The Kid Buys The Farm Tonight

July 14, 2016
   The midnight skulker took down the Kid tonight. Who ordained it? Who sold him out? I'd like to know exactly how it went down. If there is any justice or completion to this life, when it's all over, I will get to see the game films.

Daily Whip Out: "Death Stalks The Kid"

   I'm also still working on The Walk Down. Took a stab at Wyatt this morning:

Daily Whip Out: "Wyatt Earp Comin' Right at Ya'"

   I also took another crack at four guys standing in front of Brown's Hotel on Allen Street:

Daily Whip Out: "Sandin' On A Corner In Tombstone, Arizona"

   Oh, and I want to see the game films for this little encounter as well.

"Perhaps too much of everything is as bad as too little."

—Edna Ferber

Egged On by The Maddening Crowd

July 13, 2016
   "What kind of town is this anyhow?" opined Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) about Tombstone in John Ford's classic "My Darling Clementine." Well, in point of fact the former Goose Flats was a town that loved to follow fights, whether of the pugilist or pistol persuasion, or even of the rabid dog kind. According to one of Tombstone's most knowledgeable historians the best way to understand the story of what happened on October 26, 1881, is to read the testimony of Johnny Behan:

"...I was sitting in the barber's chair, getting shaved-Barron's Barber Shop. It was about half-past one, I think. It might have been later. I saw a crowd gathering on the comer of Allen and Fourth Streets. Someone in the barber shop said there was liable to be trouble between the Earps and Clantons. There was considerable said about it by parties sitting around. I asked the barber to hurry up, that I was anxious to go out and disarm and arrest the parties..."

Mr. Fattig's conclusion: "It reminds people that once the fuse was lit—probably during Wyatt's conversation with Ike at the Golden Eagle, the night before—people on Allen Street were basically counting down to the gunfight, waiting for it to be over, sure, but also for Wyatt, Ike, and Doc to stop dominating conversation in Tombstone. 135 years later, those people are still waiting."

—Tomothy Fattig

Tim Fattig at The O.K. Corral Gift Shop

   Tim is right on the money. When we see depictions of the O.K. Corral fight it is usually taking place in a surreal, lonely place, where the combatants walk through empty streets (or the people on the street are oblivious to the Earps and Holliday, like in Kevin Costner's film "Wyatt Earp," where everyone goes about their business as if they are merely walking by a random group of men out for a walk.)

    Nothing could be further from the truth.

   In fact, the crowd at Fourth Street and Allen, which Behan refers to, above, grew quite large (one report estimates the crowd at over 200) with various gadflies and rumor mongers running back and forth from the cowboys to the Earps and Holliday, then back to the Dexter Corral, no wait, they have now moved across the street to the O.K. Corral and they are walking through to Fremont Street, with all kinds of hangers-on shadowing them. When the Earps and Holliday finally take off on their famous walk down, they were followed by a gaggle of Looky-Lews. It was more like a rock fight in a crowded school yard than a lonely fight of gladiators battling their enemies alone in an empty, dusty lot.

   Just prior to the fight Martha King was in Bauer's Meat Market on Fremont Street and she couldn't even get anyone to wait on her because everyone in the store was talking excitedly about the pending fight.

"I saw quite a number of men standing in a group together on the sidewalk by the door of the market, and I passed on into the shop to get what I went for, and the parties in the shop were excited and did not seem to want to wait upon me."

—Martha King

   This leads to a question: what happened to the knot of men standing on the sidewalk in front of the Meat Market? They were standing there talking about the possibility of a fight and seconds later the Earps and Holliday came into view and then came on, marching right by Bauer's on the sidewalk. One assumes the Earps and Holliday had to wade through the crowd of men to get by. This is when Martha King hears one in the advancing party say, "Let them have it," while another says, "All right."

   But the bigger question is this: how much did the crowd have to do with egging on the participants? 

Daily Whip Out: "Mr. Looky-Lew"

"Take out the crowd and the drunk dentist and there would be no fight to fight about."

—Mr. Looky-Lew

Seeing The Possibility In Buffalo Clouds And Dust Storms

July 13, 2016
   Got up this morning and took another stab at summer clouds.

