January 27, 2014
I met Hans Olson at Janie's after work on Friday to jam on the soundtrack for "The 66 Kid." Hans and I go way back and he has the perfect, bluesy-rock touch for the sound I'm looking for. He asked me about certain lyrics I had sent him and what the significance was.
Mo-ped Mamas at the Snow-Cap Drive-in
Uptight boyfriends, 'Where the hell you been?'
And, so, I told him. I predict it's all going to be Bitchin' with a capital B.
Worked all weekend on Signature Five, lining out copy, illustrations and photos. Found early photos of the Radinas in Saginaw, Michigan and called Grandma Betty to interview her on when exactly they came to Arizona (August, 1958) and how she felt about the move: "Very traumatic."
Here is the view this morning at Command Central.
Command Central for Sig #5, 6 a.m. at the breakfast table
Check out those finished pages in yellow. Feels good. Only eight more to go. The photos at left, center are the Michigan photos of the Radinas, the sketchbook details notes on going to The Rainbow Ball in sixth grade, when the high school girls towered over me. The clipped True West Moment at upper right will appear in the book in Sig 12, the bio on Andy Devine, clipped from the Arizona Republic and written by John Stanley, will help me write my version of Jingles as a Legend of the Road, and an in progress roadscape twisting the horizon into a crazy vanishing point.
"The pay in Arizona in those days was terrible. We started running out of money so I got a job at Saint Joe's Hospital. I got my first paycheck for two weeks and it was for about $200, less than half of what I would have made in Michigan."
—Betty Radina
