Buff, Utah And The Six Degrees of Separation Indeed!

 September 20, 2024

   For the past two days I have been trying to remember the name of the small Utah town Ed Mell and I blasted through on our way back to Arizona after a plein air painting trip many moons ago. I finally got out an old atlas of ours and ran my finger along the border until I found it.

Bluff, Utah

   As we shot through Bluff—such a fitting name!—and came up over the rim on the south side of town, the red-ridged desert floor spread out behind us as did those distinctive Navajo country-flat-bottomed clouds and that is when Ed asked me to stop the car so he could capture a few pictures for later reference. I think it's safe to say he got what he wanted.

"High Clouds" Ed Mell, 1993

   On a related note, got this from Rooster Rob yesterday. What do you get for a guy who loves sombreros and a nice, full cabernet?

El Corko!

And it totally rocks! Speaking of The Rooster, we're working on a bunch of Rooster Reels and I think these suckers need a logo.

Daily Whip Out: "Crowing Rooster!"

   Here is a video we are working on.

Cowboy Slang Video

   This just in. Guess who's grandfather is on this well-digging head frame, probably showing off?

   If you guessed Benjamin Daniel Harshberger, you would be correct. According to Dan The Man, his grandfather lived in Bluff for a while before moving to Valentine, Arizona in Mohave County. And, here is Dan at the same site recently.

Dan The Man in Bluff, Utah

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."

—Steven Wright

Don't Look Back Unless You Make A Living Doing That!

 September 19, 2024

   I was pleasantly surprised to read that Herb Alpert has just released his fiftieth record album. The 89-year-old trumpet player, famous for "A Taste of Honey" and his band, the Tijuana Brass, said, "I don't look back. I go forward."

The sexiest album cover ever displayed at

Mohave Electric in Kingman, Arizona

circa 1965

   That's kind of funny to me—the not looking back part—and a teensy bit ironic, because that's practically all I do.

I Always Look Back

   All the answers to most of my problems are in the past. In fact, I would argue that the past holds the keys to the future.

   Satchel would not agree.

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

—Satchel Paige

   Someone else who is always looking back is Dan The Man. Look what he just created.

Andy Devine On Andy Devine

He's cruising by Desert Drugs in downtown Kingman where both Dan and I bought the latest issue of True West magazine circa 1959.

   Someone else who looks back for a living is this fellow Zonie and a very fine photographer.

Jay Dusard, "Skeeter Cowboy"

A Blast From the True West Moments Past

   "To the Arizona cowboy, language has always meant imaginative mangling. Something isn’t just loud, it’s noisy as a fog horn in a funeral parlor. A man isn’t lazy, he just always seems to be sittin’ on the south side of his pants. Nobody is merely blind, they’re blind as a rattler in August. You don’t call someone a coward, you say he’s all gurgle and no guts. Your pal is more than brave, he’s got sand, and if you want to know how much, he’ll fight a rattler and give him first bite. And buckshot means burying every time. Are these accurate?
Right as rain."

—BBB

Remembering The Edmundo Segundo School of Art

 September 18, 2024

   We were on the road home from a plein air painting trip in southeastern Utah when Edmundo told me to pull over. We got out of the car and Ed stepped into the road and started shooting photos like crazy.

   "God's just showing off now," I quipped as I took in the dramatic sky and canyons spreading out behind us, at the same time realizing what Ed was excited about. He gave me a courtesy laugh and kept on shooting.

   Later, as we dropped into Arizona and took in Horseshoe Canyon and then Agatha Peak in a dust storm, the same flurry of shots took place, with Edmundo taking in the entire panorama with his camera.

   Ed Mell had the eye. And, it must be said, he put in the work.

Edmundo with one of the paintings he created from one of our plein air painting trips

   Last night 400 of Ed Mell's oldest and best friends got together at the Phoenix Art Museum to celebrate his superlative career in art and life. 

The Ed Mell Memorial at

The Phoenix Art Museum

September 17, 2024

   As each speaker told about some aspect of Ed's life, a slide show cycled through the catalogue of his paintings. I thought I knew most of Ed's work, but damn, that guy was prolific. We laughed and we cried. He was that kind of guy.

Some of us are old enough to remember

when Edmundo served in the Civil War

   In fact, it's his humor I will remember the most. Here's Edmundo giving us that knowing look while working on the rear end of a cayuse.

