BBB's Blog
If you've ever wondered what it's like to run a magazine or how crazy my personal life is, be sure to read the behind-the-scenes peek at the daily trials and tribulations of running True West. Culled straight from my Franklin Daytimer, it contains actual journal entries, laid out raw and uncensored. Some of it is enlightening. Much of it is embarrassing, but all of it is painfully true.
In addition to this current journal, my early journal entries show the rocky road and money lost in the True West Business Timeline.
Bob's biography - The Unvarnished Truth
May 25, 2012
Working this morning on several fronts. In the middle of a James Gang painting that I need to deliver to Iowa next month. Also angling to complete the Wyatt Earp time travel.
Just approved Dan The Man's new cover for August. Dan pitched us on the idea of Photoshopping the heads of the real Butch and Sundance onto the bodies of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in their iconic death charge. I told him I thought it would never work and for good measure I told him I would buy him lunch if he could pull that off.
He did.
When I got into work I saw this:
BBB,
You made the front page of today’s Prescott Courier, and it wasn’t for cattle rustling! See the story. Congratulations.
—John Langellier
As a matter of fact, I'll be at the Phippen Museum, north of Prescott, tomorrow showing off the mini-bronze of Not-So-Gentle Tamer. See you there.
"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure—try to please everybody."
—Herbert Bayard Swope
Bob Boze 10:22 AM
May 24, 2012
Working on finishing our train issue. I have a pet peeve about horseback riders attacking a train, as they invariably do in the movies (think Shanghai Noon where Owen Wilson channels Led Zeppelin and rides down a hill with other outlaws to rob a train). Most horses hate trains and want nothing to do with riding up next to them, EVEN when they're standing still! Think about it: the train is made of metal. The engineer can duck down. They don't have to pull over.
The reality of robbing trains in the Old West was to get on the train at a station, sneak up on the engineer by crawling over the coal car and at gunpoint making him stop the train, or, to put obstacles on the track, or derail the train. In my humble estimation, the absolute best portrayal of this, on film, is a Western that was a box office disaster. Can you name it?
I have spent some time studying the Old Vaqueros. I love their look and regret their current assimilation into the mainstream North American Cowboy Look.
"Sometimes you have to be silent to be heard."
—Old Vauqero Saying
Bob Boze 4:10 PM
May 23, 2012
One of the reasons I considered myself the director at the shoot on Monday is because I drew the storyboards for the sequences. Here's the one for the George Warren horse race:
The cell phone videos I posted yesterday were depicting the last three images.
Meanwhile, here is a sketch of Wyatt Earp vs. The Kick Boxer:
And what would it look like if The Last Baby Boomer (wearing Google Glasses) was spinning a tale about Wyatt Earp vs. The Kick Boxer and also Wyatt's race horse Dick Naylor?
Regarding yesterday's post about the number of director's on the set for Outrageous Arizona:
"As long as BBB is present, no production will ever lack a director."
—Charles Waters
Bob Boze 4:26 PM
May 22, 2012
It was a scorcher yesterday, and me and my crazy friends, spent the day shooting video out at Pioneer, Arizona. Thanks to Dr. Buck Montgomery and friends we had some good looks and good actors to choose from. It was a very ambitious shoot with a shot list that topped more than a dozen set ups.
We started at eight sharp and shot in doors without AC in the morning, so we wanted to get those done and "in the can" first. Taped Jana Bommersbach, doing four talking-head segments in the Victorian House, then switched gears for a re-enactment of a Burt Alvord poker game in the parlor (which stood in for a Willcox club room). Finished at noon and had a catered lunch in the Road To Ruin Saloon (which is about ten feet from where I got married in July of 1979). Drank a gallon of water and made it outside at around two to film a horse race. Temperature was at 108 degrees in the shade. This meant it was about 125 degrees in the sun and we were shooting in a big open area. I captured a short segment of this taping with my cell phone. Note all the directors, but also note that the pushiest one is holding the phone:
And here's the second set up of the same scene with even more director's. I guess you could call this the director's cut.
Finished at five on the nose. Long day, but well worth it. Shared a Corona with the executive producer, Ken Amorosano (the last guy in the last shot, above) in the $150,000 motor home. The show has the working title of Outrageous Arizona and we are going to feature the many characters who have made Arizona what it is today.
Next stop Prescott, and then up on the rim, both much cooler shoots to be sure.
"A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of a man."
—John Adams
Bob Boze 4:21 PM
May 20, 2012
Got a big video shoot in the morning. Getting prepped for that.
Meanwhile, we had 2000 fires last year (a record) and it appears we are off to a roaring start this year. We've got a big one burning not far from Cave Creek, in the Bradshaws, threatening Crown King, the tiny town with the mining past. I believe it's part of the same fire that's decimated Battle Flat (site of a famous 1860s gunfight we just covered in True West). This one is the Gladiator Fire. When you have fires all around you and it's the talk of the town it tends to get into my paintings. Did this impression of it today, based in part by my impressions of driving through the Wallow Fire last summer:
Meanwhile, got another fire burning near Sunflower:
And another fire in Utah, southwest of Salt Lake City:
And another in Coloroado (Fire On The Mountain):
These fires create their own weather system and kick up clouds thousands of feet in the air. Really devastating and spectacular at the same time:
And not to be outdone, I'm still trying to nail the late light painting (similar problems to fire lighting). This is Last Light On Morningstar Study #99:
—Garrison Keillor, in the New York Times
Bob Boze 1:30 PM
May 18, 2012
Gave a history talk to the Rotary Club at the Anthem Country Club this morning. great group. Very funny crowd, lots of laughs all around.
