March 9, 2007
Finishing the copy for my mother's funeral program. Goes to the printer this afternoon. My cousin's daughter, Brenda Stockbridge, called to say we could meet at her house after the funeral and that is a load off my mind. Almost all of my relatives have moved away from Kingman and we were facing having to go to Pizza Hut, not that's there anything wrong with that.

Yesterday I got a call from Scott Turner in Fort Davis, Texas and he does historic tours throughout the Southwest and he wanted to know if I'd come down and speak to a tour or two in Tombstone. When I asked him what other tours he does he told me he does extensive tours in Chihuahua and Copper Canyon with tour guides who know the Mexican Revolution. They go to battle sites with the experts. Man, do I want to go on that! Very cool. Personally, I believe the Mexican Revolution is the next big thing. With so much attention on the border and the people who live on it, well, it all just makes sense.

Phil Spangenberger just called and he wants to plug auction items for this year's Gold Boot Awards in Beverly Hills. He and Al Frisch are rounding up some amazing firearms and I promised him we'd promote it in the next issue of True West. Phil also sent us a photo of him with Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman (from last year's Boot awards). Phil made Clint's gun rig in Pale Rider and most of the rigs in Unforgiven.

Speaking of Al Frisch, Dave Daiss finally managed to coordinate getting the tapes we shot at Cimarron, New Mexico several years ago and they are really sweet! In fact, Al plays one of the lawmen involved in the shootout with Wild Bunch members Sam Ketchum, Will Carver and others. Al had a great look as a 1900 lawman, and is a natural actor. Quite impressive. My goal is to edit this tape into a new show, which we are going to produce later this year as an offshoot of Classic Gunfights. By this fall we will have three volumes out, featuring some 75 gunfights, with the best maps, photos and narrative, bar none. Now if that's not a TV show I don't know what is.

Were there dinasaurs in Tombstone (besides Ben Traywick?). That is the question we will answer in the next issue of True West.

Bill Muller gave 300 a mixed review in this morning's Arizona Republic (the headline is "Greek Travesty" but he gives it three-and-a-half stars. Hmmmm). His best line is about a "grotesque hunchback" who wants to join the Spartans, but is rejected because, as Muller puts it, "the Greeks don't want no freaks." Now that is clever.

Onion Headline de Jour
Report: 92 Percent Of Souls In Hell There On Drug Charges

"A commited giver is an incurably happy person, a secure person, a satisfied person, and a prosperous person."
—Eric Butterworth