May 23, 2006
I went up to Bev’s this morning for a haircut and to catch up on the neighborhood gossip. Turns out a certain ex-neighbor sold his horse property, then sicced the town on the new owner for having a fence too close to the road and also for building a horse barn without a permit. Still not sure what precipitated it, but it’s nasty stuff. Bev and her husband have a sweet deal going with the local pizza parlor to get all of their old pizza grease which they’re going to strain and reclaim the vegetable oil to put in their bio-diesel Ford truck, thereby reducing their gas bills by half. The big roping arena going up on Rockaway Hills is going to be supplemented by a big barn (hope they have a permit). The owners are also building a huge house overlooking the creek. Some people just have way too much money, but hey, sometimes they keep the rest of us employed. Ha.

It's funny what navigational problems can do to enthusiasm and internet business. After I got the advance peek at the Illustration Magazine article by David Ashford, I went to their site and tried to order a sub and all the back issues. Unfortunately, the Pay Pal softwear kept telling me my address was wrong (they asked for a second address and when I put it in, I assume it didn't match the primary credit card address so it was denied. I have no idea, I'm just assuming this). I tried to correct it but after four attempts I finally got discouraged and left. Pay Pal followed me back to my computer and offered some download deal which I don't want to do. Then I got a nice e-mail from someone at the magazine offering me the same deal, but in pounds! Being a dumb American, I don't know the exchange rate, so as of now, I haven't ordered anything.

News From The Front Lines
Thomas J. Gryl from Downers Grove, IL called to subscribe today. He read TW at his barber shop and was surprised to learn it has been around so long. He loves the west and was very surprised to learn that we are located in Cave Creek - his daughter, Kimberly Gryl, is a vet here (CC Rd and the 101). Mr Gryl said he thoroughly enjoyed the article that he read by you and the BBB 5 Rules of the Road.
—Carole Glenn

Wow! That issue in the barbershop has to be at least three years old. I wrote my Five Road Rules way back in 2002, after I drove from Cody, Wyoming to Casper to visit my mama, and had breakfast at Patti’s Walleye Cafe in Shoshoni. The subsequent article, appeared in the July 2003 Travel Issue, and contained these BBB’s Road Rules:

•You must leave before daylight preferably one hour before (This was my dad’s regimen and I rarely get my wife, Kathy, to do it. She likes to leave around 10 in the morning and it ain’t the same. In fact, it’s totally unpioneer!)

•After you’ve driven for an hour or so, you must stop and eat at a real cafe that serves bacon and eggs (no franchises).

• If you listen to the radio, you must find a local station that does the hog report.

• You must stop at every museum and hysterical marker (or historical marker, if you prefer).

• You must avoid the freeway when possible, especially in towns. Take the business route and see the downtown decay (towns decay because the freeway bypasses them).

More Scan This Book Fallout
Explosive Words
At BookExpo America, Publishing's Digital Wave Crashes Against a Literary Pillar
By Bob Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 22, 2006

When John Updike approached the lectern in the Convention Center ballroom Saturday morning, most of his bleary-eyed, coffee-swilling audience expected him to talk about his latest novel, "Terrorist." But Updike, the much-honored 74-year-old author of dozens of volumes of fiction, poetry, essays and criticism, said that would be "immodest." Instead, he praised the assembled booksellers as "the salt of the book world" and reminisced for a while about bookstores he had loved in his youth.

Then, without warning, he opened fire on the technorati.

"I read last Sunday, and maybe some of you did too, a quite long article by a man called Kevin Kelly," he began. He proposed to read a few paragraphs so that listeners who hadn't seen the article might "have a sense of your future."

The reference was to a piece called "Scan This Book!" in the previous week's New York Times Magazine. (The title echoes activist Abbie Hoffman's 1970 provocation, "Steal This Book.") In it, Kelly described -- in the messianic/hyperbolic style favored by Wired, the magazine with which he has long been associated -- the inexorable march toward an "Eden" in which the totality of human knowledge will be downloadable onto a single iPod-size device.

" 'When Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected,' " Updike read. He then followed up with later selections that had, he said, "clarified" Kelly's vision: " 'At the same time, once digitized, books can be unraveled into single pages or be reduced further into snippets of a page. These snippets will be remixed into re-ordered books and virtual bookshelves . . . once created, these "bookshelves" will be published and swapped in the public commons. . . .

" 'The new model of course is based on the intangible assets of digital bits, where copies are no longer cheap but free.' "

Reading further, Updike noted Kelly's assertion that "copy-protection schemes" are helpless to hold back the technological tide. "Schemes," he repeated sarcastically, drawing a laugh. As his audience well knew, the Association of American Publishers filed suit last year on behalf of five major publishers alleging that Google's library scanning project is a massive and flagrant violation of copyright law.

Updike went on at some length, heaping scorn on Kelly's notion that authors who no longer got paid for copies of their work could profit from it by selling "performances" or "access to the creator." ("Now as I read it, this is a pretty grisly scenario.")

Unlike the commingled, unedited, frequently inaccurate mass of "information" on the Web, he said, "books traditionally have edges." But "the book revolution, which from the Renaissance on taught men and women to cherish and cultivate their individuality, threatens to end in a sparkling pod of snippets.

"So, booksellers," he concluded, "defend your lonely forts. Keep your edges dry. Your edges are our edges. For some of us, books are intrinsic to our human identity."

Amen, and Bravo to you, Mr. Updike.

Another True West Moment Question
What about those fancy mirrors hanging above the bar in the old saloons? Seems every time a rowdy cowboy came to town they broke the mirror and threw each other through the windows. Did the old west saloons really have those luxuries or is it Hollywood? Thanks for your great work.
—Stan and Becky, Conroe, Texas

Stan and Becky,
Yes, it's pretty amazing just how much luxurious stuff the old saloons actually had. As you probably know, shipping glass by wagon is not the easiest thing to do on even a smooth dirt road. But they had plenty of tricks, like putting glass in with the flour which acted as a shock absorber (and yes, sometimes the roads were so rough, the glass still broke, and you can likely guess if they still tried to sell the flour! ha). But the back bars of those frontier saloons did make it to the most isolated places and they were highly prized by the locals as something to go see ("Let's go look at the back bar in the Oriental this Sunday, Honey.").

As far as cow-boys shooting the mirrors and busting out the windows, it did happen occasionally, but I believe that's really more of an invention of Hollywood stuntmen, who always want to make bar room fights more dramatic.
—BBB

Another Billy the Kid Book Author Needs Your Help
Please publish this for me. I need your help to to get the word out. Most all retirees and a few of the younger generation know the saga of Billy the Kid and would really enjoy this book.

Book Summary

I have just completed my first book, Billy the Kid, His Real Name Was ...., which can be viewed and/or purchased on the web page below from either amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com The book was published by Outskirts Press out of Denver, Colorado.

As you probably know, Billy the Kid's real name has never been substantiated. Also, it has never been proven that he was actually killed by Pat Garrett at Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1881. Many people think that Garrett killed someone else and Billy the Kid lived to be an old man in Old Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, or even England.

