We Were Walkin' On The Fightin' Side of Merle!

 May 27, 2026

   A sneak peek at my editorial for the next issue:

Old Glory—New Story

   Hard to believe it was fifty years ago that 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. Yes, in the 1970s, 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. 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 February of 1964, the hair wars began and by the 1970s it was a full-blown culture war. If, heaven forbid, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time (like say, at a rodeo dance in Kingman, Arizona in 1967) cowboys would call you out for not wearing socks and having your hair touching the top of your ears. Yes, it was, ahem, a hairy time. Then it got worse—"out of the car, longhair!" went a typical rock lyric of the day.

   Just when all seemed lost, a Texan, perhaps hearing the call from President John F. Kennedy: "We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future." Well, our cover boy did just that. And, more.

   Thank you Willie Nelson.

Daily Whip Out:

"Tell Them, Willie Boy Is Here."

"You know why divorces are so expensive? They're worth it."

—Willie Nelson

I'm Headed for Pioneer On Memorial Day

 May 25, 2026

   Jason Greer, the cinematographer, wanted us to catch the sunrise at Pioneer, Arizona this morning, so Uno and I left the house at 4:45 a.m. and I immediately noticed something I had almost forgotten. The serenity was palpable because no one else was on the road and it is so peaceful at this time of day. I have to thank my father for teaching me the secret of great road trips which is to get up early and get out on the road before anyone else!

Sunrise Saguaro Serenity this morning

at Pioneer Living History Museum

   At 5:15 I met the small crew, already set up in front of the Flying V cabin where I would make my plea for donations to save the historic cabin which is in ruins.

   Meanwhile, this guy knew his mark. . .

Uno hit his mark but forgot his lines.

   And, here for your viewing pleasure are the opening remarks in the teleprompter that I delivered like a pro because, well, I know how to read.

   And so, what would inspire me to get up so early on Memorial Day and go film a video for Pioneer Living History Museum?

   The short answer is I love history and want to support efforts like this and the other slightly longer answer is I have some history with the place.  I tied the knot with this little honey about 200 yards from where we filmed this morning.

A Pioneer Wedding

July 28, 1979

"The real goal isn't finding the perfect partner. It is tolerating the one you chose and being tolerated over a long period of time."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Laughing In The Dusk: How Right Do You Have to Be to Know Everything?

 May 24, 2026

   Get a load of this.

   I'm working with the creative kids down at State Forty Eight on some new BBB merch. Check it out:

BBB & State Forty Eight

   I've learned a few things in my seven-plus decades on the planet, and here are a few of my faves.

   Teach your children art and they will never have enough money for drugs.

   In 1964, I earned more money playing drums in The Exits than Mick Jagger did playing in the Stones. This is because, according to Keith Richards, the Rolling Stones didn't make a dime that year because of all their road expenses.

"Draw what you see, not what you think you see."

—Old Kingman Cartoonist Saying

"The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know."

—Harry Truman

   Physical deformities are funnier in Mexico than in the United States.

"Normal people do not create art."

—Irving Stone

Navajos On Carousels Create Art 

   "That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats. You make 'em follow you."

—Ray Bradbury

Daily Whip Out: "Jesse James In Hell"

   Strip mine your past and find the glory holes.

Daily Whip Out: "Bee Bop A Lula"

   Don't be afraid to back up.

Daily Scratchboard Whip Out:

"I'm Backing Up, Ese!"

Daily Scratchboard Whip Out:

"The Real Dead Heads"

   Just one of the bars in New Mexico where my Billy the Kid stories would NOT go over well.

The Billy the Kid Bar, Mesilla, New Mexico

1951

"The best way to raise the price on something is to say you would never sell it."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Daily Whip Out: "Mister Hell-On-Horses"

Daily Whip Out: "Mister Know-It-All"

"Nobody is as wrong as the guy who thinks he has all the answers."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Lea McCarty Scores Major Find But IDs It Wrong

 May 23, 3036

   Here' the inside skinny on the guy who thought he scored a photo of Billy the Kid's funeral:

Billy the Kid's Pall Bearers

(actually taken in the 1920s)

   We are featuring a Classic True West article from 1960 that really excited me when I bought the issue off of the rack at Desert Drugs in downtown Kingman, Arizona. The article was written by one of my illustration heroes who went to Old Fort Sumner and took this photo of the graveyard.

