In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below. Read the rest of this entry »

High temps, old west costumes, Mexican vaqueros, and three fiddling sisters all rolled into town today for the City of Santa Clarita’s Cowboy Festival at Melody Ranch in Placerita Canyon.

Hundreds of people were walking the dirt streets of Melody Ranch -the setting for several motion pictures and television series about the old west- by noon. Temperatures were in the 90s and the dusty street sometimes kicked sand up in people’s eyes, but that didn’t matter, it was still a lot of fun.

It was my first time attending the event since way back in the 1990s, and I had forgotten how cool it was. You don’t even have to be a died-in-the-wool cowboy to appreciate this celebration of western culture, art, and skills.

I stopped in on a few music events. One woman had traveled all the way from Denver to sing songs of the west while strumming her banjo inside a music hall that looked straight out of the 1800s.

Down the street, three young men crooned “Don’t Fence Me In” with banjos, fiddles and guitars as the crowd bobbed their heads, sang along and fanned themselves.

And in the biggest venue at the show under a large white tent, three sisters named the Quebe sisters thrilled the audience with their fiddle playing. Most of the songs were about lost love, old time religion -that sort of thing- but they also played some wicked instrumental fiddle music (think Devil Went Down to Geogria.)

It was obvious many participants at the festival had planned for a long time on what to wear. I especially enjoyed seeing how some of the women dressed. If those costumes were an accurate representation of how women of high-society dressed back in the day, men I think we are missing out today! Some of the women dressed in old-time clothes were simply stunning.

As for the men- well, I’m not convinced they were playing dress-up at all. Whether it was the old man who’s face had endured 10,000 hot sunny days on a ranch somewhere or the gigantic cowboy wearing shitkickers and real round spikey things (to hit the horse with I think), these men looked and acted the part. Some had big handlebar mustaches, others had hands so weathered one wondered how they could be so dexterous when handling a lasso. These were the kind of salt-of-the-earth men you’d see in an advertisement for Ford trucks, men who hold contempt for girly-men like me who sit behind computers all day.

One cowboy stood at least 7′7 feet tall, and I was quite shocked. “They must grow ‘em big down on the ranch,” I thought, then realized he was on stilts.

My favorite part of today’s performances was Benito “Benny” Martinez and his trick pony. Martinez and his group talked a bit about the history of the Mexican Cowboys or Vaqueros, and it was great to see an element of Mexican culture that is so similar yet distinct from our’s. Then Benny and his horse did several tricks. Benny spun a lasso around the calm horse, made the horse lie down, rear up, and even do sort of a two step with Martinez as he walked around.

This being an event in the SCV, one can’t escape the scores and scores and scores of vendors at the festival, but people seemed to enjoy the selection of fine western wear and lots and lots and lots of ten gallon hats.

Overall, it was a great time, and I encourage you to go tomorrow. I hear there’s three brothers who are going to play and are absolutely awesome with the fiddle.

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I love those creative students up at Cal Arts. I just found a video from 1991 in which several students make music with pots, pans, forks, knives, mixers, bowls and much more.

There’s even an old video of Julia Child on in the background.

Unfortunately I don’t have more information on who did this or why, but it’s pretty entertaining.

You’ve seen the City Council Candidate signs everywhere by now, and local videographer/blogger Sterling King wants you to know it’s not cool to abuse or mark up the signs with your political thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »

An anonymous YouTuber who’s account was created just in the last few days has posted a humorous albeit mean video of Councilmember Frank Ferry during some of his….finer moments. Read the rest of this entry »

Sterling King grabbed this Fox LA News report on Tuesday night’s city council meeting, in which dozens of skateboarders showed up to protest the planned closure of their skate park until a new one is built. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we begin a new topic on SCVTalk by sharing some footage from a television or movie filmed in whole or in part in Santa Clarita and talking about it. Our first blast-from-the-past is the intro footage to CHiPs, the popular late 1970s police drama that featured two handsome CHP motorcyle officers and their adventures in Southern California. Read the rest of this entry »

I feel compelled to find new places to look at our river because we rarely get to see it in such a turbulent, powerful state. I found some new vantage points this weekend, and the river didn’t disappoint. The last clip was the hardest to get and involved me trespassing on farmland, climbing over barbed wire, and sinking in ankle-deep mud, but it was definitely worth it. Read the rest of this entry »

Three straight days of rain…where does it all go? Check out my silly little video with some interesting river footage.

Jim Farley once opposed the formation of an open space district with taxpayer funds, but once voters approved it, he asked to serve on the committee’s audit panel and promised to serve professionally. Here he asks the City Council why it’s taking so long to create the committee as the Council considers making its first purchase with the funds.