August 3, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
Worked all afternoon on our big doubletruck ad for Mickey Free in the October issue. Robert Ray submitted the best design and concept so we went with it.

Jason Strykowski and I worked quite a bit on Paul Hutton's copy to prune it down into a trailer type tease. The last two lines are:

The storm is coming. Heads will roll.



Pretty cool, no?

Hen Pecked?
“Good for you treating those hens to a mister. Are they still giving you eggs in this heat?”
— Lee G.

Thanks. Getting two to three a day.

Sieber Synergy?
“Did a double-take of that General Crook and staff photo. Coulda swore that was BBB rather than Al Sieber standin' there. Do you believe in past lives? Woo--eee-ooo. ‘BBB, Chief of the Desk.’

“Got a kick out of the exchange between you and Mark Boardman. He's saying giving Remington an I-phone will turn True West magazine into Mad Magazine, and your response is basically, ‘What, me worry?’ Ha.
—Steve Sanders

”We had our baby at home, which was nice, because I knew where the beer was.”
—Dave Mathews, in Rolling Stone magazine

August 3, 2007 Bonus Blog
Cleaning sometimes has its own rewards: this morning I was picking up the house and studio for Patti, the cleaning lady, when I found some Apache War photos I had forgotten about.

In 1994 I was hard at work on a Geronimo biography and travelled to Tucson to the Arizona Historical Society to photograph their incredible Apache collection. One of the original photographs I took a photo of is this one, of General Crook and staff just prior to their departure for Mexico to hunt for Geronimo. This first photo (below) is actually a close-up of a much larger group. That is General Crook, seated, center, with the cheek whiskers and pith helmet on. To his left, in the back row is Chief of Scouts Al Sieber:



This is a close-up on Sieber (below). Note his wide-brimmed hat, dark (wool?) shirt and suspenders.



So extrapolating from this photo, I did a study of Al with his favorite Winchester (below):



Can you make out the subtle skulls scattered around him? (I put in eight) This led to the inspiration for the title: "Al Sieber, Chief of Death." Which, of course, he was!

And, by the way, Tom Horn is also in the group photo. He's the cowboy looking guy, fourth from the left of Crook, in the white shirt. Tom also appears to be wearing the same style hat as Seiber.

Man, I love this stuff!

"He had delusions of adequacy."
—Walter Kerr

August 3, 2007
Hosted visiting dignitaries last night at Cartwright's next door. Fine meal and fine discussions about the future of True West. Very exciting.

BB—Phone Home!
"The Remington using the I-phone bit is not a good idea. I'm convinced it won't work and will have our regular readers scratching their heads and going, "What the f*** is this?!?!?"

"That's how I'd react.

"On the web? Yeah, probably. It's a different medium with different expectations.

"But on the magazine cover? With a readership that's pretty conservative/traditional? I think this will blow up in our faces, big time. It's not what they expect or want.

"There have been other occasions where we tried to be too clever--the Brokeback Mountain/Clint Eastwood issue being a prime example. People didn't get it (not just the movie, but the cover art). I'd argue it wasn't what they wanted--and the sales figures and p.r. reaction (nil) seem to back that up.

"We've known that folks like iconic covers, or those that feature classic images from the McCubbin collection. That's been proven time and time again. I don't think it's wrong to try to push the envelope in small degrees. But this one goes over the edge. Might as well show Wyatt Earp using a gps to find his way to Tombstone.

"Humor and clever are very hard to successfully pull off. And when they fail, they fall farther than the bottom of the Grand Canyon. People get turned off, thinking the idea (or the idea person) is stupid. And it damages their trust in us (which I'm convinced is what happened with the Brokeback cover). This is one of those cases.

"I'd argue that doing a cover with a Remington image is iffy anyway. He's not an icon. He's not a movie star doing a classic Western, a la Kurt and Val in Tombstone. Yeah, he's a well-known artist who did some well-known art. There are interesting aspects to his story. But a cover? I have serious doubts--unless we use one of his paintings, photos, or other artworks as the image. Something classic. That's what we're known for. That's a True West hallmark.