Ed Mell, "A Horse's Ass"

   And, believe me, he didn't spare his friends, either.

Edmundo mocking a certain cartoonist's

precious headgear

   Ed and I shared studio space in the eighties where the above photo was taken. In fact, this is the site of my real college education, where I learned so many things from the Master, by osmosis alone. When people ask me about my art school training, I always tell them, I did four years in the Fine Arts College at the University of Arizona and four years of graduate training from the Edmundo Segundo School of Art at this campus location:

The Ed Mell Art Studio at Tenth & Oak

in central Phoenix

   We traveled many miles together both in his studio and his many cars. One thing remains.

"In life, it's not where you go, it's who you travel with."

—Charlie Brown

This Is The Week of Memorials

 September 17, 2024

   Today is Ed Mell's birthday which is fitting because tonight there is a memorial service for him at the Phoenix Art Museum. A full report tomorrow.

Ed Mell in his studio, 2023

   Meanwhile, on Saturday there will be a memorial for Jana Bommersbach and on Friday, in Kingman, there is a memorial for my childhood friend Bill Blake.

   Word comes from Minnesota that Chip DeMann has passed in Northfield. Here is a blog post from ten years ago:

Northfield, Minnesota Where The James Gang Met Their Match

   One of the secrets to a really great historic road trip is having a great guide. In my case I had Minnesota Mike Melrose who worked at True West Magazine back in 2000. I told him I wanted to do a road trip to Northfield and together we put it together. We flew into Des Moines, rented a car and drove to his parent's house in Charles City, Iowa. Had a great dinner (sorry you can't do this, the corn on the cob was fantastic), then we took off for Minnesota, stopping in Forrest City, Iowa, where I was born, then across to Thompson (where my grandparents had a farm), Swea City, Fairmont, Estherville and up into the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. Thanks to Chip DeMann, Northfield, has the best Old West reenactment of a bank robbery on horseback I have ever seen. Thanks to Chip he joined us for the James-Younger Escape to Dundas, Millersberg, Shieldsville, Kilkenny (where they were unhorsed), Waterville Marysburg, Mankato and finally, to Hanska Slough, outside of Madelia, Minnesota where the Youngers were captured. I highly recommend this blow by blow roadtrip if you are interested in Jesse James, Cole Younger and tough Norsky's who beat them at their own game.

"They took the whole road."

—An eyewitness to the James-Younger gang riding out of Northfield with their collective tale between their legs.

Walk Where They Walked And Lay Where They Lie?!

September 16, 2024

 In the next issue of True West magazine we are launching a new history campaign—actually more of a crusade to— Walk Where They Walked. We are going to encourage you and everyone you know to get out and experience history first hand, by seeking out the actual ground where it happened. You will be amazed at what you pick up when you simply walk where they walked. Some of my crazy friends are so gung ho about this concept they even like to lay where they lied.

Author John Boessenecker channeling

Old West Spirits in Lincoln, New Mexico

 circa 1997

  Found this great photo I took of John Boessenecker in Lincoln, who looks like is trying to channel Sheriff George Peppin's head vibes through his gravestone. On the back John wrote, "McCubbin made me do it!" That would be the late, great Bob McCubbin and I am going to run this in the magazine on my editorial page as a spoof take off on our new campaign "Walk Where They Walked." Perhaps the campaign should be: 

Walk Where They Walked And Lay Where They Lied

“The robbers are all large men, none of them under six feet tall…all mounted on fine blooded horses,” continued the telegram, ending with a plug for the boy's region: “There is a hell of excitement in this part of the country.”

—Jesse James, PR agent extraordinaire

More Killer Kids And The Captivo With The Shining Eye

 September 15, 2024

   My process vs. your patience. It's a give and take thing. At some point I have to let go and at some point you are already gone. It's a trade off, for sure. But I enjoy the process and at the end of the day. . .

Work Is Only Work If You'd Rather Be Someplace Else

   Here is my work laid out this morning.

Let's zoom in for a closer look.

Daily Whip Outs In Progress

   Note the two foot soldiers at bottom, left. Here's a couple views of that work in progress.

The Killer Kids #5 for

"The Illustrated Life & Times of Jesse James"

Killer Kids #6

   I felt like the heads on the first one look a tad too pasted on, so I went a little darker (and lost the rifle butts at the bottom, but the faces are better).

