American Boy Scouts

Former  Boy Scout William van Druten has had it with Boy Scouts of America. He is encouraging other former Boy Scouts to speak out, return medals to BSA or otherwise protest BSA bigotry.

William van Druten, M.D., who founded Lake Superior Freethinkers, a chapter of FFRF in Duluth, Minn., was part of Troop 88, San Francisco. He sent a photo of himself to BSA pictured with his Eagle Scout medal and the words “ashamed.” Van Druten called BSA’s stance against nonbelieving members and its recent decision to reaffirm its stance against gay membership “a gross disgrace.” For van Druten, it will not be “once an Eagle, always an Eagle” after BSA ‘s reaffirmation to ban openly gay members. The discrimination against nontheists is apparently so entrenched BSA didn’t even bother to reaffirm it.

Van Druten recalled being “proud” when he earned his badge. “Nobody bothered us with what superstition we had or did not have, whether we were straight, gay, black, white, yellow or grey. We learned lashing, tenting, knotting, truth telling. We hiked the California coastal mountains, learned the trees, shrubs and birds. We backpacked the High Sierra. Yet now I discover that my youth’s delight is captured by bigots. So I am now ashamed of my badges and of my eagle award, too.”

Van Druten’s daughter, a high school teacher, wrote BSA that she will no longer be writing “recommendations for young men who are pursuing an Eagle Scout Badge. I will be telling them that there is nothing wrong with being gay, there is nothing wrong with being an atheist, and there is nothing wrong with being black. Yes, I equate them all. It is a hateful policy, and I refuse to help you perpetuate it.”

 “The Scouts had the chance to live up to their code. To set a good example for the youth of this country. Instead it chose the wrong path.”

The Inspector Cluzo

The Inspector Cluzo is a rock band formed in 2008 by Laurent Lacrouts and  Mathieu Jourdain, both former members of Wolfunkind (natives of Mont-de-Marsan). The band consists of two musicians only, Malcolm (Lawrence Lacrouts) on guitar and Phil (Mathieu Jourdain) on drums. The group's name was found by their friend Angelo Moore, lead singer of Fishbone.

After a first EP released in early 2008, they released their first album in late 2008 entitled "The Inspector Cluzo", which contains titles including "Two Days" and "Fuck The Bass Player". The album was hailed by the French and international press, especially in Japan, where they immediately participated in Fuji Rock Festival.

In April 2010 appeared the second album by The Inspector Cluzo entitled "The French Bastards". One of the tracks was ahead of Lady Gaga in the Japanese commercial radio charts in May 2010.

In February 2012 they released their third album "The two musketeers". This album has the distinction of being a "bd-album" (graphic novel), the cd is included within the comic that serves as a wallet.
In three years, the group has sold 50,000 copies of their first two albums. They follow the philosophy of "Do It Yourself". Implanted in them in Mont-de-Marsan (Gascony), they ardently defend their independence by doing everything themselves (label, booking, management, recording and editing through their structures Ter a Terre Records and FuckTheBassPlayer) and adopting a organization working 360 degrees.

Ardent defenders of their native Gascony and independence, The Inspector Cluzo claims repeatedly their original a fully autonomous choice and rural structure. The attachment of two members of the group for the Stadium Mons Rugby, as well as their passion for duck and Armagnac, are all examples.

Musically, The Inspector Cluzo a mix of rock and funk, which might suggest a meeting between Rage Against The Machine and the Jackson 5, or AC/DC 12 and Curtis Mayfield.

Father Paolo Dall'Oglio

Father Paolo Dall'Oglio (1954) is an Italian Jesuit priest and peace activist. He was exiled from Syria by the government of Bashar al-Assad in 2012 for meeting with members of the opposition and criticizing the actions of the al-Assad regime during the Syrian civil war. He was kidnapped by rebels on 29 July 2013.

efore his exile, he had served for three decades at the Deir Mar Musa, a 6th-century monastery 80 kilometres north of Damascus. He has been credited with the reconstruction of the Mar Musa complex and its reinvention as a centre of interfaith dialogue.

