Bass Reeves & Taylor Swift Side by Side & Dylan Says It All!

 May 21, 2024

   My good friend Steve Todd took this photo at Barnes & Noble in Albququerque: Taylor Swift and Bass Reeves side by side! 

   Great rack position. If you see us behind other magazines it is your job to pull us out and put us in this place. Thank you.

   Yesterday I did a riff on Jukebox Politics and had some major fun playing off the cultural extremes at play on the radio in the 1960s. This prompted Craig Schepp to chide me for not giving the Hibbing, Minnesota Bard his due:

"Oh, the history books tell it, they tell it so well
The cavalries charged, the Indians fell
The cavalries charged, the Indians died
Oh, the country was young with God on its side"

—Bob Dylan, With God On Our Side

"And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I'll follow your casket
On a pale afternoon

"I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead"
—Bob Dylan, Masters of War

"Outside, in the distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
The wind began to howl"

—Bob Dylan, All Along The Watchtower

"Now he's just an old man that nobody believes
Says he's a gunfighter the last of this breed
And there's ghosts in the street seekin' revenge
Callin' him out to the lunatic fringe
He's out in the traffic now checking the sun
And he's killed by a car as he goes for his gun"

—Johnny Cash, The Last Gunfighter Ballad

   The legendary Mohave Country cowboy and gunfighter, Tap Duncan, was run over by a car off Route 66 in 1946. Damn!

"Tin Soldiers and Nixon coming, we're finally on our own this summer I hear the drumming...four dead in OHIO. Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down, what if you knew her and found her dead on the ground, how can you run when you know?" la la la la la la la la...Four dead in Ohio"

—Neil Young, Four Dead In Ohio

         "The eastern world it is explodin'...violence flaring, bullets loadin', you're old enough to kill...but not for votin' you don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'? and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin' But you tell me over and over n over again my friend You don't believe, we're on the eve of destruction!"

—Barry McGuire, Eve of Destruction

   Okay, Barry, it's been sixty years since you sang that. I think, at the very least, this is turning out to be a very long evening?

Country Showdown

 May 20, 2024

   As bad as things seem these days, I'm here to tell you that in the Sixties it was just as bad, if not worse. One big difference, though, is we mostly duked it out on vinyl.

Country Showdown

    Jukebox Politics Sixties Style.

"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there, tellin' me I got to beware. . ."

"I read about some squirrely guy who claims he just don't believe in fightin,' an' I wonder just how long the rest of us can count on bein' free. They love our milk an' honey, but they preach about some other way of livin', when they're runnin' down my country, hoss, they're walkin' on the fightin' side of me."

Redneck Mothers

"And it's up against the wall, redneck mother. A mother who has raised her son so well. He's 34 and drinkin' in a honkytonk. Just kickin' hippie's asses and raisin' hell."

"We want War! Give us more War!!"

"We don't make a party out of lovin', we like holdin' hands and pitchin' wood. We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy, like the hippies out in San Francisco do. . ."

"No stop signs, speed limit, nobody's gonna slow me down. Like a wheel gonna spin it, nobody's gonna mess me around. . .Hey, mama, look at me, I'm on the way to the Promised Land, I'm on the Highway to Hell. . ."

Highway to Hellers Sans Sunscreen

   And, of course, it wasn't all angst and seriousness.

"Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy and I feel like lovin' you. . ."

"Rock's not dead. It just goes to bed at a more reasonable hour."

—Creem, the rock music magazine in an ad to revive the publication

Remembering The Late, Great Frederick Nolan

May 20, 2024

   Someone kicked up this old blog entry from twenty years ago on the back end of our trip to Spain to visit Tommy who was going to school in Valencia, Spain. We took a car trip to Almeria where the Spaghetti Westerns were filmed and also up to Alhambra and further up to Toledo and back to Cuenca and Madrid. Here we are on the way home when Kathy almost got arrested. 

January 2, 2004
Kathy and I got home last night at midnite. Deena is still in Spain and will return on Sunday. She and Tomboy wanted to spend New Year’s Eve in Valencia (having seen first hand how the Spanish party, they are probably still going at it).

Frederick Nolan

(1931-2022)

Kathy and I flew from Valencia into Heathrow on New Year’s Eve and were picked up by author and friend Frederick Nolan in his classic, old style Mercedes. There were a couple of odd things: first, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and it was dark (I mean nine at night kind of dark) and second, someone had ripped out his “petrol controls” and glued them onto the wrong side of the dash. Now everyone knows that Brits drive on the left, but until you actually see the phenom it’s quite unsettling. Against my better judgement I got in on the driver’s side (American) and sat there as Fred motored out into the gloomy darkness on the freakin’ wrong side of the road! Even more unsettling, was the fact that everyone else was coming at us from the other wrong side. In England, a right turn is the dangerous one, the left one a piece of cake. Like the Spanish, the Brits also love the traffic circle and have even added a second layer to some of them to make it more interesting. Fred tried to explain to me the nuiance of the outer and inner rings as we shot through one of these like some upside down dancer in a murky mirror, but it was beyond me. Besides I had to fight the overwhelming urge to grab the steering wheel and get the beast over to the right side of the road.