   Meanwhile, got these going as well.

Daily Whip Out:

"The Captivo With The Shining Eye"

I originally had more face showing, but it killed the shine on the eye. You can see the earlier version above, in the Daily Whip Outs In Progress shot.

Meanwhile,

Daily Reworked Whip Out:

"Under The Tonto Brim II"

Oh, boy, I don't know. I kind of agree with Will about my "frail equipment."

"This is a hustling business and the squeaky wheels get the grease, but I'm just trying to write the best song I can each day with whatever frail equipment I have."

—Will Jennings, who won two Oscars for his songwriting lyrics

How to Walk Where Rude Walked And Stand Your Ground

 September 14, 2024

   Get ready to experience history on a whole new level. Yes, to better understand what actually happened to Willie B. Rude on July 14 of 1861, we are going to give you the the specific directions so you can walk where they walked.

I Believe This Is The Mesquite Thicket

Where Rude Made His Stand

   In March of 2024, Stuart Rosebrook and I met historian Greg Scott at the Green Valley post office and we trekked out to the area where Rude made his brave stand 163 years before. Although this is just an educated guess, this thicket, above, fits the description by Pumpelly and others about the defensive position Rude took. There are literally hundreds of these in the area so it's impossible to say if this is the exact one, but it certainly speaks to the flimsiest of defensive positions anyone could make. And, believe me, when you are hunkered down in there, you certainly can sense the desperation he must have felt having to defend such an inferior position.

   I certainly felt his presence as I stood on the immediate ground he chose to fight to the death on.

Directions to The Rude Gunfight Site

   Here's how to get there. Starting from Tucson, go south on I-19 through Green Valley. From Canoa Ranch exit go South on the east frontage road about 3 miles to Elephant Head Road. Turn left, which is East. Go about a quarter mile to the Elephant Head/Anza Trailhead on the left.

Google Map Overview of the Anza Trailhead

 There’s parking, a shaded picnic table but no rest room or water.  There’s information signs and the Anza Trail wends its way northward eventually all the way to the San Francisco Bay! For our purposes the True West reader should walk eastward across the usually dry Santa Cruz River bed. 

Just north of the bridge and on the east side of the river (where the words Head and Trailhead appear, above) is the location of the mesquite thicket where I believe Rude held off a band of Apaches in 1861.

   When you go there, send us pictures of you and the thicket so we can experience how happy you are. And, trust me, it will make us happy to know you stood your ground.

"To study the past is to unlock the prison of the present."

—Jill Lepore, "These Truths: A History of The United States"

The History of Old Vaquero Sayings

 September  14, 2024

   We are currently living in the era of Choose Your Own News. And, it must be noted, it is almost instantaneous.

   On the other side of the universe, way back when I was doing my first Illustrated Life & Times book—1992—I wanted to track down the source of a quote I intended to use and the quote, "History is a cruel trick played on the dead by the living," was perfect, but I couldn't remember who said it, so in those ancient times, I had to find a phone book and look up the telephone number for the Phoenix Public Library and when I called the main desk I had to ask for the Reference Desk. Minutes later, I was transferred to a nice woman who asked me how she could help me. I told her the quote and asked her if she could look up who said it and she said she would try and would call me back "in a couple days." When she finally did call back, she told me she went through all their "card catalogues" and couldn't find out who said that quote, and since I was going to press in about 17 minutes, I punted and labeled the quote as an Old Vaquero Saying. It was a total pull it out of my rectum kind of deal.

   Oh, and if you Google, "Who said 'History is a cruel trick played on the dead by the living'?" you will get a cheap laugh, as I did.

     Meanwhile, 32 years later, here is a sneak peek at the cover of our hand-printed, special-limited-edition of "Old Vaquero Sayings." 

   This groovy little collector's item is being printed down at Cattletrack Arts Compound by these two cats:

Brent Bond with OVS cover hot off the press

Mark McDowell artist extraordinaire

   The guts of the OVS book will be printed in the next two weeks and then we are going to have a hand-stitching and collating party at Cattletrack and if you want to join us, you can. Oh, and did I mention? If you buy a book you will get a free set of Old Vaquero Cerveza Coasters.

