September 14, 2003
Worked all day yesterday on artwork. Got some good stuff done. I did a prep sketch-image of Captain Lull of the Chicago Police Department, who was undercover for the Pinkertons when he was shot down near Roscoe, Missouri by John Younger. It must have been like going undercover for the DEA in Mexico, at that time. He is always portrayed as a villain, or a Pinkerton stooge (because we all love those bad-boy Younger brothers), but I have a feeling Lull was a formidable guy. Here is a sketch of him as a police captain, holding his Tranter pistol (no photos of him have surfaced but since his shooting death was a big deal in Chicago, I believe someone will find a photo of him. This is my guess at his likeness). I have to thank Duane Kyler of the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma for locating an image of this exotic pistol. I’m also sketching a #2 Smith & Wesson, the backup sidearm Lull pulled from his coat to start the fight.

Swam laps and walked the dogs twice yesterday. Kathy actually wanted to go to a niteclub, so we went up to the Territorial Bar & Grill last night to listen to Los Dos Dons, a trio of local guys (the first Don, was Thomas’ principal at Foothills Academy, the only school who’d take T-boy when he was kicked out of all the others). So, to us he’s a saint (the Don guy, not Tommy). I really enjoyed the music! Normally I hate listening to bands in bars because they are so damn loud (it’s payback for all the eardrums I busted in my bands), but these guys were coffee house cool, and Don #1 did a tribute to Johnny Cash, (“Someone to Hold”?) and it was magical. I have been humming it in my head all day today. The power of good music is really an amazing thing.

Triggered many memories of basically living in bars from about age 18 to 28, and from the time I got up (at the crack of noon) to the wee hours of the morning, 24-7, playing in bands, playing with women, playing with my...Sorry. I have grown up and really reformed. In fact, I get up at 5:30 every day, but some of that juvenile, immature, bathroom humor behavior is still in there (Hey, it saved my marriage!).

Two quotes today:

“Dad, I want to be a musician when I grow up.
“Son, you have to choose one or the other.”

“The invention of the teenager was a mistake. Once you identify a period of life in which people get to stay out late but don't have to pay taxes—naturally, nobody wants to live any other way.”
—Miss Manners