A green mojave

Calico & the Off-Brand Band.

Sam Shepherd, Cruising Paradise
The Black Keys, Brothers
John Fahey, The Legend of Blind Joe Death
Ry Cooder, Chavez Ravine

Media Announcements: Just as you are finally shaking off the last residue of 2010, here is my two-weeks-late Best of 2010 roundup at OutsideLeft. OffBeat reposted my Gordon Gano + Lost Bayou Ramblers video, underscoring what a good idea their collaboration is. The tale of that evening plus that of a house party featuring the charming folk pop duo Calico and the Off-Brand Band (pictured above) and what the haps this week are is all laid out nicely for you in this week's Record Crate for 225.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shooting rusty bean cans with a .22 pistol and looking for snakes. He'd wanted to bring a rattler back with him to show my mother. A green mojave. "Just to prove we were out here,' he'd said. "So she doesn't get other ideas. Starts thinking I'm off tomcatting around or something."

- from "The Real Gabby Hayes" in Sam Shepard's Cruising Paradise. 

Ry Cooder, "Soy Luz y Sombra"