"I have no doubts, however, about putting an I-phone in his hand, as he takes a photo of an Apache woman. It won't work. It won't appeal to the core readership (or secondary or tertiary). It will be a setback that will take many issues to regain.

"Don't do this."
—Mark Boardman

Well put. And now I want to do the cover even more than ever.

”Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

August 2, 2007 Bonus Bonus Blog
Here is the well-known Remington pen and ink of his methodology while sketching on the San Carlos reservation. And below that is my "negative" version of Fred using an iPhone type camera to capture the same scene:




I think I overworked and killed the effects of the phone flash. I wanted the Apache woman to be kind of scrinching up her nose at this rude easterner using his iPhone to take a photo of her. That way we could say: "Remington Cheated With Photos And We Have The Negatives To Prove It!" The irony being, of course, that hardly anyone uses actual "negatives" anymore. But then, they didn't have iPhones in the Old West either.

"I think you can safely file this one under 'Beating-An-Idea-To-Death'."
—Vincent Van Google

August 2, 2007 Bonus Blog
Well, I knew my "Jesus People" would know the answer, but I didn't realize the actual quote would come from outside the Christian world. To recap, I stated during the storm that the mayor of Cave Creek, mentioned how soft destroys hard and I assumed it was from the bible. Well, this is probably the quote:

“That the soft conquers the hard is a fact known by all men, yet utilized by none.”
—Lao Tzu

Thanks Alan C. Huffines, soldier and Jesus person of faith

August 2, 2007
Woke up at midnite, mulling my messes. Much to mull. Retrieved my daytimer and wrote down some problems, some solutions, some ideas. Went back to sleep. Got up this morning and executed a possible cover idea.

A Messy Life Well Documented
The cover idea was thought up by Jason Strykowski at 3:35 P.M. on Tuesday, in an editorial planning session. The reason I know this is I jotted down the time in my daytimer, in the meeting. Same goes for the date on the photo of The Top Secret Writer, I mean, Paul Hutton, and I at the Rose Canyon Suites. Just went to my daytimer archives, looked up July, 2006. Pretty amazing documentation for the life of a messy man. Ha.

Anyway, back to the good cover idea: we have an excellent feature coming up that documents just how much Frederick Remington used photography. We knew he used it, but even I had no idea just how much photo reference he took. My God, he had a Scovill Detective box camera at San Carlos in 1886! Five years after the O.K. Corral fight. And he was posing models, etc. Amazing.

The piece was written by Brian Dippie who is the foremost expert on Remington. Anyway, Dippie thought we might alter a famous Remington sketch, showing Fred sketching off the back of a soldier, to hide the fact from the Apaches that he was capturing their likeness. Brian mused that instead of a sketchpad, he could be holding the big Scovill. That seemed cumbersome. Then Jason, The New Guy, said, "What if Remington was holding out an iPhone?" Now that's funny. Sketches followed, last night, then an ambitious scratchboard this morning. Here's the sketches and Robert Ray posing for photo reference for Remington using an iPhone type camera:



Dan The Man Harshberger just showed up and I went over all of this with him. I'm going to be gone next week so it's up to him, Meghan, Robert and Abby to come up with something groovy. I trust they will.

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
—Old Vaquero Saying

August 1, 2007 Bonus, Bonus Blog
Here's something I haven't been doing much of lately. A nice, clean scratchboard of Mr. Frederick Sackrider Remington, on the hunt in Arizona:



I had great reference from Jim Hatzell, taken from his annual Artist's Ride, which is coming off this month up in South Dakota. I envision these nice little scratchboards as spot illustrations for the copy hole. This is actually going to be part of a more ambitious painting I want to do of Remington to be called "Head In The Clouds," which will portray an entire cavalry unit traversing a switchback up the side of the Sierra Anchas, and Fred is studying cloud formations (artists!).

A funny aside: when I asked a certain art historian who Remington resembled in terms of personality, the historian said, "You know who he is? He's Allen Barra." Ha. That really nailed the guy for me, and if you know Allen, I think you'd get the picture.

