September 8, 2007
The First Annual True Grit Days in Ridgway was a roaring success with a crowd estimated, by me and Jason, to be at about 3,500. We distributed about 1,400 issues of True West, handing them out to very enthusiastic festival goers all day.

Had breakfast this morning in the hotel dining room with Jason Strykowski, Kim Darby and Johnny Crawford (they sat at the next table). Elegant room with dark panel wood, white table clothes and stunning views of the mountains. A big marathon running event took off at eight, on main street, with hundreds running straight up over the mountains to Telluride. Ouray is at about 6,000 feet and the pass they run over is at 12,000 feet, and it's 17 miles! Yikes. People up here are in disgusting shape.

Got to the park in Ridgeway at 9:30. Tammie and Dale Tuttle of the True Grit Cafe got us set up with our banner, table and chairs. And Tammy was great, bringing us food and goodies all day long. Lots of recognition from the True West Moments. Posed for a ton of pictures. One guy said to me, "You look so much shorter on TV." Ha. The bad news is hardly any fans of the Westerns Channel bumpers knew that I was involved with True West. Maybe three out of 75 couples even knew there was a True West magazine. Not good. Need to work on that disconnect. One of the main reasons I do the True West Moments is to promote the magazine.

Angie Dickinson is a total knockout! She's 71, but just a very dynamic force of nature (and I totally see how Jack Kennedy flipped out over her). She wore a pink camo baseball cap, and a modified bomber jacket with slacks and signed everything fans brought her for free (others at the event charged $20 per signature). She is a class act, and at the end she shook my hand and I told her she was great in "The Killers" and that she still is a knockout. She gestured toward my coat and tie and told me I was dressed, ready "to be in a movie." And when we got back to the hotel, she pulled up in her SUV black limo just as I was walking along the sidewalk to the front entrance and she leaned forward, very animated, like a high school girl and waved to me, like, "Boze, you cutie!"

I know, I know. I'm a hopeless, delusional old man, but that's how I interpreted the wave.

"A wave is as good as a wink to a blind, fat man."
-Old Rooster Cogburn saying