June 30, 2007 Bonus Blog
Got the tractor tire down at 23rd Ave. and Deer Valley ($13 cash), met Dave Daiss for lunch at Tonto Bar & Grill at Rancho Manana. We both had half a cobb and iced tea ($25 biz account). Talked quite a bit about Empire Ranch down by Sonoita and how to preserve it.

Went home and unloaded the tractor tire, whipped out a series of sketches on He Who Straddled Two Different Worlds. This is a theme I have painted before, but I have some better reference this time:



Here's Levi Miles posing for the Straddling painting I want to do. Good rocks and angle (taken at San Carlos), have a better image but I'm not going to share it just yet. Wanted to convey the basic idea.



Last week, as I approached Mogollon Canyon it looked like rain (below). Did get some sprinkles and it was much cooler than the Valley, but then anything would be. Love those mountains:



In the morning it was in the forties and I took this photo of William Antrim's outhouse (Billy the Kid's step-father lived next door to the property that Lew and Tera Jones built on). This is Lew and Tera's custom made mining cabin next door (right). Really a cool little place. I am so jealous. I'd love to have a getaway place like this:

June 30, 2007 Bonus Blog
Here's a good question:

"How could a rifle patented in 1894 be used as standard equipment for 1870’s and 1880’s era westerns?"
—John Crismon, Knoxville, Tennessee

Great point. Actually as Weterns proliferated in the 1930s and 1940s and prop companies consolodated, movie makers got sloppy and started using the most convenient, dependable weapons. They got lazy. And at that time, most viewers didn't care. They do now! Ha.

"I was watching Bat Masterson on Encore the other night and in the closing scene where Bat is saying goodbye to the obligatory female love-interest, there is a 1950’s vintage Ford or Ferguson tractor sitting in a shed partially covered by a tarp in the background. A tractor before it’s time! Thanks for the Winchester 94 response.
—John Crismon

Also, in response to another post of mine where I said, "In Hugh's day they did 18 pages of dialogue a day, and two episodes a week. Man, that is a grind."

"In Hugh's day (mid-50s) the studios worked six days a week. At three days per half-hour episode, his was no different than any other. By 1965, when I did my first show as a costumer, we did an hour show in seven days—if we were lucky. That show was The Fugitive, with David Janssen, and my work week (a five day week by then) was on average, 80 hours. Lotta' overtime. The next series I did was a Western; they also shot seven days for an hour show. Three days for a half hour filmed show was standard for many years."
—Steve Lodge

Boardman Nitpicks The Board, Man
"So in reading your comments in the American Heritage blog with Allan Barra, I was struck by your choices of the two guys you'd want on your side in a gunfight.

"Wild Bill Hickok? Are you kiddin' me? Based on his track record with Mike Williams, he's liable to shoot YOU. And in the last four years of his life, there's no indication that he ever pulled his guns in anger. The Williams shooting made him gunshy--and that certainly wouldn't work in a gunfight. And his eye-sight was going. Face it, a blind, gutless pistoleer might be considered a liability. He might be useful as a human shield--after all, he was a big guy. And if you were fighting women, well, he could probably charm the guns and garters off them. Maybe he could threaten to give the other side the clap.

"And Billy the Kid? Let's see. He and several others killed Sheriff Brady and his deputy from ambush. He gunned down two other deputies who were unarmed. He couldn't face Peaches the dog down. The Kid was all flash and no fire. I can see it now--you and Hickok and Billy walking down the middle of some Old West street, heading to a gunfight with like-minded fellows. Billy would be looking for a place to hide so he could shoot the other guys in the back. And you'd be saying, 'Uh, Mr. Hickok, you need to be pointing in THAT direction...'

"What a crew.

"You want to walk with the best? Try Frank Hamer. Ambidextrous. A crack shot with rifle, shotgun and pistol. Involved in more than 50 shootouts in which dozens of bad guys were killed. Absolutely fearless--wounded numerous times, even declared dead twice. Did the job without bragging or boasting--didn't even tell his family about his exploits until Frank was on his deathbed. Considered one of the greatest Texas Rangers in history.

"And for a darker element, I'd bring along Killin' Jim Miller. We have no idea how many men he killed. Absolutely ruthless and unafraid to pull the trigger on anybody (including, perhaps, his grandparents and his brother-in-law).
Sure, most of his kills were done from ambush--but he did take down a few men in open confrontations. Hell, it never hurts to take a sociopath to a gunfight (just so long as you don't rile him). His shotgun would speak volumes.

"Oh, and remember—when they talk about fast draw, don't pull out your pen and paper and do a quick sketch."
—Mark Boardman

"A winner lives in the present, and does not destroy the present by focusing on past memories or future expectations."
—Muriel James

June 29, 2007
Lost another hen. Just really blast furnace heat the last couple days. Down to six. Still got three eggs though.

Here's a treat. Deborah forwarded me the preview for the upcoming 3:10 To Yuma with Russell Crowe.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809781728/video/3053783;_ylt=AvRJtCnnh_8lEzvzME42pphfVXcA

And here's her comments:

"They've changed the plot to include Van Heflin's son in way more of the action. Not sure, yet, how that's gonna fly. It could make it more tense. Then again, why can't they just leave things alone? Also, the wife is a tad to Renee Zellweger-ish for me, and it all looks a little too modern. Still...the action looks good, and the mere presence of Peter Fonda kicks this up quite a few notches. I'll definitely see this on opening day. Can't judge it till I see it.

"Meanwhile, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll keep my favorite line, spoken by the Bisbee Marshal: 'Safe! Who knows what's safe? I knew a man dropped dead from lookin' at his wife. My own grandmother fought the Indians for sixty years... then choked to death on lemon pie. Do I have two volunteers?' Priceless."
—Deborah, Thousand Oaks, CA

P.S. Loved the recent Hat Nazis post. Those hats are REE-DICK-YOU-LESS...but real, so what is anybody gonna do?

Going down to pick up my John Deere front tire. Hate going out in the heat and the traffic, but I've got Mad Dog Nelson and Joe Yaeger coming over in the morning to put the tractor back together.

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Fear Factor Creator's Will: 'Heirs Must Eat My Ashes To Collect Inheritance'

I've noticed that in spite of my daily sketches, the quality ebbs and flows, with my proficiency going up and down, almost on its own will. Bob Brink's father taught him to aim higher because you will invariably hit lower, so I'm trying to aim a little higher today.

