Bozecard Success Story

 January 3, 2025

   I mentioned I was a contributor to Playboy and for all of you who are wondering how the hell did that happen, well, I had a secret punch card. My problem was—how do you be polite but get the attention of the bi-coastal hipsters who are the gatekeepers for magazines, publishing, movies and everything else? You can't go in the front door because they will never let you in. For me, I had to find a sidedoor where I could sneak past security.

   This Bozecard did the trick.

A Calling Card On Steroids

   This postcard concept is a very clever and inexpensive idea I poached from the Reverand Billy F. Gibbons. Yep, that would be this guy.

Billy and Dusty and Frank of ZZ Top

 at The Tucson Convention Center

1978

   Billy sent me a cheap low rider postcard he had apparently created at Copy Boy, or some equally cheap print shop that proliferated in those primitive days. It literally had a crudely cut out low rider pasted on board and then photographed and printed. It was muy crude and muy hip. He later told me, when he sees things he likes on tour, such as the Razz Revue, he pops a stamp on one of his 3 cent post cards and sends it off in the mail. I got one after his show in Tucson, above. And, by the way, he bought $65 worth of subscriptions to the Razz for his pals.

   So, that really inspired me. Hey, I can do that, too. So I designed the above Bozecard and took it to Copy Boy on Central Avenue in Phoenix and had a couple hundred printed up and whenever I would see a good article, I would look up the address to the magazine and send them a shout out. That's what happened at Playboy. I sent a Bozecard to the art director and he showed it to Hef and the next thing you know, I am doing six pages for the 1986 December issue of Playboy at $1,000 a page.

   It gets better.

   I saw a brand new mag called Rocky Mountain Magazine and I sent the art director one of my Bozecards telling them how groovy I thought their publication was and I got a letter back, saying, "Your stuff looks perverse. Send us more." So I sent them one of my Honkytonk Sue comic books and they did a half page tid bit on the Queen of Country Swing and the next thing you know I had a movie deal at Columbia Pictures and I'm taking meetings at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Oh, and I had an agent at William Morris. Oh, and Larry McMurtry is writing scripts about a cartoon character I created in the spare bedroom at 707 W. MacKenzie (see address, on Bozecard).

   All because of a 3 cent post card. That, I tell anyone who wants career advice, is how you get past the crowd at the foot of the ladder to success.

The Journey

   The road is the only thing. That is what The 66 Kid taught me. Of course, there are other lessons to be gleened from being on the road.

“If you blame others it’s going to be a long journey. If you blame yourself, you are halfway there. If you blame no one, you have arrived.”

—Old Vaquero Saying

Mammary Glam vs. Memory Glands

 January 2, 2025

   As some of you may already know, I have always been a fan of great big American breasts. I was both a subscriber and a contributor to the most successful magazine dedicated to them in American History. Six million circ and a mansion named in the magazine's honor (built brick by brick by those big American breasts!) not to mention I knew a gaggle of girls who were dying to get in the centerfold (it paid $10,000, which is $5k per object of interest)

   I have always thought the magazine had a classy and progressive look. The design was edgy, clean and modern and, of course, like so many Boomer Boys, I subscribed for the articles!

   Imagine my horror—and amusement—when Kathy was cleaning out our son's room last weekend and found this:

"Entertainment" for Men, circa 1992

   I know what you're thinking: why haven't we cleaned Tommy's room since 1992?! In our defense, it was in a box with his college graduation picture. But wait, there's a more cultural trend at play here. Does the publication still work? Is it still entertaining? Well, the cover still holds up. Clean design and intriguing cover blurbs and excellent newsstand appeal. But, inside is a depressing crumbling ethos of misplaced liberation and downright cheesiness. Tacky ads (90% cigarette and liquor) and barely funny cartoons. They seemed so funny at the time, including mine! What the hell happened? Was it always thus?

   Short answer: yes.

   So, when did I change? Probably about the time I had a daughter—who is now 43 years old!

   And Playboy wasn't alone. We had Penthouse and Oui and Hustler and even for a short while Playgirl. All of which brings me to a bigger realization. All those magazines are gone. Passe, unnecessary and dare I say gauche. 

   I remember it being groovier than it now appears. Is this the way of all things hip?

   'Fraid so, Cocomo.

"Between New York and LA there are 200 million people who aren't hip, and don't want to be hip."

—Jeff Foxworthy

New Year, New Mountains to Climb

 January 1, 2025

   Damn it feels good to type that five in there. I am so glad to see '24 go. It was a rough one and we lost some good people and I'm just relieved we are still standing and have a chance at another go around the sun. Pardon my French, but it was like a sheet show, or a rolling dirt bag tsunami.

Daily Whip Out:

"2024 Was A Rolling Dirt Bag Tsunami"

Here's to Another Go!

   As you may have seen yesterday, I am noodling a sister publication for True West. It would only come out twice a year and be subscription driven, no newsstand. This gives us a chance to produce something beyond what you can consume on your phone. Put another way, go where they ain't.

Volume I, Number 1: The Battle of The Little Bighorn

   Oh, and oversized: 11" X 19," and here is some of the feedback I have gotten so far:

"You had me at Little Bighorn! And 11 x 19, these eyes aren't getting any younger. Happy New Year!!"

—Anonymous (Boxlip Darrell?)

"I've heard of Mountain Gazette and thought once about submitting. Do you recall, some years back, Wild West was going to produce a series of limited magazines or books or something that had expanded scholarship by Bob Palmquist about Tombstone? Something like this might offer people the ability to expand on things they normally wouldn't be able to do in TW or, like MTN GAZETTE, write about things that are 'Western' related, but not directly history. So, maybe an article by Hutton about his life and career? An article or photo essay by you about your artistic evolution? An article from Matt Bernstein about his hiking adventures in the West? Something niche, but using the same flavor of TW. I love the idea. Plus, a boost in sales never hurts."

—Erik Wright

"In a new journal I'd like to see you not beat the same ol' dead horses. The Shootout at the OK Corral has been done to death.  I'm a little soured on True West because I gave you a good article on Tom Powers and his Coney Island Saloon, which I've never seen an article on anywhere that I know of. If you didn't want it, you should've just said so because it's been tied up for years now. You acted like you wanted it."

—John LeMay

   Hey, John LeMay. I'm sorry. We do want that Tom Powers piece. Can you resend it? We've been so busy rerunning articles on the O.K. Corral we must have missed it.

"A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer."

—Novalis