I remember that Leonid Brezhnev would stay up late in the Kremlin watching Westerns.
Though I suspect he wasn't a fan of this "Western":
Posted on 08/24/2007 2:13:12 PM PDT by mojito
On a recent sunny weekend in the usually sleepy town of Craponne-sur-Arzon, American flags festooned the streets, country music blared amid the sidewalk cafés, and hundreds of people milled about in cowboy hats or even top-to-toe Wild West get-ups. Dozens of folks turned local squares in this town in the Haute-Loire region of southern France into impromptu, western-style dance floors.
The catalyst for all this was the annual Country Rendez-Vous, a three-day festival of country-western music and bluegrass that takes place here each summer in late July.
Over the past two decades, country and western festivals have sprung up in many parts of France, sparked by an abiding fascination with the trappings of the American frontier as well as by a craze for line dancing.
(snip)
Founded in 1988, the Craponne Country Rendez-Vous is the oldest French country festival. In its first year it drew just 250 spectators. This year marked the festival's 20th year, and the crowd was estimated at about 30,000 men, women and children. They included country music addicts, Wild West and "American lifestyle" enthusiasts, line dancers, bikers and families out for a day of open-air entertainment.
"For us, 'American' represents the westerns, Texas, the Indians, freedom," said Dominique, who lived near Dijon and was dressed in jeans, boots, a shirt emblazoned with American flags, a cowboy hat and carried a pistol strapped to her hips. Her husband, a retired railway worker, was outfitted in similar garb. "For decades we've only listened to country music," she added. "No French music, only country music and bluegrass."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
I remember that Leonid Brezhnev would stay up late in the Kremlin watching Westerns.
Though I suspect he wasn't a fan of this "Western":
LOL His signature sound :) I love it.
There was a fantastic book that came out over 10 years ago, I think, about the West, a kind of humorous coffee table book on the history, lore, and kitcsh. It was written by a husband and wife, IIRC. I can’t remember the name of it, and it’s driving me crazy, because I didn’t buy it then (I worked in a bookstore too!), and I want to, and I don’t remember the title!
We would welcome French visitors out here in the “real” west.
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