Brushy Bill had claimed to be Billy the Kid just a year or so before he died in Hico, Texas in December, 1950. An Attorney named W. C. Morrison interviewed Brushy and even took him to New Mexico to try to get a pardon from the Governor. Brushy was very knowledgeable of Billy the Kid and New Mexico. He was very convincing, and a lot of Billy the Kid fans still believe that he was Billy the Kid.

On the other hand, John Miller never really claimed to be Billy the Kid except when he was drinking. When he sobered up, he denied that he was Billy the Kid. His family and close friends always thought he was Billy. He talked about Billy all the time and knew a lot about Billy's escapades in Lincoln County, NM. He died in Prescott, Arizona in 1937. After he died, his family and friends came out with convincing testimony that he was Billy the Kid. John Miller lived in northwestern New Mexico for 25 - 30 years after his supposed escape from death at Fort Sumner, and lived in southern and central Arizona for the last 20+ years of his life.

I think this will be one of the most memorable books ever published about Billy the Kid. It is factual with appropriate documentation. It will go a long way in helping identify who he was and who he was not. Communicate this to your friends and neighbors.

To view and/or purchase my book, you can go to my web page:

http://outskirtspress.com/billythekidwho

Jim Johnson, Author

End of plug.

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Homosexual Tearfully Admits To Being Governor Of New Jersey

”Never look for this year's birds in last year's nests.”
—Miguel de Cervantes

May 22, 2006
Slight breeze as I rode up Old Stage Road this morning. Lots of big trucks dumping sand in a new horse arena on Rockaway Hills. Overcast, nice and cool out, but it’s been unseasonably hot this past week, with the thermometer hitting 104 more than once down in the Beast. We’re usually about ten degrees cooler, year round, up here in the foothills.

I called Bruce from down the hill on Sunday morning and asked him if Buddy Boze Hatkiller was at his house and he told me that he was. So I went down and got him. He’s a big sleep-around kind of guy. Typical NYC behavior.

The Incredible Power of Google
“Just googled my Dad's name ‘Steve Zagaris’ and found your quote from him on December 2, 2004. How did you know my Dad?

“For every action, watch out for the unintended consequences.”
—Steve Zagaris

Sorry, don’t know your father, but I love his quote! And, as you probably don’t know, I use a ton of quotes in my blog (1262 so far).

I was cleaning out my studio and found an old 1970s publication called "The Arizona Sheriff." It featured my old hometown sheriff and neighbor, Floyd Cisney, who was also my little league coach in Kingman.

Inside there is a long, rambling piece by Grace McCool, interviewing F.R. Shearer, Mule Mountain rancher who grew up in Charleston, Arizona. The piece is entitled "Teacher Made Us Check Our Guns," and it contains some interesting highlights about the town of Charleston and the events that happened there surrounding the Earp-Clanton feud. Neil Carmony has never heard of it. Interesting where these little gems turn up.

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Local Sheriff Suspects Al-Qaeda Or Teens

”Truth is the mother of joy. Truth civilizes, ennobles and purifies. The grandest ambition that can enter the soul is to know the truth.”
—Robert Green Ingersoll

May 21, 2006
Buddy Boze Hatkiller didn't come home last night. We heard him out beyond the side yard, barking and jumping around at something that sounded thick-headed and was growling back (Minnesota Mike?). I called and called and even drove down there but he wouldn't come. Visions of finding his half-eaten NYC carcass filled my dreams.

Staring Straight at Statistical Oblivion
I got a call from the Neilsen Ratings people yesterday. The young woman talked very fast (I got the impression she was paid by the number of calls she could complete) and she wanted to know my sex, my level of education, my marriage status and number of children and lastly, how old I was. She asked me to rate everything on a scale (definitely, probably, might or might not, probably not and definitely not). Was I going to go see "Mission: Impossible III"? Definitely not. Was I going to see "The Da Vinci Code"? Probably not. Was I looking forward to seeing "Prairie Home Companion"? Definitely. Was I going to go see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"? Might or might not. Was I going to go see "X-Men: The Last Stand"? Probably not. Was I going to go see the new Disney-Pixar flick "Cars"? Probably (It's about Route 66, otherwise no way). Was I going to go see "Over the Hedge"? Probably not. Was I going to see the new "Miami Vice"? Definitely not (I hated the old Miami Vice. Ditto for "The Poseidon"). Was I going to see "The Break-up" with Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn? Probably not. Was I going to see "Nacho Libre" with Jack Black as a Mexican wrestler? DEFINITELY!!!! I can't for this movie. It's from the guys who did "Napoleon Dynamite." Are you nuts?! It looks hilarious. Do you have anything higher than "Definitely"

She didn't.

She also asked me how much it cost to fill up with gas recently, and I said, "$45 for a Ford Ranger! I can't imagine what the Hummer crowd is paying, maybe $200? Incredible!" Then she asked me to rank on a scale of one to ten, with ten being, totally agree, the following questions: Would the high gas prices limit my shopping trips? (five) Would I consider not going to a movie because of the high gas prices? (0) Would I consider riding a bike or taking public transportation to a movie? (0) How far is it to the nearest movie theater? (12 miles)

At the end of the call (twenty minutes) she asked me when I would turn 60 and I replied "December," and she said, and I quote, "Well, maybe we'll get to talk one more time between now and then." As I hung up, I realized I am approaching a statistical cliff. After Christmas, nobody will care what movie I go to see. Nobody will care if I have an opinion. I will be residing in Statistical Oblivion full time.

"When a man is humiliated, he suddenly shrinks to his normal proportions."
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 20, 2006
Kathy walked by my open sketch book yesterday and remarked, "Why is the Sultan of Sun City an old guy, but all the women around him young?" I smiled. "Because, in his mind all of the women his age still look like that to him." She didn't quite seem to believe this, but it's true. When I attended my 40th high school reunion last summer I was shocked at how sexy so many of my female classmates still looked. Then when I was talking to them and they talked about being a grandmother, I kind of did a double take and realized I'm like that old blind guy in John Couger Mellencamp's song ("Little Pink Houses"?) who thinks his wife can still stop a clock. Ha.

Speaking of what turns men's cranks, I have been studying the symbols that make women sexy in our culture and I think I hit on a strange phenom. I call it the "slack-jawed-look." Have you noticed the proliferation of models who let their lower jaw go slack and you can see their front teeth? It's rampant and certainly a cliche by now. But when I go back and look at Victorian art and photographs, it's not there (well, I mean as a symbol of sexiness, there are a few examples of classic art, Degas and the "Absinth Drinker" comes to mind, but he's illustrating how dumb she is!), and even up into the 1920s, it's not used. I first notice it with Marilyn Monroe, but it could be earlier. Maybe that famous Rita Hayworth, the WWII GIs went so crazy over, I seem to remember her mouth hanging open.

Anyway, the irony is, imagine a guy with that look? I know, I know, Billy the Kid has it in his only known photo (and maybe in some perverse kind of way, that's why we find him sexy). But, by and large, a guy with his mouth hanging open so the flies can get in, is a sure sign of stupidity (or worse).

I'm trying to capture this look in all of its nuances, so here's a page of sketches I did yesterday. And as I've signed it at bottom right, I intend to become "The King of the Slack-Jawed-Look."

