More Rain, And The Pain of History

 March 15, 2023

   As you may have noticed, I've been immersed in remembering all the old bars, saloons and honkytonks of my youth and I must say, of all the Kingman watering holes I would have been hard pressed to predict that this joint would still be standing, but there she is in all her neon glory.

Beale Street Classic Kingman Neon

   Rained on and off most of the day. Finally got to go out for a walk at about four. Sometimes I can read Uno's face, like here:

"Wet enough for you old man?" 

   I could be wrong, but just look at that judgemental face!

The Pain Game

   In case you haven't noticed, the study of history is in steep decline. The problem is we are approaching the problem from the wrong end. Forget the dates and the legislation and the three branches of government. Just repeating these boring factoids louder is not the solution. I know the answer and I'll let you in on the secret tomorrow.

"A true masterpiece does not tell everything."

—Albert Camus

Honkytonk No No, No. 7

 March 14, 2023

  Some things are counter-intuitive. Take Honkytonk dancers for example. Here's a quiz:

"Are They Fightin' Or Dancin' Or Both?"

Honkytonk No No, No. 7

   One night, many moons ago, I watched from the bandstand of the Hayloft Saloon in Flowing Wells, Arizona as a couple started fighting at the bar. I couldn't hear what they were saying because we were playing too loud, but it was clear from their body language they both were very upset with each other. The woman tried to leave but the guy grabbed her by the arm and forced her to sit back down on her bar stool. A very brave young guy, who had just come in the door, saw the woman in distress and walked boldly to the fighting couple and interjected something while trying to separate them at the same time by placing his arm between them. The guy at the bar cold-cocked the would-be rescuer with one punch. The kid dropped like a sack of potatoes and started rolling around on the floor while holding his bloody nose. The couple then stepped over him and went to the dancefloor where they started cuttin' a mighty fine rug with some style and panache.

   The moral of the story: never interrupt a fighting couple in a honkytonk. They only get to do this once a week and they will not tolerate any well-meaning interference. Especially, well-meaning interference!

Daily Whip Out:

"Mr. Lucky's Featured Fighting & Dancing Both Upstairs & Downstairs"

   "What do you wear—long shorts or briefs?"

   "Depends."

—Mel Brooks, 96, answering a question from the audience at Radio City Music Hall

Kickin' Hippie's Asses And Raisin' Hell

 March 13, 2023

   A Desert Noir from 1971 continues on its merry way. It practically writes itself.

   In the summertime in the Valley of the Sun, it can be ninety-five at midnight, but on Grand Avenue in Glendale it could be even hotter.

Upstairs-Downstairs

   Mr. Lucky's on Grand Avenue featured Country Music upstairs and Rock and Roll downstairs. During the volatile Sixties and early Seventies, a long-haired customer had to pick just the right time (usually in the middle of a hot Country tune) to slip past the buzzcuts upstairs and hurry down the ramp to the basement.

   Meanwhile, the parking lot was a whole other obstacle course where the collisions and the confrontations, the taunts and the threats were no idle matter. Nobody has ever summed up this situation better than this guy:

"And it's up against the wall Redneck Mother. Mother who has raised her son so well. He's thirty-four and drinkin' in a honkytonk, just kickin' Hippie's asses and raisin' hell."

—Jerry Jeff Walker, who sang the most popular version, but this classic dittie was written by Ray Wiley Hubbard 

Big, Bad, Nice Storm From Start to Finish

 March 12, 2023

   Sat out front yesterday afternoon to read the newspapers and enjoy the view. Noticed an ominous bank of clouds at about three and took several photos as them as the weather system rolled towards us. 

   At one point, actually a couple minutes before the above photo I captured this long tail cloud that turne out to be benign.

Long Tailed Cloud Over Ratcliff Ridge

   Took this last one at 3:31, just before the rain hit.

Although the clouds looked quite ominous, the actual rain was steady and not a torrent, and with a surprising lack of wind. About twenty minutes later, we spied this.

Ratcliff Ridge Rainbow

   Retired to the house and watched part of the last episode of "1923" but just can't quite get into that In-din School Catholic Villain substory, so I went on one more walk with Uno and ran across this.