Old Fort Sumner graveyard, 1960

Photo by Lea F. McCarty

   This photo of the graveyard seems a tad unkempt for that late date. And, I assume that is the "Pals" headstone in the middle background? And would that building be the museum as it stood in those days? We need to get these issues answered before we go to press next week. 

  When I first started reading True West magazine in the mid-1950s, McCarty was the big dog illustrator in that world.

"Billy the Kid" by Lea F. McCarty

   And here is my take on the prolific artist.

Lea Franklin McCarty

(1905-1960)

   Born in Los Angeles in 1905, Lea F. Franklin was a man of many interests. He started out as a drummer in Paul Whiteman's band and toured extensively. He also explored other fields such as mining, horticulture and ceramics, before creating portraits of some of the most famous Old West Gunslingers, including Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid. Over his career he produced over 100 researched paintings which were later compiled in his book "The Gunighters" first published in 1951. 

   His article in True West about searching for a photograph of the Kid's funeral was published after the artist's death in 1960. And even though, the photo turned out to not be a photo of the Kid's funeral—as I said, it was taken in the 1920s—but it is still a valuable contribution to the history we love.

   Whenever we are in doubt, we always go to the Kid himself for an unbiased overview of the situation.

"There's no money in it."

—Billy The Kid

The Future of The Past

 May 22, 2026

   A boy went searching for the past. What he found was not quite what he expected.

   For the past six decades I have traveled far and wide to seek out the truth about our past. And, not just in the American West. I have also traveled to Extremaduro, Spain to find Cowboy Ground Zero.

BBB at Cowboy Ground Zero

Plaza Mayor, Trujillo, Spain

April 10, 2013

   I also spent some quality time in France seeking the truth about the Buffalo Bill wannabe who shot van Gogh. But closer to home, I have flown and driven to every state in the West seeking the truth about what happened on the ground where I stood. It's true, I discovered some incredible things on those trips, but the most memorable thing I found was not what you'd expect. 

The Truth About My Fact Finding Trips

   It wasn't the facts I discovered that made all those trips worthwhile, it has been the people I met who were on the same trail as me.

Up and Comer Robbie Fort Comics

   I met this young Robbie kid in Prescott when we did the Postmortem Boze Show at the Hazeltine Theater two weeks ago. As I understand it, he is a cartoonist who is making Western films. This precocious, upstart kid is definitely a brother from another mother.

The Future of The Past

   As long as there are crazy kids seeking out the truth about our past, we are going to be fine.

   Also, that photo Kathy took of me contemplating Cowboy Ground Zero on the plaza mayor in Trujillo, Spain, has a great back story. The statue of Pizzaro was donated to the town of Trujillo by the late sculptor's wife in the 1920s. He was an American who specialized in horses (he was an avid polo player) and was struck with the historical fact that the Conquistadors preferred Spanish ponies, not big quarter horses. The big building behind me, at left, was erected by the Pizzaro family to honor Francisco, who died (stabbed in the neck) by one of the surviving brothers of a general Pizarro had killed. Pizzaro killed two of the attackers and ran through another with his blade before they got him. In one of the early battles in Peru, Pizzaro and less than 200 mounted conquistadors went head to head with 80,000 Incas and killed 400 while losing only 3 or 4. Their superior firepower and armor carried the day yet it is still talked about because he faced bigger odds than Custer did at the Little Bighorn. Of course the Incas didn't have access to Winchester repeating rifles either.

"Where Spain keeps the cow, the rest of Europe drinks the milk."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Alchesay Slays In Washington DC But Bombs In Hot Pink Headgear

 May 21, 2026

   The more I study this guy, the more I admire him.

Alchesay, second from left

   Yes, we are considering him for the cover of the next True West, although Lynda Sanchez is not happy with his "hot pink headband." She really hates it.

   Okay, so I kind of stepped in it on that one. I may do another version and tone that back a bit.

   Meanwhile, thanks to my good friend John Langellier we now know a little more about Alchesay after the Apache Wars. We know that he met three presidents and often went to Washington DC to fight for Apache rights. Here is a photo of him I had never seen before:

   According to John, "Alchesay is the tallest in the image standing right of center (fifth from left).

    "As for a caption perhaps something along these lines might work as I am unsure about meetings with Great White Fathers: 

   "The tall, stately Alchesay towers over the other participants at a 1920 meeting in Washington, DC to discuss adding cattle on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. This powerful leader was no stranger to the nation's capital. He made numerous trips there on behalf of his people."

