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We’ve briefly posted about Campground Cooking before, but we sat down with the book over the weekend and forgot just how wonderful this thing really is. Thanks for posting the whole thing, Old Chum. Buy the last few over at Abe Books.

MP3: Squeeze – Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)

“No pornography. No profanity.”

Journey To Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, published in 1971, is  Carlos Castaneda’s third book about his apprenticeship with the Yaqui shaman, don Juan.  I’m just a quarter of the way in (thank you Dominic for the recommendation) but it’s already a real humdinger. Are y’all hip to this book? Or his first two, The Teachings of Don Juan and A Separate Reality? 

If you’re like me, you probably read Scott O’Dell’s 1960 novel,  Island of the Blue Dolphins, when you were in grade school. It’s the story of a Karana, a young girl who is stranded for years on an island off the California coast. The story is based on the life of Juana Maria, a Nicoleño Indian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island in the 19th century. It was believed that she lived in a cave on the island, and just a few months ago, a Naval archeologist believes he found the cave after 20 years of searching. Read more about that here.

Go to your local thrift store, pick up a copy and spend a quiet afternoon reading this thing. It’s quite the gem. Then come on back to CS and watch the movie after the jump…

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The above is from “Etiquette and Freedom,” the first essay featured in Gary Snyder’s Practice Of The Wild. Pick up a copy if you don’t already have one.

At the beginning of September, I spent a week with my Juniper Ridge family, hiking down the John Muir Trail and relaxing in backcountry cabins right outside of Inyo National Forest. There were over ten of us on that trip, including Fletcher Tucker, who owns Gnome Life Records and records under Bird By Snow, and Em Gift, aka Mountain Momma Long Legs, who runs the show at one of my favorite stores in these United of States, Gravel and Gold. Fletcher and Em go way back, but it was my first time meeting them both, so it’s a real time for me to watch the new video for BBS’s “Peering Out.” Em is dancing around Big Sur, where Fletcher lives, and Fletcher, well, he’s keeping the fire going. Read more about the video here.

See you both in a few weeks.

This record has not stopped spinning in the Cold Splinters office these last few days. Lo-Fi Gypsy Campfire Dirges from San Francisco. Just in time for the storm that’s supposedly heading this way. Do yourself a favor and buy it here.

MP3: Jessica Pratt – Half Twain the Jesse

According to the movie’s website, Wrenched is about “HOW EDWARD ABBEY LIT THE FLAME OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND GAVE THE MOVEMENT ITS SOUL.” I gotta say, after watching the trailer above, this looks sort of wonderful. They’re over 30K dollars away from their fundraising goal, and though I usually don’t post links for such things, any movie dedicated to all things Edward Abbey is worth taking out your wallet for. Donate here.

I’ve spent a good amount of time in Portland, OR this last year working with Danner, and whenever I’m in town, it’s impossible not to have a few this and thats from Deschutes Brewery. I got an email from those kind beer-makin’ folks yesterday with a link to their latest and greatest, the Deschutes River Recordings video series. First up is Eric D. Johnson of the Fruit Bats singing The Byrds’ “Ballad of Easy Rider.” If you have a few minutes, which I know you do, watch it. It’s a real humdinger.

Learn more about the project here.