The Journey Home | by Edward Abbey

Committed Abbey fans — and some in the American West think all Abbey fans should be committed — know Desert Solitaire as his opening fusillade and The Monkey Wrench Gang as his ramshackle adventure novel, but Abbey was a serial anarchist as well, issuing a steady stream of magazine pieces that were as thought-provoking as they were obstreperous. You can’t go wrong with one of the recent anthologies, but if you’re looking for an older collection, try The Journey Home. Subtitled “A Few Words in Defense of the American West,” it finds Abbey at full crank. Don’t miss “Come On In,” “Telluride Blues,” and “Freedom and Wilderness, Wilderness and Freedom.”

“One More Fest” | by Keith Spera

While reading up on Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s battle with cancer and emphysema for this week’s Jamboree, I came across this newspaper article and read it twice. Spera is a music writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and his profile of the fading guitar legend is as poignant as it is well-written. Google “Spera Gatemouth” and you’re sure to find it.

The Asheville Disclaimer

When you’re through perusing this week’s Onion, do yourself a favor and pick up Asheville’s own parody paper, the Disclaimer. It’s almost always good for a chortle, chuckle, or snicker, and sometime a guffaw sneaks in there too. To be sure, the Disclaimer doesn’t bat 1.000, but who does these days? Timely, irreverent, and a wee bit cracked in the brainbox.

Hogs on the Highway | The Bad Livers

If Hunter Pope is reading this, he must be grinning. Hunter liked to rib me about the thousand ways I managed to get Danny Barnes’ projects into this paper, and now I’ve found number 1001. But here’s a true story: I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of this disc in two years. All I had was an empty case, and I assumed the disc was lost or, more likely, stolen. But this morning when I cracked open an old Cornell Hurd CD, there was the prodigal Hogs platter, shining up at me in all its glory. I put it on straight away, and remembered why I love it so. Anchored by the galloping title track, it just may be the best of the Bad Livers’ bounty. Check it out.

— Jay Hardwig