November 22, 2005
Woke up at 5:30 and had coffee in bed, ruminating about various projects and plans. Got up at six and went out and got the paper. It’s dark out until around seven now. Put a cinnamon English muffin in the toaster and made turkey sandos for Kathy and Deena. They are leaving on a road trip to Palm Springs at seven. Deena has a business related interview out there and the two are driving over and back today. I told them about a breakfast place in Quartzite Dave Daiss and I discovered.

Took the dogs for a bike ride about 6:45 and did a quick sketch in my book of a scene I want to do. Got into the office at 7:15. Ace from the radio station in Sheridan, Wyoming called and interviewed Mark Boardman and me about our selection of Sheridan as Western Town of the Year. A travel writer for the Washington Post called at about ten, also about the award for Sheridan.

Allen Barra tells me I’m in the new issue of American Heritage magazine. He’s also interviewing me for a website deal they are running next week.

Here’s a response from the True Grit Cafe up in Ridgeway, Colorado:
“You asked about our cafe, 'True Grit'.  It's a neat old place.  Complete movie history of John Wayne on the inside.  The movie 'True Grit' was filmed in the area and the South wall of the cafe was in the first minutes of the movie when Rooster was bringing in the crooks in the jail wagon.  The hanging scene was across the street in the park and one shoot out scene was on the street out front.  Ridgeway still only has one paved street in the historic district.  Probably won't be long before several more are paved.  Times change.  What's good to eat?  Well, the best 3/4 pound burgers on the Western Slope of Colorado.  Fantastic chicken fried steak and steaks to die for.  Great authentic Tex-Mex too, not southwest style.  If ya wander this way let us know and we'll sit down and strap on that feedbag partner!”
—Dale Tuttle

A Review for Brokeback Mountain I Kind of Wish We Had Run:
"Yes, critics will love it. Sure, it’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination or five. OK, so your girlfriend loves Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. But if you think we’re going to get all hot and bothered over a 15-hour art film about rough-ridin’ gay cowboys from the guy who turned Hulk into a split-screen rumination on the relationship between fathers and sons, you’ve got the wrong magazine."
—Maxim magazine, December, 2005

Photos from last Friday’s Keg Steakhouse rendezvous dinner, taken off of Russ Shaw’s new photo phone can be viewed at:

http://nohasslelisting.com/Boze,Kathy%26Wendy-dinner18Nov2005.htm

Quotes from last Sunday’s Wall Street Journal piece on cowboy art and the new history:
"Even some CAA admirers, such as Bob Boze Bell, himself an artist and executive editor of True West magazine, detect a whiff of old-boyism about the club, which has 23 members, all of them men. ‘There's probably some resistance to having girls in the clubhouse,’ he says.

"'Race, class and gender is the new history,' says Mr. Bell. 'They apply Bosnia-type images to the American West and it's so offensive. It's appalling where this has gone.’ He cites papers presented at a recent convention of the Western History Association, including the spellbinder ‘Hispanic New Mexicans and the Texas Ranger Invasion of 1841,' or the heartwarming new book from the University of Oklahoma press, 'The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820-1875.' But at the Phoenix Art Museum through Nov. 20, visitors can view this narrative art, which often tells real stories about real people and displays bravery, adventure, steadfastness in the face of obstacles, and extraordinary beauty. Through these values, the cowboy artists stand athwart history shouting, Whoa! If you ask me, we need those old boys now more than ever."
—By Leo Banks

Yesterday's Last Jam is still resonating in my brain and my throat. Everyone is asking me if I’m sick, or have a cold, but I have to admit it’s nothing new, I shredded my vocal chords on Led Zeppelin’s "Whole Lotta Love." Speaking of heavy metal, when we were breaking down yesterday, Mike Torres told me that whenever he plays the opening chords to “Highway to Hell,” people go crazy. "There’s something about those chords," Mike mused, "that is just magic." Amen, music bro.

"I'm sick to death of people saying we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 13 albums that sound exactly the same."
—Angus Young, AC/DC lead guitarist