"To choose is also to begin."
—Old Vaquero Saying

June 28, 2007
Working on The Endurance of The Horse issue (Sept.). Got an idea for the opening spread. Going home for lunch to work on it.

Peaches almost got bitten by a rattler last week when the TV crew from Cactus Shadows was here. Bill Watters told me they got it on video and it will premiere tonight at the Fine Arts Center at seven. Also included will be my intro and other snide comments, by me. Over the credits, they told me. We'll see.

When I was shooting Apaches last week at San Carlos, Dale's brother Doug does Apache skateboards with very cool designs. Here he is, at left, with Levi Miles, holding some of the rad boards he has done.



Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Area Mom Really Gets Her Rocks Off On Being Appreciated

One of the cowboys I met at Founder's Ranch last week was Jose Luis Serra from Barcelona, Spain. He has always been in love with the West and cowboys and so recently he moved to Fredericksburg, Texas to live the life. I had fun talking with him, me using my broken Spanish and he his broken English, although I would admit his English was better than my Spanish. Really a nice guy and I admire his bravery, moving here and jumping right into the lifestyle. Quite courageous.

"Cowboys are romantics, extreme romantics and ninety-nine out of a hundred of them are sentimental to the core. They are oriented toward the past and face the present only under duress, and then with extreme reluctance."
—Larry McMurtry

June 27, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
The newest issue (August) arrived from the printer just before lunch. Very clean and crisp. Really like it. And there is one of those happy accidents inside. The Classic Gunfight is on the Battle of Big Dry Wash (page 60) and a few pages later (page 68) is an ad for Summit Resources advertising five acres in Payson, and the ridge in the background of the photo is where the Apaches went up and over the Mogollon Rim. Really amazing as context.

Theresa from Tri Star Boze brought up several boxes of books for me to sign, including several crates of the new CGIII. There is also a very fine full page ad for the new book in the new issue of True West.

My photo session with the Apaches turned out very good last week. Here are two shots. The models are Levi Miles and Rebecca Miles of San Carlos:



Me And Hugh
More Hugh O'Brian odds and ends. He has done 150 movies and 5 Broadway plays. His show "The Life And Legend of Wyatt Earp" was on the cover of TV Guide five times (more than any other TV show, according to Hugh).

He wanted a special holster for the Buntline Special and the studio wouldn't pay for it so he went to a famous gunleather shop and had one made for $45. He paid for it out of his own pocket. After the show was picked up for a second season he went to the studio guys and asked them to reimburse him for the holster but they refused. He said the holster is established, "How will you shoot around it?" and they shrugged, and said "We don't care. We'll rent another holster from the company we rent all of our gear from." So Hugh went to the prop guy and said, "How much does the studio pay a week for gun gear?" And the guy told him (I can't remember the number, maybe $2,000) and Hugh said, "How'd you like to make 10% of that?" And the guy said he would, but how could he make that much? And Hugh said, "Because I just started an equipment rental company and you are my go to guy." So the studio ended up renting Hugh's Buntline Special holster for $75 a week, plus all the other gear.

The studio really ground out the episodes. I believe today a TV show tries to finish an episode every six days (which is no easy task). In Hugh's day they did 18 pages of dialogue a day, and two episodes a week. Man, that is a grind.

When people came up to Hugh in the tent they would rave about how good he looks and he would say, "Do you know the three stages of Man?" No. "Youth, Middle-age, and Hugh, you look really good!"

Hugh told me a story about Al Jennings, a small-time outlaw who did time in prison, later ran for Governer of Oklahoma coming in third! Al showed up on the set of Wyatt Earp. O'Brian said many people showed up who claimed to have known Wyatt. According to Hugh, Al got homesick for Leavenworth and got a bus ticket back there and lived with the warden and cooked for everyone. The warden called Hugh and said, "That Al Jennings was the best cook we ever had."

Between customers Hugh would lean over and say random things, like, "Victor was a real cocksman." And I would say, "Excuse me?" And he would repeat it louder. Ha. He was referring to a co-star on "The Son of Ali Baba."

Also, Hugh would, from time to time, get out his cell phone and talk to his business partners. Kids would be standing nearby and he would be booming, "You tell that son of a bitch. . ." His wife, Virginia, would say, "Hugh, hold it down." And he would bark at her and keep going.

Another time he leaned over and said, "You know Wyatt wrote a book called 'Booze Bell'?" (he called me Booze for two days, more as a joke than anything, but he thought is was real funny), and I said, "What?" And then he would smile mischieviously and say, "He knew you were coming."

He took a look at my Wyatt book and said, "So you don't like Stuart Lake?" And I said, "I like Stuart Lake a lot. He made Wyatt a legend. But that doesn't mean his history is correct." Hugh really respected Lake and told me in great detail what a gent he was. I did feel bad about that one. Hugh got misty-eyed at the memory of the man who wrote "Frontier Marshal" and put Wyatt on the map. In fact, Lake was involved in getting the TV show on the air and was in many ways the architect of Earp's legend.

Another Hugh joke is to say to a guy with a good looking woman, "I see you brought your daughter." He said this to me, regarding Trish Brink and Jackie Ellis. And at least a dozen other guys.

Some of my friends have cringed about the charging for autographs, but I have some empathy for him. Autograph vultures are making a bunch of money off these guys and their image and it must really grind him. I think that was behind the demand for a cut of the giclee business. My painting was of him as Wyatt. Shouldn't he deserve a cut? The problem is I could have felt just as good at half the price. Ha.

"The real secret of success is enthusiasm."
—Walter P. Chrysler

June 27, 2007 Bonus Blog
Got a call from a cable network that wants to run Classic Gunfights as a regular feature. They have requested 13 episodes. Working to line up the video footage we already have and the other stuff we need. We have about four different ones already shot, but they need to be edited.

Confessions of A Part Time Bachelor
As of today, my wife has been gone on her Semester At Sea cruise for exactly two weeks. I have had several profound realizations and I have a couple questions:

• Who is the jerk who keeps leaving his dirty dishes in the sink and expecting them to wash themselves?

• Where is the person who gives me my medal when I actually do get around to doing the dishes and taking out the garbage?

• The dryer has some weird settings ("fluffy dry" and "less dry"), what does that mean?

• Where is the phone number of that cleaning lady I said you didn't need?

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
—Winston Churchhill

June 27, 2007
Decided to do a change-up last night in my current Red-Black-White phase and use paint instead of markers for my six sketches. Here's last night's mess:



This morning I tried a blend between the two, with an underlay of gouache red (below, left) and then brought it into the office, scanned it and added the black with a felt tip marker:



More later. Lots to do in office.

"Even the best team, without a sound plan, can't score."
—Woody Hayes

June 26, 2007
Found a dead chicken in the coop this morning. I think the heat got her. Still getting about four eggs a day.

Here's a catch-up on the sketchbook progress from the past week, mostly on the road. First up, I sketched a couple cool shots of the mountains outside Mogollon (top, left), then got to Lew's cabin, got real happy and went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night and realized I hadn't done my six sketches, stumbled out to the car in the dark and got my sketchbook and did the bottom four images (left) from memory (of being on the road). The next day I stopped several times west of Horse Springs and sketched the distant plains of San Augustine. Decent effects:



The next page (below left) was done mostly in my motel room at Ho Jos in Albuquerque. Read the paper (USA Today) and was intrigued by a movie promo photo for The Mist (bottom), then pulled out a Remington book I had brought along and did a little sketch of him (middle) and fleshed out the rest with the usual, random stuff:



On Saturday I took my sketchbook out to End of Trail and between customers sketched on stuff. I bought a book at the Albuquerque Museum called "La Vida Brinca" (Life Jumps) by Bill Wittliff, who uses a primitive pinhole camera to capture Southwest and Mexican imagery. Very haunting and Old Westy (at least to me). The Billy image (upper right) was created from that influence. The left side images were done after attending a dinner party at the Huttons and getting home late. Paul had a couple of high school buddies in town from Indiana named Fork and Gravenstreter, plus their wives Jeri and Dayle, and they told many embarrassing stories on Mr. Hutton's spent youth. As I mentioned, I got up at 2:30 the next morning and headed for home on I-40. The sun started to peek across the long mesas as I approached Gallup and when I stopped for breakfast at Earl's in downtown Gallup ($11-something cash), I brought my sketchbook in and tried to capture some of that early morning dawn light, just tipping the tops of the mesas:



Had a long day at the office yesterday, didn't get home until 7:30, but sat at the kitchen to whip out these images. Once again, very influenced by Bill Wittliff's images (some are copied right from the book). Bill's name may sound familiar because he wrote the screenplays for Lonesome Dove, The Black Stallion, Legends of the Fall, The Perfect Storm, among others. He does the pinhole stuff as a hobby and he calls it tragaluces—light swallowers. Very inspiring stuff.



Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Women Have To Stop Starving Themselves Past The Point Of Hotness

"Excellence is achieved by the mastery of fundamentals."
—Vince Lombardi

June 25, 2007 Triple Bonus Blog
“BBB, you said Hugh was a legendary bachelor, but I thought I heard (or read) where he was recently married to a long time friend. I believe she was a teacher or something and much younger than him( not that that matters).”
—Kip Coryea

Yes, your memory is correct. In fact, Hugh and his bride Virginia are celebrating their one year anniversary today, in Vegas. They have known each other for 18 years. She is a sweetheart. When I asked Hugh where he was taking his new bride for their anniversary he quipped, “Forest Lawn.” Ha. Actually, Hugh and Virginia were married at Forest Lawn a year ago today and they released butterflies. Hugh was 81 when they married and he's never been married before. Amazing for Hollywood standards, no?

“By the way, not only do you have lovely ladies working for you, they really work and do a good job. Also, Steve and Marcie Shaw did a marvelous job creating the True West Gallery. It really did showcase your artwork. And finally, it makes me wonder if that South Lake Tahoe fire was started by embers flying from the bridge you burned to Hugh O’Brian’s house.”
—Jeff Hildebrandt

June 25, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
I spent quite a bit of time on the trip looking at historic photos of cowboys. I bought a book, "Albuquerque: Then And Now" at the Albuquerque Museum, which had some exquisite images from the 1800s, including a parade in downtown Albuquerque prior to 1912 and there is a long line of cowboys riding in a row and every single one of them has a flat-brimmed hat on. There are spectators along the street with semi-winged hats, but they are townsmen types.

But, with that said, it's time for:

Confessions of A Hat Nazi, Part III
Dan Buck sent me a photo of farmhands from the 1870s. Now, granted, they are not technically "cowboys" but take a gander at these lids!



This just proves to me that we have become wayyyyyy too strident on what is historically correct headgear. Anybody showing up at a gunfight re-enactor competition would be laughed out of town wearing something like this (never mind being gigged to death for being so goofy). We need to lighten up fellow Hat Nazis. The bottom line is this: they had almost every kind of headgear imagineable, with the possible exception of the surgical tubing beer cap with the cans on each side.

"If everybody is wearing a big hat, ain't nobody wearin' a big hat."
—BBB

June 25, 2007 Bonus Blog
This is the exact moment when Hugh O'Brian confronted me at the artshow on Thursday night about being compensated for each giclee. I am telling him I understand his position and we will be fair. As you can see from his body language he is one tough negotiator:



When this little confrontation happened Jeff Hildebrandt told his crew to shut off the camera, but Stephen Todd snapped a couple photos and emailed them to me this morning. Thanks Stephen! A True West Moment when Wyatt Earp took BBB to school.

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."
—Thomas Jefferson

June 25, 2007
Long drive home (446 miles door to door). Got here yesterday at about noon. Took a two hour nap, slept ten hours last night. Really crashed. Here's a couple photos from my trip.

Horse Springs coming in from the west, and Horse Springs coming in from the east:



Linda Aragon in her store, and outside. The name of the store translates into "The Gossip."



And here's Linda pointing across the road to the adobe she was born in:



Here's Trish Brink and Lady Stetson organizing the art opening on Thursday afternoon in the True West Art Gallery tent. Thanks to them and Sam, we were ready to rock and roll at 7 P.M. when the mob attacked us from both ends of the tent:



The kid who portrayed the Kid on Wednesday night, Dave Faas, told me he wanted to find an accurate bibbed shirt like the real Billy is wearing in his only known photo, and he also wanted to find a sugarloaf sombrero. He found both and here they are:



Received the new follow-up book on the Ketchums, "The Deadliest Outlaws" by Jeffrey Burton today. Can't wait to dig into it. Burton, who is a Brit, is considered the best authority on the Black Jack and the Boys. I'm thinking of doing a whole slew of Wild Bunch Classic Gunfights for the next volume of CG. My trip to Helper, helped get me jazzed about it.

