November 4, 2009
As we continue into 2007 on our 100 Covers march, we did another sepia cover on our good friend Jim Clark, aka, The Trainman:

After a successful run of 11 sepia covers we decided to mix it up a bit and try something completely different:

Royal Wade Kimes joined us for this photo shoot, which we shot on the top of the hill on School House Road, cattywampus from the town library. The classic Ford pickup belongs to our art director Dan Harshberger.

A major museum show in Albuquerque curated by none other than the Top Secret Writer, produced this cover:

And a very expensive painting got the nod for June, 2007:

In July we honored Robert Utley on the cover:

Although Bashas' Bakery replicated this cover on Bob's birthday cake last weekend as a surprise for his 80th birthday party at the Roaring Fork in Scottsdale, I was quite disappointed in this cover, especially when I saw it on the newsstand. It "mushed out," as we say. Too many mid-tones and not enough pop. Ironically, it sure looked good on that cake. Ha. Go figure.

In August we came up with a pretty funny gag cover:

The very idea that a reporter (who uncannily resembles LBJ), would go out and poll a bunch of Sioux chiefs on their favorite books got big laughs in our offices, but I'm not sure it translated out in the real world.

For September of 2007 we tried a different tact [this just in: "I’ve noticed what I believe is a possible misuse of the word tact in describing cover choices on you blog. Since we often do not enjoy being corrected, I’ll use as much tact as possible. I think the word and usage you are looking for is tack, as in, 'changing tack', or “trying a different tack”. It’s a nautical term that refers to a zigzag technique of best catching the wind in sails while sailing toward a particular direction."—Lance Ross]

Okay, so we tactfully tried a different tack:

I have always been a firm believer in people on the covers and this was a first for us. Whatever. In the next issue we made up for this bigtime:

I got criticized by Paul Hutton for putting the wrong guy at the top. He feels the right call would have been Russell Crowe big and Glenn Ford, small, at the bottom, but I felt Ford's look was more classic to our readers and besides, I hated that fruitcake looking hat on Crowe. Ha. Now you know how major decisions are made in our office.

Keeping with the movie theme, we tried to tie Brad Pitt's next movie, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford to the real history (amazing how much Brad looks like Jesse in this duotone):

Although I personally think Assassination is one of the best Westerns ever made (and certainly the best Jesse James movie ever), the movie sank like a stone, so we got very little traction on this.

Coming next: more movie stars and amber glow.

Mashing Metaphors and Wincing Witticisms
"Carpe Mañana."
—Old Vaquero Saying (submitted by Mad Coyote Joe)