“No pornography. No profanity.”
R.I.P. Jason Molina
Such a sad way to start the week. According to Pitchfork:
Molina died on Saturday, March 16 from organ failure due to alcohol consumption, according to Chunklet. His last release was 2012′s Autumn Bird Songs.
Molina’s problems with alcohol were brought to public awareness in late 2011, when the Molina family posted a plea for contributions to Jason’s medical fund on the Magnolia Electric Co. website. They wrote that over the last two years, he had been in and out of rehab. He did not have medical insurance, and had been in convalescence working on a farm in West Virginia.
I can’t tell you much we loved Jason’s music around these parts. He has always been and will always be one of our favorites. There are few albums that mean as much to Cold Splinters as Magnolia Electric Co.
Sinclair Ads
Sure, they might not be in line with your “values” (The headline on the Mesa Verde National Park advertisement reads: “America’s first apartment houses – today they belong to you!”), but these old Sinclair/National Park ads sure are good looking. And while searching for more on eBay, it’s impossible not to think of the last passage in the intro to Desert Solitaire.
Do not jump in your automobile next June and rush out to the Canyon country hoping to see some of that which I have attempted to evoke in these pages. In the first place you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe. Probably not.
A bunch more after the jump. Click ‘em to read ‘em.
Explorers Club Dinners
Thank you to the Village Voice‘s food blog, Fork In the Road, for posting these great Explorers Club menus from their famous dinners of yesteryear. More info:
The Explorers Club was founded in 1904 by a couple of full-time explorers and a ragtag crew of archaeologists, journalists, and professors — they finally began admitting women members in 1981, starting with the geologist Kathryn Sullivan and deep-sea diver Sylvia Earle.
Today, the club is still driven by “the instinct to explore,” especially at the dinner table. Once a year, international members gather in New York to honor “various accomplishments in exploration” and to eat extremelyadventurously, from a banquet that famously celebrates the marginalized delights of maggots, scorpions, and roaches, and offal of all sorts, from duck tongue to pig’s face. (Back in 2001, three allergy-prone diners suffered from burning, itchy mouths after eating improperly prepared tarantula tempura – the spider had been served with its urticating bristles, or poisonous leg hair, still intact.)
This year’s feast — the club’s 109th — takes place on Saturday evening at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Here’s a look back at some of the club’s menu designs over the years, starting in 1896 when it was still called the Arctic Club, through 1974.
Have a Good Weekend
If you’re out in the northeastern part of these United of States, get out there and enjoy the snow. Just make sure you can find those White Blazes.
New Balance Classics
It was a few months back that Mikael Kennedy, Chris Black and I went down to Southwest Texas with a trunk full of Made in the USA New Balance kicks. Mikael took some photos (yes, I’m the model) around Marfa and Big Bend that are now starting to be posted on the New Balance Classics Tumblr. Lots more to see and lots more to come.
Willis And Geiger
John Martin of Vice recently interviewed Burt Avedon (Richard’s cousin) about Willis & Geiger, the expedition gear brand started by Ben Willis at the beginning of the 20th century. Along with Abercrombie & Fitch and Filson, Willis & Geiger was one of the first outdoor-clothing companies and outfitted some of the era’s most famous explorers: Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Roald Amundsen, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay.
Mr. Avedon revived the company two years after it went out of business in 1977 and helmed it until it was liquidated in 1999. Read the whole interview here:
Burt Avedon: Let me just ask you a question: Having done some research on your publication, your audience is the antithesis of our company and our lives. Because it’s young, 18 to 35, as they say, and countercultural—are we anathema, or are we the contrast vehicle?
Neither. I think that young people right now are very interested in anything related to American heritage, especially in regard to fashion.
We haven’t found that to be the case. We find that the youth are not at all interested in things that have long histories and heritage and integrity and all that. They are interested in reading predominately what’s new and what’s contemporary.There is a lot of that with the pace of media right now, where people are always looking to see who’s putting out the newest sneakers, but there are a few brands whose authenticity is paramount.
Yeah, but unfortunately good brands of heritage are a reflection of their original management; when they become professionally managed, they lose the spark that brought them to where they are today. I found that to be classic in the industry. Whenever they go into second- and third-generation management, they lose themselves. They no longer have the passion that was originally part of their DNA.
Wilder Quarterly
If you’re not yet hip to Wilder Quarterly, then you need to race out and get their latest and greatest, Wilder Winter 2013. It’s a little late hitting the shelves because of Hurricane Sandy, but that is neither here nor there. It’d still be worth buying if you found it two years from now in the dead of summer:
Wilder Winter 2013 explores the deep freeze with a trip to Iceland to see what survives the polar clime and coastal Maine to see the cold, hard realities of oyster farming. Chef Magnus Nilsson shows us the hiemal pleasures of the Swedish landscape and Alaskan native and songstress Kate Earl teaches us how properly to filet a salmon. We have plenty of deep reading for those long winter nights with a brief history of tree-hugging and an interview with NY Times columnist Mark Bittman. We experience a mid-winter thaw with a visit to Vietnam to learn about international farm to table cuisine. Along the way, we delve into the mythology of the persimmon and figure out why everyone should love the praying mantis. We’ll help beginners get into vermiculture, share growing tips for every region and much, much more.
Thank you to WQ’s mastermind, Celestine Maddy, for taking the time and energy to put out this gem. We’re big fans around these parts.
Snow Peak Store
If you live in the Portland, OR area – and I know that some of you do – you should be happy to know that Snow Peak, one of our favorites around these parts, is scheduled to open their first store tomorrow, March 1st. Spring Fever ensues.
The shop is located at 410 NW 14th Avenue. Have at it.
DeLorme Gazetteer
As March approaches and road trips are being planned, it’s probably a good time to start thinking about investing in a DeLorme Gazetteer. Some of the best maps around, they include all of this great stuff:
- Back roads, dirt roads and trails
- Elevation contours
- Remote lakes and streams
- Boat Ramps
- Public lands for recreation
- Land use / land cover – forests, wetlands
- Trailheads
- Campgrounds
- Prime hunting and fishing spots
Safe travels, y’all. Don’t get lost.