Another Hugh O'Brian Bit of Wisdom
When asked by a young TV reporter why he came to End of Trail, the legendary Wyatt Earp actor gave a one-word answer:

"Money."

"The world never puts a price on you higher than the one you put on yourself."
—Sonja Henie

June 24, 2007
Woke up at 2:30 and decided to hit the road for home. Staying in Albuquerque in a Ho Jo (Howard Johnson's). It's about 550 miles to Cave Creek. Had fun here. We did quite well at the festival, selling almost $2,000 in books and DVDs and some $9,000 in paintings and giclees. Met some very nice people. The SASS folks are extraordinarily respectful and appreciative. I would be going out back to the Port-O-John and someone would walk right up to me and say, "I really want to thank you for the stages [the prerecorded scenarios I did for the shoot] and for coming out here. Hope you're having a great time."

And I would say, "Yes, I am. Could you shut the door on your way out?"

June 23, 2007
Just got back from the Owl Cafe where I had Huevos Mexicanos and shoddy service ($11.05 True West account). It's interesting to me, here you have a hipster diner cafe with a dozen cute waitresses in hipster t-shirts whipping around but yet I sat for ten minutes before the manager came over and asked me if I wanted coffee. Not good, and I told him so. Of course all the time, these t-shirted employees are acting busy and bustling around but nobody even stopped to say, "We're slammed, I'll get to you in a second, Hon." Which always calms me down.

In direct opposition to this morning's bad service, last night Trish, Sam and I met Jeff Hildebrandt at El Pinto for dinner. Huge place, with a parking lot that looked like a cross between a city park and a Jimmy Buffet concert. Hundreds of cars snuggled beneath rows of big trees with a silver stretch-Hummer parked out front awaiting the celebs, or prom dates, inside.

Newly minted Master's Degree-est, Tracy Hutton recommended the joint to us.

We walked into the lobby and it was huge, with a waterfall and vaulted ceilings and one of those jumbotrons that announces what numbers are being seated: 118, 23, 256, 18, etc. I expected the usual long wait and shabby service, but it was just the opposite. We waited maybe five minutes, were seated quickly and courteously. The chips came immediately and the server ( the bottom of the food chain in a restaurant) actually smiled and welcomed us. We ordered margaritias and they were excellent. I had the house specialty, adobada enchiladas and they were also mighty fine. True West picked up the tab ($115) and we were on our way. Really a great New Mexican experience, and a lesson in the right way to do things.

Marky's Mark?
"Okay, okay, I know you've got a lot of shit coming down—not even counting Shylock O'Brian grabbing for the pound of flesh. But let's get the musical quotes correct. 'Mr. Jones' was not done by the Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan would blanch at the thought, I suspect. It was done by Adam Duritz and the Counting Crows. Now get back to your show, you wise-guy you."
—Mark Boardman

Consider it the earmarkings of a fading memory bank, with more withdrawals than deposits.

"I can't remember when my WWA reception is, but I can remember Rock Hudson starred in Taza: Son of Cochise"
—Paul Hutton, describing his memory loss while dining Wednesday night at the Owl Cafe

June 23, 2007
Big day at End of Trail yesterday. Sold a bunch of books and another giclee. The guy who bought the "Get Out of Dodge" art print took it over to Hugh O'Brian, who was sitting to my right, and asked the legendary TV star if he would do him the honor of signing it. Hugh said he would but he hoped that he would be generous and compensate him for the honor. Hugh got $10 for the signature plus the $40 cut he hornswaggled out of us last night! Just amazing to watch.

Classic Gunfights, Volume III took me and my staff literally months to produce (and if you count how long it took us to produce each gunfight for the magazine I could make an argument it took at least a year to compile, edit, layout and print), and for this we collect $30 for a softcover edition. Hugh is sitting next to me selling laserprint photos of himself for $30 each! And the fans don't even flinch. "Okay, give me this one and that one, and I'll take two of those, and will you sign them for me?"

For a price. Ha.

Hugh is also a legendary bachelor, and he's known for taking liberty with the ladies. A woman in Tombstone allegedly slapped his face at a recent event and a good friend of mine told me about a banquet dinner at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, where Hugh was the MC, and a female tablemate of my friend went up to receive an award. She came back fuming and finally blurted out that the entire time she was at the microphone trying to give her acceptance speech, Mr. Buntline Special had his hand gripping her buttocks. Ha. I know this is supposed to be awful, but there is a caddish, Irish, Diva, movie star aspect to all of this that just makes if funny.

He is definitely a character. He's told me a bunch of stories about Wyatt and John Wayne and I'll try to relate those later. I'm spending the day again with him in the big top. Should be a hoot. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two. One thing's for certain, he's definitely:

"Brave, courageous and BOLD!"
—Theme song for The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp

June 22, 2007
When I walked into the shooter's tent at Founder's Ranch yesterday afternoon, there sat Jeff Hildebrandt and a TV crew from the Westerns Channel. Jeff sees Trish Brink and Samantha Somers go into the True West Art Gallery tent next door and says to me, by way of a greeting, "Bob Boze Bell, every time I see you, you are surrounded by beautiful women. What does your wife think of this?" And I said, "She's just as mystified as you are."

I introduced Hugh O'Brian from the main stage at about 7:30 and gave him the Buckaroo Bronze for 2007 award. I told the story about watching The Life And Legend of Wyatt Earp with my grandmother in 1957 and how it took fifty years but I finally get to meet him. And, with that, I went over to the edge of the stage and invited him up, shaking his hand as he came on stage. The Westerns Channel got it all on tape and when I saw Jeff later at the artshow he said, "Bob Boze Bell Gushes," as a mock proposed title of the piece. Ha. I suppose I was a tad over the top, but hey, it has been fifty years, Man.

And speaking of over the top, had lunch with Paul Hutton and we took another gander at the Billy the Kid Show at the Albuquerque Museum. It's amazing, I saw things I didn't see the first tiem. It really is a stunning show. In the very back of the show, Paul showed me a video room which I hadn't noticed the first time around (there is no sign saying it's there). So we walk around the corner and there playing to an empty room is a Bill Kurtis video on Billy the Kid and who is on the screen but me, looking at a Billy book and the camera pans out to show Paul. We both did a doubletake and I think I said, "If I saw this in a movie, I wouldn't believe it."

Paul and I stopped at the comments book on the way out and the last entry in the book said, "Bob Boze Bell is a tad over the top."