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Night On Town Fails To Rekindle Fading Business Relationship

And speaking of business, this reminds me of a certain former business associate:

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
—Oscar Wilde

August 1, 2007 Bonus Blog
More storm stories. Virtually everyone I ran into today was stuck somewhere last night and couldn't get home. Debbie at the bank said she was stuck for two hours on the south side of a wash in north Scottsdale, and everyone else had similiar deluge stories.

At one point last night, the sheriff who was guarding the Grapevine crossing, tacitly mentioned that no sheriff's were at the School House crossing (a half mile east) and that he had heard several trucks had made it through. Several of us took his "advice" and drove back around through town and up the hill on School House Road. At the crest of the hill is where we shot the Royal Wade Kimes travel cover (April, 2007), and cars were backed up all the way to there.

Parked, left the car and walked down the hill. Got to the raging torrent, recognized the mayor of Cave Creek, Vincent Francia, walked right up next to him, pretended I didn't see him and yelled out, "Damn I wish the mayor was here! He'd know what to do!" Everyone laughed. The Schoolhouse crossing was even worse than Grapevine, with big, eight foot chunks missing from the roadway and shafts of dirty water, churing across them, digging out the ground beneath into dangerous, deep holes. One guy yelled (the water was quite loud) that the water took out a big Palo Verde tree and he wondered how far it went. I told him I knew exactly where it landed: right in the middle of Spur Cross Road on the north bank (the grader pushed it out of the way at about 10:45).

Someone mentioned how amazing it was to see water do this, and the mayor quoted the bible, something about "when the soft conquers the hard" (help me Jesus People), which I had never heard, being a Jack Lutheran, but was quite cool, and true. Water is so "soft," and pliable, harmless really, but get enough of it going in the same direction and it will destroy boulders and 60-year-old men in Fords.

Case in point: Harold, from Tucson forwarded me this news piece involving a guy, my same age, driving a Ford, but making poorer choices:

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/58979.php

That easily could have been me. Still, as dangerous as all of this is, there are those who dig it:

"Ahh, the good ol' days. We used to get gully washers like yours here in the Coachella Valley when I first moved down here. But not lately. Either the climate has changed drastically or the run-off situation has been upgraded by building more catch basins and cement-lined washes. I don't know why, but when I read about your being caught in that storm, I wished I was you."
—Steve Lodge

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
—Groucho Marx

August 1, 2007
Finally crossed Grapevine Wash at 11:10 P.M. last night. The flooding ripped out huge chunks of asphalt and trees. The city of Cave Creek grader arrived at about ten, then a couple of scoop loaders and they attacked the weakened roadway, while a couple dozen cars and trucks on both sides of the wash waited it out. We weren't alone. Virtually everyone in the north Valley got stuck somewhere as Cave Creek Road, Scottsdale Road, Dynamite, Dixileta and Lone Mountain all had closures.

Felt bad about my chickens. I left the mister on yesterday afternoon, plus I left my sketchbook at the house. Something I rarely do, so there I was stuck on the wrong bank of a roaring wash with nothing to do and no way to save my chickens. More later. Really behind the eightball this morning.

Excuse The Toot—But This Is A Hoot
"Dear Mr. Bell, I really enjoy watching your True West Moments and have been a fan of yours for a long time. My father would have loved to have met you. He was a old west historian himself. He studied the old west for over 40 years before his death in 1974. My father was Loyd Bailey and was a fast draw expert. He used a Ruger Blackhawk 357 western style six shooter and was right handed. I watched my father practice many hours and he would use a silver dollar. He would hold it at eye level with his right hand and drop it and go for his gun the dollar would hit the end of the barrel. He loved to watch old westerns and look for the mistakes made in costumes and equipment and he would always point them out to us. I wish he had the opportunity to have met you because the two of you could have really shared some true west moments. I tip my hat to you sir and keep up the stories."
—Robert Bailey, Batesville, Arkansas

"Peace, like charity, begins at home [assuming you can make it home]."
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

July 31, 2007 Bonus Blog
Can't go home. Waited too long at the office. Took off at about six, with rain really coming down and made it past the first big wash, Grapevine, which wasn't flowing hardly at all (I have five washes to traverse to get home). When I turned on Cahava Ranch Road I had a hunch that the fourth and fifth washes might be ripping and I wasn't disappointed.

