April 10, 2006
Spent all weekend cleaning, throwing out junk and working on Honkytonk Sue drawings. Found a ton of old comics and magazines in the garage, including a Young Guns cover story in Premiere (1988). Contrasting the Kiefer Sutherland pictured here with his latest image on the cover story in Rolling Stone is a sad decline. He’s so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the former (didn’t he play Doc Scurlock?) and twenty years on he looks like a stripper’s boyfriend (which, according to the article in RS, he is).

Also found a stash of old Easy Riders (BBO: Before Bolt Ons, as in breast implants), Heavy Metal (dark comics and some of those 80’s French comics were muy French, as in flat-out porn), and a big ol’ stack of 80’s Texas Monthly’s, including the Davy Crockett issue, written by none other than Paul Hutton, who I didn’t know at the time. But the real kicker was an October 1970 Centennial issue of Phoenix Magazine, with this fearless prediction from then mayor John Driggs: “There is no doubt that Phoenix will continue to grow rapidly. . .but whether we reach a million population in 1990, as our planners estimate, or later, or never, is not really important.”

Well, Mr. Driggs, we are on the verge of six million, headed for ten, with an article in The Arizona Republic this week predicting a solid city mass from Prescott thru Phoenix and Tucson and ending somewhere south of Sierra Vista.

On Saturday evening, Kathy and I drove down into the Beast to attend the Fortieth Wedding Anniversary of Phyllis and Mike Hawkins at their home. They renewed their wedding vows and a fun time was had by all. In fact, next weekend the Hawkins have invited us for the grand tour of their hometown, Winslow. I’ve specifically asked for the Mike Hawkins Juvenile Delinquent Tour. Where he fought, where he caught (he was the catcher on the several Winslow teams from 1955-1963), where he made out. You know, the kinds of places a federal judge would not be comfortable showing someone, unless they themselves grew up in a railroad town, down track (in, say, Kingman).

We’ve got a new poll up: Have you ever been to Lincoln, New Mexico? Vote here.

A Wishbone Hips Question
“I really believe that saying about ‘if you want a fast response ask a busy man.’ So I'm asking you. The writer Burton Rascoe once famously described Billy the Kid something along the lines of his being weasel-eyed and slope-shouldered with wishbone-hips and all the outward appearance of a cretin. Do you (or anyone) know the actual words he used?”
—Fred Nolan

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Gun Pays For Itself On First Day

A writer friend of mine, Cathy McDavid sent me her latest historical novel, “The Gate to Eden.” I casually opened it up to this: “He’d meant to savor their undressing, drawing it out until they were both wild with desire. Such was not the case. Their clothes were removed and discarded with lightning speed. His first. Propped up on one elbow, he lay naked beside her and fully aroused. Maddie wore only her chemise and not for long if her busy hands were any indication.”

God, I love history.

“Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful."
—Jacqueline Bisset