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