The fourth wash was moving way too fast and I remembered going through this very wash in about 1991 on my way to my radio gig, early in the morning, and being in a 5,000 pound Land Cruiser and the sensation of the water pushing the car sideways. Got through, at four in the morning, then had to go past the other five washes and made it to work (KSLX), but as I limped through I realized just how stupid the stunt was. Fortunately, this time (going the opposite way and in a 2,500 pound Ranger) I had a more mature outlook: "That raging water will be the death of you Kingmanistan Boy."

Reluctantly turned around and started back. Cars on Spur Cross, going northbound, were backed up and I could see the headlights turning around. I knew the window was closing for me to get out. Got to the next wash and it was starting to really roar. Met a car coming the other way, and took a chance, and waded out into the rising water. Made it across, barely. The guy behind me hesitated and as I topped the ridge going towards Grapevine he was still there, and I knew I could be trapped between the washes for the night. Can 't go home, can't go back to town.

Got to Grapevine and it was a trickle, ripped across and went to Tonto Bar & Grill to wait out the storm. Had dinner (Apache beef and two glasses of Cabernet, ($28, plus $5 tip, Sue account). Other refugees from the storm were there and I learned the power was out in Carefree and many other washes were flooded, leaving many stranded. This has only happened maybe six times in 21 years. Got out at eight, drove up Spur Cross and as I rounded the bend saw the blinking lights. Now Spur Cross was closed at Grapevine. A long line of cars backed up and a sheriff's deputy at the front of the line, keeping everyone safe.

Turned around and came back to the office. Mighty quiet here at 8:30, right back where I started, at 8:30 this morning. But it sure beats one thing: trying to breath in an upside down Ranger. Ha.

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
It's Amazing How Much You Can Learn About A Person Just By Hiring A Private Investigator

"Life is like the car pool lane. The only way to get to your destination quickly is to take some people with you."
—Peter Ward

July 31, 2007
Just started to rain (5:45 P.M.). Sky is dark. Still at work. Stressed to the gills. Trying to finish the storyboarding of the opening scenes to Mickey Free while juggling my magazine responsibilities. We're working on the editorial calendar for 2008 and that is taking time (fortunately, very strong ideas from Meghan Saar, Mark Boardman and Jason Strykowski). Got saddled with a possible cover illustration for the next issue. Could be a stunner cover, but I need to get all of my stuff in by Friday, so I can clear the decks for my trip on Monday. Going to have to pull some late-nighters.

After a web meeting this morning, I went back home to my studio and worked up about five pages of storyboarding. Not finished, but rough layouts to give to Jason for layout and balloon handling. Finally got the layout of the first ten pages roughed in. Plenty of holes, but Jason is scanning and inputting as fast as he can.

We also have to complete a doubletruck ad for the October issue. This is also for Mickey Free and I need it roughed in by Friday as well. Not to mention Classic Gunfights and my editorial. Too much to do, but it has to be done.

I Don't Think They're In Kasas Anymore
"Marc and Alice Ferguson told me over the weekend that J.R. and Robyn from the Lake Way Hotel in Meade, gave up the good fight and moved back to CA. Believe the hotel is still for sale with just a caretaker and not taking reservations but that information has not been confirmed - their website is still up. Kansas is poorer without them."
—Ed LeRoy

Too bad. Really nice people who invested in an old hotel in Meade, served great food, put us up at the Classic Gunfights Extravaganza a while back. Unfortunately they got crossways with some wackos who give Kansas a bad name, and they finally gave up. I hate it when good people run up against small thinking. It's the bane of creative people everywhere. Usually there is a way if there is a will, but there are limitations:

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Actually, Suicide Not The Easy Way Out For Area Quadriplegic

"The theatre is like a faithful wife, while film is the great adventure—the costly, exacting mistress."
—Ingmar Bergman, 89, who was married five times and knew a thing or two about mistresses, and he also died

July 30, 2007
Jason just came in and inundated us with gifts from the San Diego Comic Con. Huge shopping bags (3'X3' with "Superman: Doomsday" on one side and "Smallville" on the other) and the special Comic Con DVD collection of 300 complete with a mask and other goodies ($50). Paul and I will fight over this item (actually Paul can have it). He also brought software for myspace comics, which is another avenue we need to pursue. Whew! First we need to get our website and MickeyFree pages up and running.

