AI Is Ruining Our Neighborhood

 July 7, 2026

   It's been as long, slow creep, but as of today, yes, this DAY, social media has turned a corner and it's not a very attractive one. What started as a scattering of AI images has now poliferated to the point where the vast majority of posts are loaded down with AI graphics (so obvious and so lame) and there is less and less real imagery or photographs, or even real people communicating. I have seen several logos scraped—stolen!—from our True West archives and spun out as original headlines and it is so depressing. It's like a slo-mo destruction of a once wonderful neighborhood, overrun by untalented bums. I think we can mark this as the day our meeting place turned to ruin.

“Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.”

—Arthur Miller

The Authenticity of Swearing On The Worthless Jackwagon Frontier

 July 6, 2026

   I swear this topic never gets old: Cussing in the Old West. And, I must admit, the discussion of it really upsets some of my Kingman kin.

"That's Gross And Repugnant!"

   Here are a couple of takes on this damned phenomenon from a couple of my quasi-bastard friends:

You Don’t Say
Profanity in the Old West

By Chris Enss

   In the 1800s, it wasn’t uncommon to hear pioneers and miners from Deadwood, South Dakota, to San Francisco, California, swearing in paragraphs. Indeed some historical accounts note the air was cloudy with cursing in such wild and uncivilized locations like Denver, Colorado, and Tombstone, Arizona. Even so, citizens in Washington, D.C. were “more prevalent in swearing than in any other place in America," reported the Bedford Indiana Democrat on December 6, 1915.

   Laws against swearing originated in the nation’s capital in the mid-1850s and were strictly enforced. “Money was at one time raised by the state by imposing finances on those given to the habit of foul language,” the Bedford Indiana Democrat noted. “It is also thought that men who swear habitually are unfit to be in command of other men or themselves,” the newspaper further reported, referencing officers in the Civil War and the Plains Indian Wars.

   Popular ministers of the time preached that the objectionable habit of swearing originated from the profane use of bywords. “The tradition of a byword, which may be perfectly harmless, to profanity is not a very large transition,” Rev. De Witt Talmage told parishioners at a church in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1888. “Bywords such as 'My, stars,' 'Mercy on me' and 'Good gracious' work for a little while, and then you swear,” the Reverend added.

   Swearing, which included oaths and obscenities, was not limited to grown men. Women of all ages and children cursed too. “The profanity from young and old alike, which many are forced to listen to, is a nuisance,” reported Wisconsin's Dodge County Citizen on October 13, 1859. Loud blasphemous rants from soiled doves and teenage boys was heard so often in the gold camps in and around Sutter’s Fort in California that ministers petitioned law enforcement to intervene. Judicial officers must have been complaining as well, because California eventually drafted a law that prohibited cursing in the presence of a Justice of the Peace, reported the Daily Alta California on December 3, 1858.

   America's politicians argued that laws against swearing were ridiculous, but others insisted “there must be the appearance of virtue no matter how common the vice.”

_______

I once worked with an APS (Arizona Public Service) crew chief, Ralph Tisdale, who was a former Texas cowboy and his favorite saying was "Heiffer Dust" (a derivative of baby BS?) which I borrowed and mangled and gave to my comic book character, Granthum P. Hooker, aka The Doper Roper, as "Heffer Dust!"

   And, here is a list I made, from memory, of all the ridiculous replacement words Westerners have created to avoid being flippin' blasphemous. 

Creative Replacements for Actual Swearing
• Jumpin' jehosaphat!

• Road apples, also horse apples, to describe horse manure on the highway

• Tarrnation, usually preceeded by What in the. . .

• Dadbernit, also Dadgummit and Gol-dernit

• Heck! as in What the heck!

• Durn persnickety female! A pure Gabby Hayes-ism

• Yessiree, Bob (not really a swear dodge but used by smart arses everywhere

• Smart Alec!

• Oh, fudge!

• Jackwagon, as in, "You worthless Jackwagon!"

• Sidewindin' as in You sidewindin', bushwackin' Hornswaggler

• (by) Thunder!

• Carnsarnit!

• Whippersnapper, as in "You young whippersnappers!"

• Durn! as in "Yer durn tootin'!"

• Dang it all!

• Sufferin Succatash! Okay, this is the signature saying of Sylvester the cartoon character, but it's allegedly a dodge from "Suffering Savior," which is taking the Lord's name in vain pretty seriously

• Heifer Dust! (see above)

• Hell's Bells! (dang close to swearing and we wouldn't recommend using it in church)

• Sonoma Beach! (a very clever dodge on S.O.B. and a personal favorite)

• What in the Sam Hill! (my grandmother Minnie's favorite oath)

“I've been accused of vulgarity. I say that's bullshit.”
― Mel Brooks

When Ed Mell, Henry Matisse, Marcel Duchamp Collide, Its The Contradictions, Ese!

 July 5, 2026

   Sometimes I ask myself, What would Ed Mell do?

Daily Whip Out: "Mexican Rocketship" 

Other times, I ask myself, what would Henry Matisse do?

Daily Whip Out: "First Impression"

   Occasionally, I ask myself, what would Will James do?

Daily Whip Out: "Fence Climbing Bucker"

   And, it must be said, I rarely ask myself, what would Marcel Duchamp do, because, well, you know, that would be just too hip for the room.

Daily Whip Out:

"Nude Descending From Bronc Ride"

  Like everything else, jokes grow old (see, above). What once got a laugh is now cringe worthy. I got a request from an old fan to make an art print out of a New Times Weekly cartoon spread I did way back in the early eighties.

   In my defense I was going for a cutting edge SNL (Saturday Night Live) humor style, cut with a National Lampoon style illustration (you know, mocking serious Old School illustration), but it just looks ancient to me now. Dated, really. And not in a good way. Ouch.

Jokes for The Impending Apocalypse

   Here we are at the Apocalypse and all I got was this lousy tampon from a gender neutral bathroom.

"Contradiction is the whole point."

—Marcel Duchamp

Hair Wars! When The Length of A Man's Hair Led to An Ass Kicking

July 4, 2026

   Today we take stock of where our country has been and it's rather timely that Stuart Rosebrook has provided us with a heart warming story about the guy who saved our country fifty years ago.

   I am going to do a YouTube video on how this all impacted me and here are my notes:

   Hard to believe it's been fifty years—a half century—since we were celebrating the bicentennial of this great country. And, for you kids out there, too young to remember, it was still the Wild West out here in Cactusland. Half the country was very upset with the other half (sound familiar?). And what was all the anger about? Hair. Yes, the country that started with wigs and gravitated to shoulder-length locks on the legendary scouts of the plains decided that long hair on men designated them as a sissy, or worse!

The Original Long-Haired Country Boy

Wild Bill Hickok

   Perhaps it had something to do with the buzz cuts favored by the Korean War kids.

   Anyway, when the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan in Feburary of 1964, the hair wars began, and by the 1970s it was a full-blown culture war.

   Merle Haggard had a couple songs that summed up the cowboy side of this equation: Okie From Muscogee and You're Walkin' On The Fightin' Side of Me.

   Now, my problem was I had a cultural toehold in both camps. My mother's side of the family were all cowboys and my cousin, Billy Hamilton, was a World Champion Steer Roper. My first memory of going to a dance was on the Big Sandy in a school house with a fiddle, two guitars and homemade cakes. I absolutely loved those old country shindigs. On the other hand, I saw the Beatles live at the Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada in August of 1964 and when I turned 21 in 1967 I saw Waylon Jennings upstairs at JDs in The River Bottom. What I remember about the show is that Waylon kept giving his drummer, Richie Albright (from Bagdad, Arizona!), so much grief for having "long hair" and he kept saying between songs that they were going to take him out back and give him a haircut. And, by the way, while Waylon played upstairs, you could go downstairs and hear Buffalo Springfield! Talk about a train wreck.

"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. . ."

—Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth

Upstairs Downstairs

   Across town, in Glendale, Mr. Lucky's was the same deal: Country upstairs and Rock downstairs. You had to time it just right if you were going downstairs, or you'd get your butt kicked.

The Ultimate Longhair Hilarious Horror Story

   In 1972, a Texas Good Ol' Boy, Ray Wiley Hubbard made a death defying beer run in Red River, New Mexico. There were two bars in the tiny town and he chose the closest one to the band practice, which was the D-Bar-D, and when he walked in the door he instantly realized he had made a terrible mistake. The buzz cut crowd turned to look at his long hair—and not in a good way! He noticed an old woman and her son in the room and soon enough the son approached him and said over his shoulder to his mother, "You want me to beat him up?" Before the redneck son could throw a punch, Hubbard grabbed his case of beer and fled out the door where he noticed a pickup truck with a bumper sticker that said, "Goat ropers need love too." All of this ended up in his classic song "Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother." And that classic song is the perfect snapshot of the cultural divide in the 1970s.