"Sex appeal is partly what a woman has, but mostly what a man thinks she has."
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 19, 2006
Last night Wonderful Russ and I travelled down to Mary Morrison’s TV and Radio Museum on Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale to attend a party for the Twentieth Anniversary of KSLX (100.7 fm). I started on the station not long after they went Classic Rock, so it's been twenty years! Amazing. John Giese, Robert Hancock and Peggy Atchison were there as was Steve Trella, who is still on the air! I asked him how he has survived seven regime changes (I survived three, then got nuked) and he said, “It’s hard to hit a small target.” Plus, he told me every time they brought in a new “hero” program director, and were getting set to fire the “former hero”, they came to Steve and asked him if he could keep the station on the air during the transition and he assured them he could, and did, then went back to his airshift and stayed small. Amazing. He deserves a statue on Scottsdale Road for radio longevity.

Afterwards Russ and I motored up Scottsdale Road and landed at Houston’s for dinner. As the hostess walked us to our table she turned to me and said, “We ask that you take your hat off in the dining room.” Of course I obliged, but I wondered who that rule was intended for? Gang bangers? Baseball cap wearing punks? Republican Lobby Spooks? Or Kingman Cowboys who spoil the Snottsdale ambiance? Not sure. Meal was good. Had the chicken salad, an Oriental spiced take on the dish. Russ bought ($55). Much talk about True West Moments and True West financials. While Russ was giving me great advice (True West financials is "Target One"), our waiter came up, and asked Russ for advice on real estate (the waiter just got his real estate license and recognized Russ from his TV commercials). Russ gave him a $1,500 seminar on how to list and sell every time. The waiter was African-American and Russ also told him flat-out not to hide his blackness). Both the waiter and I were much impressed as we both got stellar advice from a zen marketing genius.

The article by David Ashford (see May 17 post) is going to appear in Illustration Magazine. Yesterday I ordered a subscription and all the back issues. It’s an English pub and I really like what they’re doing with it. Here’s the website address:

www.illustration-mag.com

True West Moments Update
“Hey, Bob, this is Richard in Virginia. I’ve been a railroader for 25 years and the locomotive you’re walking by [in the True West Moment filmed at the Tucson Train Station Museum] is off the Southern Pacific Railway and it is a 2-8-0 oil burner. The Southern Pacific done that because there was no wood or enough coal for all of the railroads out there. The SP learned real fast so that they could have longer runs between stops and pull more loads.”
—Richard

“I enjoy your spot on Encore's Westerns Channel. It's good to hear real stories about the West. There is one item I'm hoping you'll include some day—leather craft.

“I have been carving leather for the last forty years and really enjoy the craft. We always see carved saddles and holster in all of the movies along with saloons, general stores, black smiths, and more; but, you never see a saddle shop. And, you never ever see a craftsman carving the leather. Soooo.where did all of those saddles and holsters come from? I would be nice if you could include it in one of you spots.

“By the way, you might consider a trip to Sheridan, Wyoming, if you ever get the chance. That's the birth place of a special style of Western carving.

“Thanks again for the entertainment.”
Ray Chrisp

Tales From The Triple BBB: “Two Girls For Every Guy.”
Well, I went to Surf City for the two to one
But all I got for my trouble was sunburned buns
I tried to make time with the Beach Boys’ honeys
Seems I was a tad short in the jammies with surfin’ USA money
I jumped the skate, the frug, did the ska too, I moved real bitchin’ and almost got the nod
But I always went home early ‘cause I had a real job

So I missed the revolution and the three-way with tripped out hippies
And I flat-out never got to experience the Swinging Sixties

But now I live in Sun City where it’s two to one
And I snuggle every night with another hon
Widows and divorcees, I’ve had them all
Listening to Zeppelin and sipping Geritol

Two girls for every guy—Boy Howdy!
If you live long enough two’s just the start of a crowd—Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

I thought of this little dittee while executing my six sketches yesterday (see art). I found this goofy, old guy (probably from the Class of 65!) in an Indian casino ad in the Republic. The ad was appealing to seniors and as I was drawing his jowlly countinence, I thought about all of us horndog Boomers who never got to live the Beach Boy/Jan and Dean driven nirvana of “Surf City” where it’s “two to one” and I realized that if you take care of yourself and live long enough, you will live that fantasy in spades. Sun City is full of knocked-out-honeys who lost their husbands (probably because those guys didn’t miss out on the Swinging Sixties and died of a heart attack, or worse). But here’s this little old guy who was a wallflower in the Girl’s Gym, but now he’s the Sultan of Sun City.

End of pitch. Tell my agent to get a meeting with Tom Hank’s people. It’ll be perfect for him in about six years, or six minutes.

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
CIA Asks Bush To Discontinue Blog

”Hindsight, usually looked down upon, is probably as valuable as foresight, since it does include a few facts.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 18, 2006
Another storm blew in last night, but the weather goobers (meteorologists) are warning us it’s not the summer monsoons (or the “Guacamuggies” as we christened them on our old radio show). Didn’t get any moisture, but it blew and blew.

We had a staff get-together-dinner down at Mimi’s in Desert Ridge at six last night, and as I drove down I could see the wall of dark blues up over the McDowells and across the Bradshaws. Very dramatic lighting. And windy. Tumbleweeds and styrofoam coolers blowing across Tatum. Had to pull over and secure the top to my magazine carrier in my pick-up bed.

I asked Mimi’s hostess where a “big-ass party of misfits” was sitting and she said, “Oh, you mean the Abby party?” Yes, Abby Pearson set up the dinner and I found Robert and Beatrice Ray, Sue Lambert, Abby, Bud and Carole Glenn, Samantha and Jason, Joel Klasky, Rob Bandhauer and Mark Boardman all seated at a long table in the back room. Had the blackened cajun salmon and an “Arnold Palmer” (iced tea and lemonade). Great time visiting with everyone ($20 cash).

As I was leaving Desert Ridge I noticed one of my favorite restaurants has bitten the dust: Rock Fish was dark, and the vacant building looked sad and forlorn. I loved that place. It had a Minnesota Fishing Lodge theme with knotty pine and big kitschy Field And Stream style paintings. Great food too! And it seemed packed everytime we went there. Tough business. Almost everyone I know has the conceit that they could open and run a successful eatery. That is, everyone but me. Having married into a restaurant family and hearing the daily horror stories I would not want anything to do with one. Now, if only someone had warned me about the magazine business. . .

Fight The Tsunami, Or Ride It?
“You have it right. The Internet is an opportunity for writers and publishers and academics much more than a danger or a limitation. Magazines on paper will be around for many years -- at least until I check out, when my interest in such matters will fall off dramatically. I would not think of reading the ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NEW YORKER, or TRUE WEST online. Curled up in an easy chair under warm light with a cold drink, that's the reading ticket.”
—Dan Buck

Check This Out: Lonesome Dove Exhibit Website
http://www.library.txstate.edu/swwc/ld/ldexhibit1.html

About ten different people have forwarded me the following humor bit:

Top Ten Old West Phrases That Will Never Sound The Same After That Damned Gay Cowboy Movie

1. "I'm gonna pump you fulla lead!"