Meanwhile, here are some of sketches and artwork I belabored this weekebnd. Still trying to capture the Remington style of doing things, with mixed results. Below, left, is a rough sketch of how the prisoners sat in the Middleton nine-seat stage bound for Casa Grande (thanks to you John Culligan!). Really like the head on the right, middle page, but it's a dead-on knockoff of a Remington, so it doesn't really count. Need to push it to include new scenes done with his panache. That is the ballgame, to mash a metaphor worthy of my Kingmanistan kin:



Here's a page of Mickey Free images, trying to incorporate the dramatic posing of modern day comics. Semi-successful but not very Remington:



These two studies are way too Batman and not enough Sackrider. Ha:



Yesterday, a big thunderhead piled straight up over Ratcliff Ridge and rather than take a photo, I ran out into the front foyer and sketched the scene:



This is the looseness I want to convey in my storyboarding. Easily said, said the frenetic fanatic.

"Often the search proves more profitable than the goal."
—E. L. Konigsburg

July 29, 2007
Yesterday was our 28th wedding anniversary. Celebrated by eating a bean burro, alone. Ha.

Got a very cool stagecoach postcard from Fred Nolan in England. It shows the stage coming into Santa Fe and appears to be a contemporary illustration, that is, drawn from that early period when horses running were illustrated like rocking horses. Note the windows on the stage looking more like a cathedral facade than a Concord. Accurate? Not sure. Also, can't tell if the "La Fonda" sign has been added later, as I believe it was known as the "Exchange Hotel" in the early 1880s. Still, it's inspiring. And I thank you Fred!



Jason's Final (and only) Dispatch from "Geek Diego"
"After three hectic days in San Diego cruising the 5 and the San Diego Convention Center, I have learned a few things. Regardless of the size of the venue, 160,000 people is too many. On many occasions I have tried desperately to get into a panel or film showing and a line of thousands has prevented me. We missed the 300 showing to catch an advance of Superbad, but didn't get into Superbad and missed most of 300 [which they showed in the Padre's stadium]. The Warner Bros staff actually decorated Petco Park, home of the Padres, with fake red satin and red carpets.

"It also amazes me just how much skin floats around this place. More than anything this is an inappropriately dressed people convention. Some folks have clearly spent months toning their abs specifically for Comic-Con. Some have not.

"As far as the Mickey Free project is concerned, a few things were made apparent to me. I spoke to a brand manager from Diamond Distribution and he said that any publication marked as informational and historic will be pidgeonholed immediately. But, if it is full of action and uses non-modern, throwback-style art, he indicated that it has a chance. I took his card and he is awaiting a proof from us.

"I also picked up a copy of comic creating software. It is a little sharper than the brand we are currently using. Most importantly, it is designed to publish directly to myspace. If that sort of publication is good enough for Dark Horse, publisher of 300, its good enough for Mickey Free.

"I am told that one other publisher has a historic line. Although I can't find it here, Evil Twin comics has a line of comics featuring historic philosophers in action. Sounds likes its worth a read. Yes, I said philosophers.

"Publishers will run second editions of comics that are well-received during independent trial releases. I would vote for a limited release of Tri-Star Boze books.

"The postcards I placed on the freebie table vanished. Good news? Hopefully."
—Jason Strykowski

Worked all day on storyboarding. Executed some 27 scenes, or parts of scenes. Will post them when we get dialogue balloons in place. Woke up at 1:30 and began fretting at all of my shortcomings. My efforts arre too muddied and overwrought. Need to back off a notch and let it fly. Not easy. Ran through this for at least an hour, or more, before I drifted off into REM sleep.

Woke up hopeful. Took a good look at all the weekend work and I'm making tiny progress, but still. . .

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome."
—Samuel Johnson

July 28, 2007
Kathy is now docked in Peru, visiting Tomas. I sent her an update on what is going on back home. Here is my message:

Went to town this afternoon. Trying to rain, very muggy out. Went down and got the dry cleaning. There was a $45 fee for storage.

