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
December 9, 2013
Working late tonight. Talking to Stuart Rosebrook about assignments in March. He is all over it. We're on a roll. The big Fountain-Garrett assassination package (12 pages!) went to the printer this morning. Final corrections that is. The rest of the magazine went out last Thursday.
So I have been trying to find photo reference for Floyd Cisney's Arizona Highway Patrol car which he drove in the late fifties. I remember that it was white and had unique side symbols but I have not been able to find anything even close. Well, yesterday, Robert Dell of Kingman posted some screen captures from "Edge of Eternity" a 1959 film which is a time capsule of Mohave County life and style. And there it is—Floyd Cisney's ACTUAL car pulling up to Pierce Ferry and if I remember correctly Floyd himself gets out.
Floyd Cisney and the Mohave County Sheriff's Office Head for A Swim
Also working on night neon and night drivers and Mo-ped Mamas, a concept Dan and I came up with way back in the 1970s. In fact we filmed a bit for Channel 5 and one of the Mamas was Kathy Radina, before we were an item. Somewhere I have the footage of that and we need it for the doc.
And speaking of the Razz, one of my favorite articles we did, was a parody of a 1940s style Arizona Highways feature on Arizona towns. They were always slightly racist (The Kingman Fire Department Is Never Niggardly With Their Equipment!) and they always, always treated the areas they covered with a vapid style boosterism (This beautiful area is know for the Four Cs: Copper, Cattle, Citrus and Cabbage!). Well, having grown up in Kingman, Dan and I knew you could make a good case for another kind of unique benefit of the area, and so we came up with this honest attribution:
Where Teens Puke On Their Shoes
And here's my Mo-ped Mama notes and night drivers sketches:
And speaking of Mamas, here's one of the. . .
Sixty-Six Sick Chix
"The story is the first thing and the last thing."
—Norman Rockwell
Bob Boze 5:52 PM
December 6, 2013
I have been using a Franklin Daytimer since 1994—almost 20 years. This morning Kathy asked me if I wanted a refill for 2014 and I had to admit I rarely use it anymore because my iPhone has all the information I need. It even reminds me that I have a speech tomorrow, the time, and a map. How can you compete with that? Poor guys—Franklin—I feel for them.
My big Ol' Monarch Franklin Daytimer about to be retired.
Interestingly, my daughter Deena still uses hers and says she likes having everything she needs spread out in front of her at meetings.
And speaking of loss, we just lost 55 stores in the Chicago area that used to carry True West. I assume it was a chain that went under. Our distributor wants to know where they should destroy the 300 issues that normally go to them. I said, "Destroy them? Hell no! I'll drive to Chicago to get them if I have to," and they said, no, I can't come get them out of the chain of distribution. And I said, "Remind me why I got into this business?"
Went home for lunch and whipped out a little study of Jack Kerouac:
Daily Whipout, "Jack Kerouac Attack"
Yes, he shows up on my desk in the first photo. And he shows up on a postcard from The Top Secret Writer (also showing in the photo) which is where I got the image. On the back it says,
"Congratulations on the new book project! I know it will be a fabulous trip."
—Your Pal Paul
Yes, quite fortuitous because "On The Road" was a good part of the inspiration to do "The 66 Kid." Gee, I wonder if Jack has any advice on how to do the book?
"Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular culture."
—Jack Kerouac
Bob Boze 2:58 PM
December 5, 2013
One of our contributors dropped out of the Fountain feature this morning which left a gaping hole in our coverage. In addition to the two other paintings I did in the morning, I went home to meet the TV installer and while I was there I whipped out a third painting:
Daily Whipout, "Storm Is Ah Comin'"
Although three suspects are always mentioned in the Fountain case—Oliver Lee, Bill McNew and James Gililland—there were likely more participants. We know that two other cowboys were seen trailing the Fountains from Lincoln to Tularosa and, according to the contributor who dropped out this morning, the Pinkerton reports show seven different horse tracks around the abandoned buggy. It would make sense that Lee would seek support from his neighbors and friends to stop what he viewed as a corrupt official who was bent on sending them all to the pen for ten years.
Here we see Lee, on his white horse, sending his riders out to their posts as a huge storm rolls in.
"Guitars will play your grand finale, down in some Tularosa alley. . ."