2. "Give me a stiff one, barkeep!"

3. "Don't fret---I've been in tight spots before."

4. "Howdy, pardner."

5. You stay here while I sneak around from behind."

6. Two words: "Saddle Sore."

7. "Hold it right there! Now, move your hand, reeeal slow-like."

8. "Let's mount up!"

9. "Nice spread ya got there!"

10. "Ride'em cowboy!"

We all laughed and enjoyed it and even considered using it in our Last Stand humor section of the magazine, but after sleeping on it, I’ve decided to pass on it. (Maturity? Or Old Man Syndrome? Probably both.)

Royal Wade Kimes Rides The High Country
True West is supporting The First Annual Mount Royal Trail Ride, October 6th & 7th in the beautiful Ozark Mountains, just north of Fort Smith, Arkansas. So saddle up with Royal Wade Kimes on October 6-7, 2006 in the beautiful Ozark Mountains just north of Ft. Smith Arkansas. The ride will be an opportunity to see some of the most incredible scenery you’ve ever laid eyes on while supporting two very worthwhile charities that have a real soft spot in this cowboy’s heart.

Part of the proceeds from the trail ride and concert will go to Meals for Kids, The Backpack Program and Future Farmers of America.

The trail ride will feature breathtaking views, authentic chuck wagon cooking, campfire entertainment and a cowboy’s mercantile with the latest in saddlery, horse trailers, RVs and sport utility vehicles for today’s cowboys and cowgirls. The ride will end on Saturday with a chuck wagon BBQ and ranch concert by Royal Wade Kimes and his band. The weekend promises to be relaxing, rewarding and very entertaining! Come join us for some incredible Ozark scenery, biscuits in the ground, cowboy coffee and the best Country and Western music there is, bar none! Check it out at:

Royalwadekimes.com

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Garroting Survivors Call For Wire Ban

”Your opponent, in the end, is never really the player on the other side of the net, or the swimmer in the next lane, or the team on the other side of the field, or even the bar you must high-jump. Your opponent is yourself, your negative internal voices, your level of determination."
—Grace Lichtenstein

May 17, 2006
We got a freak thunderstorm which blew through last night at about five PM. Big, black sky and a brief, heavy downpour. Desert looks quite gorgeous this morning.

Lots of buzz here about The New York Times Magazine piece on “What Will Happen to Books? (Publisher, be very, very afraid)”. The essence of the thought provoking “manifesto” by Kevin Kelly is that we are rapidly approaching the point where every book, (and every article), regardless of copyright, will be online, scanned by Chinese robots and every book will become one book, with links and active footnotes and—authors and publishers be damned—zero copyright protection.

Dan Buck sent me the link, but Trish Brink brought me in the actual NYT magazine yesterday and I sat out by the pool at lunchtime and read the whole thing (and, I must say, I prefer the tactile experience of reading the mag as opposed to perusing the online version). Mark Boardman read it this morning and weighed in, warning that this is where it’s all going and as a publication printed on dead trees, we also, should be very, very afraid. You can check out the piece @:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/magazine/14publishing.html

I personally feel it is an opportunity for both True West magazine and my books. I think the online accessibility will far outweigh the negatives, and I think it’s going to be major cool when you can click on a footnote while reading an online book, and the link will take you to that book, or periodical and you can read it for yourself. This will apply to art and photos as well and will really enhance the reading experience.

We had a good meeting this morning to talk about all of this and how it applies to us. I feel like it’s a tiny peek at the road ahead, and I like what I see (so said James Dean just before the fatal accident in his Porsche nicknamed the “Little Bastard”).

British Illustration Magazine Article Also Printed On Dead Trees
I was interviewed via the web by an English writer about my artwork and love of the West. Nice piece. Notice the quaint Brit spellings, like watercolour. Here’s the piece:

The Wild West, Warts and All
by David Ashford

“I was lucky to have some cowgirls for a mother, aunts and grandma, but it meant that it soon pricked the balloon of reality. I quickly saw that there were two distinct Wests, the one we fantasise about and the one that's rougher, more practical and not very glamorous. I think I've been wrestling with this dichotomy for my whole life.”

Bob Boze Bell believes he was probably around ten years old when he began this 'wrestling match'. He was watching a TV show, “The Life and Legends of Wyatt Earp”, with his grandmother when she remarked that the real Wyatt Earp was “the biggest jerk who ever walked the West”. As his grandmother had actually lived on a ranch near Tombstone, Arizona, at the turn of the century, young Bob sat up and took notice and made a vow to search out the truth. The result of this vow is that Bob Boze Bell has become the most accomplished and acclaimed contemporary illustrator of the reality behind the myth of the American 'Wild West'.

Robert Allen Bell was born in Forest City, Iowa, in 1946 (his nickname 'Boze', a shortened version of 'Bozo', was given him at High School) and studied commercial art at the University of Arizona. His work in magazines began with his own publication, the Razz Review, a humour magazine that, although it lasted four years, was none too successful financially. In 1977, Boze Bell created “Honkytonk Sue” for National Lampoon magazine. This marvellously evocative comic strip was based on reality: at the time he was playing in a honkytonk band and was therefore steeped in the lifestyle and the main character - 'the prettiest cowgirl the western cartooning world has ever known' - was based on his aunt who was a rodeo queen. Boze Bell says about his Aunt Jean that he “grew up being in awe of her and her four cowgirl sisters (one of whom was my mama)”. His admiration for his aunt is further attested by the fact that a photo of her on her favourite horse adorns his office wall.

It was, however, the tremendous success of an assignment for the prestigious Arizona Highways magazine in 1985 that was to put Bob Boze Bell on the path to becoming one of the most visually authentic Western illustrators of all time. He was asked to execute 14 small black and white wash drawings to help illustrate an article on the town of Prescott, Arizona. He went, as he says, “hogwild” and drove to Prescott, sketching everything he saw. He ended up with 30 pieces, none of them small and many in colour. The editor was so taken with the pictures that he demanded even more and the resulting issue was jam-packed with his illustrations.

Encouraged by this success, Boze Bell decided to put together an illustrated book on the famous Western outlaw known as Billy the Kid. As no publishers were interested in the material, he decided to publish it himself. The result was phenomenal. “The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid” was a sell out (he later spent a year and a half rewriting and redrawing this first edition, resulting in a second edition that is 70 pages and 400 images larger!). A second book, “The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” was even more successful (it is now in its fourth edition) and this was followed up with the third in the trilogy, “The Illustrated Life and Times of Doc Holliday”. Nothing like these books had ever appeared before. These pictorial biographies are written as well as illustrated by Boze Bell, his drawings and paintings, cleverly combined with contemporary photographs, bringing the characters and their milieu to life in an intensely vivid and totally authentic way.