Daily Whip Out: "Buffalo Clouds"

   Still trying to nail dust storm effects. Here's two versions of the same scene: one is a little muddy, but, in my defense, being inside a dust storm, it looks a little muddy. 

Daily Whip Outs: "Dust Storm Sequence 1 And 2"

   Just trying to see the possibilities here. Gee, I wonder what my Scandinavian kin think about this?

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never."
—Soren Kierkegaard

The Real Pony Express Rider

July 12, 2016
   I have been so busy with Mickey Free, Vincent van Gunfighter and The Walk Down I haven't had time to do much of anything else. But now that the latest issue is out the door, I want to return to something I re-discovered last winter when John Langellier and I motored to the Grand Canyon to stay in Buckey O'Neill's cabin. John brought along an audio tape of Mark Twain's "Roughing It" and one of Twain's descriptions kind of floored me:

The Real Pony Express Rider

   According to Mark Twain in his classic travelogue "Roughing It," the pony express riders he saw and described were not dressed as we popularly picture them: "The rider's dress was thin, and fitted close; he wore a 'round-about', and a skull-cap, and tucked his pantaloons into his boot-tops like a race-rider. He carried no arms—he carried nothing that was not absolutely necessary, for even the postage on his literary freight was worth five dollars a letter. . .His horse was stripped of all unnecessary weight, too. He wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle and no visible blanket. He wore light shoes, or none at all. The little flat mail-pockets strapped under the rider's thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's primer."

   Isn't that kind of shocking? First of all, what is a "round-about"? So, the actual pony express riders did not wear a big, 'ol cowboy hat—he wore a SKULL CAP!—no boots, no fringe coat, not even a pistol! And not even the so-called custom saddle with the mail packets on the sides? Now, here's our popular idea of how they should look:

Frederick Remington's "Pony Express Rider"

An early photo of an alleged pony express rider

"What people choose to believe is a fact in itself."

—Leon Metz

Rim Rider and Pushing Jim Young

July 12, 2016
   Playing with different colors. Trying to see what I can get away with.

Daily Whip Out: "Jim Young #3"

   This morning I noodled a summer storm before I came into work.

Daily Whip Out: "Rim Rider"

"We by our art may be called the grandsons of God."

—Leonardo da Vinci

Mickey Free In Pictures Speak

July 11, 2016
   He rode out of a dust storm in the summer of '86.

Daily Whip Out: "Felix Ward Becomes Mickey Free"

"I love the idea of a Mickey Free graphic novel."

—T.J. Stiles

The Trickster With The Sidewinder Grin Sequence

July 11, 2016
  A graphic novel scenario takes shape:

Tom Horn and Jim Young Cross Into Mexico from 'Texas' John Slaughter's Ranch

 Horn and Young Make Camp On The Bavispe River

Even though they thought they were covering their tracks,

Mickey Free Sneaks Up On Their Camp

Horn Hears an Owl Hoot

Mickey appears out of the darkness and throws three headless rattlesnakes on the fire.

A rider with a missing tapadero rides on in the twilight.

"That was an entrance I never forgot."

—Jim Young

The Bad Guys Know Us And They Leave Us Alone

July 9, 2016
   Special thanks to Danny Z (Zelisko) for the great concert last night at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix. Beatific Brian Wilson took the stage to do, by his account, the very first song he wrote, "Surfer Girl," his best song, "God Only Knows" and about 75 other masterpieces, my favorite being "Don't Worry Baby," no wait, "Surfin' U.S.A." no, wait, "Dance, Dance, Dance," no wait, "Little Deuce Coup" no wait, "California Girls," no wait, "Fun, Fun, Fun," no wait, "I Get Around," no, wait, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," no wait, "Good Vibrations," no wait, "Barbara Ann" (which they closed with on the encore).

Brian Wilson and the "Pet Sounds" crew, including Billy Hinsche

(of Dino, Desi & Billy fame) at left, and Al Jardine, at right.