Uno In Wet Sunset

   Quite green and lush with running water. Looks more like Hawaii than Arizona. It's been a weird weather year, to say the least.

   Still working on that 1971 Valley of the Sun story and it will involve one of these crazy birds.

Go Unto A Go Go

"If I were commited to reality as much as most people, I wouldn't have achieved anything. Never face facts."

—Ruth Gordon

First Pass at A Desert Noir: The Opening of A Wang-Dang-Noodle

 March 11, 2023

   Here's a desert noir film I want to see, so I'm writing it up.

   Phoenix, Arizona, 1971:

   A 10X Beaver Stetson floats upside down in the deep end of the swimming pool at the Westward Ho Hotel, as a fiery sunset lights up a darkening sky.

   How did this classic headgear get there? Who used to be under it? Who's behind it ending up there? And, finally, where is this all going?

   Well, for starters—South. As in the whole kit and kaboodle-wang-dang-noodle is headed south, just like a certain dancer and her cowboy beau.

Daily Whip Out: "Beyond Hope #1"

   This story, of course, starts much earlier when a beautiful young woman from Colorado Springs falls in love with a cowboy and moves to the Hualapai Mountains where they establish a ranch, The YU Lazy SOB.

Not-So-Lazy-Susan

   I know this is all crazy, but so is living here.

Meanwhile, South of The Border, Down Mexico Way

   What's that bouncing on the dashboard to the rhythm of the back seat shenanigans? 

Si, I See Si Si!

BBB-Bobblehead, Anyone?

   Flash forward to the present.

One Serious Storm Moving In

Took this at 3:31

"'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give you shelter from the storm.'"

—Bob Dylan

"

Seligman From The Air

 March 10, 2023

   Busy day. Found this for our next book.

Seligman, Arizona from the air, 1930s

   Anyone know why the road jogs in the middle of town? Marshall Trimble says it's because of the Black Cat Cafe.

Black Cat Curve, Seligman, Arizona

   Here's what Marshall says, "This was several years before Angel had his barber shop and Juan, his Snow Cap. I don't remember that snag in Seligman in the highwatand I played American Legion a whole summer in 1954. I found a close up photo of the little curve in Seligman. It's where the Black Cat Cafe is or maybe still is. I've eaten there a number of times."

"We are going to nail every inch of that Mother Road."

—Veiled Threat From One of Authors From Kingman

More Sympathy for The Drummer

 March 9, 2023

   I was comparing notes with a fellow musician recently and we were trading horror stories about the lack of respect many musicians endure in bars. Greg Scott (who is also a very fine historian) offered up a story of playing with his band in a Patagonia, Arizona bar where they performed song after song to zero applause, but when a barmaid accidently dropped a pitcher of beer, the entire bar erupted in thunderous applause. A cringe-worthy moment for band members and barmaids everywhere.

More Sympathy for The Drummer

   From 1963 to about 1993 I spent most nights playing drums in bars all across Arizona. I learned a couple of valuable lessons which I have passed on to my kids: always give the musicians a hand and, at the end of the night, give them a generous tip. Even the bad ones deserve it.

Daily Whip Out: "The Country Drummer"

   Oh, the inhumanity this drummer has seen!

   Thanks to the late, great Renee Prefontaine, on my 21st birthday she got us in to J.D.'s In The Riverbottom to see Waylon Jennings in the upstairs club room. During a rowdy set, where Waylon harrassed his drummer for having long hair, I had my first legal drink and afterwards I got Waylon's autograph. Meanwhile, downstairs, Buffalo Springfield were playing and even with Waylon's band playing I could hear ominous lyrics coming up through the floor.

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

—Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth, 1967

Bar None: The Long Gone Bars & Saloons I Grew Up In

 March 8, 2023

   When I was on the women's panel at the Tucson Festival of Books last Saturday, I went off on a tangent about all the bars and honkytonks I played in Tucson when I attended the University of Arizona. The list, off the top of my head, included, The Doll House, The Embers, The Cedars, The Hi Ho Club, The Dunes and the Poco Loco. And these are just the bars on Speedway Blvd that I played in. I also played quite a bit in the VFW at Speedway near Alvernon, but that is another story and venue. The main point is, every single one of those legendary bars are gone. History.