So the art show was quite successful in some ways and a bust in others. We sold half the giclees (25) at $150 and the shooters were lined up at the front of the stage and Ken A. was badgering them to buy and they were shouting and saying, "I want one!" Then we went over to the art gallery which SASS had built for us inside a big tent. They had a big hand-carved sign that said "True West Art Gallery" out front. People were lined up to get in. We sold maybe six paintings, plus I already had sold the big Billy, so the red dots looked mighty nice.

The presence of Hugh O'Brian certainly gave the giclees a huge push. He signed them right over the top of the image, like it was a poster, which kind of irritated me, but hey, they were paying $150 for a giclee and if that's the way they want to display it, so be it. Plus, the veteran TV star pulled a Chuck Berry on us and demanded a piece of the giclee sales, starting off at 50%. Our plan was to give him the entire proceeds from the original ($5K) and we would make something on the prints. People were lined up to get their giclees signed, and Hugh just sat there with a Go-Ahead-And-Make-My-Day look and Ken and I huddled and came up with a counter offer (all the time the crowd is surging to get their prints signed) and offered Hugh a maximum of 25% and when Hugh asked how much that was Ken said $35 and Hugh barked, "I want $40!" And so we caved. It was pretty amazing. He jumped on this right on the stage when I announced it and he was like a dog on a bone and wouldn't let it go. When Ken told Hugh that he didn't need an agent, Hugh told Ken, "I'll be your agent."

Ken opened the bidding on the original at $1,000 and I think it went to $1,500, but that too got lost in the hub-bub. I'll have to compare notes with Trish and Sam when I see them this morning. By the way, both were fabulous. Dressed to the nines with cowboy hats. And they really worked hard as we were literally overrun at the tables in the back of the art gallery.

The book Classic Gunfights III kind of got lost in the shuffle and we sold maybe 10 books, and a couple DVDs. Now that was just on opening night, so we may do better today and Saturday. Lots of old friends came to see the show. Jim Dunham from Georgia and the Booth Museum came, as did Drew Gomber from Lincoln, Jim Clark from Tombstone and Jackie King Ellis from Durango. Afterwards, Jackie and I sat on the tailgate of her truck, drank a nice Argentina wine, petted her dog and talked about our families and life in the West. I was so touched that she drove all the way from Durango for the show. She's driving back this morning.

"When I look at the TV I want to see me, staring right back at me."
—Counting Crows, "Mr. Jones"

June 21, 2007
I almost missed a day on my sketches. I was visiting Lew Jones on Tuesday afternoon and catching up on all the news and about five, we had a couple beers, and then some wine with dinner. Lew cooked homemade bar-b-que and pintos and cold slaw and we sat out on his deck and relished the cool, mountain breeze. I had a long day driving and shooting Apaches, so I went to sleep at about ten, a tired boy. Woke up at three in the morning and realized I only had three sketches in my sketchbook for the day. Got up, stumbled out to the car in the dark and got the sketchbook, and whipped out four more, just to be safe. Whew! That was close. I realize that someday I'm going to miss because of circumstances beyond my control, but in the meantime I'm pretty proud of my run (4,007 and counting). And I hope the discipline will pay off in skill and quality.

Speaking of which, I sold a Billy painting to a railroad guy who goes through Kingman quite a bit and calls it "Kingmanistan." I loved that. He is at End of Trail and I saw him last night and he told another story about a young girl with her family on the train, who came up to him and the little girl asked if this train was "The Polar Express," and he told her it was, but then confided to the mother, "It's actually more like the Bi-Polar Express." Rich.

"He stumbled into the Wild West, learned the codes, battled its perils, and documented its ruthless reality."
—Perriton Maxwell, 1907, describing Frederick Remington

June 20, 3007
There are no more than 15 people in Mogollon, New Mexico. It's essentially a ghost town, sitting high up in the mountains at about 7,000 feet. Nice and cool at night, actually chilly. Got down into the 40s this morning and for Arizona folks, this passes for nirvana.

Lew followed me down the mountain at 6 this morning in his El Camino and we ate breakfast at the Alma Grill. A table full of cowboys eyed me suspiciously as we sat down and ordered. Turns out they all recognized me from the Westerns Channel, and one of them is going to be featured in an upcoming issue of True West. A week ago, we needed a "chinks chaps" photo to illustrate a question Marshall Trimble got for Ask The Marshall, and I knew my old friend Jay Dusard had one in a great book of his I own. So I called Jay, who has a little ranch down by Douglas and he graciously agreed to let us run the photo. I asked him he if is working on anything new that we might be interested in and he said he wanted to do a photo feature on an oldtime New Mexico cowboy he knows named Monk Maxwell. I gave Jay the green light on the project. Well, one of the cowboys sitting at the table next to us, was Monk Maxwell. Ha. Small world, indeed.

I bought Lew's breakfast ($15 includes tip), then took off up the mountain for Reserve to see Henry Martinez at Henry's Corner Gas Station (Phillips 66). Henry wasn't in, but Wayne Ashby was there and we had a nice chat. He's a refugee from New River, got tired of the heat and the mob, so when he retired a couple years ago he and his wife bought a little place in Reserve. He loves it and told me they sell a ton of True Wests in the little store next door.

Travelled northeast towards Datil (rhymes with saddle) and stopped a couple times to sketch the wide open vistas. No cars to speak of, maybe met three pickups. Lots of wolf depradations in this area. Wayne told me they've lost quite a few ranches in the past two years due to cattle losses. I noticed one big spread had erected an eight foot fence around the entire home spread and pasture, probably a hundred acres. That had to have cost a penny or two.

Stopped in Horse Springs because Gus Walker and I were fretting over the locaton when we did the Gage Train Robbery chase in the last Classic Gunfights (July, out now). Two of the outlaws were captured at Horse Springs. Stopped in a little store there (it's a spot on the road) and talked to Linda Aragon, but she didn't know, although she told me Horse Springs was named by a cavalry unit who came through and lost a horse near here, on the way to Fort Tularosa, but on the way back to Soccoro they found the horse at the nearby spring, thus the name.

Linda also told me she was born in Horse Springs, right across the highway. She pointed at a long, rambling, boarded up adobe and proudly said she was born on the far end. I told her she hasn't gotten very far in life, only making it across the street. She laughed. I bought some of her homemade postcards and a pack of jerky ($12 something, cash). She also told me she's closing the store becuase she just isn't getting the business. I told her I had only seen three trucks and she said, "Yes, today has been busy." Ha. Been open a year. I hate that. Another roadside attraction bites the dust. I took several photos of her and the town and will run them when I get home next week.