   I counted 10 musicians, 11 if you count Blondie Chaplin, who came out three times and sang three songs, including "Wild Honey" and one of my favorite Brian Wilson songs ever, "Sail On Sailer."

Blondie jams out in front of us on the gangway ramp.

   The Celebrity Theater is very intimate with a revolving stage in the center of the room, although for this show the stage was locked down or permanent, which blocked off about a third of the seats, so I'm guessing there were about 1,200 people in the audience. The show was sold out.

Last Brother Standing: Brian being led off stage to a chorus of "We love you Brian."

  The young lady sitting behind us told me she has seen the Beach Boys 11 times, which irked me because I have always bragged about seeing them 7 times, but never with Brian. I told her I first saw them in 1966 at the State Fair Grounds and I asked her how old she was at the time and she laughed and said she wasn't born until 11 years later! Brian's best friend and assistant (Dr. Eugene Landy light?) came out on the ramp and struck up a conversation with her and as the show ended he gave her this autographed photo of Brian. She cried.

One Lucky Fan (just a baby though)

   She's too young to remember but there was a time when the Beach Boys were considered passe and, dare I say, "embarrassing." I remember about 1966 being at an Exits band gig down at Bullhead City on the Colorado River, which always got a huge contingency of California kids and we were playing outside on the edge of a ball field, and we were in our Beach Boys striped shirt phase with the white Stratocaster Fenders and the clean cut surfer look. There were these three or four "California girls," and they were all dressed in old army jackets, early grunge. This was the leading edge of The Summer of Love (1967) and the coming hippie movement and we were stuck in the backwater of Kingman and didn't know any of this. Anyway, the girls laughed at our Beach Boys songs and told us they were so out of style and stupid. They were into the Stones. It was the beginning of a dark time for the Boys. The Beatles, the Stones, The Who and a hundred other British Invasion bands eclipsed all of that sunshine, and it was thought by the powers that be that Brian needed a lyrics co-writer, someone who wouldn't allow him to write something so sappy as, "Be True to Your School" ("just like you would to your guy or gal") so they hired Van Dyke Parks to give The Beach Boys some edge in 1966. it didn't work, of course. Hard to believe now, that is, hard to believe anyone needed to mess with Brian's mojo. The songs about surfing (even though most of us didn't live near an ocean) and cars and cokes spilled on your girlfriend's blouse, are so timeless and dead on. And Brian spoke so directly and so eloquently, at least to a lonely teenager trapped in his room in a backwater town in northern Arizona. We do love you, Brian. It was an honor and a pleasure to see you, finally.

"There's a place where I can go and tell my troubles to. . ."

—The Beach Boys, "In My Room"

"There's one more thing, I've got the pink slip, Daddy."

—The Beach Boys, "Little Deuce Coup"

Letting Go And Holding On

July 9, 2016
   Body cameras and robo-bombs. Just when an old man thought it could not get any crazier he wakes up to this. Imagine those at the O.K. Corral? Or, don't. Since I'm immersed in the minutia of October 26, 1881 at the moment, that's where my mind goes.

   Trying to stay busy on my own little path. So much eludes me. In fact the vastness of everything eludes me and I can only hold on to a few small things at any given time and soon those will be gone. What's the answer? Well, for me and my honey, we're going to a movie and then to see Brian Wilson play "Pet Sounds." I've seen The Beach Boys probably six or seven times and I've never caught them when Brian was with them, so tonight is kind of special. It's the little things. Like Fourth of July ribs by Amy:

Amy's Homemade Barbecue Ribs on The Fourth of July!

Amy, Tommy and Harper with my Vincent van Gunfighter book at Cattle Track Art Compound

   When your kids appreciate something you love, well, that counts for something.

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."
—Havelock Ellis

Crossing The Border, Both Ways

July 8, 2016
   Had a scene I wanted to do in the Mickey Free story of Tom Horn and Jim Young camping on their first night out, as they crossed the border on the hunt for the Apache Kid. Started it a while ago, then would run across it and see some potential. Worked on and off on it for several days, a half-hour at a time. So, I guess you could call this a Multi-Daily Whip Out:

Daily Whip Out: "Tom Horn and Jim Young's Bavispe Camp."