The Generation in The Doll House, 1967

   Same for the The Stumble Inn, The Oxbow, The Maverick, The Longhorn, The Hayloft, The Red Rooster and the Moose Lodge on Wilmot Road. All gone and paved over.

   In my old stomping grounds up in Mohave County, I played in The Smokehouse, The Sportsman Lounge, The Kingman Club, The Elks, The American Legion and even behind the bait shop at Katherine's Landing. With perhaps the exception of the bait shop and the Kingman Club, none of these stalwart watering holes is still standing.

   In Phoenix, I played at the Fifth National Bank, JD's In The River Bottom, The Library (a clever name for a bar adjacent to ASU), Dooley's and perhaps the most famous of all, Mr. Lucky's.

Mr. Lucky's on Grand Avenue

featuring Wanda Jackson on July 23, 1969

   What this long list of dried up watering holes from my misspent youth illustrate is just how special the ones that have survived—and that were conceived even earlier—and are still standing. Just in my neck of the woods, that would include The Palace Bar in Prescott, The Museum Club in Flagstaff and The Crystal Palace in Tombstone. Of course, there are many more throughout the West and we will run the full list—bar none!—in the next issue of True West.

"Last call for alcohol."

—A phrase that is burned into my brain

Bawdy Old West Humor vs. Gabby Hayes

 March 7, 2023

   Because of the Hays Code crackdown on risque images and bad language in Hollywood films, 1934-1968, many oldtimers (especially us Boomers) are under the mistaken notion that the humor in the Wild West was tame. We tend to think of ol' Gabby Hayes' sidewinder euphenisms as being authentic.

Sidekick Extraordinaire Gabby Hayes:

"Jumpin Jehosiphat! You young whippersnappers!"

   In actuality, most Westerners in the real Wild West took their humor straight up, just like their whiskey. For proof, here's legendary cowboy artist, Charlie Russell, weighing in on one of the unfortunate consequences of prostitution.

"A Little Pleasure"

"A Little Pain"

   And, if you think the women were any better, here is a bawdy example of female humor.

Daily Whip Out:

"Tea On The Terrace, Madam?"

And back to Charlie Russell, he had a rough sense of humor that all the cowboys could relate to.

   Yes, frontier humor could be quite bawdy and often quite blasphemous.

"Shoot low, they're ridin' Shetlands."

"It takes two Easterners to believe one Westerner."

—Old Cowboy Saying

The Tucson Festival of Books History Readers, Part II

 March 6, 2023

   Back from a week on the road and I have to say it was inspiring and educational. We started in AJ (Apache Junction), then on to Tombstone and from there to the Tucson Festival of Books. Here are just a few of the wonderful people—they're all READERS!—who dropped by our booth to show us their favorite issues of True West magazine.

Aleisha Velasquez, White Mountain Apache

& Navajo

    Here is Cecilia Barbetta who absolutely loves our coverage of Crazy Horse. She is a pistol and we love her too!

Cecilia Barbetta

   A surprising number of couples dropped by to say how much they both love what we're doing.

Alanna Day and Bob West

   Bob is the co-author of "Twenty Miles of Fence."

   We also visited with local dignitaries, like the director of the Tucson Train Station Museum who said he especially enjoyed our coverage of the history behind the hit TV series "1883."

Dr. Kenneth V. Karrels

   More than one woman immediately gravitated towards our Tom Selleck cover, proving the guy still has some major gravitas with the ladies.

Joni Condit loves Tom Selleck

   And, once again, I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how many young people gravitated to our booth and expressed their love and interest of Old West history.

Gabriella & Tyler Reese

   This is just a fraction of the True West history fans we met and I'll post more tomorrow. Kudos to the organizers and volunteers who make the Tucson Festival of Books a reality. Such a class act. Thank you and you'll definitely see us next year.

"The best part of writing is having written."

—Old Author Saying

First Day at The Tucson Book Festival

 March 5, 2023

   The week of wonky weather finally broke and yesterday we had a sunny and beautiful day at the Tucson Book Festival on the mall of the University of Arizona. Sold some books, chatted up the locals and visited with an old employee.

Abby Pearson who worked at True West

back in the day.

   Our tireless editor, Stuart Rosebrook, put the hard sell on anyone who got within fifteen feet of our tent.

The Hard Sell

   Stuart also chaired a discussion on Women of the West to a packed auditorium, which featured Jana Bommersbach, Chris Enss, Wynne Brown and myself. We had some fun.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a cover by not buying the book."

—Old Author Saying

Arizona Hatters & The Secret to Their Success

 March 4, 2023

   Visited several museums and the Tucson Train Station yesterday. Then we motored up Campbell and landed at the oldest hat store in Arizona and visited with this guy.

Mark Conteno of AZ Hatters

   Mark has a young staff who are passionate about hats, so naturally I felt right at home.

Sign of The Times

   We chatted with Mark for some time and as he explained the philosophy of his store, he said a very profound thing.

"We want to be that place that you wish still existed."

—Mark Conteno, AZ Hatters

The Gunfighter Museum, Dave Daiss And A Killer Historian

 March 3, 2023

   Here's a shot you don't normally see in Cochise County.

Ed Schieffelin Trudging Through The Snow

   One of our favorite spots in Tombstone is the Gunfighter Museum, owned and curated by longtime friend Richard Ignarski, who, it turns out has excellent taste in art.

Displayed prominently in the museum

is this BBB orginal painting of

Johnny Behind-the-Deuce.

   After a fine lunch at Big Nose Kate's we left snowy Tombstone and headed for Elgin where Red River, 3;10 To Yuma and parts of Tombstone were filmed. It's also where the builder of the True West World Headquarters retired and built his dream ranch house looking out at the distinctive Mustang mountains pictured prominently in the above mentioned movies.

The True West Boys

BBB, Dave Daiss & Stuart Rosebrook

   From Elgin we motored on to Sonoita, then up to Vail and our final destination, Tucson, where we landed at a prominent historian's humble abode.

A killer historian, Dr. John Langellier

   The three of us went to Casa Molina on North Campbell and had an excellent meal. Over margaritas and carne seca we solved numerous mysteries of the Wild West. On the way out the door Stuart asked a waitress to take our picture and I looked over and saw this giant, decorative sombrero draped over a chair, grabbed it and plopped it on John's head.

The Three Amigos

   Tonight is the presentation of the True Westerner Award at White Stallion Guest Ranch and then tomorrow is the Tucson Book Festival. It's been an eventful road trip and we have seen some great country and met some damn groovy people.

"If I had followed  my better judgement always, my life would have been a very dull one."

—Edgar Rice Burroughs

Snowstorm at The O.K. Corral!

 March 2, 2023

   We came down to Tombstone for Doug Hocking's book festival in Schieffelin Hall yesterday. Had a great day, sold books and met a whole bunch of people who love history. This morning we woke up to this:

Snowstorm at the O.K. Corral!

  More than a little nippy out. The good news is we owned the streets this morning and there were no people out but us diehard Tombstone crazy-historians.

BBB On Fremont Street, Tombstone, Arizona

   We have been having breakfast at the historic O.K. Cafe for the past two mornings and it is great. This is where I talked Bob McCubbin into going into partnership to buy True West magazine way back in 1999. All the locals eat here, and here is the town marshall, Jim, stopping by our table to say hi.

Stuart Rosebrook and Marshal Jim

   We're heading to Tucson this afternoon, road conditions considered and permitting.

"A snowball's chance in hell."

—Doc Holliday lays odds on the Cowboy's chances of surviving standing in his side yard

Tombstone Road Trip And Classic Book Blurbs From Hell

 February 28, 2023

  Stuart's Tahoe is packed and we are ready to roll for a Southern Arizona book tour road trip. Going to be out for six days. 

  First stop is at 2:30 this afternoon at the Apache Junction Library.

