February 1, 2006
I just got back from El Encanto (1:15 PM). Went there for lunch with George Laibe to talk about our True West road trip to Alpine, Texas later this month. Sat out by the pond. Beautiful out. Five minutes later, in walks Dan Duffy, male model and major cowboy stud. One time he and I were walking down Main Street in Scottsdale and an SUV full of women from Michigan stopped dead in the street. We heard squeals, the doors swung open, all the women ran over to us, handed the camera to me and told me to take their picture as they took turns hanging all over Dan. He’s that good looking. Today Dan was with two stunning babes, one a blond, the other a brunette, the latter wearing sunglasses. I didn’t recognize her until she took off the shades but it was Jessie Colter, Waylon Jennings’ wife, or I guess widow is the accurate title, the mother of Shooter Jennings, a Phoenix native and the singer of the classic Country hit, “I’m Not Lisa.” Of course, she and George Laibe go way back and they laughed and traded barbs.

I bought ($16.16, plus $3 tip).

I owe Dan a Classic Gunfights, Volume II hardbound book and a piece of artwork. This is for all the times he has posed for gunfighter images. In fact, the laughing Curly Bill image that is our logo for the True West Maniac Club is none other than Dan.

We are working on a cover story for this summer on our concept of the New West and the kids who will save it from extinction. Talked to two young cowkids yesterday and the father of one today. More later.

Dancing with Custer Update
“Just got off the phone with Joe LaForge, and his family story is different. His Great-grandfather Tom LaForge was Mitch Bouyer's best friend. When Mitch died in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Tom LaForge took over Mitch's family (as was the custom then). Tom LaForge was not in the battle due to an earlier injury, according to Joe. And as Joe indicated, he would not be here today if his Great grandfather had been in the Battle."
—Penny L. Becker, Executive Director, Sheridan Tourism Board

I got an Email from a friend in Texas telling me to go to a website that has a parody trailer of Brokeback Mountain. Here’s the address:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2686449

It is grossly funny, the punchline being that a cowboy is in love with his horse, complete with a silhouette of the horse making love to the cowboy. They stole the music and the title cards from the actual trailer. The irony to me, is that the guy who sent me the Email is very opposed to the movie and that led to the following exchange:

My Email to A Certain Texas Cowboy
Now, what's funny (and odd) to me, is you won't go see the movie because of
the ass business, but you really enjoyed a horse reaming the same territory?
Can you explain this paradox to me?

His Reply
“One is funny gross and the other is just disgusting. I won't go see the movie because it shows an abomination between two men and endorses the behavior (but I will see CAPOTE and own ALEXANDER). I read an interview with Annie Proulx and found her to be so presumptuous it put me off anything she will ever do. I don't mind liberalism, what I mind is an agenda. To pick the reddest of states and the most American of Icons to illustrate this has to be more than a simple paradigm shift. Now those people (and I do mean THOSE PEOPLE) will be dressing like we have always dressed, guess I will go back to fall fronts.

“Anyways, arse or otherwise, I won't pay eight bucks to see that. Whether one is pitching or catching, they are still in the game. Besides, the BAREBACK Trailer is just funny and I do think bestiality an apropos comparison to Homosexuality.”

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Six Dead In West Point Panty Raid

George Laibe just came in and said he hoped I wasn’t putting the price of today’s lunch in the blog. When I asked him why, he said, "Because it destroys your mystique. It makes you seem too frugal and not as powerful an individual as you are."

Fair enough. Here’s an opposing view I got yesterday from the valedictorian of our class in Kingman:

"It's ten o'clock in the morning. I am on a tea break. Previously, a break consisted of me brewing a pot of tea and Googling the news. But recently I have expanded this ritual to include reading your blog. I am amazed at myself. Although I collect English diaries written between 1750 and 1850, I have been prejudiced against blogs. Diaries are almost always written for private use (sometimes even written in code to prevent others from reading). I think that is why I like them, they feel so honest. Blogs, on the other hand, are written for the whole globe to read. So in spite of my fondness for diaries, I regarded blogs as self-serving advertising by attention-hungry exhibitionists. But your blog won me over. I am amazed at the similarities in your entries and entries written 200 years ago. Health problems, dinners eaten, and amount paid for purchases. I was smiling as I read a recent blog thinking how in 200 years, historians will use this as source material to calculate the buying power of US currency, and to research medicinal treatments in 2005. But then I started to worry and that is why I am writing. 15 years ago, I saved information on floppy disks, and just 10 years ago on diskettes. None of that info is accessible to me today. The information technology which produced the Rosetta stone resulted in a medium which is still readable 2000 years later. But will our current information technology leave any information behind in a medium which is readable a mere 200 years from now? Prospects look dark to me. I am not suggesting that you write your entries in granite, but as a historian yourself, give a thought to your successors."

"The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is."
—Old Vaquero Saying