—Bob Dylan, "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" soundtrack
.
Bob Boze 4:49 PM
December 5, 2013
Went home for lunch and whipped out the final painting for our Albert Jennings Fountain Classic Gunfight:
Daily Whipout, "Fountain is herded right into the sights of the best shooter on Oliver Lee's gang"
This, of course, is classic deer hunting strategy: to drive game into the sights of a shooter.
"Aim low, they're riding Shetlands!"
—Old Vaquero joke
Bob Boze 2:44 PM
December 5, 2013
Got up this morning and bailed into a painting of Chalk Hill. Had good photo reference from Corey Recko's new book cover, plus I discovered something on a recent painting where I did a gravel road and rather than leaning towards white, I let it go a muddy gray. Really popped the gravel effect. Grabbed that framed painting and put it on my desk for inspiration, as well:
Daily Whipout, "Chalk Hill Without the Fountains or Wagon"
Got some good tips on buckboards off this site (thanks guys!) and put in the Fountains traversing the top of Chalk Hill:
Daily Whipout, "Topping Chalk Hill: By the Time Fountain Saw The Riders It Was Too Late"
Going home for lunch to whip out the climatic scene. Wish me luck.
"Hey, good luck."
—BBB Muse and BF Bugs
Bob Boze 12:15 PM
December 4, 2013
Getting closer to wrapping up the big Assassination of Pat Garrett—and The Fountain Murder features. I did an FPO (for position only) illustration a couple days ago of the Fountains conveyance on the day they were ambushed. In the court testimony in the court case, Albert Fall uses the term buggy and buckboard to describe the victims ride, sometimes in the same sentence. So what kind of a wagon were they in?
Daily Whipout, "The Fountains On Their Way to Chalk Hill"
Yes, an Apache at Blazer's Mill gifted Fountain with a pony and the lawyer tied it to the back of the wagon to take home for his kids. He also had 50 pounds of uncut alfalfa in a sack in the back. The two had a blanket draped over their laps to ward off the February cold.
So I emailed Corey Recko to ask about the buckboard vs. buggy dilemma and here's what he said:
"From what I understand from the Fountain family, it was a buckboard body but covered (which would explain why it is called both a buckboard and buggy in trial testimony). The Colonel's son Albert (who was part of the search party) did a painting of his father and brother in the buckboard years later, and it showed an uncovered buckboard (a rear view of what you have below), but Albert's granddaughter, Mary Alexander, told me that the buckboard was in fact covered, but Albert wanted to be able to show his father and brother in the panting."
—Corey Recko, author of "Murder On The White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain"
Ah yes, an artist gumming up the historical record to make it easier to paint. Does that ever sound familiar! Anyway, I also want to illustrate a shooter waiting for his mark (it happened in both cases). Did a sketch of that this morning before I came into work:
Daily Whipout, "Waiting for The Mark"
Uncanny Similarities Between The Fountain and Garrett Murders
• both were ambushed on the same road
• both victims were riding in buggies
• both assassins waited at a preordained spot and smoked cigarettes while they waited (I believe they found two cartridges and cigarette butts at both crime scenes. Checking with Recko and Boardman to confirm this.)
• both killers got away scott free
I'm sure there are more similarities, but those are the first things that popped out at me.
"How did you first find the trail of Colonel Fountain's buckboard? Did you not testify this morning that it was no trouble for you to find the buggy tracks. . ."
—Attorney Albert Fall, cross examining Antonio Garcia in the Fountain Murder Trial
Bob Boze 11:00 AM
December 3, 2013
Home stretch of our major Fountain-Garrett murder feature. Here is a photo montage of the Pat Garrett death site which I took in 1991.
Pat Garrett's Last View of the Planet
Garrett, Adamson and Brazel traversed this valley from right to left. That's San Augustine Pass in the upper right corner, and Garrett's ranch is just over that rise. The old road has been bypassed (to the far ridge) and it is grown over but it probably looked kind of like this:
Daily Whipout, "Into The Valley of Death"
Wayne Brazel rode along side Garrett's buggy as the two argued over goats. Worked this morning on finishing the Pat Garrett splash page illustration. Pardon my French, but this is called "A Piss Poor Way to Die"
Daily Whipout, "Pat Garrett Gets His"
One of the conspirators in Garrett's assassination said the old lawman "fell like a sack of potatoes" after being shot in the back of the head while he was urinating. No one was surprised, least of all Garrett:
"Men like myself, who spend their lives making enemies of the pests of scoiety, must expect to be killed sometime."
—Pat Garrett
Bob Boze 12:39 PM
December 2, 2013
Worked most of the afternoon on a painting for our Pat Garrett splash page. Didn't fall. Hope to finish in the morning.
When we flew home from Pasadena on Friday, I got a good view of Burbank and Universal City.
That's downtown LA, just to the left of the second, red tank deal. I'm reading a good biography on Norman Rockwell, so I settled in to read that. About a half hour later I glanced out the window and saw a familiar sight:
Yes, those are the Cerbats, north of Kingman. That's the old Duval Mine, middle left, and Red Lake, way up at the right. Brenda and Kevin Stockbridge live down there in that gaggle of houses at bottom, right. I believe that's Felspar Butte with the long pointed shadow, at middle, bottom. Not sure why, but I always seem to end up here. Gee, I wonder how that relates to "The 66 Kid"?
"If it doesn't need to start at a certain place and end at a certain place, then it might not be a movie."
—Andrew Bujalski
Bob Boze 5:38 PM
December 1, 2013
Had a very busy week last week. We had house guests on Monday and Tuesday:
Deena C. and her son Weston solve some life with G-Paw
On Wednesday, we all flew to Burbank to be with the Bortscheller's for Thanksgiving. Took our grandson on a walk on a foggy Pasadena morning:
Grandma Goose with Weston out for a walk on Thanksgiving morning in Pasadena.
Got back on Friday evening. Went and saw "Nebraska" at Camelview 5. Loved it. Fave scene: a room full of Lutheran men watching a football game with beers in their hands and flat expressions as the announcer, unseen, giddily describes the touchdown action and the men show zero emotion. Brilliantly played. Been there and seen it with my own eyes.
"There is no trick to writing a believable love story, a heartbreaking scene or real-sounding dialogue. All you need is to tell the truth. It's always heartbreaking."
—Ethan Hawke, on the "trick to writing a believable love story"
Bob Boze 12:19 PM
Working late tonight. Talking to Stuart Rosebrook about assignments in March. He is all over it. We're on a roll. The big Fountain-Garrett assassination package (12 pages!) went to the printer this morning. Final corrections that is. The rest of the magazine went out last Thursday.
So I have been trying to find photo reference for Floyd Cisney's Arizona Highway Patrol car which he drove in the late fifties. I remember that it was white and had unique side symbols but I have not been able to find anything even close. Well, yesterday, Robert Dell of Kingman posted some screen captures from "Edge of Eternity" a 1959 film which is a time capsule of Mohave County life and style. And there it is—Floyd Cisney's ACTUAL car pulling up to Pierce Ferry and if I remember correctly Floyd himself gets out.
Floyd Cisney and the Mohave County Sheriff's Office Head for A Swim
Also working on night neon and night drivers and Mo-ped Mamas, a concept Dan and I came up with way back in the 1970s. In fact we filmed a bit for Channel 5 and one of the Mamas was Kathy Radina, before we were an item. Somewhere I have the footage of that and we need it for the doc.
And speaking of the Razz, one of my favorite articles we did, was a parody of a 1940s style Arizona Highways feature on Arizona towns. They were always slightly racist (The Kingman Fire Department Is Never Niggardly With Their Equipment!) and they always, always treated the areas they covered with a vapid style boosterism (This beautiful area is know for the Four Cs: Copper, Cattle, Citrus and Cabbage!). Well, having grown up in Kingman, Dan and I knew you could make a good case for another kind of unique benefit of the area, and so we came up with this honest attribution:
Where Teens Puke On Their Shoes
And here's my Mo-ped Mama notes and night drivers sketches:
And speaking of Mamas, here's one of the. . .
Sixty-Six Sick Chix
"The story is the first thing and the last thing."
—Norman Rockwell
Bob Boze 5:52 PM
December 6, 2013
I have been using a Franklin Daytimer since 1994—almost 20 years. This morning Kathy asked me if I wanted a refill for 2014 and I had to admit I rarely use it anymore because my iPhone has all the information I need. It even reminds me that I have a speech tomorrow, the time, and a map. How can you compete with that? Poor guys—Franklin—I feel for them.
