February 17, 2004
Got a call yesterday from from a rabid fan of New Mexican food who claims he knows of a good Mexican restaurant in Barcelona. The inference being I don’t know what I’m talking about regarding Spain and the origins of Mexican food (see Feb. 14 entry ). Well, I told him, we found a good Korean restaurant in Barcelona, but that doesn’t mean the Spanish invented it. Why is it that some New Mexicans are so loco when it comes to the subject of food?

Finally got untracked on a “little injun, big Engine” illustration. Using scratchboard to light up the night, or more specifically to light up a rearing Native American on horseback trying to stop a train. Plan on portraying it from two different directions, behind and in front. Hoping for a decent, dramatic cover-worthy scene.

Got a new poll up. Who was the worst outlaw in the West? We want your vote. Click right here.

I got some great Old West undertaker stuff recently from J.Rae and yesterday I had Robert Ray scan some of it. While scanning images out of Western Undertaker, a trade magazine, he noticed that there were key words you could use when you ordered a casket that were evidently shortcuts on the telegraph. For example, if you wanted an olive colored casket with gold trim and pearl handles, the key word might be “olive.” and when you ordered it, you could just dictate that word to the telegraph operator. This opened up an entire world of possibility (in Robert’s mind) and he got real excited about the notion that techno-geeks in the Old West probably lived in a room behind the telegraph office and perhaps spent their nights e-mailing, oops, I mean telegraphing each other, and even forming little clubs and planning to meet at a certain place at a certain time to freak people out, just like today. Interesting theory. We may do an article on the world’s first “Super Information Highway.”

“A good writer of history is a guy who is suspicious. Suspicion marks the real difference between the man who wants to write honest history and the one who'd rather write a good story.”
—Jim Bishop