Last week, Ken Amorosano and I motored up to Prescott Valley to see the new bronze "Not-So-Gentle Tamer" at Bronzesmith. And speaking of the sculpture and the inspiration for it, here is my grandmother Louise Guess with her husband Robert Guess and their first born, Sadie Pearl. Photo taken in 1915 between Steins Pass and Lordsburg, New Mexico. My cousin, Tap Lou Weir, sent me this.
Although I didn't have access to this photo at the time, you can see there is a solid resemblance to my "Not-So-Gentle Tamer".
From Prescott Valley, Ken and I then motored on to Prescott to meet John Langellier at the newly refurbished Elk Opera Theater. We got the royal tour. That's Ken in the cowboy hat and John, seated.
This past week I met the stage director Kate Hawkes, who is doing a play at the fabulous refurbished Elks Opera Theater. I asked her what she is working on and here is her reply:
I am working on Fred and Mary: An Unconventional Romanceby Prescott playwright Micki Shelton (check it out at www.mickishelton.com. The world premier of any play is a big deal and this one about Lady Architect Mary Jane Colter and railroad entrepreneur Fred Harvey dealing largely with many of the wonderful buildings at the Grand Canyon, opening IN the year of the AZ centennial celebration is spiced with extra challenge! Telling an historical the story through an imaginative lens of ‘what if’ we take people to the Grand Canyon IN the the Elks Opera House. My biggest challenge right now is aligning all the pieces – costumes, set, images for projection! Oh and finding a place to rehearse for 3 weeks! (our own space the size of the stage of the Opera House) We have a dynamite cast and a great team of designers. Now we have to find the lumber to build the set (any donations out there gladly received!) and then I can get down to what I love the most. Working with the actors!
Meanwhile, my good friend Kevin Mulkins has shared with me some of his original Wyatt Earp photos. Check this one out:
I've never seen this one before. If you want to see more of Kevin's amazing collection you can see it right here.
Meanwhile, got this from Wild Bill Hickok expert extraordinaire Joe Rosa last week:
I wish someone would write a factual article about Tom Mix, on the lines that I did on Buck Jones back in 1966. His early life has been made legendary in much the same way as Earp's so it came as a shock to learn that he deserted from the army in the early 1900's. I still recall the morning of October 15 or 16, 1940 when as a very small boy I came in to the room as the B. B. C. newscaster was reviewing the headlines, and he said something like: "Hollywood regrets to announce the death of the cowboy star Mr. Tom Mix in a car accident." I remember my nother letting out a large "Agh" which made me ask who Mix was! Then in 1942 my own hero Buck Jones had similar treatment following his death in the Boston Coconut Grove fire. Amazing how things like that stick in the mind when more important or life-enhancing or changing things do not . . .
—Joe Rosa
Sometimes headlines tickle and inspire me:
Mom, 37, Plays College Softball
This was an actual headline in the paper. Here's a headline that I could write:
Man, 65, Thinks He Could Have Played College Hardball
This afternoon I am storyboarding two segments of our proposed TV show that begins filming next Monday. Talking to Dr. Buck Montgomery about actors for the bits. Going to be fun. Love this stuff.
"The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil and tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who suffer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic."
—George Orwell
Bob Boze 3:39 PM
May 17, 2012
Got up this morning and whipped out another take on "Last Light On Morningstar". This is number 98:
Dan The Man Harshberger came out at ten and we had a design review for our next issue. At 11:30 we broke up the meeting and gathered at Robert Ray's computer to discuss train images. I got waylaid by another matter and Dan said loudly, "Myu-ah!" Not sure of the spelling but the phonetical sounds like Mmm-you-ah. This is anglo-mashing of a Hualapai term that means "Come here." We learned this from fellow Kingman athletes and Hualapai tribal members, Delano Havatone, Moon and Squibe Nish and, of course, Alex Suthogomie. Hadn't heard the expression in at least 45 years. Made me laugh. Took this photo to prove it (Dan is quite tickled).
The Cowboy Hats of Promontory Point
I have often studied the famous Golden Spike Ceremony at Promontory Point photographs. I love it because of the variety of hats on display. Did this page of sketches off one of the photos two nights ago:
As you can clearly see, there is one hat (upper, right) that looks remarkably like a 1930s Hoot Gibson hat. You know, kind of like this one:
Yes, this is my custom made Westerner of The Year Beaver Brand hat. Surely this style of hat didn't exist in the 1860s, did it? Well, take a gander at the Promontory Photo one more time:
Do you see it? Here, let me zoom in on it for you:
Now, lest you think this is a photo fluke ("He grabbed it like that but the brim didn't really curl up on the sides like that."), well, there were multiple photographers there that day and one of them took a photo of the same scene one second later. Here's the same dude:
A little grainy (didn't have the original), but not only is the white hat a large Hoot Gibson style sombrero, it also appears to have a pencil curl, just like my Beaver Brand. As I jotted in my sketchbook there are no new hats, just old hats forgotten. Remember this the next time you criticize someone for wearing a hat with curled up sides and pronounce it as "not historically accurate.""I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it."
—William Sherman
Bob Boze 1:57 PM
