Dewey Balfa and friends

I've posted this video before but I like it so much I feel like posting it again. It features Dewey Balfa, Nathan Abshire, Tony Balfa and Rockin' Dopsie playing in a school and teaching kids about their musical tradition. There isn't a lot of footage out there featuring Nathan Abshire. Here he plays Jolie Blon. Mr. Abshire, Mr. Balfa and Mr. Dopsie are all gone now. Balfa was an activist, an ambassador for his Cajun cultural traditions.



A culture is preserved one generation at a time.

Hillbilly Hare

I had forgotten just how violent Bugs Bunny cartoons were. Today, attracted by the laughter of some friends, I watched Hillbilly Hare. Not nice poking fun at poor mountain folks from the Ozarks. That nasty Bugs put those two fellows through a hay bailer. Not nice, not nice at all.

Black Mold

...threatens cave paintings.

Thanks to East Texas Red for this one.

The second coming of Ned?

Check out this excellent article from Now Magazine about the late great Handsome Ned.
"Handsome Ned’s reconstituted corn-pone country was punk. It came from the same DIY smash-it-up-and-who-gives-a-shit-if-anybody-likes-it place as the purest punk. Only instead of leathers and lacerations, he came outfitted in cowboy boots, a cool silk shirt, a 10-gallon hat and a brightly coloured bandana."

Translated version of the Bratwurst Museum website

thanks East Texas Red for this Bratwurst extravaganza.

Barosaurus in the basement?

Yes, it appears our museum has found a dinosaur, one they had misplaced somewhere along the way.

The Angola Prison Rodeo?

Tuffy P. was surfin around the inner-nets, checking out fun things to do down in Louisiana (where we will be for a while in October), when she came across a website for the Angola Prison Rodeo. It is billed as the Wildest Show in the South. There is a full assortment of events available for the prison rodeo enthusiast. The prison history buff can even visit the museum, located just outside the gates.

I'm honest to god not making any of this up.

Bonjour....

cowpoke...

Take a walk on over.....

to Echoes in the Wind and watch the fantastic video posted there of Howlin' Wolf making is television debut on Shindig, of all places. Watching a performance like this, it's no wonder so many rock n roll performers worshipped at the feet of bluesmen like Wolf.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I stumbled into this sort of related site, Dead Blues Guys. To quote from the site: "DBG presents photographs of the graves, headstones and commemorative markers of departed blues artists. There are links to biographical and related information on each artist's page. Go to "The DBG Tour" to select your first Dead Blues Guy. Please see our "Missing Persons" page for DBGs we don't have. If they are in your area, why not send us a photo or two? DBG welcomes your contributions." They even have a photo of Furry Lewis' grave in the Hollywood Cemetery in Memphis. There is a new headstone there now!!! We looked for Furry's grave while we were in Memphis, without success. You'll find a photo of the original marker there as well. This cemetery was in a sorry state when we visited, but it looks like it has received some attention since.

“I always wanted to be somebody so I composed music,” he said.

Sad Songs Act as Heritage of Community

thanks, East Texas Red