I have some photos of the black bear posted on MySpace/SalemTheBear. His name is Salem–he’s a meth-free bear.
In addition to the photos with his friends, there’s one of him with each of the groups that were meetin’ ‘n’ greetin’ after their sets. I don’t know who everybody is, so if it’s you, please let me know!
If I didn’t get your picture this year, maybe next time? It was a lot of fun.
I hope you got to hear Railroad Earth do your song.
Railroad Earth was tree-mendous!
awesome photos, especially of the Lovell Sisters…Lord have mercy! :thumbsup
There’s one more of Tim O’Brien with Salem that I took with a friend’s camera. He was funny! I asked if I could take a picture with the bear. He said, “Sure, let that guy take the picture.” I told I only wanted him and the bear. But he wouldn’t hold the bear. So, I had to hold the bear up with one hand and take the picture with the other. Meanwhile, Tim was saying, “Hear I am with the bear. I’m hanging out with a bear!”
And the one with Bela and Toumani! Bela asked, “Do I have to?” I answered, as I usually did throughout the weekend, “Everybody gets their picture with the Bear.” I was hoping to get a shot with Jerry Douglas, but I guess he was busy with his 25th Telluride celebration and didn’t make it to the signing table this year.
The Lovell Sisters were so sweet about the photo!
We saw Salem in line with us several times. What is the story behind Salem?
Also, considering your last name I was wondering if we might give Salem the nickname “Bridget”.
Lucky Salem 
okay, So i tried to comment on your myspace page, but we’re not friends so it wouldn’t let me! The pic where you are asking “who is this?” where the guy on the far left is wearing glasses is Yonder Mountain String Band.
UselessJo,
I recognized your photo, too.
Salem is my recovery bear. He helped me kick my 30 year speed addiction about 9 years ago. He already had a name, and he was already an experienced recovery having helped my friend through a couple of bone graft surgeries.
Bridget, that’s funny :lol. My name is really Randy (not Pete) and Bardo was a name I thought I was making up. Many years back, I got the nickname “Pete” quite accidentally when one of our suppliers showed up at our door asking for “Pete, the long-haired cowboy.” The name stuck with me. I was entering a country-music battle of the bands and needed a band name. I kept “Pete” and needed something “sexy” to add to it. I immediately thought of Bridget (who spells her name Bardot). I change the spelling to Bardo, as in the 13 bardos in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Little did I know that “Bardo” is a very notorious family name here in Arizona. We called the band “Pete Bardo and the Lost Ranger Show”.
You can call him Bridget if you like, but I’ve never seen him in drag–at least not yet. His name, “Salem”, is a reference to Salem, MA, where the witches come from. He’s a magical bear with powers of a warlock.
See if you can find your picture and leave a comment as to who you are.
Thanks for looking.
Still figuring out MySpace. Looks like you’ll need to be friends with Salem to post a comment there. He needs all the friends he can get :wave
Let me know here who you are and I’ll update mySpace.