Monday, August 13, 2012

Getting ready for Equiblues (and thinking about Roy Rogers)

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I'm gearing up for Equiblues, the annual rodeo and country music festival in St. Agreve, in the Ardeche region of south-central France... Equiblues starts Wednesday and lasts through next weekend. Concerts, line dancing, rodeo, competitions, "western market" etc, all in a charming little French town. The last time I was there -- a local winery even produced "Equiblues" wine....a merlot....


Meanwhile, doodling on the internet here in France, I came across this article about Roy Rogers, the American Singing Cowboy .... I was a huge Roy Rogers fan when I was a kid; I used to watch lots of westerns on TV -- Gene Autry, of course. And Hopalong Cassidy. Then the Range Rider, Cheyenne, Sugar Foot, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Maverick.... etc etc. Roy Rogers was one of my favorites, especially in my, ahem, earliest youth. And Davy Crockett, which was sort of a western. My brother had a coonskin cap that he took off only with the greatest of reluctance. And I wore a fringed leather jacket and led a pack of kids racing about as if we were on horseback....(in the suburbs of Philadelphia)....

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