A Free Set of Old Vaquero Cerveza Coasters

   And, if you want double ironic, we just offered a dozen "Hellraisers & Trailblazers: The Real Women of The Wild West" signed both by me and the late Jana Bommersbach for $100 each with all the proceeds going to The Friends of The Phoenix Public Library, Jana's favorite charity. They sold out in a matter of minutes. So, what comes around, goes around.

"My greatest skill has been to want little."

—Henry David Thoreau

Failing to Succeed: My Best Lifetime Achievements So Far

 September 13, 2024

   There is a rumor going round that I will soon receive a lifetime achievement award. And, if you are wondering, what the hell did I ever achieve that is worth a lifetime achievement award, you would not be alone. Here for your reading amusement are the "achievements" I am proud of and can actually admit to on this forum.

• I once twisted on the same stage with Chubby Checker.

Teens twisting with Chubby Checker on stage

at the Sands Hotel in Vegas, August 1962

• I saw the Beatles on their first American tour in 1964 for $7.50.

• In 1982 I faked my way backstage at the Phoenix Memorial Coliseum to meet Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

• I received the Arizona Press Club award for best editorial cartoon in 1983. Because of this I was allowed to go after my own boss. In fact I was encouraged by said boss.

It's an ironic postscript that the subject of this cartoon is currently doing five years in Florence even as you read this.

• I stood in the Rose Garden and filmed myself standing in the White House Rose Garden, much to the irritation of the Secret Service. And, by the way, it's tiny. Not the secret service, but the rose garden.

• I once stood in the lube room of Al Bell's Flying A when Cornel Wilde commented to me that I was up kind of early, and I said, "Yes." 

• I helped raise two children who are not in prison, yet.

• I am still married to the same woman who gave me those children 40-some years ago.

• I got a movie deal with Columbia Pictures and Larry McMurtry wrote three scripts about a character—Honkytonk Sue—I created in my garage. Six scripts were written in all, and the movie, so far, has not been made. You might say, I failed to succeed.

"Remember girls, if a man has to brag, he'll be the first to sag."

• I spent some 600 hours developing a comic strip called Lippo & Paguna. I sent it out to every syndication company in the country and they all turned it down, because, as one of them finally told me, "Farm strips don’t sell." Once again, I failed to succeed, but I also learned that I should have called them first and asked them if they were interested in a "farm strip."

• Me and two crazy friends bought a dying magazine and spent $900,000 trying to turn it around. So far, so good.

• On October 19, 2013,  I won an Emmy for a Channel 8 PBS show, "Outrageous Arizona" which celebrated the centennial of the state I love. I picked up the statuette, but a lot of people helped me, including my co-authors Marshall Trimble and Jana Bommersbach, art director Dan Harshberger, Scott Allen and Kelly McCullough at PBS and Buck Montgomery (who corralled a whole bunch of re-enactors who worked for free) and, of course, Ken Amorosano.

• Beyond that, I have never won any major award. No wait! I will receive the Will Rogers Golden Lariat Award next month in Fort Worth, Texas.

   What is the moral to this story? I wish I had failed more. It really comes down to this: get knocked down five times, get up six. On some level failing leads to success.

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm."

—Winston Churchill 

More Family Secrets For the Historically Minded

 September 12, 2024

   The past is a treasure if you know how to mine it.

Just ask Iggy Pop

   This just in.

"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale."

—Old Vaquero Saying

   And speaking of the past informing the present.

"If we could learn what the human race really is at bottom, we need only observe it in election times."

—Mark Twain

Into The Beast And Back Again

 September 11, 2024

   A long day driving into the Beast. Landed at Cattletrack Arts Compound at 10:30 and took a gander at this:

Brent Bond holds the very first

"Old Vaquero Sayings"

book cover hot off the press

   From there I drove into Phoenix and had many adventures. Survived them all. Came home through two fires. Details tomorrow.

"Nothing is better than friend maintenance."

—Marilu Henner

Family Secrets for The Historical Minded

 September 10, 2024

   If you are seeking the truth about the Wild West then we have something in common. If you love the Wild West then we are from the same tribe. If, however, you are married to someone who loves the Wild West and they dragged you to one of my talks, then we are in-laws. Either way, I have some valuable secrets to tell you, and only you, because, as you should know—you are family.

Daily Whip Out:

"Twenties Cowgirl In White"

   There are actually a dozen family secrets you need to know, but let's start with the most obvious one.

Family Secrets

   I've said this before and I'll say it again: the truth is not facts lined up. And this is the problem with most history classes in school.