In 2011, Paolo Dall'Oglio wrote an article pleading for a peaceful democratic transition in Syria, based on what he called "consensual democracy". He also met with opposition activists and participated in the funeral service for the 28-year-old Christian filmmaker Bassel Shehadeh, who had been murdered in Homs

The Syrian government reacted sharply and issued an expulsion order. Paolo Dall'Oglio ignored the order for a couple of months and continued living in Syria. However, following the publication of an open letter to UN special envoy Kofi Annan in May 2012, he obeyed his bishop who urged him to leave the country. He left Syria on 12 June 2012 and joined in exile the newly established Deir Maryam al-Adhra of his community in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.

In December 2012, Paolo Dall'Oglio was awarded the Peace Prize of the Italian region of Lombardy that is dedicated to persons having done extraordinary work in the field of peacebuilding.

In late July 2013 Paolo Dall'Oglio entered rebel held territory in eastern Syria but was soon kidnapped by the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, while walking in Raqqa on 29 July. Opposition sources from Raqqa said that Paolo Dall'Oglio has been executed by the extremist group. The claims are not yet confirmed.

Bérets ("Tartes") Alpin Universel

The Tarte Alpin is Boneteria Auloronesa's largest diameter beret, the "last line of defence between the head and the clouds", as the manufacturer describes it, at 12 pouces (or 336mm diameter). 

These artisan made berets are of a denser quality wool, ensuring they keep their shape well and give ultimate protection from the weather - any weather!

Similar to all Bérets Universel, these berets are fitted with an internal drawstring, making them fully size adjustable.

Carving, Carvers & Berets

 Carving by Jesús Berecibar

Pair of busts of two Basques, a woman and a man. 1920s.  Wood. Bust of woman is signed E.Ocio. Dimensions 25 x 15.5 x 12.5 cm women and 23.5 x 13 x 12.5 cm man.

Carving on wooden plate; artist and date unknown

Santiago de Compostilla, 1977. Angel Rodriguez carves wooden (religious) figures.

Concarneau's Berets

Panorama Concarneau

Concarneau (Breton: Konk Kerne, meaning Bay of Cornwall) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.

The harbour in Concarneau

The town has two distinct areas: the modern town on the mainland and the medieval Ville Close, a walled town on a long island in the centre of the harbour. Historically, the old town was a centre of shipbuilding. The Ville Close is now devoted to tourism with many restaurants and shops aimed at tourists. However restraint has been shown in resisting the worst excesses of souvenir shops. Also in the Ville Close is the fishing museum. The Ville Close is connected to the town by a drawbridge and at the other end a ferry to the village of Lanriec on the other side of the harbour.

Valentin Zubiaurre; the colors of the sails and clothing of Concarneau

In August the town holds the annual Fête des Filets Bleus (Festival of the blue nets). The festival, named after the traditional blue nets of Concarneau's fishing fleet, is a celebration of Breton and pan-Celtic culture. Such festivals can occur throughout Brittany but the Filets Bleus is one of the oldest and largest, attracting in excess of a thousand participants in traditional dress with many times that number of observers. In 2005, the 100th festival was celebrated.

Terrick Williams: Concarneau

Interestingly, many pictures and paintings of Concarneau depict berets; on workers, sailors and fishermen. 

Bigorre... gens d'ici

"Bigorre... gens d'ici",  is a photographic testament to the shepherds and small villages of the Bigorre, on the northern slopes of the high Pyrenees, by Pierre Duffour, 

I bought my copy when in oloron Sainte Marie, last year, while visiting the factory of Laulhere; a beautiful picture book loaded with berets and the most characterful people.
At the same time, it is the story of old people in small villages where all the young ones have left, men who became shepherds because, as one of them said, "in those days there wasn't much choice".  

Photographer and author Pierre Duffour has his own blog too, full of beautiful work: http://pierre-duffour.blogspot.fr/

Five Years The Beret Project

Sunday afternoon, April 5, 2009: the very first post on The Beret Project:

- - - - - - -

Wisdom

Visera: para aquellos que no se atreven con la boina.