Illegal Advice, circa 1977
   When I clean I invariably find the oddest things. Here is a photograph taken for a proposed article in National Lampoon back in about 1977. The assignment was to do illegal immigration, of all things, and the concept in this case, was a tricked out bus complete with Playboy Bunnies on board to serve drinks to the illegals as they crossed. Dan Harshberger shot this in Tucson. We hired some friends, that's Mike Torres in the back smiling broadly, and that is my ex Terry Townsend in the Playboy outfit.

National Lampoon shot for Illegal Immigration Advice

Unfortunately pack rats got to the photo which accounts for the major nibbling on the edges.

"No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."
-—P.J. O'Rourke 

The Renegades Captured by Wyatt Earp

July 8, 2016
   On the evening of May 26, 1995 I got into it with a bounty hunter in the Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone. No blood flowed, but words were exchanged out on the boardwalk in front of Hatch's Saloon on Allen Street. The next day me and my pards—The Renegades—posed for a photo on the exact spot where the semi-altercation happened.

The Renegades: back row, L to R: Bob McCubbin, James Dunham, Robert Palmquist, Jeff Morey. Kneeling, L to R: Allen Barra, Paul Northrop, Casey Tefertiller and BBB

   The photo was taken by Wyatt Earp. No, really. Wyatt Earp was in Tombstone that weekend doing a show on his most famous relative. When we got to the spot I looked around to see who might take the photo and there was Wyatt and his wife Terry walking by and I asked him if he'd take the photo and he did. That would be this guy:

Wyatt Earp performing "A Life On The Frontier"

And you can check out his shows right here: Wyatt Earp's Life On The Frontier 

  Every person in this photo has played an important role in my life. It was Bob McCubbin who joined me in buying True West magazine and without his incredible photo collection and his initial financial investment there would be no True West today. Jim Dunham is the historical consultant at the Boothe Museum and he is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to history. Robert Palmquist is a lawyer who has specialized in the legal aspects of Tombstone and he knows more than anybody on this contentious subject. Jeff Morey knows more about the fight on Fremont Street than any living person and Paul Northrop has motored many a mile with me from Tunstall's Ranch in New Mexico to Canyon de los Embudos in Mexico. He is a trusted friend a boon traveling companion. Allen Barra is a prolific writer and his work has appeared in the New York Times and Newsday, among other notable publications. His book, "Inventing Wyatt Earp" is a must read. And Casey Tefertiller has written what many consider the definitive biography, "Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind The Legend." Both Casey and Allen have written excellent features in the next issue of True West. So stay tuned.

"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."

—William Faulkner

The Earp Brothers And Cowboy Creep

July 8, 2016
   In almost all the movies about the O.K. Corral fight (there have been almost 40 with more on the way) the producers seem to want to turn Doc Holliday and the Earps into cowboys. Kurt Russell as Wyatt, in 1993's "Tombstone," is wearing boots, instead of shoes, for example. And virtually all the re-enactors I've seen, who portray the Earps wear boots, often with their pants tucked into the tops, which probably would have been laughable to Nicholas's boys. And by all accounts, the Earps wore city style hats, with narrow brims, but all the actors who portray them want to increase the hat brim size to make it more "cowboy." 

That said, Holliday did have on a broad-brimmed hat and according to one account was wearing a holster (all the Earps are described as putting their pistols in their pants, or coat pocket like gamblers on the sly). 

Daily Whip Out: "Before The Storm"

Cowboy Creep
Like "mission creep" the movies can't resist bending the styles to suite the fantasy of what these boys looked like. It's safe to say, the Earp boys preferred narrow brims, shiny shoes and natty ties and did not emulate cowboy clothes, at least in town. On the trail, or out on posses, I imagine they did resort to boots and broad brimmed hats, but in town, well, not so much. Still, the movies are trying to create a fantasy world where the Western can thrive and I certainly do want to cut them some slack on this.

