May 24, 2007
Well, Penny the groomer really did a gay number on the dogs (see, Peaches and Buddy below, left), complete with neck scarves and prissy haircuts. Notice how they are prancing and dancing with the stars, heads up, tails out. Disgusting. In a cute kind of way. On the right are the Brinks two new dogs, Tucker and Tyler (being held by Carole Glenn, left, and Samantha Somers). Bob Brink wanted them to have Western names so Mark Boardman gave them a Western pedigree by reminding the Brinks that "Dangerous" Dan Tucker was a Western lawman and Johnny Tyler was a gambler who got his ear bent by Wyatt Earp in the Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona. Bob Brink is happy.



My goal this week was to have four Honkytonk Sues in the can before I left for John Wayne's birthday. Started out rough, what else is new. Wanted to get a nice Sue in shadows going, but I overworked it. Not really her.



My second efffort was more successful, this one showing the Queen of Country Swing getting ready to dispense some pearl of wisdom, straight out at us. And by the way, I have gone back to black and white on Sue. The color was not working.



I have great photo reference on Sue going back some 25 years. Here's a photo of a Phoenix model (below, left) who ended up in New York with her boyfriend photographer, who also took this photo. I can't remember their names but they were quite successful in New York. He had me paint a Boze background on butcher paper, then shot his girlfriend with the signature hat on. She's wearing a T-shirt I designed (which my wife hates because of the slogan on it). Very nice. In about 1983, John Riskas, the owner of Boots Nightclub on Camelback Road sent over one of his bartenders claiming she was the spitting image of Sue. John was right. She was pretty hot and I think she was from Iowa, of all places. Wish I could remember their names cause I'd like to run these shots in the magazine.



In the early 1980s there was actually a niteclub on Scottsdale Road called "Honkytonk Sue's" and I often went there and acted like a crazed goon. Here I am dancing with a Honkytonk Sue lookalike during a rodeo celebration. I remember she used to appear on Bill Heywood's radio show as Sue, quite often. And, of course, I have had my Kathy pose as well (right).



There's more, but I've got to get ready for my flight this afternoon to John Wayne's hometown. And speaking of Wayne, here's two more friends weighing in on the Duke:

"As Shakespeare said of Caesar:

"His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
and say to all the world 'This was a man!'"
—Fred Nolan

"The Wayne phenomena is so unique. It is almost a state of reverence. I find it striking that neither THE ALAMO, from a few years back, or FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS displayed any episodes of valor. This is especially odd when we recall that of the 84 Medals of Honor awarded the Marines in WWII, 27 came from Iwo Jima. It seems movie producers no longer believe in American valor. I really think it is the cynical eclipse of the 'hero' which has maintained Wayne's stature. He has become the last classical 'hero'. People want heros, countries need heros, but who has come along since Wayne? Eastwood changed the American "hero" into a killing machine. Then came Rambo, a killing machine on steroids! John Wayne may have been a celluloid hero, but he made people belive in the possibility of valor. And, if we don't even believe in valor as a possibilty a new question will haunt us - what happens to nations which have no heros?

"Did you know there is a photo taken on a Marine base in the mid-fifties. Wyane is seated at a long table chowing down. Way back, in a brightly lit kitchen doorway stands Lee Harvey Oswald."
—Jeff Morey

Onion Headline de Jour
Puppy Dies Adorable Death

"The excitement of learning separates youth from age. As long as you're learning you're not old."
—Rosalyn S, Yalow