Sir Brohoss

I was sitting on my porch last night when I got a text message from a dear friend who we all call Sir Brohoss. A month ago he left Boston and, after spending some time at his folks' place in Chicago, is now driving out to start a new life in San Francisco. Looks as though he made an amazing pit stop that resulted in an even more amazing text:"Tahoe. Dark star concert. Totally dank"MP3: Grateful Dead - It Must Have Been The Roses

Dress Your Sons and Daughters In Neutral Colors and Pray

For about five years during my middle school and high school years, I took guitar lessons from Mario, an Italian guy in his late 20s whose fingers were each as wide my entire fist. He had a ponytail, that when let out, made him look like a heavy metal Shakespeare character. He was responsible for teaching me some guitar, but most importantly, he told me to buy some records that I would still take bullets for. Among them were Paul McCartney's Ram and Jellyfish's Bellybutton, which through Jason Falkner, led me to Brendan Benson shortly after.Not much point to this story, other than Benson's One Mississippi just came on my iTunes a few minutes ago, and much like Ram, Bellybutton, and Benson's second LP, Lapalco, it has got some of the most lyrically ridiculous yet enjoyable pop songs ever put on tape. Noiz.I need a pickup and I don't mean truck:MP3: Comments On Ram By John LennonMP3: Jellyfish - BellybuttonMP3: Brendan Benson - Bird's Eye ViewMP3: Brendan Benson - Jetlag

Western Tour, 1981

Thank you Piedmont Fossil for some truly amazing photos:

Mary and I took our pop-up camper and made a big loop through the western states of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico before heading home by way of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. My parents flew out to Denver and rode along with us as far as Santa Fe before flying home again.

Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.Got a head-on collision, smashin in my guts man.I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand.But theres one thing I know for sure girl:I dont give a damn for the same old played out scenesI dont give a damn for just the in-betweens.

Crow Killer

Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver Eating Johnson is the book that inspired Jeremiah Johnson:

One May morning in 1847, Crow Indians killed and scalped John Johnston's pregnant wife; for many years thereafter, he killed and scalped Crow Indians. Then he ate their livers, raw.He ate them not for hunger's sake but upon principle - just what principle, his whole life's history may suggest. Other tribes than the Crows could arouse his anger; the Blackfeet indeed once shamed and mistreated him, their captive; but one tribe only did Johnston dreadfully humiliate. He was Dapiek Absaroka, the Killer of Crows.

The Living Building Challenge

From Building Green:

Skip Backus, executive director of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, discovered something in the process of researching materials for the new building on campus. “We don’t make anything in this country anymore,” he said. Many building materials are still made in the U.S., but simple things like nails and screws are difficult to find. For an ordinary building, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. But Backus is pursuing certification of the building through the Living Building Challenge, which requires all materials to come from within a certain radius of the building site.

Thanks Bryce.MP3: Girls - Lust For Life (Thanks Cannibal Chearleader)

Seasons Of A Navajo

Pretty sure you've all seen this on PBS.From Amazon:

The Navajo heritage of sacred songs, ceremonies and spoken tradition comes alive as you meet Chauncey and Dorothy Neboyia, grandparents to an extended family of two generations. The Neboyias live by farming and weaving; their home is a native hogan. This acclaimed documentary captures their traditional lifestyles, and features striking photography of Arizona's ancient Anasazi ruins and the spectacular Monument Valley.

Videos are here

Native American Seals

The Caddo Tribe co-owns approximately 487 acres of non-contiguous, federal trust land spread across a three-county area of southwestern Oklahoma; these lands are held jointly with the Delaware and Wichita Tribes. The tribal trust area is characterized by plains and rolling grasslands. The Canadian, Washita and Cache Rivers drain the region. The Caddo Tribal Complex is located in Binger, OK, approximately 21 miles north of Anadarko on U.S. 281. Oklahoma City lies approximately 60 miles east of the tribal headquarters.Way more of it hereMP3: Leonard Cohen - God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot (Thank You Achtung Baby)Youtube: Buffy's version

Land Of Enchantment

Brightblack Morning Light are on the cover of the newest FADER magazine and the pictures of the band's off the grid life in New Mexico are a-fucking-mazing. I didn't get a chance to read the article so I'm not exactly sure where in New Mexico they are, but let's get a stick, a bandana, a good pair of army boots, and start walking.From Death Comes For The Archbishop:

At sunrise next morning Father Vallaint set out, Sabino driving the wagon, his oldest boy riding Angelica, and Father Joseph riding Contento. They took the old road to the northeast, through the sharp red sand-hills spotted with juniper, and the Bishop accompanied them as far as the loop where the road wound out on the top of one of those conical hills, giving the departing traveller his last glimpse of Santa Fe. There Father Joseph drew rein and looked back at the town lying rosy in the morning light, the mountain behind it, and the hills close about it like two encircling arms."Auspice, Maria!" he murmured as he turned his back on these familiar things.

MP3: Brightblack Morning Light - Oppressions Each

Joel Sartore

A bowhead whale is butchered on the beach in Kaktovik, Alaska. The village is allowed by law to take three whales each fall for the meat and baleen. Offshore oil drilling threatens to disrupt the whales' migratory routes and the Native' traditional hunt.As birds chase after fish in once-flooded cattle pastures, the predators of birds move in as well. Here a yellow anaconda captures a great egret.Members of the Blackfeet tribe celebrate their claim on the Badger-Two Medicine Area in Montana, land sacred to them that has been threatened by natural gas development.More PhotosJoel Sartore On PBSMP3: Rodriguez - Sugar Man