So Much for Holsters

"[Wesley Fuller] relates of seeing Holliday put a six-shooter in his coat pocket at Fourth and Allen. Saw one in Morgan Earp's pocket, on the right side. Wyatt had one pushed down in his pants on the right side a little."

—Wesley Fuller, being paraphrased in cross examination, Spicer hearing

"History is a cruel trick played on the dead by the living."

—Old Vaquero Saying

The Day I Met The Legendary Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson

July 6, 2016
   It was just over a decade ago I met a legendary Texas Ranger:

February 25, 2006
Got to have breakfast with a living legend this morning. Joaquin Jackson, Texas Ranger and best selling author (his first book “One Ranger” is in its sixth printing and he’s working on his second), picked me up at the Museum of the Big Bend on the Sul Ross State University in Alpine and took me downtown to the Holland Hotel for breakfast. Joaquin is six foot four and quite imposing, and as we walked into the restaurant, you could see the heads turn and hear the whispers.

Nick Nolte played Joaquin in the movie “Extreme Prejudice” and spent several weeks hanging with the ranger to get down his speech and mannerisms. “He’s a damn good mimic,” Joaquin said with a laugh. “He had down all of my mannerisms.” Joaquin told me plenty of great stories but the one that stopped me short, was when I asked him if he ever ran into any oldtimers who knew King Fisher (see Classic Gunfights, Jan-Feb 2006 True West). Joaquin smiled and said he was at Ulvalde when they dug up King in the mid-1960s. He said King Fisher had a glass window coffin and he still had his mustache in place and a nice black suit.

At ten the local newspaper took a photo of Joaquin and me in front of the museum.

Liz Jackson (Joaquin’s daughter-in-law) introduced me and gave True West a big, Texas style plug at their auction. I said a few choice words and thanked everyone.

   End of blog entry for February 25, 2006. Jackson just passed away last week at the age of 80 and we are doing a tribute in the next issue of True West. Someone asked me what it was like meeting him and I said, "I felt like I met Wyatt Earp."

   Speaking of the O.K. Corral, we are hot on the trail of The Walk Down and we're featuring eye witness quotes to the build-up and fight. I have to say, this is one of the most bizarre quotes in the entire affair:

"I first saw Frank McLaury on that day pretty near the Grand Hotel as they were riding in. Frank McLaury, Bill Clanton, and an old gentleman who I am not acquainted with. This was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. At first, Doc Holliday went out and shook hands with one of them in a pleasant way, and said, "How are you?" or something of that kind."

—William Allen

Pleased to Meet You, Hope to Kill You Soon!

Daily Whip Out: "Doc Meets Billy Clanton"

"Each man kills the thing he loves."

—Oscar Wilde

The Walk Down Illustrated by "Some Guy Who Didn't Know When to Quit"

July 5, 2016
   Worked most of Sunday and Monday on an enigma wrapped inside a riddle: what has eight legs, evades capture and refuses to die?

Daily Whip Out: "Eight Legs & Attitude"

   Not sure why this simple scene evades me so. Still, I stumble onwards. Trying to capture the images in my head, never quite getting it on paper. Seems to be a reverse formula: the more I try to capture it, the farther away it goes. I have good reference, I know what I want it to look like, but so far, no go.

Daily Whip Out: "The Wary Walk Down"

   You could also call this the schizophrenic walk down. You have two legit lawmen (Virgil and Wyatt. I know Wyatt claimed Morgan was sometimes deputized but to be fair it's a stretch here), three gamblers and a drunk dentist. The guys on the right are doing their job to confront bad guys and disarm them. The two guys on the left, Doc Holliday and Morgan Earp, well, they are hotheads, itching for a fight. It's been called a misdemeanor arrest gone awry and that is an understatement. I have long maintained if you take Doc Holliday out of the equation there would be no gunfight. Most likely you would have a messy arrest where someone got buffaloed (Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton were the only ones who HADN'T already been buffaloed—hit on the head—by Virgil and Wyatt. Both were pros at taking the startch out of miscreants).

