January 30, 2003
I’ve been going into work at seven and doing my journal at night. Been getting a lot more done in the office. Today is the first day out at Winter Range (Single Action Shooting Event at Ben Avery Shooting Range) and we have a booth. Cowboy Dan is manning it for us. Dave Daiss said he is doing a good job.

Whipped out another Classic Gunfights (the copy) today. R.G. and I decided the Zip Wyatt rundown was not going to fit on two pages comfortably, so I shifted gears and found a good short shootout between Bass Outlaw (his real name and a Texas Ranger!) and John Selman. It’s got soiled doves, Texas Rangers and a saloon death speech. You can’t ask for more than that. Called Bob McCubbin about getting two of his original photos of Bass Outlaw for the piece. Also called Selman expert Leon Metz in El Paso and asked about the location of the Tillie Howard Sporting House on Utah Street (the fight took place in her back yard) and where was the Barhnam Saloon where Outlaw died. Leon said, “Give me a minute to find this and I’ll call you back.” Two hours later, Leon calls back and says, “I went down to the library and found the deed map for 1895 and the saloon is not listed but the Barhnam bros. have a lot on the corner of San Antonio and Utah. I think that has to be the location.” Wow! The guy stopped what he was doing, got in his car, drove down to the library, looked it up, came back and called. I’ll tell you, for every asshole I’ve met in this biz, there are some real first class guys and Leon Metz is one of them.

Had lunch with an ex-employee of Rawhide. Lurid tales of fortunes lost. The founder of Giant Industries (gas stations and oil) and the owner of Rawhide was worth $100 million a year ago. He was riding high and we were in talks to do a museum there. But he got crossways with his board at Giant and they kicked him out of his own business and in the process he lost Rawhide and just about everything else. Filed for personal bankruptcy, had to attend a hearing where everyone’s lawyers grilled him for two and a half hours. “Where did the $68,000 go? “I don’t remember.” “Where did the physical assets go?” “I don’t remember.” “Where did your first wife go?” “To hire you.” Excruciating to say the least. A warning tale to be sure. Ouch!

Got home around six, made tacos. Read the new Rolling Stone about the lost Beatle tapes that were just recovered. It’s amazing. I know almost every second of their lives and yet I read every word. The petty fighting on the Get Back sessions is just as excruciating as ever. Everyone beats up on Paul, but I’ve always thought he was right. Of course I rarely admit this to my hippy-musician friends because to them John is the Man. And they always maintained Paul was spoiled, arrogant and used to getting his own way. Which is probably why I have always identified with him.

"You know ‘that look’ women get when they want sex? Me neither."
—Steve Martin