   And, to cap it all off, it was Ray Wiley, who told Jerry Jeff Walker that it was Willie Nelson singing at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, that brought the Hippies and the Rednecks together. . .creating the "Hipnecks."

Our Long-haired Savior Willie

   Yes, Willie Nelson saved my bacon more than once. And he did it with pigtails! Crazy.

"The original title of 'Crazy' was 'Stupid.' Isn't that crazy?"

—Willie Nelson

Uh Oh, Burning Bridges Plus The Letters to The Editor That Make Me Happy!

 July 3, 2026

   Some well meaning friends have cautioned me to beware of burning bridges in my bid to step down as editor of True West magazine. And you know what they say about burning bridges:

"The hardest thing in life is to know which bridges to cross and which to burn."

—Old Vaquero Saying

   And, I must admit, as the days tick down, when I feel the most vulnerable, I think of it this way.

Daily Whip Out: "Burning Bridges—Uh Oh"

   I absolutely love Shooting Back (letters to the editor), because it gives our readers a chance to, well, shoot back on the conversation. You know, like this:

   "As a career Country Music DJ, I appreciated Stuart Rosebrook's article, 'The Texas Outlaws Who Saved the West.' If I had one issue with the story, it's that the story left out the original 'cosmic cowboy,' Michael Martin Murphey. It was Murph who Willie saw performing for rednecks and hippies at the Armadillo World Headquarters that led him to change his image and take charge of the 'outlaw' movement in Country Music.

   "I love True West and always read it cover to cover. I appreciate the cover you did for Santa Fe Trail, the poetry book by Karla K. Morton and Alan Birkelbach. Michael Martin Murphey's CD, that was included in the book, was recorded in our Geneva Sky studio in the back of my barn during a cold day in January. At one point, I had to interrupt the recording session so Murph could help me with a mare that had just foaled on a patch of solid ice. That little filly is now a year and a half old and has become my pet."

—Orin Friesen, Geneva Sky Productions

Rocking Banjo Ranch, Benton, Kansas

   And, one more burning bridges quote for the road.

"Old Vaqueros All Lit Up!"

"May the bridges you burn light the way."

—Old Vaquero Saying

The Land of Bashan Bears Fruit Annually!

 July 2, 2026

   Yes, the young profit, James Collins Brewster, made a very absurd prediction, and most of the Oatman family, lost their lives pursuing it.

The Survivor Olive Oatman, 1856

   To the followers who made it to the Land of Bashan, almost all of them had to be disappointed, if not crushed. The majority of the Oatmans did not live to see it, although Olive and Lorenzo lived to see it—and they left as soon as they could. One of the Brewsterites who made it to the Land of Bashan, wrote this letter to her father back home:

"It seems that it never rains here, to do any good or hurt. The ferrymen say they have been here ten months, and it has not rained enough to wet their shirts through. In consequence of there being no turf here,  it is very dusty, as the wind blows two days out of seven; and when the wind does not blow, about three o'clock, mi[d]gets (gnats) bite unmercifully."

—Mrs. Kelly

   Disheartened by the harsh reality of what they witnessed, and no doubt bitterly disillusioned about the prophesy of their leader, the Brewsterites pushed on towards the California coast where most of them eventually settled.

   And, so, what happened to the so-called Land of Bashan?

Ironies of Ironies
    Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt and the newly minted Bureau of Reclamation in 1902, The Yuma Project diverted Colorado River water to irrigate more than 58,000 acres along the river, all the way to the Mexican border. 

New advances in equipment helped build canals

on the Yuma Project.

   The water turned the harsh desert into a lush tableland supporting 275 farms and 90,000 residents. Farming year round, today these farms produce $196 million in crops every year. The Yuma Chamber of Commerce claims that 90% of all wintertime leafy vegetables in the United States come from this area—an area once prophesized as the Land of Bashan.

The Yuma farming area from the air.

"The wilderness and the wasteland shall fall away and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose."
—James Collins Brewster

Revisiting The Land of Bishan vs. A Rich But Apparantly Spurious Norm McDonald Quote

 July 1, 2026

   I've told this story before, but it bears repeating: What happens when a snot-nosed kid who is a wannabe prophet, makes a juvenile and ridiculous prediction that comes true? 

