Real Indians Loved Vincent Craig's Candy Bar Song

 January 13, 2025

   I'm proud to say, I grew up with a whole slew of In-dins in Mohave County. That would be the Hualapais, the Havasupais and the Mojaves. We played sports together and had some major fun.

Real Indians Up Ahead!

   When I was a kid, I remember billboards on old Route 66 that proclaimed "Real Indians! 1/2 Mile." These billboards advertised roadside curios and Navajo traders, etc. This would have been in the 1950s in the Holbrook, Arizona to Gallup, New Mexico corridor. Some don't believe me, but I think this old sign vindicates the memory.

   Speaking of real In-dins, Vincent Craig, used to come on our KSLX morning show in Scottsdale back in the eighties and play his most famous song:

Navajo Cowboys Loved "Rita"

"Rita: The Candy Bar Song" by Vincent Craig

   Our program director hated it because we were billed as Classic Rock, and the tune was a tad soft for the brand, but dang it was humorous in a Navajo In-din kind of way. I still get people asking me what happened to Vincent. Sadly, he passed back in May of 2010, a month shy of his 60th birthday.

Vincent Craig Dine Singer

   One zany cat he was. Miss him!

"I just found out my wife is one-quarter Navajo and three-quarters regular ho."

—Old Navajo Joke

The Frontier Just Got A Litte More Crowded Plus Dustables Galore

 January 12, 2025

   Ever had a brainflash and thought to yourself, "This could really be something different!"

   Well, we can scratch "Frontier" as the title of a new SIP magazine from us: Just saw this on Facebook.

   Ha. I think our cover layout is a little stronger— thanks to Dan The Man—but there you go. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, but the punchline is the same: You snooze, you lose. 

   And the moral is: If you are thinking of a concept you can rest assured there are at least two other people out there thinking the same thing. We're all reading the same headlines and watching the same shows.

Mas Dustables Galore

   As you may have already noticed, I'm diggin' me some dust storms!

Daily Whip Out: "Straw Dust Rider"

Daily Whip Out: "Ridge Riders In Amber #17"

Daily Whip Out: "Ridge Rider In Amber #18"

   And speaking of dust storm riders, look who is using a Triple B Dustable on his next book cover:

Preorders right here

   Yes, we got storms everywhere we look. I'm thankful we're safe, at least for this moment.

"And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about."

—Haruki Murakami

Rurales On The Ridgeline, Part I4 And Onward, Plus My Favorite Vaquera

 January 11, 2025

   It's fun to get lost on a quest. If you don't believe me, go ask Cortez.

The Cave Behind Bars

Prologue

   He knew the Rurales were on his trail and he had a hunch there were others. He rode south, wearing one shoe, towards a pass where he hoped he could disappear.

Daily Whip Out: "Guero In The Pass"

Paisano Upward Mobility

   "He is very brave. The bullets bound off him like rain from a sombrero. He is the cousin of my woman's first husband's sister. He is bueno para los negocios del campo (that is to say, he is a highly successful bandit and highwayman). A few years ago he was just a peon like us; and now he is a General and a rich man."

—John Reed, Insurgent Mexico, interviewing the Arab, Antonio, who is bragging here about General Urbina

Mas Suspended In Amber

   Speaking of Mexican Revolutionaries, Vaqueros and Rurales, I'm still chewing on the ridgeline riders "suspended in amber." Tried a couple different approaches today, just for fun.

Daily Reworked Whip Out: 

"Rurale On The Ridgeline Suspended In Amber #14"

Daily Whip Out:

"Rurales On The Ridgeline #15"

Daily Whip Out: 

"Rurales On The Ridgeline #16"

   There's a couple more, but you get the picture.

   Yes, we see.

My Favorite Vaquera of All Time

   She grew up in the Old Pueblo and friends of mine who knew her said she was a pistol.

Linda Ronstadt, age 4, Tucson, Arizona

"Painting is very easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."

—Edgar Degas

Cockfighting In The Rearview

 January 10, 2024

   Love those brujas (Mexican witches) at least on paper.

Daily Whip Out: "La Bruja de Divisadero"

She answered nothing and explained everything.

      Meanwhile, I'm still seeking Rurales in amber. . .

Daily Whip Out:

"Rurales On The Ridgeline Suspended In Amber #13"

   And, led by the Yacqui scout Cosenoe.

"I just realized cockfighting is done with chickens. There's goes five years of training I'll never get back."

—Old Vaquero Complaint

A-1 Memories & Another Stab at Rurales Suspended In Amber

 January 9, 2025

   This old heartwarmer popped up on my phone and it made me smile.

A-1 In The Snow

One of my proudest possessions: the neon A-1 Beer sign off the old Nogales Cafe in downtown Phoenix, seen here, lighting up a snowy landscape near the cave in Cave Creek.

Still working hard to capture Rurales suspended in amber. Such a great phrase and fun, but not easy, to execute.

Daily Whip Out:

"Rurales On The Ridgeline #7"

Mas Reed to Read

  So, John Reed has bummed a ride with an Arab muleteer to get to the front lines and he drops a couple politically incorrect zingers, "They say there are so few Jews in Mexico because they cannot stand the competition  of the Arabs. . ."

   And, of course, he describes the land, "Then all the rolling leagues of desert glowed and came near in the soft light. . .now the western mountains were blue velvet, and the pale sky a blood-stained canopy of watered silk. But by the time we reached the great gate of the rancho, above was only a shower of stars."

   Then, this: "We passed only one human being all that day—a ragged old man astride a burro, wrapped in a red-and-black check serape, though without trousers, and hugging the broken stock of a rifle. Spitting, he volunteered that he was a soldier; that after three years of deliberation he had finally decided to join the Revolution and fight for Libertad. But at the first battle a cannon had been fired, the first he had ever heard; he had immediately started for his home in El Oro, where he intended to descend into a gold mine and stay there until the war was over. . ."

—John Reed, Insurgent Mexico

   An entire life of an ex-soldier—without pants!—summed up in a paragraph!

"There is always a philosophy for lack of courage."

—Albert Camus

More Rurales On The Ridgeline Plus Pancho In Agua Prieta And The Battle of Bad Friends

 January 8, 2025

   Still trying to nail that "suspended in amber" look.

Daily Whip Out: "Rurales In Amber #4"

   Getting closer. Love the happy accident sun directly over the second rider's head.

The Battle of Bad Friends

   Our crack designer Rebecca Edwards, and I, are working on a new doubletruck for the Tombstone Epitaph featuring an old Classic Gunfight I am very proud of. Here is the second page just to give you a taste:

   And, speaking of the Mexican Revolution. . .

Another Tasty Reading of Reed

"These were metropolitan days for Presidio, a straggling and indescribably desolate village of about fifteen adobe houses, scattered without much plan in the deep sand and cottonwood scrub along the river bottom. Old Kleinmann, the German storekeeper, made a fortune a day outfitting refugees and supplying the Federal army across the river with provisions. He had three beautiful adolescent daughters whom he kept locked up in the attic of the store, because a flock of amorous Mexicans and ardent cowpunchers prowled around like dogs, drawn from many miles away by the fame of these damsels. Half the time he spent working furiously in the store, stripped to the waist; and the remainder, rushing around with a large gun strapped to his waist, warning off the suitors."

—John Reed, Unsurgent Mexico

   And, another sneak peek at our upcoming coverage of Sexy Sadie.

Daily Rough Whip Out: "Sexy Sadie"

   She was not who she said she was and even this image is not her and that's half the point.

   And, finally, a tightening of the pack cinch just for grins.

"For many people, the talents that bloom later in life are more consequential than the ones that bloom early."

—David Brooks

Life Goes On In One Form Or Another. . .

 January 7, 2025

   Yesterday I finally broke down and got a subscription to the new Mountain Gazette ($79 for two issues!) and as I was thinking about this new, hipster-oversized-magazine loaded up with big, juicy pictures, I stumbled—totally by accident—across something very ancient in my studio:

Life Magazine published the week I was born

   File this one under: The more things change, the more they remain the same. Oversized, indeed! Or, you want a new idea, read an old book—or magazine.

   Oh, and by the way, who is Teresa Wright?

   Yes, Life was larger than most magazines out at that ancient time, but it was still only 10.5 inches wide and 14 inches high, while Mountain Gazette claims to be 11" X 17". What's next? Maybe this oversized:

Daily Whip Out: "Saint Sadie In Red"

   Was Sadie Earp simply the lady in red? Or, was she the stalwart lawman's wife with a heart of gold? Probably both. Full—oversized—story coming in True West magazine.

   On the other hand, if that's not what you want to see, how about a certain buck-toothed outlaw riding into a sunset?

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Billy In The Sunset III"

-New Yorker cartoon-

"It's not what you look at, it's what you see."

—Henry David Thoreau

Rurales On The Ridgeline

 January 6, 2025

   Been on a Rurale kick lately. You know, these guys.

Daily Whip Out: "Rurales On The Move"

   I am also rereading "Insurgent Mexico" by John Reed and every time I dip in, I am mesmerized by Reed's magnificent prose. Here's a small taste:

"Wednesday my friend the photographer and I were wandering across a field when Villa came by on his horse. He looked tired, dirty, but happy. Reining up in front of us, the motions of his body as easy and graceful as a wolf's, he grinned and said, "Well, boys, how is it going now?"

Daily Whip Out:

"Pancho Villa Graceful As A Wolf"

   And, here's another snippet. . .

"We went down through San Ramon and beyond the end of the line of trees out across the desert. It was already stinging hot. In front a snake of rifle fire unfolded along the line, and a then a machine gun, 'spat-spat-spat!' As we emerged into the open a lone Mauser began cracking down to the right somewhere. . ."

   This sequence led me to a phrase of his I wanted to poach and so I did. . .

The Rurales topped the ridgeline at sunset and crossed over, suspended in amber.

Daily Whip Out:

"Rurales On The Ridgeline"

The "suspended amber" is pure Reed in all his descriptive glory. And here is another take on the amber angle:

Daily Whip Out: "Amber Rurales Redux"

"The general's house, corrals and storerooms ran around all four sides of a space as big as a city block, swarming with pigs chickens and half-baked children. Two goats and three magnificent peacocks gazed pensively down from the roof. In and out of the sitting room, when came the phonographic strains of the 'Dollar Princess,' stalked a train of hens. An old woman came from the kitchen and dumped a bucket of garbage on the ground; all the pigs made a squealing rush for it. In a corner of the house wall sat the General's baby daughter, chewing on a cartridge."

—John Reed, describing General Urbina's ranch

My Winchester Mea Culpa

 January 5, 2025
   Although I own several Winchesters, I am not really a gun guy and with that said, Man, do I miss Phil Spangenberger!

My Winchester Strewn Studio

    Still, I should have known better than to hold up not one, but two Winchesters—that's them in the photo, above—in my latest YouTube video on Historically Accurate Westerns and then call movie people idiots for using a 95 Winchester to portray events in 1881. When we reviewed the video, one of the gun guys on staff informed me that the rifle I was showing off as a 95 Winchester was actually a 92 Winchester. 

   So we had to go in to the video and I changed the audio to say it was a 92 Winchester. It took some doing to match it up and it delayed the posting of the video by 24 hours.

   The post went up last Thursday and it wasn't long before we received this comment:  "L O L! You held up a model 94 Winchester and said what idiot would use a 92 Winchester in a Western that was set in the 1880s…"

A 94 Winchester

Ouch! We went to all that trouble only to get it wrong twice? Like I said, I sure miss Phil because he would have corrected all of this before we even went into production. Still, I had to know how we blew it so bad, so I reached out to the above poster and here is what he told me:

"Just to be clear, I am teasing you a little bit about the irony of the comment! I love the videos and your channel. The 92 is a somewhat more compact action that was made for Pistol calibers. If you compare the 94 you held up to a 92 you will see that the action is shorter and the proportions are somewhat different. The Rifle is more compact overall. They were originally chambered for cartridges such as the 4440, 38-40, 32 WCF a.k.a. 32-20, and others. They are still currently manufactured and chambering include things like the 357 magnum and 44 magnum. The model 94 is a longer action that is chambered for rifle cartridges such as the 30-30, which was the first smokeless cartridge. It was also chambered for the 32 Winchester special, which has a somewhat slower twist and was intended for people who wanted to continue shooting black powder rounds in the new Rifle design. Other chambering have been offered overtime. These cartridges are too long to function in the model 92 action. To circle back to your topic in this video about authenticity, it’s worth noting the John Wayne nearly always had his model 92 Winchester, chambered in 38-40, in his western movies. he was known for twirling it using his right hand with the large loop lever. Fanatics about accuracy, which includes me when it comes to the gun issues, get upset about this. Some of his movies are set in time periods before the 92 existed, which is an example of what you described. I had no idea that people were equally demented about hats! In that realm, I am extremely ignorant. Thanks for educating me on the issue."

—Jeff Davis

John Wayne and his Model 92 Winchester

Meanwhile, Regarding My Pick of Tombstone as the Number One Choice for Most Accurate Western. . .

"Tombstone? Seriously? Doc Holliday killing Johnny Ringo? Ike Clanton blasting around at the OK Corral? Doc firing three shots from his two barrels? The Earps killing two dozen cowboys on the vendetta ride? Jesus Christ!"

—Irate, but accurate comment in the string

And here is a link to my mea culpa:

Misfiring Winchesters

"Remember the farther up the flagpole you go, the more people can see your rear end."
—Old Vaquero Saying

Preposterous Myths of The American Frontier

 January 4, 2025

   It is without a doubt, one of the more preposterous myths on the American frontier.

Daily Revised Whip Out:

"Red Ghost Revisited"

   Here is the back story.

Daily Whip Out: "Red Ghost Roots"

(shot through the glass and frame in studio)

  As the story goes, a military commander lashed a camel-shy soldier to the back of a camel and sent him off to learn how to ride. Depending on who is telling the story, the soldier either died from starvation, or embarrassment, and the camel rode around Arizona for the next thirty years with a skeleton on his back. Since the camel was rust colored, the legend of Red Ghost began. Supposedly, Red Ghost was shot dead in the 1890s while poaching from an Arizona backyard garden and he still had the rope burns on his hide.

   Frankly, I’m getting heart burn just telling the story.

   Oh, and the “Red Ghost” was allegedly finally killed in a rancher’s garden in eastern Arizona.

   I had fun doing this story for the Arizona Centennial. We did a documentary for PBS, "Outrageous Arizona," and I won an Emmy for it.

"Lying about the West in general and the Southwest in particular has been a cottage industry for over a century."

—Charles Bowden

Bozecard Success Story

 January 3, 2025

   I mentioned I was a contributor to Playboy and for all of you who are wondering how the hell did that happen, well, I had a secret punch card. My problem was—how do you be polite but get the attention of the bi-coastal hipsters who are the gatekeepers for magazines, publishing, movies and everything else? You can't go in the front door because they will never let you in. For me, I had to find a sidedoor where I could sneak past security.

   This Bozecard did the trick.

A Calling Card On Steroids

   This postcard concept is a very clever and inexpensive idea I poached from the Reverand Billy F. Gibbons. Yep, that would be this guy.

Billy and Dusty and Frank of ZZ Top

 at The Tucson Convention Center

1978

   Billy sent me a cheap low rider postcard he had apparently created at Copy Boy, or some equally cheap print shop that proliferated in those primitive days. It literally had a crudely cut out low rider pasted on board and then photographed and printed. It was muy crude and muy hip. He later told me, when he sees things he likes on tour, such as the Razz Revue, he pops a stamp on one of his 3 cent post cards and sends it off in the mail. I got one after his show in Tucson, above. And, by the way, he bought $65 worth of subscriptions to the Razz for his pals.

   So, that really inspired me. Hey, I can do that, too. So I designed the above Bozecard and took it to Copy Boy on Central Avenue in Phoenix and had a couple hundred printed up and whenever I would see a good article, I would look up the address to the magazine and send them a shout out. That's what happened at Playboy. I sent a Bozecard to the art director and he showed it to Hef and the next thing you know, I am doing six pages for the 1986 December issue of Playboy at $1,000 a page.

   It gets better.

   I saw a brand new mag called Rocky Mountain Magazine and I sent the art director one of my Bozecards telling them how groovy I thought their publication was and I got a letter back, saying, "Your stuff looks perverse. Send us more." So I sent them one of my Honkytonk Sue comic books and they did a half page tid bit on the Queen of Country Swing and the next thing you know I had a movie deal at Columbia Pictures and I'm taking meetings at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Oh, and I had an agent at William Morris. Oh, and Larry McMurtry is writing scripts about a cartoon character I created in the spare bedroom at 707 W. MacKenzie (see address, on Bozecard).

   All because of a 3 cent post card. That, I tell anyone who wants career advice, is how you get past the crowd at the foot of the ladder to success.

The Journey

   The road is the only thing. That is what The 66 Kid taught me. Of course, there are other lessons to be gleened from being on the road.

“If you blame others it’s going to be a long journey. If you blame yourself, you are halfway there. If you blame no one, you have arrived.”

—Old Vaquero Saying

Mammary Glam vs. Memory Glands

 January 2, 2025

   As some of you may already know, I have always been a fan of great big American breasts. I was both a subscriber and a contributor to the most successful magazine dedicated to them in American History. Six million circ and a mansion named in the magazine's honor (built brick by brick by those big American breasts!) not to mention I knew a gaggle of girls who were dying to get in the centerfold (it paid $10,000, which is $5k per object of interest)

   I have always thought the magazine had a classy and progressive look. The design was edgy, clean and modern and, of course, like so many Boomer Boys, I subscribed for the articles!

   Imagine my horror—and amusement—when Kathy was cleaning out our son's room last weekend and found this:

"Entertainment" for Men, circa 1992

   I know what you're thinking: why haven't we cleaned Tommy's room since 1992?! In our defense, it was in a box with his college graduation picture. But wait, there's a more cultural trend at play here. Does the publication still work? Is it still entertaining? Well, the cover still holds up. Clean design and intriguing cover blurbs and excellent newsstand appeal. But, inside is a depressing crumbling ethos of misplaced liberation and downright cheesiness. Tacky ads (90% cigarette and liquor) and barely funny cartoons. They seemed so funny at the time, including mine! What the hell happened? Was it always thus?

   Short answer: yes.

   So, when did I change? Probably about the time I had a daughter—who is now 43 years old!

   And Playboy wasn't alone. We had Penthouse and Oui and Hustler and even for a short while Playgirl. All of which brings me to a bigger realization. All those magazines are gone. Passe, unnecessary and dare I say gauche. 

   I remember it being groovier than it now appears. Is this the way of all things hip?

   'Fraid so, Cocomo.

"Between New York and LA there are 200 million people who aren't hip, and don't want to be hip."

—Jeff Foxworthy

New Year, New Mountains to Climb

 January 1, 2025

   Damn it feels good to type that five in there. I am so glad to see '24 go. It was a rough one and we lost some good people and I'm just relieved we are still standing and have a chance at another go around the sun. Pardon my French, but it was like a sheet show, or a rolling dirt bag tsunami.

Daily Whip Out:

"2024 Was A Rolling Dirt Bag Tsunami"

Here's to Another Go!