By the mid 1990s, Boze Bell's work was fast gaining nation wide recognition and he was commissioned to do paintings for the covers of three magazines: Arizona Highways (he also did internal colour paintings to illustrate his own article on Tombstone), Wild West and True West magazine. Television then began to take notice of his work and he was asked to contribute 40 illustrations for a four-part documentary series, “Outlaws and Lawmen”, for the Discovery Channel and yet another 40 pictures for Northport Pictures' documentary on Billy the Kid entitled “The War in Lincoln County”. His artwork has also featured in the Disney documentary, “AKA Billy the Kid”, in the “Gunfighter Series” produced by the Learning Channel and “True West Moments” for the Westerns Channel.

At the end of the century, Boze Bell brought out his fourth book: “Bad Men: Outlaws and Gunfighters of the Wild West”. Unlike its predecessors, all the illustrations are in black and white, many of them utilising the scraperboard technique. As the illustrations are, as always in his books, combined with Old West photographs, the result has a particularly compelling historical authenticity. When I asked him about his use of scraperboard (or 'scratchboard' as it is called in the U.S.), he gave me an interesting insight into his art:

“Early on in my career, people would accuse me of working in 'scratchboard'. I would sheepishly tell them no, it's just pen and ink, with white ink or paint brought back in to create a crosshatching effect. I was embarrassed that I didn't even know how to do scratchboard, or where even to buy the materials. Then, in April of 1995, I attended a big cowboy festival called “End of the Trail” in Corona, California, selling my books and artwork from a vendor's tent. It was here I met a man, an art teacher, who told me that if I ever wanted to try scratchboard I should buy Essdee Scraperboard, made in England, and that I should accept no substitutes. Now, when people accuse me of using scratchboard, I plead guilty with enthusiasm! I love scratchboard. I was born to use it.”

Boze Bell uses scraperboard, as he uses pen and ink and watercolour, with dash and élan. There is always movement and action in his work. His portraits of real-life Westerners are never static or stiff and, although the physical likeness is always there to see, they never have the appearance of being slavishly copied from nineteenth century photographs.

Bob Boze Bell's work is a manifestation of his personality: it is rugged and often violent as are his themes but, at the same time, it is highly sophisticated, sparkling with humour and a sheer love for his subject matter. His passion for complete historical accuracy is shown by the fact that he insists on using models who resemble physically the characters he portrays, always ensuring that they are dressed in the authentic clothes of the period (and are using the correct firearms!). All his illustrations are imbued with a determination to get it right, to picture the truth, palatable or not, about the historical West. In his work there is, as he has said, ”no glorifying the 'good guys' or vilifying the 'bad guys'. Just the truth, warts and all.”

In 1999, together with two other “Old West friends”, Bell bought up True West magazine. First published in the mid 1950s, True West was the most widely read of all the U.S. Western history magazines but, by the end of the century, it was looking its age. Bell completely transformed the magazine, giving it new life thanks to his passion for the subject combined with his distinctive and remarkable creative vision.

One of his innovations for the magazine was the creation of a new feature entitled, “Classic Gunfights”. His concept was to tell the stories based on the most up-to-date research and combine contemporary photographs with his own illustrations. It was his colourful, action-packed pictures, which are so authentic to the times in which the events happened, that made this series quickly become the most popular feature in the magazine. As a consequence of this success, Boze Bell decided to bring out a series of books using the same material. “Classic Gunfights Volume One” was published in 2003 and was followed two years later by Volume Two, subtitled “Blaze Away! The 25 Gunfights Behind the O.K. Corral”. The latter tells the story of Tombstone and, most particularly, of Wyatt Earp's contribution to its history and contains, he believes, some of his best work. He says, “no matter how many times I revisit this incredible story, I always find something new and intriguing. I imagine I always will”. The book is much more than an excitingly detailed roundup of all the Tombstone gunfights: Boze Bell's graphic illustrations imaginatively convey the every day social life of the boomtown, putting all the gunfighting violence into context. Incidentally, although not emerging as a hero in the TV Western mode, the reader of this book realises that Boze Bell does not agree with his grandmother that Wyatt Earp was “a jerk”!

Bob Boze Bell has a number of new projects on the way that will doubtless illuminate more areas of the historical American West. He has found his goal in life. As he said in answer to someone who alluded to his work load: “Work is only work if you'd rather be somewhere else. And I'm right where I want to be.”

End of article. Now back to the usual snide comments.

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Internet Collapses Under Sheer Weight Of Baby Pictures

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."
—Billy Wilder

May 16, 2006
Three meetings this morning. Mainly with Mark Boardman (who’s in town for the week), Meghan Saar, Trish and Bob Brink, Robert Ray, Carole Glenn and Jane Bischoff regarding our Style section, editorial directory, etc. Very positive and we got some good input and ideas.

Buddy Boze Hatkiller got into it this morning with coyotes. A big, fat coyote feigned injury and limped off, which the NYC dog falls for every time and then when they get him away from the house, the pack jumps him. Incredibly, he survived and came home later with bite marks on his behind. Yesterday I was driving home and saw a coyote crossing Spur Cross with a broken right front leg (it dangled like a key chain) and I winced, imagining how tough it would be to hunt with that handicap. Life is tough enough, with all of your limbs.

A Horse With My Name: “Cause there ain’t no one for to give me no pain.”
“Last summer I was visiting the Fort Worth stockyards and met a cowboy on a horse named Boze. He named his horse after you.”
—Raymond Hill

“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.”
—Federico Fellini

May 15, 2006
Over the weekend we rented three movies from Blockbuster. In honor of Mother’s Day I let Kathy pick. She chose The Family Stone, Match Point and Proof. We all enjoyed Proof (Gwenyth Paltrow and Jake Gillenhaal) and Family Stone (Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker), but Deena and I thought Woody Allen’s Matchpoint was weak, although the mama liked it, and it was her day, so that’s fine. Speaking of my daughter, she sent the following to me after her business trip to Minneapolis last week:

Deena Bell Runs Into Strange Minnesota Custom
“The people in Minnesota are so incredibly nice, I don't think I met one snotty person... and that's hard to do! I sat next to a nice couple on the way home. the wife had just gotten knee replacement surgery and her husband was 6'6" and he had to sit in the middle because she couldn't straighten her knee... He wasn't happy to say the least but they were really cool. They were flying to Phoenix for her brother's graduation from ASU.”
—Deena

I told my daughter she had just encountered "Minnesota Nice." I was doing research on the Jesse James robbery attempt in Northfield, Minn (just south of Minneapolis) and part of the lore is that the gang was very strict about their raids, being sober, etc., but on the day of the robbery attempt, Jesse himself, got a jug and the three designated guys who went into the bank were pretty sloshed, and Cole Younger, who was outside, didn't know this and it unhinged the robbery and they got shot to pieces. Everyone wonders why Jesse would do something so stupid, but here's my theory:

When Jesse, Bob Ford and Charlie Pitts were coming into Northfield they stopped at a small store. They got some tobacco and stuff and when they went up to pay, the woman said, "No, that's fine. Have a nice day," and Jesse looked at her incredulous and said, "Well, I'll take a jug over there." He told the Boys they would have no problem with these passive Norsky's. Big mistake. Those sweet Norsky's are nice until you try and take their money and then they get vicious (it’s the Viking DNA).

