January 22, 2004
Woke up to light sprinkles. Came out in the dark and started the computer, walked out to the end of the driveway and picked up the paper. Peaches and Buddy Boze Bell scampered out into the wet darkness, thrilled to be alive (“Every day is Christmas Day to a dog”).

The front page caught my attention: President Bush dropped in to Phoenix and Mesa yesterday and had dinner at the Tee Pee Taproom, a hip, “roll-up-the-sleeves” old school Mexican food restaurant on Indian School Road. The Republic ran a photo of him having a beer (can’t see the label, but I imagine it was ‘Merican), with Jerry Colangelo, (owner of the Suns and Diamondbacks) Bob Brenly (manager of the Diamondbacks), Joe Garagiola, Jr. (former sportscaster and GM of the Diamondbacks), and Arte Moreno (new owner of the Anaheim Angels) . As I studied the photo, it definitely made the Pres more of a regular guy to me. Plus, there’s something else.

The Tee Pee was the destination when my wife Kathy and her boyfriend had a tragic car accident in the summer of 1977. It was dark, there was a bicyclist, a canal. Bill swerved to miss the rider and the car went into the concrete canal that parallels the roadway. Both she and Bill went thru the windshield. He was killed. She lived, barely. Suffering a broken collarbone, two broken shoulder blades, a broken arm, and a knocked out front tooth, not to mention severe scrapes and bruises, Kathy was lucky to be alive. In fact she was in a coma for several days.

Bill Compton left a music legend as “the voice of God” on Phoenix radio. Compton Terrace was named for him. His sister, Carole Compton Glenn, is our business manager at True West magazine.

Ironically, Kathy and I “met” at Bill’s wake.

So the Tee Pee has history. Not to mention, love, death, tragedy, decent Mexican food, and the leader of the Free World.

“Wisdom and love have nothing to do with each other. Wisdom is staying alive, survival. You’re wise if you don’t stick your finger in the light plug. Love—you’ll stick your finger in anything.”
—Robert Altman