January 23, 2006
The Tomcat is 23 today. He’s lounging at a beach house on the North Fork of Long Island with his model girlfriend. Must be nice.

More Wrangler vs. Levi’s History
"I know the 13MWZ [Wrangler] was developed in 1947 supposedly using Casey Tibbs and others to help with the design. After that I don't know, but I have just recently made the move from Wranglers to 501s and find the Levi’s more to my middle-aged liking. I still have Wranglers a plenty, but my heart has to be with the working cow-boys as opposed to the athletes. Not that there is anything wrong with that!"
—Alan Huffines

History Channel Feedback
"Saw you again on television today. I think it was the History Channel and you were talking about Jesse James. I watch a lot of the History Channel and by now I've seen most of your quotes (two or three times as a matter of fact).

"Nonetheless, I'm one of those long-timers that remembers you fondly from the old Jones & Boze radio show. So every time I see you on TV, I just automatically start chuckling. Don't know why. I don't even remember any of your bits, except for the ‘West's most mid-Western town’ crack. And, oh, I do remember driving by one time and seeing you frantically trying to see thru the bushs at the Cardinal's training facility in Tempe while you were on the air. That was hilarious!

“So, I just wanted to say thanks for the art, wit and humor. Keep up the good work. You're an Arizona original!”
—Paul from Chandler, Arizona

What Paul is referring to is back in the early nineties the Arizona Cardinals kicked out the media from their practice field in South Tempe and it was a big deal in the local press. The whole place was off limits to The Arizona Republic, The Mesa Tribune, TV and radio. So at the Jones & Boze show we decided to rent a cherry picker and have it parked next to the fence at the outer edge of the field. We just called up a rental place and told them the address and where to park it. We never dreamed they would actually get past Cardinal security. Jeanne and I showed up at six the next morning and there it was, complete with an operator. We jumped in, had the operator crank us up over the fence and I started broadcasting with a bull horn, yelling at the Cardinal’s owner, Bill Bidwill, and the coach (I think it was Gene Stallings at that time). Of course, on the air it sounded absolutely obnoxious with the distortion of the bull horn and me yelling rude and ridiculous things at them (“Hey Bill, cut me some slack Jack. let us in, Man! Let us in! I mean it!!”). What was not apparent on the air was the fact that there wasn’t anyone there—not a soul. All the fields were empty and the whole facility was deserted (it was too early). It didn’t sound that way on the air, and of course, I leaned on it, pretending Bidwill and the whole team could hear me, which really underscores the power of Theater of the Mind.

Writing Tips From A Master
When it comes to writing or capturing the muse, there’s much to learn from Neil Young in the new issue of Rolling Stone.

“[Neil Young] regards editing as as a loss of confidence, as a failure of method. His experience is that if he is sufficiently responsive, the song will arrive in its final form. ‘You have to be open,’ he said in the car. ‘If you’re paying too much attention, you’re not open. I just want to be there, and the thoughts and ides will come. Don’t rush them, and when they’re there, don’t criticize them. If I have to edit something, it’s because I wasn’t open enough to receive it. And I’m not always successful.’”

“In writing you have to try to be as unaffected as you can by what’s going on around you, while also writing about what’s going on around you. I like to remove myself from me to be able to write about the thing I want to write about. I like to think about myself as another soul on the planet.”

“Writing songs is like hunting for a wild animal, but you’re not trying to kill it. You’re trying to communicate with it, to coax it out of its lair. You don’t go over and set a fire and try to force it from it’s lair, or try to scare it out. When it comes out, you don’t want it to be scared of you. You have to be part of what it sees as it’s looking around, what it takes as natural, so that it doesnt regard you as a threat. To me, songs are a living thing. Its not hunting to capture. I just want to get a glimpse of it, so I can record it”

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Concert Ruined By Guy Enjoying Himself

One More Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Most Self-Abuse Goes Unreported

“In victory, you deserve champagne; in defeat, you need it.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte