January 8, 2010
Had a heart test today at 2:15 down at Scottsdale North. Nurse Tamara did an ultrasound of my heart. Got to watch the images of my damaged ticker on a computer screen. Man, that little puppy works hard, 24/7. Makes me appreciate what it does very much. Results next week.

Six Degrees of Arizona Charlie
Came back to the office and Carole had a message and a packet from a True West reader who claims to be the great grandson of Walt Coburn, a famous pulp Western writer who also wrote for this magazine. The grandson left an old October, 1965 edition of True West (cover price 35 cents!). And I took a gander, and, lo and behold, there on page 14 and 15 was a feature on "Dawson: Paris of the North":

Well, that, coincidentally, is where Arizona Charlie had his Palace Grand Theater. Started reading the captions, and yep, there it is, big as day:

I read somewhere that the state or someone restored the Palace to its former glory. Think it was in the 1950s or 1960s, and that there is a big statue of Arizona Charlie nearby.

I believe there is a Nevada casino called Arizona Charlie's not far from Hoover Dam on old Highway 93. I wonder if it's named for our Charlie, or is it just a funny name that some gangster made up?

“Bars in the daytime are like women without makeup.”
—from the Japanese movie, Woman Ascends Stairs