My big Ol' Monarch Franklin Daytimer about to be retired.
Interestingly, my daughter Deena still uses hers and says she likes having everything she needs spread out in front of her at meetings.
And speaking of loss, we just lost 55 stores in the Chicago area that used to carry True West. I assume it was a chain that went under. Our distributor wants to know where they should destroy the 300 issues that normally go to them. I said, "Destroy them? Hell no! I'll drive to Chicago to get them if I have to," and they said, no, I can't come get them out of the chain of distribution. And I said, "Remind me why I got into this business?"
Went home for lunch and whipped out a little study of Jack Kerouac:
Daily Whipout, "Jack Kerouac Attack"
Yes, he shows up on my desk in the first photo. And he shows up on a postcard from The Top Secret Writer (also showing in the photo) which is where I got the image. On the back it says,
"Congratulations on the new book project! I know it will be a fabulous trip."
—Your Pal Paul
Yes, quite fortuitous because "On The Road" was a good part of the inspiration to do "The 66 Kid." Gee, I wonder if Jack has any advice on how to do the book?
"Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular culture."
—Jack Kerouac
Bob Boze 2:58 PM
December 5, 2013
One of our contributors dropped out of the Fountain feature this morning which left a gaping hole in our coverage. In addition to the two other paintings I did in the morning, I went home to meet the TV installer and while I was there I whipped out a third painting:
Daily Whipout, "Storm Is Ah Comin'"
Although three suspects are always mentioned in the Fountain case—Oliver Lee, Bill McNew and James Gililland—there were likely more participants. We know that two other cowboys were seen trailing the Fountains from Lincoln to Tularosa and, according to the contributor who dropped out this morning, the Pinkerton reports show seven different horse tracks around the abandoned buggy. It would make sense that Lee would seek support from his neighbors and friends to stop what he viewed as a corrupt official who was bent on sending them all to the pen for ten years.
Here we see Lee, on his white horse, sending his riders out to their posts as a huge storm rolls in.
"Guitars will play your grand finale, down in some Tularosa alley. . ."
—Bob Dylan, "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" soundtrack
.
Bob Boze 4:49 PM
December 5, 2013
Went home for lunch and whipped out the final painting for our Albert Jennings Fountain Classic Gunfight:
Daily Whipout, "Fountain is herded right into the sights of the best shooter on Oliver Lee's gang"
This, of course, is classic deer hunting strategy: to drive game into the sights of a shooter.
"Aim low, they're riding Shetlands!"
—Old Vaquero joke
Bob Boze 2:44 PM
December 5, 2013
Got up this morning and bailed into a painting of Chalk Hill. Had good photo reference from Corey Recko's new book cover, plus I discovered something on a recent painting where I did a gravel road and rather than leaning towards white, I let it go a muddy gray. Really popped the gravel effect. Grabbed that framed painting and put it on my desk for inspiration, as well:
Daily Whipout, "Chalk Hill Without the Fountains or Wagon"
Got some good tips on buckboards off this site (thanks guys!) and put in the Fountains traversing the top of Chalk Hill:
Daily Whipout, "Topping Chalk Hill: By the Time Fountain Saw The Riders It Was Too Late"
Going home for lunch to whip out the climatic scene. Wish me luck.
"Hey, good luck."
—BBB Muse and BF Bugs
Bob Boze 12:15 PM
December 4, 2013
Getting closer to wrapping up the big Assassination of Pat Garrett—and The Fountain Murder features. I did an FPO (for position only) illustration a couple days ago of the Fountains conveyance on the day they were ambushed. In the court testimony in the court case, Albert Fall uses the term buggy and buckboard to describe the victims ride, sometimes in the same sentence. So what kind of a wagon were they in?
Daily Whipout, "The Fountains On Their Way to Chalk Hill"
Yes, an Apache at Blazer's Mill gifted Fountain with a pony and the lawyer tied it to the back of the wagon to take home for his kids. He also had 50 pounds of uncut alfalfa in a sack in the back. The two had a blanket draped over their laps to ward off the February cold.