Photo courtesy Navajo County Library, Photo 364

[Left to right "front row"-- Baha (Alchesay's son), James M. Keys, Alchesay, Grey Oliver (interpreter), Chief Tizzy, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs Charles Davis]

   Okay, Lynda, how about this version?

Alchesay with a better hatband from the Fort Apache sutler's store

"It upsets me when Lynda hates my headgear."

—Alchesay from the grave

Big Hats All Around

 May 20, 2026

   The old call back in stand up comes around.

Seinfeld: Urban Sombrero #2

   Great Sugarloaf in a callback on the Urban Sombrero subplot in season eight of Seinfeld. Meanwhile, found a better example for an Old Vaquero Saying I want to do.

   Speaking of great sombreros. Check out this great photo.

"If everybody's wearin' a big hat, ain't nobody wearin' a big hat."

—Old Vaquero Saying

   The person in the center was General José Inés García Chávez (Inés Chávez García; April 19, 1889 – November 11, 1918), a Mexican military figure and bandit who participated in the Mexican Revolution. He was known as the "Attila of Michoacán" or the "Attila of the Bajío."

— Got this ID from Jose Zavala and Pascual Calvetti Torrez

Socko Paco de Naco

 May 19, 2026

   Got a funny one on the boards. Who is this guy?

Daily Whip Out: "Socko Paco de Naco"

      He'd rather punch you out, than debate the law. That's who he is. Sandals with leg guards? Oh, yeah.

Camel Corp Request

"Recently a friend told me that your magazine featured a report on the historic time that the U.S. Army added camels to its collection of animals for transportation and materiel movement.  I searched in several newsstands around Tucson and never found your magazine. May I purchase a copy of that edition of your magazine?  I believe that it may have been the January 2026 edition."

—Joy Miller-Frilot

   It's actually the March-April issue of True West. That would be this one.

"No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you."

—C.G. Jung

When Covers Collide

 May 18, 2026

   Ever sit around and wonder how we come up with our covers? Sometimes it starts with a simple Daily Whip Out, like this:

Daily Whip Out:

"Say Hey, Alchesay!"

   So, I emailed the high res artwork down to Dan and got this back a few minutes ago.

Dan's Alchesay mock up cover

   See how easy that was. Okay, hold that thought, because it's a tad more complicated. Turns out Stuart Rosebrook just turned in a barn burner story on how a couple of Texas outlaws saved our country fifty years ago. I know, I know. It's a bit of a left-field-wing-ding for us, but we just might feature that as our main cover story.

Dan's Willie mock up cover #2

"It was Willie Nelson singing at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas that brought the Hippies and the Rednecks together. . .creating the Hipnecks."

—Ray Wylie Hubbard, joking on stage with Jerry Jeff Walker about how Willie saved our Country

So What's Wrong With Me?

 May 17, 2026

   I hate meeting people on the road. No, that's too strong: I dislike meeting anyone on my morning walks. An ideal morning walk is where I meet no one, either on foot, or, in a vehicle. Of course, even though we live out in the sticks, those days are few and far between. Take this morning for example.

My ideal walk:

Uno waiting for a slowpoke, 

zero walkers or drivers up ahead.

   So Uno and I got out on the road at 6:30 this morning and the thermometer in the kitchen said it was 68 outside. To my utter joy, we met nobody on the way up, no walkers, not even a car or truck, but on the way back down from Morning Star we encountered an old woman (she's probably two years younger than me) coming towards us with her overfed dog. I was all set to blast on by with a "Great morning, yes?" without even slowing down, but she raised her hand to ask me a question. I reluctantly stopped. "Can I take that road up there by the fence and go that way?" I looked back where she was pointing, and said, "No. I wouldn't. That is Cahava, a major road with lots of traffic. I go up that hill over there, to get my heart rate up." To which she said with some satisfaction, "So that's what wrong with you."

   Touche. That is what's wrong with me.

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent."

—Walt Whitman

Charlie Pitts Dies Game

 May 16, 2026

   Four fleeing outlaws, believed to be the robbers of the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota, slip into a slough (pronunced slew) on foot and disappear into a dense thicket of wild plums and vines. It is September 21, 1876 and the United States is celebrating its 100th birthday. Oh, and Custer met his match back in June.

   Warned by a farm kid, Sheriff James Glispin and Capt. William W. Murphy, both Civil War vets, arrive at Hanska Slough and ask for volunteers to go in and flush out the desperados. Of the dozens of men on the scene, and anywhere from 40 to 150 “sightseers” present, only five step forward.

