Gold Rush Days Tomorrow

February 11, 2011

Going over in the morning to Wickenburg to be in the Gold Rush Days parade at ten in the morning. Joe Freedman and I have a dozen other Old West people who will join us. Meanwhile, Dave Daiss is going to be representing True West at the Bascom Affair down at Fort Bowie. Dave and his pards are going to ride into the Apache Pass area where Cochise and Lt. Bascom had their little dust up. Sorry I can't do both. Really wanted to join John Langellier and the Boys at the Pass.

Meanwhile, worked this afternoon on a portrait of Buffalo Soldier Isaiah Mays who won the Medal of Honor for his acts of bravery during the so-called Wham Payroll Robbery at Bloody Run (between Fort Grant and Fort Thomas). The outlaws (many solid citizens including the Mormon mayor from Pima, Arizona, on the outskirts of Thatcher and Safford) didn't think the black soldiers would fight but they were wrong. Here's my take on Mr. Mays:

"Studios look backward. Filmmakers look forward."

—Guillermo del Toro, Pans Labrynth