Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to perform at Big Top next summer

Big Top Announces First Show of the Year




The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will perform a pair of concerts at Bayfield’s canvas jewel Big Top Chautauqua on July 17th and 18th. Both 7:30pm performances will be recorded by the band for a possible “Live from Big Top” album. Tickets for either the Saturday or Sunday shows are $48/$40/$32.



Nitty Gritty Dirt Band formed in Southern California during the spring of 1966 as a scruffy, young jug band. Forty‐two years later, the quartet (Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, Bob Carpenter and John McEuen) is still going strong.



Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s self‐titled debut album, released in 1967, included the pop hit “Buy For Me The Rain.” But it was their 5th record, 1970’s Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy, that would become the band’s breakthrough project, yielding 3 pop hits including their version of Jerry Jeff Walker's “Mr. Bojangles.” Among the many outstanding tracks on Uncle Charlie was a version of Earl Scruggs’ “Randy Lynn Rag.” That cut set into motion what would become the Will the Circle be Unbroken album, a veritable summit of talent which included NDGB’s heroes: Scruggs, Doc Watson, Merle Travis, Roy Acuff and Mother Maybelle Carter. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Circle... album, a three‐LP set, recorded live in the studio in Nashville over six days in 1971, became a landmark event and a multi‐platinum success. Circle remains such a significant effort, that 30 years later it was one of 50 recordings to be honored and preserved by the Library of Congress.



In the early 80’s, after a few more pop hits, the band returned to Nashville once again and began what would become a highly successful career in mainstream country music. Hits that included “Dance Little Jean,” "Workin' Man", "Long Hard Road", “Baby's Got A Hold On Me” and “Fishin' in the Dark” put them at the top of the country charts for over a decade. In 1989, the group revisited the Circle concept, gathering another impressive roster of performers (including Johnny Cash, EmmyLou Harris, Levon Helm, Chet Atkins, Bruce Hornsby, John Hiatt and Roseanne Cash) for sessions that had a pronounced country‐gospel feel. Circle II would go on to win three Grammy Awards and the Country Music Association Album of the Year. In 2002 Circle III (with many current artists added to the previous cast) received similar accolades and attention, garnering the International Bluegrass Music Association Recorded Event of the Year award as well as leading to a 2005 Grammy for Country Instrumental Performance (with Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Jerry Douglas and the late Vassar Clements).



With a career that spans five decades, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has gone from a hippie jug‐band to pioneers of country rock, and their influence is still being felt today.





Information, schedules and ticket prices are available at www.bigtop.org or by calling 888-BIG-TENT (888–244-8368).

You don't fish for Musky: You HUNT 'em !

Anglers long to hook a musky. Allusive, sought after and BIG; the muskellunge knows few predators. One of those is man. You fish for walleye, trout and panfish.

You hunt musky.

Once again, fishermen (and fisherwomen) will be competing for up to $5,000 in prizes in the 4th annual Iron River Musky Tournament on the Pike Lake Chain, Oct. 24 and 25. And again, the BATTLE AXE SALOON on the corner of U.S. 2 and Bayfield County B (South) in Iron River will be where the action is ... when you're not out there casting for this rare fish. Position drawing and music at the Battle Axe Saloon from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.

The catch-n-release, non-transport tournament starts at 7 a.m. Saturday on any Pike Chain lake of your choosing. Judges will be out on the water until 4 p.m.

Food and music at the Battle Axe from 6 p.m. to close Saturday.
Sunday's fishing  action continues at 7 a.m. on the Pike Lake Chain until 2 p.m..
Food and awards at the BATTLE AXE from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The 4th Annual Iron River Musky Tournament is sponsored by the Battle Axe Saloon, Woods & Water Outfitters of Iron River and NJ Custom Builders.

American Book Cooperative moves to Main Street West location in Ashland

The American Book Cooperative will soon be moving to its new location at 3rd Ave. and Main Street West in Ashland.

Conveniently located across the street from Book World on Main Street West, The American Book Cooperative will specialize in antiquated and used books as well as books by local history authors.

It will also have an extensive collection of area poets and playwrights. Besides being a full-service book store, it will also provide a free book search service for customers.

Book dealers including bookshop owners throughout the region are invited to display portions of their collections as a showcase for their shop or private collections.

Besides marketing on the Internet, ABC will advertise in NorthWordNorth, EcoLogic, The Tall Timber Telegraph and other area online and print publications.

Watch NorthWordNorth for updates on the Grand Opening of the American Book Cooperative.