Peaked Cap: for people who don't dare to wear a beret.

Web site Boinas Elosegui

- - - - - - -

Five years of (almost) daily beret blogging. I recall thinking, some years ago now (like every so often ever since), how soon there would be nothing more to write about regarding berets. I have proved myself wrong, again and again. 

It really is amazing how such a humble piece of headgear, not much more than a circular shaped piece of felted wool, holds such a formidable place in history; worn by artists and scientists, revolutionaries and tyrants, pacifists and commandos, photographers, girl scouts, intellectuals of all kind and on both sides of the political divide, etc., etc.

A seemingly never ending flow of material to publish about.

Happy Birthday and let's see where we'll be in another five years!

Francesco Tullio Altan's 'Cipputi'

Francesco Tullio Altan (born 30 September 1942) is an Italian comics artist and satirist.

 He was born in Treviso, the son of Friulan anthropologist Carlo Tullio Altan. He studied at the University IUAV of Venice, but halted his studies to work for cinema and TV as a scenographer and writer. In 1970 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he created his first comics series for children, published in a local newspaper. In 1974 he began collaboration with Italian publishers.

His best known character for adult readers is Cipputi, a communist industrial worker who was the subject of numerous daily panels for newspapers such as L'Unità and La Repubblica, Christopher Columbus, Casanova and Franz (a parody of St. Francis of Assisi).

 Altan's satirical panels were also published in magazines such as Panorama and, more recently, L'Espresso.

Plato Grande Festival!

Right in time for that northern hemisphere summer: the brand new Boinas Tolosa Tupida Plato Grande in cotton are in!

A great selection of colours -never seen before- in generous 35cm diameter cotton berets.

No more red-necks; this is the ultimate sun-wear, large enough to cover any part of your face and neck.

Jos van den Berg

Jos van den Berg was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, etcher and graphic designer,

Van den Berg was born in the naval port of Den Helder, in 1905. Initially, van den Berg was handicapped by his dwarfish stature, but he managed to set up a good name for himself. Joop Kropff was a good friend of van den Berg and had a great influence on his work.

Van den Berg got known for his paintings, as a draughtsman and etcher of portraits, figural motifs (including nude), still lifes and landscapes in realistic style

Moored sailing vessels near the coast 

In 1956 he received the Jacob Hartog price. He was a member of Pulchri Studio since 1935 and the The Hague Kunstkring (Artists Society) . He died in 1978 in The Hague.

Han Wezelaar

Henri Matthieu (Han) Wezelaar (1901 - 1984) was a Dutch sculptor. He is seen as an important representative of modernism.

From 1918 to 1922 Han Wezelaar studied at the National School of Applied Arts by, encouraged by the painter Herman Kruyder. He married his classmate Margaretha Wilhelmina Visser and the couple went to the French Collioure, where he was inspired by the Mediterranean light. After about a year the couple moved to Paris where Han Wezelaar worked in the studio of Ossip Zadkine.

In 1929 Wezelaar met Aristide Maillol, Charles Despiau and Adam Fischer. All were focused more on classical sculpture and Wezelaar abruptly stopped his expressionist style. In 1933, Margaret gave birth to a daughter, and the following year the family moved back to Amsterdam for financial reasons. His French style shook the established sculptors awake: they were still working in the style of the Amsterdam School full of Socialist symbolism. Wezelaar became the leader of the movement.

He was selected for the world exhibition in Brussels and Paris, the Venice Biennale in 1936 and '38 and the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco in 1939. He was, also in 1939, co-organizer of the first Rodin exhibition in the Netherlands.

When World War II broke out Wezelaar refused to join the Dutch Chamber of Culture and dried his revenues; his marriage ended in the same period. Around 1955 abstraction came as a new approach to sculpture. Wezenaar’s position as an innovator radically changed when he and his colleagues of classicism were named the "doll makers". 

His last public works, ‘Rembrandt van Rijn’ and ‘Peat Diggers Memorial’, were slated and Wezelaar withdrew from public life. In 1984 he died of cancer.

