January 18, 2006
Our Style Editor, Jane Bischoff, just got back from the Denver International Stock and Trade Show and she brought me a whole slew of different colored cowboy scarves ($18.50, IOU-Jane). They’re the old fashioned, 1950s style neckties, like Roy Rogers wore around his bare neck, you now, those kind. Only I wear them like a traditional tie, with a buttoned up shirt and tied in a windsor knot. Kind of different, as my mom would say. It’s all part of a new, slicker-but-retro-Western look Jane is fashioning for me. She told me she also got me some free Wrangler jeans and shirts. I hope I won’t have to whore out and mention them all the time, because that’s just not me.

Wrangler sure is cool, though. I just went to their website:

www.wrangler.com

News From The Front Lines
“Erika Madrigal of Sheridan, WY called to subscribe today. I asked if she
could tell me how she found True West and she said that it was the 'talk of
the town' since Sheridan was named #1 True Western town and that they went
out and bought an issue and loved it and decided to subscribe.”
—Carole Glenn

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Narcissist Mentally Undresses Self

File Under "What A Hualapai Surprise"
“I have a bit of a mystery that maybe you or your readers could help solve. I have been working with the Hualapai tribe to promote the Grand Canyon West project and we have been trying to put history to the names of various landmarks. One of these is Quartermaster Viewpoint.

“I have two leads but both are very vague. Arizona place names says the canyon below, Quartermaster Canyon, was named for an Indian who was known as Quartermaster that lived in the canyon around 1900.

“However, another source indicates the name dates to the Sitgreaves topographical expedition of 1858 when a quartermaster and small contingent of troopers was sent north of the main body to explore the canyon rim. Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions?”
—Jim Hinckley, Kingman

This Just In From Ex-Radio Partner David K. Jones
"I dug up one of your works of art that foreshadowed trends to come [actually, David K. has jerry-rigged an old New Times Weekly cartoon of mine. The balloon captions are original, the rest is a backdated concoction of his perverse imagination]. By the way, the next time you fly to Guam, don't be alarmed, I am now the ‘voice’ of the Guam International Airport."
—David K. Jones

I whipped out an illustration of an Old West character clad in Long Johns for an upcoming book that’s coming out later this year. The publisher commissioned us to come up with old photos. We had a couple photographs featuring the famous "trapdoor" underwear but they were kind of underwhelming, so Robert M. found me a posed, modern photo and I did a custom illustration to date it a bit.

More Tiburcio Advice
"You should show a picture of Vasquez, along with the description and then
show your image of how he SHOULD HAVE looked. Nice pop-culture twist there."
—Alan Huffines

Great idea. See art for yesterday. That's exactly where I'm headed. Thanks, Alan.

Newest True West Moments Schedule for 2006-07
Jeff Hildebrandt is busy editing the new True West Moment segments and he just released the new schedule today and the dates each segment will premiere:

March: Tucson Train Shooting (Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday vs. Frank Stilwell, taped on the actual spot where it happened)

April: They Died With Their Boots Off (taped in Tombstone's Boothill Graveyard); The Hitching Rail Myth (taped in front of the O.K. Corral)

May: The Endurance of The Horse (taped on Comstock Hill in Tombstone); How Far Could A Train Travel? (taped at Tucson Train Station)

June: Call Drinks In The Old West (taped in the Birdcage Theater); The Most Dangerous Train Job (taped at Tucson Train Station)

July:The Plaid Shirt Killing (taped in the Crystal Palace Saloon)

August: Where Does The Term “Hoosegow” Come From? (taped in the Tombstone Courthouse)

September: The Most Dangerous Intersection In The West (a secret)

October: The Exact O.K. Corral Shooting Location (not a secret)

November: Train Slang (taped at Tombstone Train Depot)

December: Virgil Earp Shooting (taped at Fifth and Allen, Tombstone)

January, 2007:Johnny Behind the Duce Shooting Prevented (taped on Allen Street, Tombstone)

I tried to schedule events in the month they occurred where appropriate. We will also be repeating previously aired segments each month, but I don't have that scheduled at this point.
—Jeff Hildebrandt, Westerns Channel

Dan Harshberger just sent up three layouts for the April issue and they are stellar. His take on the cover story “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man,” is just the coolest. Big ol’ head of Johnny Cash looming out like a Tiki God. Too cool for school, Jewell.

"The years teach much which the days never know."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson