Music: Berroguetto

I want to take this opportunity to once again extol the praises of CDRoots.com I've found some of my absolute favorite music on this website; stuff that I would never have come across anywhere else. Cliff Furnald, who runs the site, specializes in unique and hard-to-find folk music, roots music, world music, anything and everything you could ever want to hear. In the past I've gotten a lot of my Scandinavian albums from CDRoots but lately I've been exploring his catalogue a bit more adventurously. And that's how I got introduced to Berroguetto, an incredible band from Galicia (northwestern Spain, right above Portugal). I got there fourth and most recent album 10.0 and am absolutely blown away by it. They're a seven piece band: vocals, guitar, bouzouki, accordion, violin, flutes / bagpipes, percussion, and lots of other great sounding instruments. It's highly accessible contemporary folk music and I think almost anyone with an open ear would appreciate their arrangements and flawless musical taste. Click here for more info on their various recordings. And, just a heads up... I haven't gotten it yet but there's a brand new Ale Moller Band album out called Djef Djel that will certainly be worth checking out. Happy listening.

The Sweet, Sunny South - Part III

I've got one more post of photos from the southeast tour we did a couple weeks ago. Thought I'd start with a little birding update. I was able to add a bunch of new year birds while we were in the Carolinas and two new lifers: BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH and RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. Sorry no photos. Other highlights were Piping Plover and American Oystercatcher. Since we've been back I've had a handful of new migrants. This morning I was able to get some stunningly colorful photos of Vesper and Savannah Sparrows. So my North American year list is now at 155. I'll be traveling to Maryland and Ohio later this month, then a couple weeks back here before heading to Alaska in May! Okay, on to the photos.

The Sweet, Sunny South - Part II

As some of you may know, I get a kick out of funny signs. These are a few that caught my eye on the road in the southeast...

"Sounds like you've had great experience in not speaking English."

_

Not so much of a command as it is a statement.

"Hey guys, want to run down to the F-mart for some F-dogs?" See, not every letter in the alphabet is as cool as a lower case 'i.' You could call it an 'iMart' but not an 'F-MART.' And I think in order to have the best hot dogs in town you actually need to be located in a town. Just a thought.

Puddle of Pooch dog grooming. Yup, that's what it says.

One stop shopping for all your shrimp, clam and lobster prescriptions.

The Sweet, Sunny South - Part I

Hello everyone. Great Bear recently got back from an eleven day southeast tour! It'll take a couple posts to cover everything so I thought I'd start out with pics of some of the great people we stayed with during the trip.
This is Chris and Jim in Wilmington, NC. Janet and Roger in Traveler's Rest, South Carolina.
Kimbi and Carl in Atlanta, GA with Belu (sp?) the Himalayan Sloth-Bear.
Shawn, Jennifer and Mark in Blacksburg, VA. And finally, Beth and Rebecca Molaro. Beth called with us in SC, NC and VA and we had a great time rockin' out with Rebecca on stage. Thanks everyone for the hospitality, great food and good times. You make the road a much happier place to be.