September 30, 2004
The True West Maniac Club is sitting at 822 members and we’ve got big plans for all of you. We are working on a Tombstone trip for next April with bigtime experts and great behind the scenes historic stops that most people don’t get to see. The ad will appear soon. If you are a Maniac and you have any suggestions or comments about the magazine, etc. you can send them to:

maniac@twmag.com

And please include your Maniac membership number in your e-mail.

One of the inspirations I got at Banta Printing in Kansas City last Tuesday is they give out gift bags. In fact, I had to have Bart ship me most of the goodies because I couldn’t get them all in my bag. In Wednesday’s staff meeting I asked our gang what we would put in our bag. Carole went out and got a sample bag and now we are trying to fill it. I think it would be a hoot to have a Blevins stirrup buckle in the bag. We keep calling Blevins and saying, “Hey, let us do an article on your business,” and they keep saying, “Naw, don’t need it.” Blevins has been advertising in True West for a half century. Yes, 50 years! I’d give you their website address except they don’t have one. So I’ll give you their phone number. Ooops! I just looked at their ad in the magazine and they don’t run one. You’ll have to write them at. . .ooops! They don’t have a street address in their ad. It just says:

Blevins Mfg. Co.
Wheatland, Wyoming 82201

Why don’t we all send them a postcard and blow their minds? Hey thanks for supporting True West for half a century! I’d love for the guys who work there to go, “Where the hell are all these postcards coming from? And why? Maybe we ought to try and find out? Naw.”

Did you see the poll results on Wyatt Earp? It was running about 50-50 until the end when a whole bunch of Earpies must have stuffed the ballot box. Hmmmmm.

And speaking of the Lion of Tombstone, I talked to Wyatt Earp’s wife Terry today. She is quite famous here in the Valley as a playwright. In fact she wrote the one-man play Wyatt performs as his great uncle. He is going to perform this Saturday night out at the Mistress Mine north of Cave Creek. Great venue, at a real Old West mine, outside, under the stars, chuckwagon dinner, etc. A must see. Terry is working on two new plays, one called “In My Humble Opinion” which is about Jack Durant, the famous restauranteur in Phoenix, whose real name was James Earl Allen. It opens on January 25th. The other play she’s writing is on the artist Ted De Grazia and that should be interesting. A legendary Arizona artist (although I absolutely despise his art).

Terry also asked me if I knew anything about Wyatt’s time in Cripple Creek, Colorado because they are booked to do the one-man Wyatt show there in 2005 and I said I didn’t (other than him being there in the 1890s) but that I’ll bet someone who is reading this knows something. Don’t you?

"There must be 500,000 rats in the United States. Of course, I'm only speaking from memory."
—Bill Nye (not the science guy)