Just kidding. I was kind of worried, but the girl said it was paid for and gave me two packets of clothes which is great because I needed pants. The girls in the store were kind of glad I got them too as I ripped open the bag and put on a pair of jeans. Everyone kind of wrinkled up their noses like they had never seen a 60-year-old pantless guy before.

From there I fought my way down to Desert Ridge (man the traffic is bad, cars on top of cars). Stopped at Aaron Bros and got some artboard and more felt tip pens ($76 Sue account), then went up 44th to Dixileta and cut across to Scottsdale Road. David K's old rental house appears to be long gone. Two or three new subdivisions going up, filling in the last spaces. Looked like West Phoenix, with no empty spaces to speak of.

Got to Bashas' to get final groceries before the trip. Ran into Ellen, the bartender at the Mineshaft who fell out of a third story window at Rocky Point while drinking, and survived. She is house sitting at Bruce and Sheila's and warned me she might come up and visit. I said she could as long as she stayed out of the Crow's Nest.

From there I went to AZ Wines and bought some more wine and a Wine magazine with a good design I want to show the staff. Went by the office to check on your snapfish photos, but got sidetracked on forwarding the Source Book cover to Trish, ran out of time (wouldn't attatch), realized I had milk in the car and fled home.

Buddy was in the house (he head-butted the front door again). It's been thundering all afternoon. I came in and called his name and he came cowering out and shot for the door, going out that little hole he's made in the screen door. I had to track him down and retrieve a pair of your panties. Where do these dogs get such rude manners? Not from me, I can assure you.

Gave my three chickens some leftover lettuce and came back to the studio to try and get another work session in tonight. Peaches is at my feet, and Buddy is curled up on his chair. And I must admit, he looks so much better without the women's underwear on his head.

End of message to Kathy.

Reworking the opening sequence to the Mickey Free story. Here's our hero riding out of a dust storm towards San Carlos. The rider is in pencil. Wanted to see if the positioning would work. Will rework it in paint this afternoon.



It's been just over a year since Paul Hutton and I travelled to Bisbee to work on the MIckey Free story for the graphic novel. Looking back over the notes, it's interesting to see what still works and what has changed. Here is a photo of the two of us, hard at it, in the Canyon Rose Suites, taken July 22, 2006. Wendy, the manager, took the photo:



"Go for the moon. If you don't get it, you'll still be heading for a star."
—Willis Reed

July 27, 2007
Well, all I can say is God Bless the internet. Blog reader John Culligan sent me this Franklin Mint replica of a stagecoach with the roof off to see the three-seats:



Very cool. Thanks John.

Trying to get my truck window fixed. On hold with JC's Glass, for a three-way confirmation deal. Lots of VIN (vehicle Identification Number) questions, reading long numbers and letters over the phone, over and over. Now I'm listening to some crappy Kelly Clarkson type singer that I'd like to strangle if I could only reach through the phone and destroy the CD. But I can't. So I sit here on hold typing this to ease the pain of modern life. Ha.

Still on hold (9:20 A.M.). State Farm Link Agent just came on at 9:22 and told me the coverage is complete and the payment is zero. I told her I love those kind of zeroes. They are coming out Monday. Meanwhile, I drove the truck to work today like some Okie puttering out of the Dust Bowl, leaving shards along the roadway.

Classic Onion Headline de Jour
Special Olympics Investigated For Use Of Performance-Enhancing Hugs

Terry Earp Touch And Go
A TV producer, Steve Bodinet of Channel 3, called yesterday to get in touch with Terry or Wyatt Earp about a book she is supposedly doing. I called Wyatt (yes, that's his real name) and he told me Terry has been up and down, with 19 operations so far. She was hit while in a crosswalk, on her bicycle, with a helmet on, by a driver who ran a stop sign. She was dragged some 90 feet. The helmet saved her life. Still, it's amazing she is even alive. Been in special care in Denver for some time, got worse, coughed up blood recently, then came out of it. When I said to Wyatt, "So she's not working on any book then?" He said, "Oh, yes. It's called 'Final Chapter' and is going to be symbolic of the Boomer's last act." Wow! That woman is such a visionary. She has always been out front of the crowd at every milestone. For a good look at the both of them check out their website at:

www.wyattearp.biz/

Wyatt also told me his take on a certain type of Western historian:

Typical Western Historian ‘Tude, Re: Personal Turf and Containment
"I got it all right, they got it all wrong and anything they got right they stole from me.”
—Wyatt Earp

We both know plenty of "experts" in our field who resemble that remark.