So I emailed Corey Recko to ask about the buckboard vs. buggy dilemma and here's what he said:
"From what I understand from the Fountain family, it was a buckboard body but covered (which would explain why it is called both a buckboard and buggy in trial testimony). The Colonel's son Albert (who was part of the search party) did a painting of his father and brother in the buckboard years later, and it showed an uncovered buckboard (a rear view of what you have below), but Albert's granddaughter, Mary Alexander, told me that the buckboard was in fact covered, but Albert wanted to be able to show his father and brother in the panting."
—Corey Recko, author of "Murder On The White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain"
Ah yes, an artist gumming up the historical record to make it easier to paint. Does that ever sound familiar! Anyway, I also want to illustrate a shooter waiting for his mark (it happened in both cases). Did a sketch of that this morning before I came into work:
Daily Whipout, "Waiting for The Mark"
Uncanny Similarities Between The Fountain and Garrett Murders
• both were ambushed on the same road
• both victims were riding in buggies
• both assassins waited at a preordained spot and smoked cigarettes while they waited (I believe they found two cartridges and cigarette butts at both crime scenes. Checking with Recko and Boardman to confirm this.)
• both killers got away scott free
I'm sure there are more similarities, but those are the first things that popped out at me.
"How did you first find the trail of Colonel Fountain's buckboard? Did you not testify this morning that it was no trouble for you to find the buggy tracks. . ."
—Attorney Albert Fall, cross examining Antonio Garcia in the Fountain Murder Trial
Bob Boze 11:00 AM
December 3, 2013
Home stretch of our major Fountain-Garrett murder feature. Here is a photo montage of the Pat Garrett death site which I took in 1991.
Pat Garrett's Last View of the Planet
Garrett, Adamson and Brazel traversed this valley from right to left. That's San Augustine Pass in the upper right corner, and Garrett's ranch is just over that rise. The old road has been bypassed (to the far ridge) and it is grown over but it probably looked kind of like this:
Daily Whipout, "Into The Valley of Death"Wayne Brazel rode along side Garrett's buggy as the two argued over goats. Worked this morning on finishing the Pat Garrett splash page illustration. Pardon my French, but this is called "A Piss Poor Way to Die"
Daily Whipout, "Pat Garrett Gets His"
One of the conspirators in Garrett's assassination said the old lawman "fell like a sack of potatoes" after being shot in the back of the head while he was urinating. No one was surprised, least of all Garrett:
"Men like myself, who spend their lives making enemies of the pests of scoiety, must expect to be killed sometime."
—Pat Garrett
Bob Boze 12:39 PM
December 2, 2013
Worked most of the afternoon on a painting for our Pat Garrett splash page. Didn't fall. Hope to finish in the morning.
When we flew home from Pasadena on Friday, I got a good view of Burbank and Universal City.
That's downtown LA, just to the left of the second, red tank deal. I'm reading a good biography on Norman Rockwell, so I settled in to read that. About a half hour later I glanced out the window and saw a familiar sight:
Yes, those are the Cerbats, north of Kingman. That's the old Duval Mine, middle left, and Red Lake, way up at the right. Brenda and Kevin Stockbridge live down there in that gaggle of houses at bottom, right. I believe that's Felspar Butte with the long pointed shadow, at middle, bottom. Not sure why, but I always seem to end up here. Gee, I wonder how that relates to "The 66 Kid"?
"If it doesn't need to start at a certain place and end at a certain place, then it might not be a movie."
—Andrew Bujalski
Bob Boze 5:38 PM
December 1, 2013
Had a very busy week last week. We had house guests on Monday and Tuesday:
Deena C. and her son Weston solve some life with G-Paw
On Wednesday, we all flew to Burbank to be with the Bortscheller's for Thanksgiving. Took our grandson on a walk on a foggy Pasadena morning:
Grandma Goose with Weston out for a walk on Thanksgiving morning in Pasadena.
Got back on Friday evening. Went and saw "Nebraska" at Camelview 5. Loved it. Fave scene: a room full of Lutheran men watching a football game with beers in their hands and flat expressions as the announcer, unseen, giddily describes the touchdown action and the men show zero emotion. Brilliantly played. Been there and seen it with my own eyes.
"There is no trick to writing a believable love story, a heartbreaking scene or real-sounding dialogue. All you need is to tell the truth. It's always heartbreaking."
—Ethan Hawke, on the "trick to writing a believable love story"
Bob Boze 12:19 PM