I got this inspiration when I stopped at a convenience market on my way to Northfield on September 10, 2001 and got coffee. I went up front to pay and the woman smiled and said, "No charge. Have a nice day." Amazing. Yes, enjoy Minnesota Nice, but whatever you do, don’t take advantage of it.
—Dad

New Zealander Discovers True West
I discovered this really interesting magazine at Wellington Library last week called True West. It's amazing what I've discovered in it. For instance, you can buy a CD called The Frontier Saloon Piano where Dwain Bond plays authentic music from the Wild West on a 1879 Adam Schaaf of Chicago upright. I quite like what the founder of True West, Joe Small said (as printed at the bottom of the Letters to the Editor section) - "Now let the letters roll in and bare your very soul. That is what has always kept us going and I think it always will."
—New Zealand Guy (I forgot His Name And Lost The Link)

First Train to Albuquerque
FYI: One of my Santa Fe civic contacts informed me this morning of the State's recent purchase of rail corridor rights between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, approximately 60 miles. The intent is to develop commuter/passenger train service, This could be a potentially great distribution venue for us to explore as it progresses. I envision a trainload of folks reading True West between these two heritage cities, how about you?!
—Rob Brandhauer

A True West Trauma: Don't Try This At Home
“Had a horrifying experience last night when after making love to my beautiful wife I rolled over to immediately see a True West Moment on the TV. Therapy to follow.”
—PH

The View of Ghost Towns From Down Under
As a kid who grew up here is Australia watching the American westerns of the 50s and 60s, I became convinced that all Old West towns were clean, neat and tidy affairs.Watching Deadwood just blew me away, especially when your magazine authenticates it with pictures taken at the time the show is set.

It got me wondering - with the technology of satellite imaging are any previously unlocated ghost towns ever found? Also, is there a 'Holy Grail' of towns that every historian/enthusiast would love to locate?

Being over here makes magazines like True West important—since I can't afford to visit (and be accompanied by someone who could answer all my questions!) your magazine goes some way towards quenching my curiosity. Reading the history of the magazine and your involvement in it makes its continued publishing a must - especially for us 'Colonial Convicts' (ask the Brits - they STILL think of us that way!) who can't see all this stuff in person.

Thanks for a great magazine!
—Trisha

Trisha,
These days, ghost towns and even most mines (250,000 in Arizona alone!) are easy to find with GPS equipment. A couple months ago, a historian, Vince Murray and I went out to Harqua Hala and found Wyatt Earp's "Sore Finger" mine by using GPS (Global Positioning System via satellite). The GPS device actually wasn't completely accurate, but we were close enough and could extrapolate to the topo map we had with us.

Most real Old West ghost towns have evaporated by now. A decade ago we had a guide take us out to Drew's Station, which is a famous stagecoach robbery site outside of Tombstone, Arizona. All that was left of the station was the adobe corner of the main building (we assume). We took pictures and whooped it up. A couple years later I tried to go back with some friends and couldn't find it (all those damn creosote bushes look alike).

Other towns like Charleston, which is upstream from Drew's Station, are completely overgrown with catclaw and the foundations are all that remain, and they are hidden by the brush. When you drive by you’d never know a town was there.

When I was a kid, you could go out to ghost towns like White Hills, Cerbat and Gold Road and we'd play cowboys and indians in the buildings. It made for a great Old West playground. But time and people who want to redo their den with old barnwood, have stripped all these towns of everything.

The big almost-ghost towns that survive, like Bisbee, Jerome, Virginia City, Goldfield, Lincoln and Body have the best of both worlds. They still look old timey and for the most part authentic, but people have come in to renovate and restore what remains. And those towns usually have the best vibes
—BBB

I just passed the 1,200 mark for sketches (six a day without missing). As some famous 96-year-old cellist remarked when someone asked why he still practices four hours a day: "I noticed a slight improvement."

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Traveler Amazed By Sheer Number of Mexicans

“Who is wise? He that learns from every One. Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.”
—Ben Franklin

May 14, 2006
Got up at 6:30 and treated Kathy to coffee and a banana in bed. Went out and started planting the Mother's Day ocotillos and plants. Deena joined me and we transplanted a couple Spanish Daggers as well. Made pancakes for Mother Radina and Debbie, who came out at 9:30.

Called my mother in Wyoming and wished her a Happy Mother's Day.

Fun morning. Going to work on several projects this afternoon.

"There never was a great man who had not a great mother."
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 13, 2006
We're celebrating Mother's Day a day early. Deena met Kathy and me at Home Depot at ten this morning and Kath (The Designated Mother) picked out two ocotillos and a Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica, $30 cash), and we brought them home to plant. We fixed lunch, leftover munchilada from Pita Jungle dinner last night with the Wonderfuls, plus three cheese crisps, jumbo shrimps (three) and avocado. Deena went over financials and how much we should be putting away for retirement (hint: more than we're putting away now!).

I backed out the '49 and got it limbered up for an off-road race.

Not really.

Quite warm out. Must be close to 100. May go swimming this afternoon.

Been trying to post the Isaiah Mays Medal of Honor painting for a week, but it keeps falling through the cracks. Here it is, finally. This is from the forthcoming Wham Robbery Classic Gunfight which is at the printer in Kansas City even as you read this.

Deena got an iPod for her birthday last week and she and I are going up to Kathy's office to download some cool tunes (and delete all of those damn Steely Dan tunes Tommy loaded me up with!)

"Work is not always required. . .there is such a thing as sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected."
—George McDonald

May 12, 2006
I almost forgot, last Sunday we had a great birthday dinner for Deena at Taco Villa down on Camelback. Hard to believe we have been going there for 26 years. Dora, the owner hugged Deena and related how she remembered holding the Deen as a little baby so her parents could eat in peace. All the Radinas came, and Brad picked up the check ($200 plus!).

Today we’re working hard on a Cowboy Chronicle piece. We are on the same deadline schedule so we had to wait until our mag went out the door, yesterday, and then shift gears on doing something worthy for Tex, Chis and Dobie. Abby Pearson is hammering it out and we need to overnight this puppy this afternoon.

I woke up this morning thinking about the potential for the Whambam CG as a full blown book. It has so many elements: The Buffalo Soldiers, Mormons, politics (all the way to the White House), then when you factor in the side stories: Billy the Kid killed his first an at Bonita, just off the Fort Grant reservation; Geronimo and his Apaches came through the same area and had a big fight with the army about three miles from the Wham site; one of the lawmen (Whelan) who tracked down the Mormon robbers, faced off with Johnny Ringo, the Clantons and Johnny Behan; Tombstone Deputy Billy Breakenridge arrested several of the suspects; two of the defense attorneys lived in Tombstone and knew all the legendary men of that story (O.K. Corral); Gibert Webb went to Mexico and dealt with Pancho Villa, and W.T. Webb helped draft Arizona’s constitution. It really has everything. Almost too much.

News From The Front Lines
Bob,
My girl friend and I watch the western channel faithfully with our 7 month old daughter. As a matter of fact our daughter who's name is Grace, can be asleep in her mothers lap and hear your voice, wake up to watch you then go back to sleep. Even if shes not asleep when you come on you get her attention.