   As you may have seen yesterday, I am noodling a sister publication for True West. It would only come out twice a year and be subscription driven, no newsstand. This gives us a chance to produce something beyond what you can consume on your phone. Put another way, go where they ain't.

Volume I, Number 1: The Battle of The Little Bighorn

   Oh, and oversized: 11" X 19," and here is some of the feedback I have gotten so far:

"You had me at Little Bighorn! And 11 x 19, these eyes aren't getting any younger. Happy New Year!!"

—Anonymous (Boxlip Darrell?)

"I've heard of Mountain Gazette and thought once about submitting. Do you recall, some years back, Wild West was going to produce a series of limited magazines or books or something that had expanded scholarship by Bob Palmquist about Tombstone? Something like this might offer people the ability to expand on things they normally wouldn't be able to do in TW or, like MTN GAZETTE, write about things that are 'Western' related, but not directly history. So, maybe an article by Hutton about his life and career? An article or photo essay by you about your artistic evolution? An article from Matt Bernstein about his hiking adventures in the West? Something niche, but using the same flavor of TW. I love the idea. Plus, a boost in sales never hurts."

—Erik Wright

"In a new journal I'd like to see you not beat the same ol' dead horses. The Shootout at the OK Corral has been done to death.  I'm a little soured on True West because I gave you a good article on Tom Powers and his Coney Island Saloon, which I've never seen an article on anywhere that I know of. If you didn't want it, you should've just said so because it's been tied up for years now. You acted like you wanted it."

—John LeMay

   Hey, John LeMay. I'm sorry. We do want that Tom Powers piece. Can you resend it? We've been so busy rerunning articles on the O.K. Corral we must have missed it.

"A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer."

—Novalis

Last Day Before The First Day of The Next Revolution

 December 31, 2024

   Time to reflect and a time to plan. On the reflection front, the past year was a time of loss, with the passing of Jana, Phil, Edmundo and the retiring of Marshall Trimble.

   On the planning front, I had an epiphany over Christmas when my daughter Deena told me about an encounter where her husband Mike spent an hour looking at an oversized magazine at a neighbor's house. She got him a subscription to Mountain Gazette and I realized we need to give readers something they can't get on their phones. Something large (11" X 19"), something profound and irreverent. I worked with Dan The Man yesterday and here is what we came up with:

Volume 1, Number 1: Battle of the Little Bighorn

   Details tomorrow.

"It's not the actor's job to be funny, it's the writer's job. It's the actor's job to be truthful, and then the humor will come out."

—William H. Macy

Classic Sugarloafs And The Current Dirth of Tall Crowns

December 30, 2024
   Time to talk classic sugarloaf styles on film. There are two new film productions, both from Mexico, who deserve some credit for at least trying to get the hats right.

   First up is a remake of the Mexican literary classic Pedro Paramo.

Tall Crowns In Cowtown

   Yes, those are excellent—tall crown—sugarloafs from the film which is currently on Netflix.

   The other Mexican production is a ten part series on Pancho Villa: Centaur of The North.

   And by the way, the top head says, "Long Live Mexico, Assholes"

The Pancho production apparently didn't have the budget to get as many tall crowns as Pedro. The problem for filmmakers everywhere is all the local hatters today make short crowns which has been the style in Mexico for the past half century at least. Here is a scene where almost everyone is wearing a short crown.

   But at least the Pancho production company got a big, tall sugarloaf for Zapata:

Pancho Y Zapata

   Of course, I would have preferred an even larger brim as Emiliano himself would have preferred, but that's just me.

The Real Emiliano Zapata

   Back to Pedro Paramo, the opening sequence features a nice, big old school straw sombrero. 

Major points for that sucker.

   And, one more side shot of a classic tall crown sugarloaf, also from Pedro Paramo.

Aichi-Huero! That is some major shade

   In a final salute to both film productions, thanks for trying and thanks for caring. We True West Maniacs appreciate it.

"I can understand your anger at me, but what could you possibly have against the horse I rode in on?"
—Old Vaquero Saying