"The Prophet James Collins Brewster"

    In the 1850s, James Collins Brewster, 24, had visions of a promised land—The Land of Bashan—and his passionate message gathered adherents wherever he spoke: "Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your people from the east and gather you into the west. The wilderness and the wasteland shall fall away and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and the glory of Bashan shall be given to it. Behold the days are coming when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed shall give way to the flowing of thy staff. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine and the hills shall flow with it."

   And where was this so-called Land of Bashan located? At the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, today known as Yuma, Arizona.

A Desolate Intersection

 Never mind that the area rarely gets more than 3.5 inches of rain a year, is mostly sand dunes and harsh desert with daytime temperatures reaching triple digits every day for months on end. Oh, and never mind that James Collins Brewster had never been to Yuma Crossing and spoke of the banks of the river being lined with pine trees.

  And, so how did the most arid desert in the Southwest actually fulfill Brewster's prophecy?        

   That answer tomorrow.

Daily Whip Out: "Land of Bashan"

The Land of Bashan at The Border

I know what you're thinking: these scenes seem a tad exaggerated, or pushed to the extreme with fertile fields right up against raw desert. Well then, how do you explain this aerial view of Phoenix in the 1940s?

Camelback Irrigation

   I am always on the lookout for good history quotes and this morning I found a great one.

“It says here in this history book that luckily the good guys have won every single time. What are the odds?”

—Norm McDonald

A Too Good to Be True Quote?

   I saw this on my phone this morning and grabbed it for a future Truth Be Known in True West magazine. To my mind it's a perfect ancillary to the old saw, "History is written by the winners." But when I shared it with a few of my history friends, one of them (Mr. Eagle Eye!), said he was skeptical of the lineage and, so, when I Googled it, there is apparently no record of Norm McDonald ever actually saying these words. And, now that I take a closer look at the verbiage it does read a little shaggy (i.e. over-written perhaps, not quite the perfect words in the perfect order?)

More Bucking Buckers Plus The Triple B Album Cover for The Double Z Top Dude

 June 30, 2026

   As promised, here are a few more bucking buckers for your consideration. . .

More Buku Buckers

Daily Whip Out: "Bucker Out of The Box "

          Daily Whip Out: "Sidewinder Bucker"

Daily Whip Out: "Dust Buster 13"

Daily Whip Out: "Bucker From Muscogee"

Ed Note: Buku (also spelled bookoo) is slang for the French "beaucoup" which means "much" or "many" which makes the More in the above headline redundant. But, hey, it sounded buku groovy. So sue me.

The Triple B album cover for the

Double Z Top Dude

“In Texas there’s still a little of that gunslinger mentality in the air.”

—Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top

Vacation Homes vs. Bronc Riders Galore

 June 29, 2026

   I have several neighbors who own second homes in cooler climes and they are there now gloating, no doubt, about the rest of us roasting our rear ends off in the triple digit heat. However, to me there has always been a certain turn off about owning another property and I think this mock headline says it all:

Family Buys Lake Cabin So They Can Spend Their Vacations Fixing Things Too

   Meanwhile, I have been spending some quality time noodling bucking broncos for a certain Arizona rodeo poster contest. Thought I would throw my, ahem, hat into the ring, as it were.

Daily Whip Out: "Red Sky Bucker"

Daily Whip Out: "Rodeo On The Ridgeline"

Daily Whip Out: "Rodeo Arena Bucker"

   I got another six or seven where those came from. I'll post 'em when they are ready.

The Crack of Dawn Reprise

   And, here's a sneak peek at what Rebecca Edwards has designed for the next installment of Borderline Advice, Old Vaquero Sayings, Part V:

Lone Kitchen Lights Across The West

   And, believe it or not, I have another two Lone Kitchen Light scenes on the drawing board. Here's a rough of one of them:

Daily Whip Out:

"Lone Kitchen Light In The Village"

   The concept being, it's not just houses out in the middle of nowhere that come alive when mama wakes up. But you knew that after seeing the first one!

   Tomorrow, the last place you would want to see a lone kitchen light.

“If people only knew as much about painting as I do, they would never buy my paintings.”

—Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

Hellscape Riders Meet A Lone Kitchen Light On The Way to Tent Town

 June 28, 2026

   If you haven't noticed by now, there's one theme I keep coming back to and that is horseback riders in hell. Yes, the hellscape theme shows up quite a bit in my whip outs, from Billy to Jesse to Mickey Free. And back.

Daily Whip Out: "Jesse In Hell"

   Perhaps it's because the theme emulates the ultimate road trip to me, or, perhaps, being a lapsed Lutheran, it somehow unmasks a deep-seated fear of being on a highway to hell? Which would explain my love for that song.

