American Journeys -- First big festival of the season in France

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

There must be 40 country western festivals in France each year.... the season is about to kick off with American Journeys -- the first big festival of the summer season, June 1-2 in Cambrai, near the Belgian border.

The line-up includes a variety of types, from rockabilly to country to bluegrass rock, and there are stands and other atractions. Oh, and line-dancing of course; this is France after all.

Oh, Those Czechs...

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Oh, those Czechs.... I love this! "Kovboj z Teplic" by Kamil Střihavka and No Guitars. 1995

Cowboy hat smuggler caught in Norway.....

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


Hmmmm.

The English-language Swedish news site The Local reports that a smuggler was caught trying to take 500 cowboy hats over the border into Norway....(oh, along with tobacco and booze):

“This is our largest seizure of cowboy hats,” said Morten Nystuen of the Kongsvinger customs to the Glåm Dalen newspaper.

“We’ve had to confiscate clothes before, but never cowboy hats,” he told the paper.

The driver was reportedly a Polish man who was travelling across Sweden’s (wild) western border from Arviken towards Norway’s capital Oslo on Tuesday night.
When officials searched his car, they uncovered some 12,400 cigarettes, 20 kilogrammes of tobacco, 144 litres of beer and 32 litres of wine.