"The Hanska Slough Crew Spread Out"

   Sheriff Glispin, Capt. Murphy and their five volunteers make their way down into the river bottom and spread out at 15-foot intervals. Their orders are to fire only if fired upon, and even then, to shoot low, so that the fugitives might be encouraged to surrender.

   Hunkered down in a dense plum thicket, Charlie Pitts and the Younger brothers, Cole, Jim and Bob, ponder their predicament. “We are surrounded,” Pitts says. “We had better surrender.”

   Cole replies, “Charlie, this is where Cole Younger dies.”

   “All right, Captain. I can die just as game as you can,” Pitts responds. “Let’s get it done.” With those words, Pitts stands and fires.

"Charlie Pitts' Last Shot"

   Dropping to one knee, Sheriff Glispin fires back, hitting Pitts in the chest (so much for shooting low). As the outlaw falls backward, the plum thicket is riddled with bullets from numerous posse guns, including those up on the surrounding bluffs.

   We've all seen the photos of Charie dead as a doornail, but did anyone ever find a photo of Charlie Pitts from life? Funny you should ask.

   For many years the only photos we knew about for the James-Younger Gang member Charlie Pitts were these two photos of him in death.

Charlie Pitts in death with a shirt on

Charlie Pitts in death with his shirt off

   But now, thanks to my friend Mark Lee Gardner we know what he looked like in life.

Daily Whip Out: "Charlie Pitts In Life"

   A black and white version of the above photo was published in the James-Younger Outlaw Gang Journal in 2010 in an article written by a descendant. Chip DeMann alerted Gardner to it when he was researching his book, "Shot All To Hell." 

   And speaking of Mark Lee Gardner and his ground breaking book, he is writing a cover story for us in the next issue on Once And For All, Who Was The Man On The Dun Horse? Hint: it wasn't Jesse James.

"The world may believe as it pleases."

—Cole Younger

The Secret History of The Skirt Police

 May 15, 2026

   I am so old I remember when the fashion police was an actual thing.

Mr. Colb Checks Skirt Length

for clearance to walk into my school

   Of course, a couple years later our teachers had to deal with this. . .

Invasion of The Beehive Micro Mini!

   Then, it went to this. . .

Macho Mini Man

   Of course, I know what you're thinking: how isolated was Kingman? Well, okay, smarty pants, I suppose you never heard of this fashion trend either?

The Mini-Bunched Up Underpants Look

(unlaced Adidas with shower cap headgear optional)

   This MCUHS (otherwise known as Mucous!) student look was very prevalent in the Big Sandy region of Mohave County. I tell you, those Big Sandy kids would wear the craziest fashion. And how!

   Okay, some of this is perhaps exaggerated. I never saw a guy in a mini skirt at Mucous, but there were several teachers I would have paid good money to see wearing one.

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

—Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

Big Hats In Bacanora

 May 14, 2026

   Nobody loves big hats more than I do, but the Old Vaqueros have a good point.

Daily Whip Out: "Big Hats In Bacanora"

"If everybody's wearin' a big hat, ain't nobody wearin' a big hat."

—Old Vaquero Saying

Meanwhile, any day that ends like this is a good day.

Ducks in the pool, fiery sunset on the horizon.

We've seen our share of these dramatic sunsets since Kathy and I tied the hitch at Pioneer Living History Museum five, or so, years ago.

Okay it was actually in 1979, so more than a dozen, then.

"For everything you gain, you will lose something and for everything you lose, you’ll gain something.”

—Old Vaquero Saying

Mickeys Mammoth Jack Jumps The Flames

 May 13, 2026

   Leave it to me to never leave a finished whip out alone.

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Mickey's Mammoth Jack Jumps The Flames" 

   I felt I needed to knock back Mickey and his Mammoth Jack a tad so their combined form would be less bold in the strong light. I also fiddled with the sky to give it a more murky atmospheric feeling. Not sure any of that worked, but there you go.

   Meanwhile, here's another riding condition I am fond of portraying.

Daily Whip Out: "Rurale Swallowed Up"

   As promised, here is my colorized take on one of the last photos of Al Sieber.

Daily Whip Out: "Al Sieber's Remorse"

   Every drummer's suspicion. . .

Daily Whip Outs: "Gone But Not forgotten"

"Funny how blessings brighten as they take their flight."

—Old Vaquero Saying