Got to Fred and Heidi’s cozy and historic home tucked into the vast, lush and very wet English countryside of Chalfont St. Giles (not to be mistaken for Chalfont St. Peters, or something like that, which is nearby).

Like Spain, England is steeped in history and it oozes from every nook and cranny. Not far from Fred and Heidi’s is a barn made with the wood from the Mayflower. Yes, the boat, not the moving company. Ozzie Osborn flipped his ATV just over yonder hillock and Four Weddings And A Funeral used the neighboring Georgian-historic-style town which looks exactly like Williamsburg, but it’s the real deal.

We had tea at about four in the English tradition complete with silver tray, dainty cups and a crackling fire in the fireplace. A sumptuous dinner followed at seven, complete with vegetables from Heidi’s garden. Over wine and more wine, we solved most of the World’s problems.

Speaking of which, the papers are quite feisty over there. When Bush made his secret trip to Iraq over Thanksgiving, the Independent (Fred’s fave broadsheet) ran this headline: THE TURKEY HAS LANDED.

The next morning, Fred got us to Heathrow, Terminal 4 at 11 and that’s when everything fell apart. As we checked in, the British Airlines agent told us our luggage was not on our flight and we needed to go to terminal 1 to pick it up and bring it back. We thought this was odd, considering the distance (it’s fifteen minutes by car to the other terminals because they built terminal 4 on the other side of the runway). Well, we descended into the bowels of the earth (actually it was lighter down there than it was on the surface), got on a train, made it to terminal 1, found Iberia airlines, made the changes with forty minutes to spare, but when we tried to go back we ended up in downtown London and flat-out missed our flight. In the ensuing melee, Kathy came this close to getting arrested exactly like Adam Sandler in Anger Management, but that’s a story for tomorrow. I need to take a nap.

“Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.”
—Peter Ustinov

Maynard Dixon In The Cross Lighting Blind Lemon Jefferson In The Cross Hatching

 May 19, 2024

   Sometimes I am sitting with Kathy watching TV and I see this.

Maynard Cross Lighting #2

   Other times, I am at band practice and I see this:

Blind Lemon Jefferson

by R. Crumb

   Thanks to my Razz band mate "Rooster" Rob Mathiasch for gifting me the excellent book, "R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country." So dang cool. And, it's going to come in handy at the show on Friday when I do a partial list of the all time greats: Jaybird Coleman, Peg Leg Howell, "Dock" Boggs, Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters, Frank Blevins and his Tar Heel Rattlers, Hoyt Ming and his Pep Steppers, Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit-Jar Drinkers, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers.

Gid Tanner Sans Any Skillet Lickers

Of course, you know his famous song. . .

"Ya Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around"

—By Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers

A Machete In Mexico And Kate's Odd Travels With Doc Holliday

 May 18, 2024

   A machete scabbard on a Free's saddle.

Daily Whip Out: "Mickey Free's Saddle" 

   Allegedly from the sketchbook of "Freddy" Remington, circa 1888, done for the graphic novel version of the search for the Apache Kid, 2008.

Well, was it?

   I had fun with this whimsical Sam Elliott illustration which ran in True West magazine a couple years ago.

Unpacking The Doc & Kate at Gillette Mystery

   As I related yesterday, Doc Holliday's feisty paramour, Kate, told a story, late in life, about how the two of them traveled from Prescott as far as Gillette, where she decided she had enough of the Earps and was going to go on to Globe and Doc, she claimed, continued on to Tombstone. She implies they split at this location. The problem with this story is, based on the maps of the day, there really isn't a route from Gillette to Globe, except by continuing on to Phoenix. So, the two of them would have ridden together to Phoenix and then she would have gone east to Superior and Globe, while Doc would have continued south to Tucson and then out to Tombstone. It is possible to go from Globe to Tombstone, but it all seems odd. She makes it pretty clear they split at Gillette. 

   Here is an excellent map by Tom Jonas showing various stage and military routes, with Gillette at the bottom, as they existed in 1880.

Military and Stage Routes To And From Prescott

   And, here is an excerpt from Stuart Rosebrook's thesis on travel from Prescott to Phoenix:

   "In Prescott, in 1880, the Southern Pacific Stage left every day at 5 in the morning arriving in Phoenix about 30 hours later. The road was a rough cut, following the natural contours of the landscape and travel on it was always an adventure. The stage would stop along the route for fresh horses, water and food. When travelers arrived in Phoenix in 1880 the would disembark at M.L Peralta's, a wholesale and retail store at the corner of Washington and Central. The stage passengers, covered and choked with dust, thirsty and hungry, bones and bodies sore and aching, were glad just to be alive. Before leaving Phoenix on the return stage at 7 in the morning, the traveler could stay at the Maricopa Hotel, have a drink, smoke a cigar, throw the dice at the Tiger Saloon, eat fresh oysters at any time of day or night at the Chop House restaurant, and buy a new suit at Peralta's."

