Hotter than the second of July out here. 106 in the shade. Streets deserted, ACs groaning on every rooftop. Heaven help us all when the grid goes down.
I've been working on dispelling most the wild theories about what actually happened in Pete Maxwell's bedroom on July 14, 1881.
Bob Boze Bell oil painting, July 14, 1991, "Billy's Last Second On Earth"
Of course, I have always had my own wild theories (I never believed the Kid was armed and I have long subscribed to Frederick William Grey's account of Garrett arriving early, gagging the girl—Paulita—and shooting down Billy like a dog), but, thanks to Mark Lee Gardner (he wrote "To Hell On A Fast Horse") and a second look at Grey's book has caused me to back off that assumption. The guy—Grey—was a major BSer along the lines of Dr. Hoyt (both, as it turns out, are totally unreliable as sources). There are other theories Gardner dismantles as well, but suffice to say, it's going to be controversial. Anyway, at the end of our work today, I asked him if we had missed any conspiracy theories he wanted to address and he said, and I quote, "it's not Brushy Bill who's buried in the Hico, Texas, cemetery." Now, there's a conspiracy theory I can get behind.
The new Billy the Kid CDV sold for close to $18,000 and the buyer was Craig Fouts, a friend of the magazine and the former owner of the famous Wyatt Earp portrait (the one in the oval that was taken in San Diego). Fouts sold his substantial collection to Bill Koch recently, but now appears to be back in the game.
I have always been fond of desolate highways on the desert. Here's a study done for La Gata back in the mid-eighties:
Daily Whipout: "Mutant Highway"
Remember when the president of the United States could appear in a Van Halen rock video and nobody beat him up about it? I think America was a more compassionate, ass-kicking nation in those days.
Daily Whipout: "Heavy Metal Reagan"
Playing with doing a book on the highlights from my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings. This is a very good page to start with:
Daily Whipout Sketches: August 6, 2009
"There are very few people who don't become more interesting when they stop talking."
—Mary Lowry
Daily Whipout: "