Daily Whip Out:

"Mickey Skirts The Fireline"

   So, this morning was no exception as I captured a certain cowboy in hell riding the burning range. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Hellscape Rider II"

(Curly Bill's Long Ride?)

   Then again, I am a scene sucker for the remote mining camp, something I grew up seeing over and over in Mohave County.

Daily Whip Out:

"On The Way to Tent Town"

   Speaking of magical journeys, yesterday my grandson and Uno and I set off on a walk up to Morningstar and on the way back, I got this shot of Fenton and Uno next to a big twin saguaro I pass every day.

   When I got back to the studio I was inspired to add a saguaro to the foreground of my most recent Lone Kitchen Light scene, and guess where I got my inspiration for that?

The Lone Adobe Kitchen Light #3

Thailand Cowkids

   Both of T. Bell's kids are in the house and they each chose cowboy hats off the walls of my studio and their grandmother bought them used cowboy boots, and here they are racked out in all their Cactusland glory.

Harper & Fenton Wall Flowers

(yes, that is Grandpa Ha Ha's doofus shadow at bottom, right)

Proof That T-Bell Is My Son

   And, of course, my son went to a used bookstore down on Camelback Road yesterday and brought home about 40 used books, and one of them had this inspiring quote:

"My whole work drive has been aimed at making people understand each other."

—John Steinbeck

A Big Bad Jack, A Head Hunting Rider And A Very Happy Ending—Say What?!

 June 27, 2026

   Has there ever been a Western where the hero rides a Big Bad Jack?

Daily Whip Out:

"Mickey Free On His Big Bad Jack"

   Get ready for one.

   True, Mickey and his Big Bad Jack had their moments of conflict and agitation. . .

Mickey And Big Bad Jack's Morning Ritual

   And, it must be noted, Mickey was notorious for getting to the point in an argument.

   And, apparently, he didn't limit the head bagging to his friends.

Mickey Unbags Another Head, exhibit #13

   I know what you're thinking. Is it even possible such a dark story could have a happy ending? Well, as far as historical facts go, it actually did.

One Proud Father

Mickey and his daughter Fannie Free

   Our incredibly true story is what happens in between.

"A happy ending is when people still love you in spite of what you did."

—Old Vaquero Saying

The Real Reasons Custer Failed at The Little Bighorn

 June 27, 2026

   Several have asked me why I didn't mention the anniversary of the Little Bighorn debacle in my blog yesterday and the answer is because I tapped out that subject in a previous post and YouTube video. 

Custer Is Not Amused

   In case you missed it, here it is:

The Bizarre and Crazy Details That Led to Custer's Demise at The Little Bighorn

Cave Fellers & Grid Grinders & Truth Tellers

 June 26, 2026

   If I had to sum up my professional journey in eighteen images, this would come close to capturing the whole shootin' match.

My Life On An 18 Frame Grid

   Yes, this is simply a screen grab off of Facebook, that shows my recent posting history via images and as I glanced at it, I thought to myself, Damn, that pretty much sums up who I am, right there. In fact, I would make the claim that it tells a more accurate story of who I am beyond all the yakking I do in here. Of course, I love graphic narrative and this is telling. I have a theory, being, if you look closely at the above grid it starts to tell a story on its own. In short, it's a pure graphic narrative with a theme and everything. In fact, some of the images that speak the loudest are not representational. You know, like this:

Daily Whip Out: "BBB Raw 2.5"

Which brings us back to the lone kitchen light.

Daily Whip Out: "The Lone Kitchen Light"

   As mentioned yesterday, this simple abode works well, but, if we're illustrating an Old Vaquero Saying, it wants to be a tad more Southwestern, perhaps even adobe. . .

Daily Whip Out:

"The Lone Adobe Kitchen Light, Part III"

   Just this morning I found a family from Thailand roaming around in the cave that Cave Creek is named for. They agreed to let me take their photo. but, frankly, I didn't want to get too close.

Thailand Cave Dwellers

   As it turns out, two of the family members are quite talented artists, so I gave them an art lesson in my studio.

Natural Born Artists

   Both Harper and Fenton do quite well with the gouache-wash technique so I merely try to stay out of their way.

Poached Onion Headline

Area Man Holding Out Hope Job Interviewer Will Ask Him How Much He Knows About 'Tombstone'

“Nobody is more full of it than those who think only they can speak the truth about the past.”

—Old Vaquero Saying