Lately we have been watching you tell about steam engines, you give us all kinds of information we enjoy learning about. But what we would like to asked you is how did they get the water into the water towers? Especially in the desert?
—Raymond Hill

Raymond,
Excellent question, my Man. I know they used pumps, but I'll have to do some research on what kind and how. Of course, the water tanks were placed at springs, creeks or rivers, so the water supply was already there. In fact in the Southwest the rails headed for the water at every turn. More later.
—BBB

Mark Boardman forwarded me this movie review and I agree, Stephen Hunter is an excellent writer. Check this out (and the movie as well!):

White Hat, Dark Heart In 'Down in the Valley'
By Stephen Hunter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 12, 2006

Hear the wind blow through "Down in the Valley": It's an ill gale, the wind of memory and illusion, the wind of ugly violence, the wind of domestic turbulence.

David Jacobson's harsh, possibly twisted but always mesmerizing little film begins with America's fondest dream -- the cowboy. He's lean and lanky, calls everybody "sir" or "ma'am" and looks you straight on when he shakes your hand. His eyes are blue; he's true, he's steady, a man's man. Any adult would see the other thing: He's also a psycho.

But no 15-year-old can, like Tobe (the luminous, dangerous Evan Rachel Wood of "Thirteen") and when she meets Buffalo Bill, no, Wyatt Earp, no again, Harlan Carruthers (Edward Norton) in a gas station off the freeway in the valley called San Fernando, she is taken.

The psychology is transparent. Adrift in the scrubby fast-food and doughnut-shop wilderness that is the San Fernando, Tobe is a latchkey child. Her father, Wade (David Morse), works for the Sheriff's Department. He's not a bad man, but he carries melancholy and repression wherever he goes (lost dreams? a vanished wife? memories of a war he fought in heroically?) and he lashes out in profanity and anger when challenged. So naturally, his daughter challenges him a lot, and the silent witness to this bitter discord is the second sibling, Lonnie (Rory Culkin), upon whose grave face is marked the bitterness of the family's fetid inner life.

So for both Tobe and Lonnie, Harlan is a godsend: He's a man off the screen, idealized, fair, perfect. He listens, he comforts, he adores, and of course, ultimately he seduces and usurps. For Wade, Harlan is the Devil: He sees Harlans everywhere in his professional life, that is, drifters with screws loose, with narcissistic impulses that require them to think far higher of themselves than any accomplishment merits, boy-men who want it all, and fast, thank you.

But Wade, inarticulate and already distanced from the kids by virtue of his harsh temper, can't find a way to express his doubts and fears except via rage, which is hopelessly futile. The more he seethes, the more he drives his kids away to the waiting arms of the seemingly better man, Harlan.

And who is Harlan? Isn't that the interesting question? Connoisseurs of the career of Edward Norton will immediately associate this tour de force performance with Norton's first film role, the Oscar-nominated turn in "Primal Fear." It's that same trick: the mild, decent exterior, the anonymous face, the unassertive body language, the small, still mouth, the diffident posture; but underneath, there might be something else, something darker. Somehow Norton is able to carry these contradictions easily and make them whole. He's also always, and to his and the movie's benefit, a surprisingly agile, athletic presence. He seems so wan, so ephemeral, so insubstantial -- and then he whip-cracks into action with stunning speed.

The subtext in all this happens to be the western movie, and some of its
icons, namely guns. Dad Wade carries a gun, cleans it frequently, and is also a gun collector. Cowboy Harlan has a couple of Colt single-actions -- Jacobson loves the geometry and grace of the old Equalizers -- and a low-hanging speed rig built for fast-draw contests. Rory, like most boys, is drawn to shooting irons, and his father's passion for safety is another source of discord, in contrast to Harlan's openness and willingness to share in the fun of the things. For the record, Norton has become a extremely impressive gun handler. When he draws and shoots, it's clear he's had professional coaching. Memo to Edward Norton: Get yourself into (producing and directing if necessary) a movie on the life and times of that other youngster of speed and violence, Billy the Kid, before you lose your youthful looks. I kept thinking: What a Kid this guy would make! And as much-movied as that tale of New Mexican clan warfare has been, no one's achieved greatness yet.

Anyhow, soon enough Harlan has become Lonnie's best pal and Tobe's lover. He shows them a world they never knew existed. But soon enough also, he shows them oddities of personality that would raise the hackles of any adult: A horse-riding expedition almost turns violent when it's discovered that Harlan stole the horse they're riding. Harlan's mystery is of course ultimately revealed, as is his true nature, and in an impressively light way, Jacobson maneuvers events toward a western make-believe town, where the games of white hats and black hats, of men facing men in streets of mud in front of rows of wooden buildings, will be played for real.

"Down in the Valley" is exactly what we don't have enough of: It's singular, unusual, unexpected, fresh and familiar at once. Maybe too long and maybe cinematographer Enrique Chediak's photography of a natural zone of beauty blighted by Mr. Doughnut and Carl's Jr. lays it on a trifle thick, but it's a surprisingly intense and disturbing movie.

End of piece. Google the Washington Post if you'd like to see more of Stephen Hunter's prose. This is the same guy who wrote so eloquently on the demise of the Winchester a couple months back. I'm a big fan. And I want to see the movie!

“The future is made of the same stuff as the present.”
—Simone Weil

May 11, 2006
We just finished Classic Gunfights (2:58 pm). The whole mag goes out the door at three. I worked last night until about seven on a title art piece of the robber dressed in buckskins who confronted the Buffalo Soldiers at Bloody Run. Did a scratchboard and got some cool effects of the boulders in Fort #1 (as it was referred to in the trial) from the photos I took two weeks ago. Got up early this morning and whipped out a loose wash of Frankie Campbell, the woman in the bright yellow blouse, riding a big bay, and also completed an overview of "The First Salvo," a panorama of the fight scene with the mules, the soldiers, Frankie getting bucked off and a wall of smoke from a dozen rifles coming off the cliffs above the payroll detail. Decent. Could have been better. Same old srtory.

Got into the office at nine, had Robert McElroy start scanning the new art, while Robert and I wrestled with layout problems from yesterday. Meghan Saar had a whole bunch of changes in copy. I had many sloppy mistakes (Webb died in 1923 not 1926) and she is great at getting those kinds of things right. She had all 11 soldiers listed in a row, to keep them straight, and she took the Ball book home last night to familiarize herself with the story. Worked through lunch and rewrote ten captions, fixed five others and. . .

Finally faxed a printout of the piece to Larry Upton in Gilbert and he e-mailed back two more mistakes he found (private Cox should be private Fox, and epithet was misspelled in Aftermath). Got it all shoe-horned in and out the door with 38 seconds to spare. Whew!!

Deena called from Minnesota where she is giving a presentation for her company. She googled good places to eat and found Broder's in Edina and called me to tell me how great a restaurant it is. As she says, "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."

News From The Front Lines
Duane McCormick called to get a 2 year subscription for his barber shop, Sit-in-Bull Barber Shop, in Dewey, AZ. His Cave Creek dentist had a copy of TW in his office and Duane decided to subscribe. He is a fan of yours from KSLX days when he worked for Del Webb, pounding nails. He said that listening to you in the mornings helped them get through many days.
—Carole Glenn

Hi Bob,
Your magazine has recently helped me through some difficult health challenges. While I have enjoyed each and every issue of True West since you acquired the magazine and then created the interesting and entertaining format, each more recent issue took on an even more valuable and important place in my life.