ALL OUR RELATIONS: NATIVE STRUGGLES FOR LAND AND LIFE

An excerpt from ALL OUR RELATIONS, NATIVE STRUGGLES FOR LAND AND LIFE. LaDuke, Winona, South End Press, Cambridge, Mass.; Honor the Earth, Minneapolis, Minn., ISBN 0-89608-599-6, $16. Page 197.

"Somewhere between the teachings of western science and those of the Native community there is some agreement on the state of the world. Ecosystems are collapsing, species are going extinct, the polar icecaps are melting, and nuclear bombings and accidents have contaminated the land.

According to Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, 50,000 species are lost every year. Three-quarters of the world's species of birds are declining, and one-quarter of all mammalian species are endangered. Tropical rainforests, freshwater lakes, and coral reefs are at immediate risk, and global warming and climate change will accelerate the rate of biological decline dramatically.

The writing is on the wall, in bold letters. There is no easy answer, and even scientists themselves seem to recognize the necessity of finding new strategies and understandings. In an unusual gathering in late 1998, for instance, NASA scientist met with Indigenous elders to discuss global warming an to hear the elders' suggestions on possible solutions. The response the scientists received may have been only part of what they had hoped for. As one observer summarized, the elders pretty much responded, 'You did it, you fix it.'

In the final analysis, we humans can say whatever we would like -- rationalize, revise statistical observations, extend deadlines, and make accommodations for a perceived 'common good.' But 'natural law,' as one Yakama fisherman and former director of the Columbia Intertribal Fishing Commission Ted Strong explains, 'is a hard and strict taskmaster.' Dump dioxin into the river, and you will inevitably eat or drink it."

Winona LaDuke speaks out for earth at annual Honor the Earth Benefit Birthday Bash

by Eric Hjerstedt Sharp
editor-publisher
The Tall Timber Telegraph


LA POINTE, Wis. _ "Madeline Island holds a special spiritual significance," said LaDuke at Tom's Burned Down Cafe Thursday night.



Originally called Mooningwanekaaning ("The Home of the Golden Breasted Woodpecker") Madeline Island is the traditional spiritual center of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) people. LaDuke chose Tom's Burned Down Cafe in the town of La Pointe as the venue for her 50th birthday bash and the annual benefit for Honor the Earth, a native-directed and controlled organization of which LaDuke is the executive director. Honor the Earth's mission is "to create awareness and support for indigenous environmental issues and leverage needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable indigenous communities. Honor the Earth develops these resources by using music, the arts, media and indigenous wisdom to ask people to recognize our joint dependency on the earth and be a voice for those who are not heard," according to the organization's mission statement.

LaDuke and the staff of Honor the Earth urged participants to be aware of local food communities and to follow sustainable paths to help the earth heal after centuries of neglect and resource depletion.

Native rocker Keith Secola on guitar and others joined the celebration at Tom's Burned Down Cafe for an evening of music and dance. Secola was joined by Chequamegon Bay-area musicians including Laughing Fox (Michael "Scooter" Charette, flute), Marky Rossow (Marky Mark sax, banjo and drums) and others at the event.

Photos by Chad Lampson, The Tall Timber Telegraph photographer and technical editor






FLUTIST LAUGHING FOX from Red Cliff, Wis. constructs his own flutes. A poet and artist, he has taught people of all ages.

Winona LaDuke

It was an honor meeting Winona LaDuke at Tom's Burned Down Cafe at La Pointe, Wis. Thursday night. Shown here signing her book All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life at her birthday party and fundraiser for Honor the Earth.

This is just a sampling of events THIS weekend in beautiful, bountiful Bayfield Peninsula: compiled by The Tall Timber Telegram, coming soon to a computer near you at www.talltimbertelegram.com

send news and events to: news@talltimbertelegram.com
reserve ad space at ads@talltimbertelegram.com

CORNUCOPIA
TIKI BAR AT VILLAGE INN

July 24 - Andy Noyse
July 25 - 6-9 Russian Church 100th Annv.

(featuring the Balalaika Orchestra)
July 25 - 9-midnight Upnorth Haircut


IRON RIVER

Live Music at Boogies Saloon
Friday, July 24
Busterville plays Rock, Rythm & Blues live at 9:30 p.m.




Live Music at Boogies Saloon
Saturday, July 25
My Device plays Rock live at 9:30 p.m.

Porch Concert Series-White Winter Winery
Sunday, July 26 Spotted Mule, riginal tunes & a few covers for fun.

Held outside rain or shine from 1-4 p.m.