Nice ride to Soccoro. Stopped on the town plaza and ate an apple. Warm, but the big trees kept it shady and the birds were singing and a drunk guy was yelling, so that was entertaining. Drove on to Albuquerque, arriving here at 3:30.

Paul Hutton picked me up at five and we drove up to Founder's Ranch for a Billy the Kid presentation. We looked around at the booths and Paul said he wanted a new vest, so we walked into Frontier Clothing and he bought a vest and I got two frock coats with matching vests ($750). Nice stuff.

Tri Star Publishing had the printer send three boxes of the new Classic Gunfights, Volume III directly to Founder's Ranch. I got one of the staff to take me out to her pickup and I tore open one of the boxes and took a gander, since I hadn't seen it yet.

Went into the big tent at seven, 650 shooters and their families. Ken A. introduced Paul Hutton, who introduced me, and I introduced William H. Bonney. Actually a young guy with a remarkable resemblence to the Kid. He's from Cheyenne, Wyoming and he did a good job entertaining the crowd.

Drove back into Albuquerque at 8:30 and had dinner at the Owl Cafe, which is an offshoot of the famous Owl Cafe in San Antonio, New Mexico. Had the green chile hamburger and a beer (I bought Paul's dinner as well, $35 cash).

Big day tomorrow with the art opening and premiere of CGIII. Trish and Sam are driving over with the bulk of the paintings.

"The needle of our conscience is as good a compass as any."
—Ruth Wolff

June 19, 2007
Left the house at 5:45 this morning. Got to San Carlos at nine. Shot Apaches for two hourse. Had lunch in Safford at Chalo's, a Mexican place Lew Jones recommended. Very good ($10.50 includes tip). Got to Mogollon at about four. Nice dinner and chat with Lew. Came up to the Mogollon Fire Department to access the web so I could post. Sitting in a big old firehouse with a 1952 Chevy First Attack Truck and 2001 Ford F-250 First Attack Pumper. Lew says they've had no fires yet, since he's been here. More later.

"There's three cans: think you can, say you can, get off your can. The last one is the toughest."
Lew Jones, Mogollon Fire Secretary/Treasurer

June 18, 2007
Well, here it is, my 4,000th sketch, @ six a day since November 12th, 2006, without missing a day.



Getting looser and the bending of form is coming right along with the shading getting more dynamic and fresh. As I have not so modestly admitted, drawings talk to me, and several characters spoke loud and clear. Bottom, center, is Isaiah Mays, the Tenth Horse Gunfighter. I dig his swagger and slick-down outfit (totally an accident). Now there's an Old West character I would love to see in a graphic novel. Of course, the usual suspects are here: Curly (bottom, right), Mickey (bottom, left) and Beauty (center, small). And Tom Horn, top. All in all, a decent page of sketches to commemorate this milestone. Next stop 5,000, which will be half-way to my goal.

"Nothing's far when one wants to get there."
—Old Vaquero Saying

June 18, 2007
Had a very nice Father's Day with my daughter Deena and her boyfiend Frank. They came out to Cave Creek and I made Bobby Cakes for them. We solved life and laughed, my three fave things: a good old-fashioned breakfast, good laughing and solving life.

At five, my new neighbors, Bob and Lynne Hoss had me over for dinner. Good time as well.

Closing in on another milestone in my newest sketchbook. Here's another batch of red sketches:



And another one, which puts me at 3,990 sketches. I'm pushing myself to do 10 today to make it to the big 4-0-0-0.



Worked on The Jerkwater Express painting yesterday and today. Started two, bogged down immediately. Stayed with it, this one is still not where I want it to be, more of a study really, but it's going to have to do. Need to get it off to Jeff at The Westerns Channel. Fortunately, all of that short-short ribbing paid off. Those guys are definitely in a bucket brigade. Train's not bad either, although I'm itching to have another go at the whole thing:



Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Iraqi Cop Moonlighting As Terrorist Just To Make Ends Meet

"Everyone needs recognition for his accomplishments but few people make the need known quite as clearly as the little boy who said to his father: "Let's play darts. I'll throw and you say 'Wonderful!'"
—Arthur Lenehan

June 16, 2007
Got up at 5:30 and drove up to Bev's for an early morning haircut. Really nice out and we had a grand time ($20 cash).

Eric, from 24-Hour Car Care, came out to the house on Monday and replaced both brake pads in Kathy's Escape. Said they were worn beyond repair and it was lucky the car even stopped. He didn't leave a bill (so Cave Creek). I called him and he said, "Well, I didn't see any U-Haul trucks in your drive-way so I'm guessing you're good for it."

I leave for New Mexico on Tuesday morning. Going via San Carlos where I'll shoot some Apache photos with my two models down there, then off, down past Fort Thomas (our son always makes us stop to take a photo at the sign. We have pics of him at a couple different ages, pointing gleefully at the sign. The fort is long gone), then on to see Lew and Tara Jones in Mogollon, New Mexico. Up Wednesday and a stop in Reserve to visit with Henry Martinez about the Elfego Baca museum, then off across the Plains of Augustine to see Linda and Ty at, or near, Elephant Butte Lake, then to Albuequerque for the big BBB artshow out at Founder's Ranch, 40 miles east of Alb. Events all through the weekend. Plan on coming back on Sunday.

Kelly and Tom Augherton are taking care of the dogs and the chickens while I'm gone. I called JD "Mad Dog" Nelson at about 8:30 and asked if he wanted to drive down to Deer Valley to get the John Deere tractor tire fixed. He did, I picked him up and we drove down in my pickup. Stopped at a huge, new Lowe's on Happy Valley Road and bought hinges for the brooder addition to the chicken house ($12 something cash). Tire will be ready Monday (they had to order a tube). On the way back out to Cave Creek he told me about how he got the name "Mad Dog." Too funny. I also asked him where he is going to be living in Utah and he said "Mapleton, just north of Spanish Fork," and I laughed because I drove right through there last week on my way to Helper. Beautiful Valley and mountains.

Came home and took a nap, going to work on a couple paintings, "The Jerkwater Express," and "Birth of The Western". Both images are for the new batch of True West Moments, which Jeff Hildebrandt is working on even as you read this.