"Keep that brush moving, if anything, you might get a slight breeze."
—Ray Geier, artist, teacher and fan of the blog

July 26, 2007
I called Bruce Dinges at the Arizona Historical Society down in Tucson to find out about the three-seated stagecoach they have on display and got this reply:

"Here's the response I received from Laraine Daly Jones, our curator. I took a look at the coach. It would be tough to photograph the interior."
—Bruce

"No, we have no interior images of our stagecoach but I have a description of
what the interior seating should have been like vs what ours is now,
courtesy of Tom Peterson.

"First, they were known as 'Nine Passenger Coaches', with 3 riders each on
the two end seats and 3 more on the center bench seat. The upholstery behind
the end seats and the top liner was made of a brocade fabric. The wood bench
seat in the center was covered with tufted leather, unlike ours is now.
Missing from ours, is the back support strap for people on the bench seat,
which hung from the ceiling and conected to sockets in the doors. Tom says
they are the first thing lost off the stagecoaches. Riders sitting on the
center bench would have to interlock their knees with the people seated on
the end facing them, because there was insufficient space to do otherwise.

"Henry Ford Museum and the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry are supposed
to have coaches similar to ours; they may have mor faithful interior
restorations and/or photos.

"Furthermore, the coaches often had extra riders, 3 on top facing the rear
with their feet hanging over the 'boot', and 3 more on a seat behind the
driver, with feet on the back of the driver's seat. Next to the driver sat
the mesenger ('shot gun'), and possibly one more person. Am image of a
packed coach is supposed to be in "Arizona Territory Illustrated" 1884 and a
line art version used on an AHS Journal cover in the mid to late 1970s. A
verbal description of a bumpy ride from Phoenix to Prescott in a snowstorm,
1880s, can be found in a manuscipt at AHS, collection name uncertain at the
moment. Tom used a shortened version of it in his thesis, also in AHS
collection under "Theses".

"Sorry, I can't provide a photo. However, researchers are welcome to come and
look and take their own. I can't guarantee any great quality, due to angle
and low light levels, but if Bob wants to make an appointment, maybe we can
help him obtain a useable image."
—LDj, Museum Collections Manager, Arizona Historical Society, Southern Division

July 26, 2007
As promised here is one of the opening spreads for Mickey Free. The narrator, of course, is Frederick Remington:

Mickey Free's Crooked Trail
It is a bold person, or a fool, who will dare make the claim that a wilder savage ever lived than an Apache Indian, and so it is no small irony that a bronco Irish-Mexican gave them all a run for the money. Also, hard to believe, is that this same derelict of human degradation would meet an Apache boy, raised by whites, and that the two of them would became fast friends. This too defies logic, but it’s all true.

The short version is this: the Apache Kid was outlawed by a revenge killing on the reservation. When he hit the outlaw trail the last time he didn’t leave much more trail than a buzzard, and it took years to unravel it.

Chief of Scouts, Al Sieber, sent his first sergeant, the famous tracker Mickey Free, with a picked party of trailers, to pick up the Kid’s trail, and they travelled deep down into Old Mexico. Eventually Mick caught up with the Kid and something happened that no one has ever figured out. At least that’s the story I heard at the time these events unfolded.

But let’s start at the beginning.



When he was just a boy, he started a war. The longest in the history of the United States.

July 26, 2007
My request for a three-seat stagecoach paid off immediately (note to self: keep writing blog!):

"You will find what you are looking for in the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tucson. I believe they called the gallery the transportation section. There is an Abbot Downing stagecoach on display and it even has a couple of old trunks on the roof. You get a good look at the interior by climbing up a staircase and standing on a platform to look in the windows.