   Then off to Tombstone for their first ever book festival tomorrow, March 1st. We are meeting in the historic Schieffelin Hall.

   Get ready for scenic photos along the way. Maybe even some historic ones.

A historic,  friendly photo of Earp researchers

meeting and sharing ideas in Schieffelin Hall

back in 2000

    We won't be going by the Blue Swallow but I am thrilled to have found this old postcard of how it looked in the beginning.

Blue Swallow Court

1939

   You can expect to see this postcard, plus the full history of the famous motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico in our next book, "The 66 Kids."

  If you read all my favorite bad reviews yesterday, you might be amused to know my partner, Ken Amorosano (full disclosure: he was an agent in Hollywood before his publisher duties at TW) culled this classic quote from a so-so review:

"Bommersbach and Bell tell stories to intrigue and entice, giving readers curated pieces of women’s history in an enthusiastic mosaic."

—Julie Morrison, LA Review of Books

   Do you ever read book blurbs like this one and wonder if the sentence they poached actually matches the overall review? Here is the actual review so you can see for yourself.

The Actual So-So Review

“There's no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover."
—Metropolitan Police spokesperson, on a blurb request from the graffiti artist Banksy, who used it on the back cover of his book

My Favorite Bad Reviews

 February 27, 2023

   I've enjoyed a few rave reviews in my day. In fact, here's one that just came in this morning:

"I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Hellraisers and Trailblazers. What a wonderful book—beautifully written, great photos and of course the artwork is amazing. I think it's your best book yet. Hope to see you in Tombstone at the Western Book Festival!"

—Kirby White 

   I've also had some scathing reviews (be sure to read to end). A review published today in the LA Review of Books, is, well, somewhere in between.

   "Hellraisers and Trailblazers highlights women from Sacagawea to Sharlot Hall who shaped some part of 'the West.' Readers meet Martha Summerhayes playing tennis at Fort Apache, in present-day Arizona, alongside Sarah Winnemucca on a mission to 'correct the sins of the reservation system.' The presentation of one woman after another is as fondly pell-mell as a reel of a high school graduate’s childhood milestones: stories wrapped around portraits, photos, maps, newspaper clippings, playbills, and photos. There is no table of contents, just a full-color dive into the authors’ accumulation of research and reporting, with credit given to historians, researchers, and writers on the last page of the book, but with very few references included in the text.

   "Bommersbach and Bell have published the equivalent of a film documentary with many engaging pictures, not often stopping to say where they’re from. The writing is approachable to the point of colloquial, giving equal weight to fact and argument, as in the description of stagecoach robber Pearl Hart: 'They were captured, and the press at the time […] went nuts, making her a celebrity whose notoriety spread across the nation. Her trial and incarceration — the first jury acquitted her even though she’d confessed — are gems of Western History.'

   "The prose is like a tour guide’s script for a women’s history museum, and it would likely entertain its visitors to the point of tipping the guide. But in a book, I would prefer a less superlative and more substantiated take on history, trading admiration for annotation."

—Julie Morrison

   Julie is not alone in the "I'm sorry, I can't take you seriously because of your lack of footnotes" complaint. Here's a review I got from a Brit many moons ago: 

   "In conclusion, the reviewer admits to ambivalent feelings about these two publications [he was reviewing both my Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp books]. The artwork is very admirable but without the drawings and simulated photographs recreating historical events, the book appears as a visual equivalent of the so called 'faction' books such as Kid Curry by F. Bruce Lamb. History should not need the sugar coating of fiction to make it palatable."

—David Griffiths, London, England, writing in The Journal: The official Publication of the Western Outlaw Lawman History Association, summer of 1995

   Spot a trend here? My takeaway is these last two reviewers believe history needs footnotes so it can be taken seriously, and two, they don't like all this sugarcoating with good maps and especially colorful artwork! Dammit, they didn't have color in the Old West!

   But the most scathing review I have ever received is a one-liner. It had to do with a series of cartoons I did for New Times Weekly back in the eighties. Here is the cartoon that really honked off Ms. Rollins:

"I don't think Bob Boze Bell is funny, period."

—Chiquita Rollins, Women Take Back The Night