Tarte Chasseur for James Bond

Sony Pictures Entertainment, director Sam Mendes and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have now officially confirmed rumours from the Sundance Film Festival that Daniel Craig wears a tarte chasseur alpin in the upcoming 24th James Bond film. The new 007 movie is being written by John Logan, a screenwriter on Bond film #23, “Skyfall”. It will be filmed in the French Alps, among other locations.

The manufacturer of the 007 beret has not been officially disclosed, but one long-time French beret maker reportedly leased adjacent industrial property to expand production in anticipation of explosive demand for berets after release of the film in the United States on November 6, 2014 and in Britain on October 23 of that year.

“Not every James Bond fan can afford a classic Citroën 007-2CV,” said one film critic at the recent Sundance Film Festival. “But they can have a beret for little more than the price of two movie tickets.”

South Pacific Berets will be the sole distributor of these berets, carrying the UKMV badge in embroidered gold thread. Sales are not to start before 15 September, 2014, but open for pre-orders. 

José Zeca Afonso

José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos, known as Zeca Afonso (1929 – 1987), was born in Aveiro, Portugal, the son of José Nepomuceno Afonso, a judge, and Maria das Dores.

Zeca is among the most influential folk and political musicians in Portuguese history. He became an icon among Portuguese left-wing activists due to the role of his music in the resistance against the dictatorial regime of Oliveira Salazar, resistance that triumphed in 1974 with the pro-democratic leftist military coup of the Carnation Revolution.

His song Grândola, Vila Morena is closely associated with the revolution. In the ensuing revolutionary process, Zeca was a very active musician and continued composing political and folk songs, often criticizing the post-revolutionary changes. Years after his death, Zeca Afonso is still widely listened to, not only in Portugal, but also abroad.

Thank you, Pedro

Berets and Marketing

Although it may sound strange, from someone running an on-line beret shop, the nicest way of buying a beret, I believe, is over the counter from an old grandmother in an even older store that sells -apart from berets (not individually packed - just a stack of them in acorner of the store) - vegetables, hardware, newspapers, cooking utensils, groceries, some clothing, espadrilles... You'll get the idea. I remember those kind of shops in rural France and Belgium, on summer holidays some 45 years ago. 

There are not many left. The last one that came close for me was a small shop in Anso (Spain), where I noticed a box with a beret label on the shelves, but alas, it was no more than the old box...

Different times, different marketing. Now you best buy your berets on-line, I guess, and all information is found on web pages. But, have a look at these beautiful boxes: 

These are all American made, in an attempt to make the beret inside even more appealing to potential customers.

I love the text on the back-side of this box here:

Berets, Bonnets and Such...

This interesting picture was sent to me without any further details, but it clearly depicts berets and similar hats.

Nr.5 is the typical small diameter French beret, while Nr.6 seems very much a Basque or Bearnaise shepherd, wearing a larger beret to protect him from the weather in the mountains. Nr.7 is without question a Chasseur Alpin wearing a 'tarte'. 
All the other hats have some likeness to the beret, but are not (although it's hard to tell re. numbers 1 and 2) - I guess you'd call them bonnets and sailor hats. 

Samuel Sebban & Sauce Béarnaise

Samuel Sebban is a young graduate from the Pau (Béarn) Business School, who had the brilliant idea of marketing Béarnaise Sauce in Béarn.  

Béarnaise sauce is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks, white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire. The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallot, chervil, peppercorn, and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemon juice or white wine.

The interesting thing is: Béarnaise Sauce is not from Béarn at all! Like calling the ‘beret’ a ‘Basque beret’, the name is all based on a mistake.

The sauce was first created by the chef Collinet, the inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées), and served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV, a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, not far from Paris. His restaurant was named Henry IV of France, who was a gourmet himself, and born in the province of Béarn.The sauce was named in Henry IV’s honour.

Samuel Sebban runs his own delicatessen store, Bord de Gave, in the centre of Pau, selling all goodies Béarnaise.