Cold Splinters

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 here

MP3: Leonard Cohen – God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot (Thank You Achtung Baby)

Youtube: Buffy’s version

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

We all know this already, but man oh man, what a goddamn shame.

Phosphorescent – Wolves (Thanks Captain Obvious)

An explanation is probably long overdue

MP3: Irma Thomas – Two Winters Long

Toyota donates 5 million dollars to the Grand Canyon*

MP3: Loudon Wainwright III – Dump The Dog

MP3: Lloyd And Michael – A Real Time Here

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 Photos

Joel Sartore On PBS

MP3: Rodriguez – Sugar Man

In August of 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a beat up old pick up truck was sold for more than 50 times its blue book value.

“We intend to leave with that truck tonight. We want to all sit up in the front seat and drink a beer just like he did.”

I drove Abbey’s truck

Jim, Bryan and I woke up early after our first night camping in the Tetons so we could get an early start to get to our second campsite, which was about 15 miles away, a lot for us at the time. Our out-of-shapeness had hit new lows.

We got there early in the afternoon and had the two backcountry tent sites all to ourselves. It’s a damn good feeling to get to your campsite and realize that you have it to yourself, but it’s stressful as hell waiting around to find out if it’ll stay that way. It didn’t. A couple in their late 20s hiked in around 5pm, put up their tents, and immediately started looking over the ridge that had occupied our attention from the minute we had finished putting our food in the bear box. After a few minutes, the couple started walking towards us, binoculars in hands.

“You guys want to take a try at finding a grizzly? We’re not very good at this and, fuck, do we want to see one.”

“Sure.” I grabbed the binoculars and to my surprise, found a family of grizzly bears after 30 seconds of looking. No clue how. I’m bad at nearly everything I do and finding a bear off in a distance field is not one of my specialties. Or so I thought.

We all laid down in the grass until the sun went down and watched a grizzly bear and her cubs prance around a field for an hour. When they were finally out of site, a moose came along, like we had just changed the channel on the show we were watching. We shoved alcohol down our throats and our new friends went to bed early, leaving us for dead. A black bear came into our campsite that night. I don’t care what you say about black bears bla bla, if you’re in the middle of the Tetons and there’s a bear at your campsite, that is shit inducing scary. Call me whatever you want, I was scared. Frozen. I was hugging my roommate. We don’t talk about that embrace anymore.

We woke up the next morning, and much to our dismay, our new friends had left, and we never got to have that next day “HOLY SHIT, REMEMBER LAST NIGHT? BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!” fest. Didn’t even get to say goodbye and, more importantly, didn’t get to tell them about the bear at our campsite.

Two weeks later, on a flight to Omaha, at DIA, I saw my two friends on the plane. They were 14A and 14B. I was 14C.

I had the time of my life.

MP3: The Gaturs – Cold Bear

Les Stroud of Survivorman might be annoying and excessively dramatic, but he did put together a pretty interesting mini-series documenting the process of going “off the grid.” Planet Green has been playing it a bunch as of late.

Watch it in it’s entirety here

The Beatles – Child Of Nature (Thank You Dr. Mooney)