   Still not exactly what I was aiming for. Read this over the weekend, which, frankly, I resemble:

"Muddy watercolor. Rickety boats. Smeared sky. San Giorgio maggiore in the background. A view from the Riva degli Schiavoni, probably J.M.W. Turner: black letters in the white margin. Some guy who didn't know when to quit. Looks like he tried to erase it with a wet toothbrush."
—Martin Seay, "The Mirror Thief"

Cool Museums And Hassayampa Dreams

July 4, 2016
   Last weekend we hit the road to find some cool air up north. Landed in Flagstaff and, of course, visited all the museums, including this one:

The Museum Club: a classic bar on old Route 66

Besides museums we always gravitate towards the reader's zone:

Bookmans in Flagstaff with a storm rolling in overhead

   Tommy got to walk across his old campus. He was stunned at all the new buildings, including this one on stilts:

Tommy Old School

   On Friday we motored down Oak Creek Canyon, across to Jerome and up and over Mingus Mountain and down into Prescott where we stayed at the historic Hassayampa Inn. The plaza was jumping and we enjoyed the cool breeze:

Prescott Foursome: Pattarapan, BBB, Harper, Thomas and Kathy

   A random guy sitting outside at a yogurt shop saw us sitting here and came over and said, "Do you want me to take your picture?" So I gave him my phone and he took this, before adding, "The only way this photo will be better is if I get in the picture with you." We laughed and wrestled him to the ground to get my phone back.

Not really.

"Thank goodness Minnesota Public Radio was too poor to afford good advice. We only did it because we knew it would be fun to do. It was a dumb idea. I wish I knew how to be that dumb again." 
—Garrison Keillor

The Key to The Walk Down

July 3, 2016
   We've got a big Tombstone issue going out the door next week and inside we have one of the best descriptions of what actually happened at the Spicer Hearing I have ever read (hint: it was written by Casey Tefertiller). Since we're dealing with the legend and how the most famous stroll in history became so iconic, Dan The Man is noodling a couple cover approaches:

Daily Whip Out: "The Walk Down Sketches"

   And I'm doing an artistic version for usage inside to illustrate the various phases of the walk down.

   If you truly want to know the genesis of the O.K. Corral fight there are a couple quotes from witnesses that help explain how the fight came off. To me this is the biggest and best insight:

"I was standing at the Post Office with Mr. Dillen of the firm of Dillen and Kenealy. . .I walked down as far as Fly's [rooming house], and there I saw Sheriff Behan and four farmers. As I approached, one of them, Mr. William Clanton, put his hand on his pistol, as if in fear of somebody. When he recognized me he removed his hand."

—William Cuddy

   This little snippet of insight into the mental state of the cowboys before the fight shows all too clearly what would happen, for real, several minutes later. Billy Clanton was already agitated, nervous and ready to draw iron at the slightest provocation. He and his pards had been talking about going toe to toe with the Earps for at least an hour, or more. In the case of Ike Clanton, he had been crowing about this for more than 12 hours:

"All I want is four feet of ground to fight on."

—Ike Clanton

 Be careful what you wish for. When the moment of confrontation finally came, and as the Earps walked into the vacant lot and Virgil barked "I want your guns," the two cowboys with firearms reacted, right on cue. By the way, I love it that Mr. Cuddy describes the Clantons and McLaurys as "farmers." that kind of takes the starch out of the image, no?

The Walk Down, Eureka, Colorado, 1900

   Four men walking side by side. They seem to be going somewhere with a purpose, even if it's to join the photographer. In spite of the innocuous setting, the four-man grouping is still compelling. In the case of the Earp's and Holliday, we visualize them shoulder to shoulder, a fighting machine, deadly comrades on a mission.

   A  young whipper-snapper looks on, perhaps taking it all in for future generations. Too late. He's long gone now.

Daily Whip Out: "The Wary Walk Down"

   I'm trying to get past the legend, or, in this case—the cliche—and into that head space where the Earp side isn't quite sure what they will encounter. I have always been haunted by what Morgan Earp supposedly asked Wyatt as they started their walk (and couldn't see their adversaries): "What if they are on horseback?" That would change things considerably.

"History is defined by people who don't really understand what they are defining."

—Chuck Klosterman