—Arizona Gazette, Nov 1, 1880; Nov 2, 1880; Nov 6, 1880; Nov 19, 1880; Jan. 3, 1881. 

   It's also interesting to note that in 1880 Phoenix had a population of 2,453.

   The bigger problem with Kate's story is that not only did Doc not go to Tombstone at that time, but he in fact took a stage from Prescott back to Las Vegas, New Mexico—a 536 mile, 86 hour excursion!—to settle up on a debt and support a friend in jail. 

   Then Doc came back to Prescott by the same stage line and shows up in the May 1880 census, and then several months after that he finally goes to Tombstone arriving in September of that year.

   So, what to make of the Kate story? She definitely was with Doc in Prescott and she did go to Globe, while he eventually ended up in Tombstone, where they got back together briefly at Fly's Boarding House and she was there on October 26, 1881. Perhaps unravelling this weird traveling is as simple as Kate left Doc and went to Globe and the Gillette episode was misremembered, or happened at a different time? Or, she in fact stayed there one time and thought it might enhance her story?

Daily Whip Out:

"Doc Even More Enhanced"

"Frankly, I wouldn't trust that woman any farther than I could throw her."

—Old Dentist Saying

Big Nose Kate And Doc Holliday

 May 17, 2024

   Nice walk this morning. Still cool out. Did have one set back.

"You go on, I'm pooped" 

(this is a joke, Uno runs circles around me)

     Came back to the studio. Couldn't leave well enough alone.

Daily Tweaked Whip Out:

"Doc Refined"

   We're still wrestling with Doc and Kate splitting up at Gillette sometime in 1880. Here's how she remembered it late in life.

"Doc and I stayed in Prescott. In a short time Doc received a letter from Wyatt Earp stating that Tombstone was very lively and that Doc could do well there as there was no dentist there. A few days after the arrival of this letter, we started out together. I didn't go to Tombstone. I said to Doc, 'If you are going to tie yourself to the Earp Brothers, go to it. I am going to Globe.' He said, 'All right, I will be in Globe in a few days too. I don't think I will like it in Tombstone anyway.' We got as far as Jillet [Gillette] together and had to stay over night (where the old Tip Top mills used to be). We had a time to find accommodations. There was no rooming house or any thing like it there. At last we went to the Superintendent, a Mr. Webber. He gave us a bed in his office. It was good bed too. There was a store there, and we had a kind of a breakfast next morning. We started out again : Doc to Tombstone and I to Globe. I didn't hear from Doc for some time. At last I received a letter telling me how well he was doing and asked me to visit him. I went on that visit, stayed three days also called on Mrs. Wyatt."

—Kate Cummings

   Lots to unpack here, but I'm done for the day. Analysis tomorrow.

"You're a Daisy if you do."

—Doc Holliday

Doc In Hell And Pre-Show Doubt

 May 16, 2024

   Eight days out. Who is ready?

Cody at Cryin' Coyote BBQ, that's who!

   Kathy and I met Carole and John Glenn at the Cryin' Coyote for lunch and I brought the owner, Cody, some Bozecards for the show and a poster which he proudly put up on his bulletin board. Great food and great seeing Carole.

   Freak storm blew in this morning over the Seven Sisters.

Storm Over The True West Bunkhouse

   We got maybe 15 drops.

   Meanwhile took a swing at Doc's grainy photograph from Prescott. Wanted to flesh him out a bit.

Daily Whip Out: "Doc In Hell"

   I can do better. Going to put a faro table in front of him. Gots to get him green!

   Sometimes the most perverse things make me happy. Take this ad that The Scottsdale Museum of the West ran in Cowboys & Indians.

   Yes, they ran our True West logo in their ad. This just tickles me to no end. By the way, the Tom Gilleon show is worth seeing. The guy is pushing the boundaries of art, especially Western Art.

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize."

—Robert Hughes

The Original Zane Brothers

 May 15, 2024

    I grew up with some very zany guys and it may surprise you to know that a good, solid portion of them hailed from the Hualapai tribe at Peach Springs (along with one Mojave, a cat named Moon). And, I am telling you, those guys were a laugh riot.

   As the story goes, the Zane goes way back. 

Daily Whip Out: "The Original Zane Brothers"

("Tootie" Alvarado, Squibe Whataname and Boxlip Darell, Sr., Truxton Canyon, Arizona Territory, 1897)

   When I was growing up, nobody would talk about these three ne'er-do-wells and with good reason. The Elders of the Hualapai Tribe disowned Squibe, the downtown coalition of Mohave County Hispanics In Business scrubbed Tootie's name off of their charter and everyone in Mohave County pretended they never knew Boxlip Darell Senior, or Junior. Personally, I loved them all because they sure knew how to make serious people everywhere really, really nervous.  

"When in doubt, go for the gag."

—Old Vaquero Saying