Allen Barra interviewed me for the American Heritage website. It is up and available for reading at:

http://www.americanheritage.com

Still cleaning and trying to get a handle on my studio and my office at True West. Came up to load out some crap. Nobody here. Kind of nice and quiet. Kathy has only been gone for four days, but I certainly have a newfound appreciation for how much she picks up after me ("Who is the jerk who keeps leaving dirty dishes in the sink?").

Oh. It's me. Ha.

"Oh how blessings brighten as they take their flight."
—Old Vaquero Saying

June 15, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
Robert Ray and I worked all day on getting some potato chips in the can. This is TW slang for getting one-page articles, kind of odd page fillers (when our schematic meets the deadline and it all comes down to the wire, sometimes odd spaces fall out and we need editorial filler, thus the term potato chip—betcha can't read, just one). We created about six of them, or blocked them in. Some are canibalized from True West Moments and some are poached from the SASS Cowboy Chronicle pieces we have done for them.

Took Robert to lunch at China Joy up in Carefree ($18-something, TW account). Talked about printing problems and production flow.

Got a funny cartoon from The Top Secret Writer about a month ago. Had it on my copy stand in my office and it has made me smile every time I look at it. As Jana used to say, "I think I resemble that remark."



I'm probably breaking copyright laws, but please forgive me Mr. Bizarro and King Features (Hi Rocky!). Check out more of Bizarro great cartoons @ Bizarro.com

Cleaned off my desk. That took the entire afternoon.

"War destroys any conception of goals, including any conception of the goals of war. It even destroys the idea of putting an end to the war."
—Simone Weil

June 15, 2007 Bonus Blog
Kathy is in Ensenada, Mexico (right below Tijuana and San Diego) and they take off south on Sunday. She is writing a blog at kathyradina.blog.com if you want to track her progress or make a comment.

And speaking of web stuff, here's an AOL update. My email finally started loading when I got back from Helper, but it is very slow. Takes maybe 30 seconds to load each email and sending takes the same amount of time. Also, some have complained that my new account at bozebell@twmag.com has been bouncing emails, so I'm a bit at a loss and for the time being, and am keeping both accounts going, just to see which one is worse. So far, it's a tie. Ha.

Henry Beck our Westerns editor, alerted me to a showing of "Two-Lane Blacktop" which will be running tomorrow night at 8 P.M. on Starz (so if you have the Westerns Channel, you can get it). This is a road picture by legendary director Monte Hellman done in 1971 and starring James Taylor (yes, that James Taylor), Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys), Laurie Bird and Warren Oates. It's basically a road picture and a Route 66 trip in reverse (most 66 movies go from east to west, but this one starts in LA, and moves east). It is quite wooden and badly acted (Hellman insisted on showing the actors only the page they were working on and since neither Wilson nor Taylor are actors, well, you get the picture). But the movie has an amazing charm for me for a couple of reasons. For one, they actually filmed the trip in actual cars (not studio shells) in the actual locations. Most Hollywood road pictures cheat and utilize Southern California for several states and then maybe hire a second unit to drive to New Mexico and take some pan shots to splice in ("Thelma And Lousie" is a good example with some location shooting in Moab and Winslow and then everything else is San Fernando Valley).

Not "Two-lane." Nope, they're right on Route 66, getting gas in Needles, driving up thru Perfume Pass outside Kingman (KAAA—K-Triple-A, is on the radio), Flagstaff, New Mexico, Oklahoma. Warren Oates is a hoot as a bullshitting loudmouth driving a hot GTO (Wilson and Taylor are in a souped up '55 Chevy). In a great scene he runs out in the rain, and it's really raining! Movie makers hate rain, so that's why you get really bad, fake rain like in "Tombstone" where Kurt Russell is screaming up at the sky and the "rain" stops fifteen feet away because the sprinkler won't cover the entire shot.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite road pictures. Tragically, all the stars are dead, except James Taylor. Laurie Bird commited suicide, Warren Oates-heart attack (some suspicion it was cocaine related) and Dennis Wilson drowned while diving under his boat (alcohol and drugs suspected). So Sweet Baby James, the heroin addict survives. Is there a moral in there somewhere? Not really. Come to think of it, you are going to hate this movie, so don't even watch it. The ending got booed out of the drive-in I first saw it in. Terrible flick. A piece of crap. Sorry, I brought it up.

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Hot Rock-And-Roll Chick Totally Married

Channeling Or Cheating?
"I just watched a show on Documentary channel and I have to ask...Is BBB channeling the spirit of Frederic Remington? His paintings are remarkably vivid and carry the same depth of life and spirit of men and animal. I'm glad he is around to bring the lives of the past words and visions."
—Anthony Dembek, Enfield, CT

"If there is anything the matter with your eyes, you hasten to get it put right; but if anything is the matter with your mind, you put off treatment for a year."
—Horace

June 15, 2007
Yesterday was supposed to be the hottest day, so far, of the year. 110 degrees in Phoenix. Probably five or ten degrees cooler here. There is significant difference between 85 and 95, but there is little to no difference between 105 and 115.

Watched half of "Gods & Generals" last night. Robert Duvall is much better as Robert E. Lee than Martin Sheen, but there's some mighty bad acting in this film, and I especially cringed at the overwrought Southern, religious angst in this puppy. They also seem to be fond of a special effects shot of guys rushing a cannon that goes off and flips the victims violently in all directions (I've noticed this stunt at least four times and I'm only half way through the movie). When death shots have no connection to the characters and are just random stuntment flipping around showing off, it ultimately drains the movie of any drama. I think the worst example of this I can remember was "Code Talkers" with Adam Beach and Nicholas Cage. They must have filmed 200 sequences of anonymous guys getting shot and blown up and after a while it's just boring and flat.

Speaking of flat, here's another two pages of red and black Apache sketches, culled from a couple old photos I found in my Geronimo stash, and the second page is from General Nelson Miles' autobiography which has numerous excellent lithos and woodcuts. Can you spot the Remington? Hint: the officer strutting toward the front lines, lower left:



Meghan flew to Springfield, Missouri this morning to attend the Western Writers of America Conference. Sue Lambert flew to Vegas to party with her old girlfriends. Sam's out with a sick dog, Joel's on vacation, the Brinks are in New York on Hearst business and Abby's on her way to Sea World and San Diego. It's just Robert Ray, Carole and I this morning. Nice and quiet.