Daily Whip Outs: "Desert Dwellers"

   Had time today to do a new painting to illustrate how the Apaches who fought against Willie B. Rude were armed.

Weapons of The Apache Attackers

   Although this illustration is based on an 1873 photograph of Apache warriors, this is likely how they were armed against Rude in the 1861 era: the trusty Apache lance, bows and arrows and breech loading long guns. It's still amazing he even had a chance.

Our Readers Always Write

"Several people told me they had just seen the new Netflix series, 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' and they asked me what I  thought. So, I fired up Netflix and after ten minutes of episode one I couldn't take any more. Totally Hollywood.  It will take True West another 50 years to set the record straight."

—Allen Fossenkemper

Fountain Hills, Arizona

"Hey, Bob... I was having my first cup of coffee when I opened the new True West this morning. When I read that Jana Bommersbach had died, I just bawled. While I do look forward to the next issue as a celebration of her, I know I'll cry then, too. She was a total treasure and I'm grateful to TW for having kept her a part of so many of our lives.... Sincerely..."

—Leslie Baker

 Show Low, Arizona

Family Secrets for the Historical Minded

   One of the family secrets is this little gem: go where they ain't. Or, put another way. . .

"Wherever the crowd goes, run in the other direction."

—Charles Bukowski

A Miracle On Top of Other Miracles

 September 9, 2024

   On September 9, 1999, Bob McCubbin and I flew to Guthrie, Oklahoma, rented a car, and drove to Stillwater to pay way too much for a dying magazine we loved. That this magazine is still being published today is a miracle on top of several other miracles!

The Amado Miracle

In March, Stuart Rosebrook and I drove from the Tucson Festival of Books down to Green Valley to meet historian Greg Scott so we could drive out to the actual site where Willie B. Rude defended himself in a mesquite thicket against a force of 100 Apaches. Not far from that site is the above site in Amado and I must say, that is a miracle right there.

And, then there are the four-legged miracles.

Uno Saves The Show

And, beyond that we have certain ghosts to thank.

Daily Reworked Whip Out: "Red Ghost 3"

  Meanwhile, farther south. . .

Daily Whip Out: "The Leg Warmer"

Anyone know why he has cloth wrapped around his lower legs? Perhaps the lower white is the inside of his pants? Not sure, but there must be a practical reason. It might be a miracle if we ever find out?

And, speaking of miracles. Jana Bommersbach was certainly one of them for me and for the magazine.

"I’ve been cataloguing a list of Jana’s True West articles from 2003 through 2024 for ASU, where her papers will reside, and I am blown away by both the amount and depth of her stories. They really make up an encyclopedia of the characters—particularly the women—who were a colorful part of 'How the West Was Won.' Sometimes she wrote more than one article an issue. I knew she was passionate about the history of the west but really had no idea she wrote so much! Amazing."

—Athia Hardt

 

Spelunking In The Historical Wreckage

 September 8, 2024

   Sometimes it's very hard to find the truth when it's buried under so much rubble. We think of historical nuggets as being carefully stored in a vault or a chester drawers (or, if you want to get all technical: chest of drawers). We don't think of historical gems as buried in a collapsing building, out on the desert, like this.

Daily Whip Out:

"Spelunking In The Historical Wreckage"

   Rooster Rob took this great photo of the leaning wreck of a store in Gleeson, a ghost town northeast of Tombstone, and I thought it represented so perfectly the state of Old West history and so I added a spelunker with a flashlight looking into the doorway, searching for clues or for any stray tidbit of truthful history. Now the fact is, there is probably a ton of history under this collapsing roof, but the rats and the critters are going to make quick work of everything (if they haven't already). The rains, the winds and the defilers will do the rest. Somehow, some way, historical items still manage to survive and show up, like this letter signed by a certain concubine of a certain part time lawman.

   I offered to go in half with the Top Secret Writer, but evidently it wasn't in his budget ($3,000 and change). Some are not sure if that's even a good deal.

Wyatt Earp, age 74, in Los Angeles,

telling me with his eyes what he thinks

of that price.

   Meanwhile, this guy has to be happy about the price he paid for this small oil of someone he admires.

Steve Randolph admires an expensive painting

his son, Preston, acquired for him.

"Lance isn't a common name these days. But in medieval times, people were named Lance a lot."

—Old Numb-nuts Saying