Edward Abbey

Photo (C) Charles A. Hedgcock

" Rock gives reality to the otherwise abstract notion of transhuman time. "

" Who needs astrology? The wise man gets by on fortune cookies. "

On The Day Edward Abbey Died, I wrote this song. It took about a half hour. I guess it was all there ready to come out.

Dear Abbey, is sung to the tune of John Prine's famous "Dear Abby". I hope John doesn't mind my changing the words just a bit..... 8^)

Here's some stuff on Ed Abbey's last public appearance.

For lots of great Ed Abbey merchandise check out Dream Garden Press.
Ken Sanders has made the great R. Crumb artwork from the "1987 Monkey Wrench Gang Calendar" available on the web. (See Abbey's Web below.)

Speaking of the Monkey Wrench Gang, I've started a collection of pictures of Monkey Wrenches.

Here is a GREAT link to tons of Ed Abbey stuff. Many thanks to Christer Lindh for all the good work putting together Abbey's Web.

You can hardly think about Ed Abbey without thinking of Everett Ruess. He was a young man who spent his time wandering thru the desert southwest and then disappeared. I read a great book about him:
Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty
W. L. Rusho
Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City, UT.

Afterwards I wrote this song called Everett.

Another writer/musician who comes to mind in the same thought as Ed Abbey is Katie Lee. She has been around a long time and has more stories and songs about the West than anyone I know of. She has a great book called:
Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle
A History of the American Cowboy in Song, Story and Verse
This book has a two record (CD) set that goes with it. Fantastic! She also has numerous other CDs and books about river rafting in the SW, and generally not being "Fenced!" Katie was one of Ed Abbey's friends who sang or talked at the big party they held after he died to celebrate his life. She sang Kate Wolf's The Rising of the Moon.
I just finished reading her wonderful book, Sandstone Seduction, all about her life and some of the friends and places that made her who she is today. I couldn't put it down.
After that I wrote a little song for her called... (Guess...)     Katie Lee
And I just finished reading All My Rivers Are Gone about the loss of Glen Canyon.
That book was hard to put down and hard to read without crying and/or screaming. Nice work!
Keep singing Katie! Maybe we can bring it back.

I've got some other songs and misc Abbey/Desert stuff to put in here. Stay tuned.

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