Observations From The Poop Deck
Having studied the Big Dry Wash fight for several weeks, I have come to the conclusion that Arizona in the 1870s and 1880s was Iraq. We had an active insurgency coupled with a controversial pre-emptive strike to put all Indians on reservations and arrest suspected Al Qaeda, I mean Apache terrorists, I mean warriors, and send them to a secret prison in Florida without a trial or due process; tribal and ethnic warfare; revolving door military commanders; a "surge" of troops; a critical press that demanded justice for the poor souls who lived in the besieged areas; crooked contractors undermining the very people they're supposed to be helping; and last but not least terrorist tactics galore (mutilation of victims and shocking massacres on both sides).

It's been said the farther back you look, the farther ahead you can see, and if you want to continue the comparison between Iraq and Arizona, here's how the Apache Wars played out. The actual "war" lasted 25 years. Several presidents took a beating over the handling of "the problem." It took about fifty years for Indians to adapt to reservation life (I'm being generous), and it took about 90 years for them to assimilate into the larger culture. And, here's the good news, in the last ten years or so, they have found a robust, self-sustaining economy (casinos) and today most of the Indians in Arizona live in very nice, middle-class housing, go to school and are teachers, lawyers, artists, actors, pro golfers, doctors and writers. There has even been mutual assimilation with their conquerers adopting spiritual Native American concepts and idolizing their original primitive lifestyle.

Imagine your great grandchildren dressing in Al Qaeda outfits and quoting Al Sadr. Imagine their rooms with posters of Iraqi "freedom fighters" and reading books about how morally superior they were than their racist, war mongering grandparents. If history has taught us anything, that is the least of it!

So hang on America. We only have another 35 or 40 years to go in Iraq.

"Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness."
—Leo Tolstoy

June 14, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
I made a poor estimation on space for this issue's Classic Gunfight featuring the Battle of Big Dry Wash. I only slotted it for four pages, thinking I could get it all in, but there's too much rich detail, not to mention great photos. Subsequently, you are going to get to see some stuff that won't be in the magazine version.

A week ago today, I drove up to the Mogollon Rim to meet Dr. Sam Palmer who has studied this fight for 25 years. A mutual friend of ours, Garrett Roberts (you can see him on the last page of CGI in Hays City Crew) joined us for a personal tour of the battlefield, which is about seven miles south of the doctor's summer cabin.

It was about a mile hike into the site, and by the way the monument for this battle is not even close to the actual battlefield. I think Sam said the monument was erected in the 1930s, after Senator Carl Hayden got $500 tacked on to a pork bill to get the monuments paid for. As Sam speculates, the workers who set the marker, just looked around and said, "Who'll know?"

In this first photo we see Dr. Sam pointing across to the ridges where the soldiers were. In the beginning of the fight they were firing from 600 to 700 yards across the canyon at each other. The soldiers had an advantage because they were firing .45-70s which have a range of 3,000 yards. In the second photo Sam is pointing towards the slight saddle between the point where two Apaches were firing from and where a troop came up the draw from below in a flanking move:



Once again, Sam points to the U.S. Army's primary postion on the ridgeline south of Big Dry Wash. If you're like me, you might have assumed the fight was in an arid place (Big! Dry! Wash!), but as you can see this is tall pine country. However, the underbrush is much thicker today and several of the battle veterans commented on the site being "park like." The flanking troops led by Captain Lemuel Abbot got about to the top of the draw when they ran into a group of Apaches trying to do the same thing, going the other way. A hailstorm of lead filled the draw where Sam is pointing:



Over on the main Apache rock formations bones and artifacts have been found everywhere (some 17 horses were killed in the fighting, however, these bones are elk related). In the second photo we are looking right into the Apache position where the warriors had built stone firing pits and stacked rock wings adjacent to the large pine trees. Researchers have found some 4,000 artifacts on the site:



The Apaches commanded a high cliff, although not as high as I expected. Lt. Cruse wrote that one Apache who was shot and fell over the edge, fell for a long time, we kept waiting for him to hit, or words to that efffect. A little over-dramatized, but then you got young bucks full of testosterone telling the story, what do you expect? The photo on the right is in the vicinity of the pony herd which is up the draw. This is where Chief of Scouts Al Sieber came up and wiped out the guards, capturing the entire herd, which consisted of 94 animals, horses and stock they had stolen as they plundered all the way up Pleasant Valley. But Sieber didn't stop there and kept running and tumbling, shooting as he came up. Some believe Sieber killed half the casualties in the fight (some eight kills).



The soldiers firing from across the canyon, sent volley after volley into the Indian camp and the trees have dozens of balls sunk in them. In one tree there are five bullets in a very tight pattern, with two bullets coming to rest touching. Some souvenir hunters have dug out bullets, as seen here and you can still see the impression of the spent bullet. The fight started at about 3:30 in the afternoon and by the final phase, the light was draining from the draws, just like this, at right. Each large tree in this photo had cartridges at the base, mostly on the right side, which would be predictable since most shooters are right-handed. About five percent of the trees had cartridges on the left, although it must be said, it could have been right-handers shooting around the left side. Just like at the Custer Battlefield, researchers with metal detectors have tracked individual shooters in the fight as they ran from tree to tree, firing and ejecting cartridges.



In addition to the bullets, horseshoes, boot nails, money (soldiers running and grabbing for bullets probably pulled up coins which dropped to the ground) researchers have found other amazing artifacts, including two Green River knives like this one (it belongs to Garrett Roberts and was not found at Big Dry Wash).



Like I said, this is not in the article and is a treat for all of you who get your news where it counts.

"Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you."
—Charlie Parker

June 14, 2007 Bonus Blog
Robert Ray just shot me a j.peg of the White Mountain Apache Scouts photo (he was working on it for CG) and here it is:



It's in the National Archives and on the back of the photo it says:

"Lt. Thomas Cruse included in group of Company "A" Apache Indian Scouts (White Mt.) Also included, C.G. Gatewood, commanding; Sam Bowman, interpreter and Chief of Scouts; Lt. Thomas Cruse; Dr. McPherson; Alchesay, 1st Sgt. of the Company and Chief of the White Mountain Apaches, upon return from campaing [sic] for Victoria [sic] and his band, October, 1880. No way to tell who is who."

I'm pretty confident the guy with the big hat in the top, center is Gatewood, and I'm kind of assuming the guy above him is Sam Bowman, and the other white guy with the beard (extreme left, top) is probably the doctor, and Alchesay is clearly the Apache to the left of Gatewood, but I don't see any other white guys. So where's Lt. Cruse?

"A problem well stated is a problem half solved."
—Charles F. Kettering