"I have a photo in front of me that clearly shows the bench in the middle of the stage between the side doors. The bench is padded but has no back so a passenger could face either way, depending where the pretty ladies were! It looks like the bench is hinged so that the two outer sections can be folded into the center if not needed.

"Probably could carry nine people inside on the three benches, that is as long as they weren't three Frederick Remingtons!!

"I saw the coach when we were in Tucson this past March."
—Bill Dunn

"The Wells Fargo Museum in downtown Phoenix has a Concord Stagecoach on display:

https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/history/museums/phoenix

"The museum is open 9-5 Monday through Friday. The guy I spoke to says the coach is a three-seater.”
—Tom Gronski

The Mickey Free Postcard Deluge
Lots of orders for the free Mickey Free postcard. Some were quite entertaining, like this one:

“I'm the one with the house for sale in the dip at the first wash you come to from Spur Cross Road, on the right. Now I'm living here somewhere in the neighborhood of Johnny D. Boggs. So I hear. Send me the Mickey Free postcard and sign it however you want. I am a huge fan, read your blog everyday and appreciate the rain picture of Cave Creek.
—Gerri Gosney

News From The Front Lines
"Lloyd Lang from Stockton, CA ordered Classic Gunfights, Volume III, (hardbound) today. He has 1 & 2 and really loves them. He has read True West magazine since 1953. Very nice man.
—Carole Compton Glenn

“Friendship isn't a big thing; it's a million little things.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

July 25, 2007 Bonus Blog
Samantha Somers took some excellent photos of the deluge on Monday. This is looking off the front porch of the True West World Headquarters at about four P.M. The submarine, I mean Toyota (or is that Hummer?), is heading eastbound on Cave Creek Road. Several roads going north were closed for about three hours as the waters raged down through the canyons. I heard the flooding was extremely bad up in Camp Creek-Seven Springs areas where the fires burnt all of the underbrush (i.e. anything that will stop the water).

July 25, 2007
Been swimming every day, although I missed on the big rain day. Feels good. Need to exercise more. My three chickens (there's a TV title waiting to happen) are doing fine. No mister now. Really muggy out and soggy in the coop. One of them (Gert) was bitching about it all the time I was feeding this morning. "You call this a condo? Where's the buffet? How come we never get to go out?" Stuff like that.

Jason Strykowski is leaving in the morning for the big Comic Con in San Diego. This thing is huge. They get upwards from 150,000 people at the four day event. Last Friday, he and Robert Ray whipped out a postcard for the trip. Abby Pearson added her thing to it on Monday and JC Printing whipped out 500 postcards. This is on the front:



So, the Top Secret Project is not so secret anymore. Yes, we are doing a graphic novel on Mickey Free and I will post storyboards and various script ideas right here on the blog, so you can see the work progress and even comment on it.

And, by the way, if you'd like a postcard, just click on the contact me button, above, and send me your mailing address, and how you want it signed. I'll send you one right out (as long as supplies last).

One of the things I ran across is a reference to Eugene Middleton's stagecoach having three seats inside the coach. I don't think I've ever seen this. The usual Concord stage has two benches, facing each other. The stage that carried the Apache Kid and seven other prisoners, had three benches. Is anybody familiar with this style stage and where I might get a good reference for it? I want to illustrate it accurately. By the way, the stage carried 12 people. Middleton, the driver, with two Indian prisoners up on the box with him, one prisoner riding on the boot (the back of the stage where luggage usually went) and eight inside, including Sheriff Glen Reynolds and deputy Hunkydory Holmes. That is one packed stage. No wonder the passengers had to get out and walk up the rainy grade west of Kelsey Wash.

And, by the way, if I was casting the BBB Straight To Home Video Movie here are my choices:

Kathy Radina: Bonny Hunt

David K. Jones: Jack Black

Jeanne Sedello: Eva Mendez

Wonderful Russ: Josh Regen

Bob Brink: Anthony Hopkins

Robert Ray: Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Abby Pearson: Lucy Liu

Carole Glenn: Susan Sarandon

"Romantic comedy is entertainment in the service of biological imperative. The world must be peopled."
—David Denby, on the new comedy of the sexes, specifically "Knocked Up" in New Yorker magazine