues at age 87 to fight for his music, his river and the greater good.MP3: Pete Seger - Turn, Turn, Turn

The Long Way

Bernard Moitessier is a French sailor, who was on his way to win the 1968-1969 Around The World Single Handed Race. After being in the lead sailing from England to the Indian Ocean, he decided to unexpectedly drop out of the race. Wanna know why? The Long Way is his account of the race and, while it gets a little technical at times, this French guy has some serious things to say about being very alone in the middle of absolutely nowhere.MP3: Fleetwood Mac - Blue Letter

Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Joe Cocker, holy fuck can you sing like Ray Charles. And your epilepsy turned dancing is the sugar in our hully gully tea. You scream, you make us cry, you scream again, you make our hips shake, and when you cry, we scream.You might be a Last Waltz person. Hell, you might even be a Festival Express person. Us, we're all of those things, but mostly we're Mad Dogs and Englishmen people. In 1970, Cocker brought along an enormous band of idiots and Leon Russells and did a bunch of covers way better than you. Find me something better than this and I'll give you my allowance for a goddamn month. Delta Lady, you are mine. All fucking mine.MP3: Joe Cocker - Cry Me A River (From Mad Dogs & Englishmen)

Euchre.

It's almost June. Now that the sun is a shining and the snow is a melting and the birds are a chirping and the screen doors are a slamming and the coffee is a boiling and the wash needs a hanging and the dogs are a barking and the floor needs a scrubbing, lots more outdoor activities will be a taking place. Obviously. And what is the best way to spend a night outside before you get in your tent to pretend you're not scared of the dark? Euchre. No question. If you don't know how, call in sick from work tomorrow, and spend the day learning. You ain't never going to go back. Euchre is no secret. Anyone will tell you. And no cheating. Cause it's pretty darn easy to do. Just don't get caught.Cause Here In Topeka...

Peter Parnall

Peter Parnall has illustrated a lot of children's book over the years, most notably for the stories of Byrd Baylor. His style is real easy to spot. Bright colors, lots of empty space, and usually some type of cactus, bird, or desert cliff. Although his work might be a little "Southwest Trading Post" at times, his illustrations have always stuck with us since reading Everybody Needs A Rock when we were younger. Parnall also illustrated the first edition of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire.Look: More books.MP3: Vetiver - ArbouretumMP3: Emitt Rhodes - She's Such A Beauty

Edward S. Curtis

In 1898, Edward S. Curtis was out photographing Mt. Rainier when he met George Bird Grinnell, an expert on Native Americans. Two years later, Grinnell invited Curtis to join an expedition and photograph the Blackfeet Indians in Montana. JP Morgan must have liked what he saw and in 1906, Mr. Morgan offered Curtis 75,000 dollars to produce a 20 volume, 1,500 photograph series of the North American Indian. Curtis wrote in 1907: "The information that is to be gathered ... respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost."PhotosI regard the work you do as one of the most valuable works which any American could now do. - President Theodore Roosevelt in a letter to Edward S. Curtis, December 16, 1905.MP3: Medicine Head - (And The) Pictures In The Sky