You see that I had to have emergency surgery because of a serious internal blockage. More surgery is also in my future. So when I was asked by my wife as to what I would like to read while spending my days in the hospital I asked her to gather up several recent editions of True West and bring them to my room. For the past few weeks I have re-read through each and every issue, and when I felt that my health problems were getting the better of me your magazine and writings took me away to wonderful western places and made western American history have an even closer personal relevance. Now I am home recovering and dreaming of visiting some of the historic places your have written about in the American Southwest.

Thanks and hats off to you, Bob. Your True West magazine made a big
difference here and helped this old cowboy when he really needed it.
—David Knowlen

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Bill Gates’ Wife Worried He’s Lying In A Ditch Full Of Money Somewhere

“He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 10, 2006
Got up this morning and whipped out a mug shot of Corporal Isaiah Mays. There is a photo of him, but he’s in civilian clothes and I wanted him in Army blues, with this Medal of Honor medallion hanging off his breast, a rifle, his corporal stripes and an authentic field hat. I think I nailed him. Finished at 8:30, had Kathy put a bobby-pin in my shirt sleeve (missing a button, still wanted to wear the shirt). Got into the office at nine.

Robert McElroy showed me his photos of the Wham site. He’s got a cool one of Rob B. posing outside of Fort #1, as the buckskin clad Mormon outlaw who opened the ball on the Wham robbery. And speaking of the next Classic Gunfight:

Even God Only Bats .500, Or: So That’s Why Pima Is Still So Tiny!
Pima tradition maintains that Mormon Church authorities in Salt Lake City sent a high-level delegation to Graham County a few weeks after the robbery and scolded the local communicants for not being truthful with federal lawmen. The visiting Mormon officials prophesied that God would punish their community predicting it would not prosper for 100 years and that God would withhold “heavenly fruits” from the guilty parties. Pima’s still puny size in 2006 would tend to concur with the first prophesy, but robber W.T. Webb’s eventual rise to political and financial success (he ended up owning most of Graham Mountain) would tend to dispute the latter part of the prophesy.

Postcards From The Edge of Production
“Hey Bob, how does one get on the postcard mailing list? Being a Lifetime subscriber I'm going to get the mag anyway but those postcards look too cool to pass up! Thanks.”
—Mark Kilburn TW Maniac 235

Humor Master Insight Series #346
I am a big humor fan and I assume this is why Dave Daiss, excuse me, one of my partners, put a bumper sticker on my truck the other day (see below). The rumor was that this person was also thinking about putting this bumper sticker on Kathy’s car: “I’d Rather Go Hunting With Dick Cheney Than Driving With Ted Kenneday.” Yes, that's funny, but I wonder if the person who did this would be laughing if the bumper sticker joke went the other way? Hmmmmm.

So I asked Carole yesterday where she thought I could get a “Liberal” bumper sticker to pay back this certain True West partner. She smiled and said, “How about ‘Nobody Died When Clinton Lied’?” I laughed out loud and asked her where she could get one. She went to her office computer and went online and found it in two minutes flat. I also ordered, "Somewhere In Texas A Village Is Missing Its Idiot." But here’s the cool part: They have these new bumper stickers where they are transparent. You put them on and you can't see them, and they slowly develop (think invisible ink), in about 24 hours. Now let’s imagine I put both of these bumper sticker on the partner’s truck and he drives back down to Sonoita (or some such place) and two days from now, people are shooting at him along the highway and at the feed store and he doesn’t know why. Now that's funny to me.

”Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.”
—Carol Channing

May 9, 2006
Finished the Isaiah Mays Under Fire painting at two this afternoon. Some decent effects. It’s not the big panorama I originally wanted to do with the plunging mules, the entire ridge and the retreating Buffalo Soldiers, but as I say every deadline, “It’ll have to do.”

Robert Ray tweaked the Classic Gunfights layout to include a segment on the robbery I wanted to get in (Homeward Bound), which made me realize, you are getting a more thorough education on the Wham Robbery here than readers will get in the magazine version. There simply isn’t enough room in six pages to track the 30 participants in the fight alone, not to mention all the lawmen and lawyers and politicians who got involved. Larry Upton contiues to amaze me with his knowledge of the affair. Here’s his take on the stolen loot and where it went:

“It is true that Gilbert Webb ended up broke, but that is because after paying the lawyers (say $10,000, and I believe that is a realistic figure based on billings to the U.S. Gov't for their ass't prosecutors), gave Marcus Cunningham about $3,000, gave the Folletts their share (say $3,000 each), leaving him with about $6,000. He didn't pay the younger cowboys like Rogersand Lamb. He didn't have enough money. It is known that he paid about $1,000 in personal debts, and he gambled some of the money away. That left about $5,000 to pay all the expenses of the trial. People told me that many, many people in Pima received a gold coin or two for testimony favoring the men in jail in addition to their out of pocket expenses for living in Tucson for a month during the trial. Most of the regular people camped in the old military parade ground near Ft. Lowell. I think that $5,000 went fast. The real winners were the lawyers."
—Larry Upton

Which just proves the old gypsy curse: “May you be found among lawyers.”

Turn Me On Deadman With The Standup Bass
“Did you know that Too Slim, bassist for thr Riders In The Sky, is credited for starting the old rumor that Paul McCartney was dead?”
—Gus “The Mapinator” Walker

No, that can’t be, can it? That must be an urban myth, no? Who knows the real story? Or is this one of those things everybody claims, like the guy who came to my house a couple years back and said, “I invented cool deck,” and when I voiced my amazement, he told me the “ingredient is a secret.” I took the guy for his word, then later was talking to Bud Glenn, a contractor and Carole’s husband, and he said, “All cool deck is, is layered cement, with ridges and valleys, there is not secret ingredient in cool deck.”

“If passion drives, let reason hold the reins.”
—Benjamin Franklin

May 8, 2006
Still wrestling with Buffalo Soldiers in the fog of war illustration. Got three overheads going, illustrating the enfilade fire, and a close-up, modeled after Robert McElroy’s dramatic stance (see photos below). I have four more I want to do, but the mag goes out the door on Thursday so I need to jam.

On Friday I connected with Larry Upton who went to high school in Pima and in fact married the great-granddaughter of one of the suspects in the Whambam robbery. She didn’t even know it, her mother didn’t know either (imagine that!), but when Larry happened upon an Old West magazine in Clifton, he saw the name Thomas Lamb connected to the Wham robbery. He bought the mag (not sure if it was True West or Old West or even Frontier Times) and brought it home and decided to show it to the grandmother (outlaw Thomas Lamb’s daughter) the next time they travelled to Pima. When he walked into her house with the magazine to show her, she grabbed it out of his hands and threw it across the room, sneering, “Get that damn pack of lies out of my house!” This is how heated the memory of the robbery still is in that neck of the woods. Of course, from that point on Larry was hooked on the story and managed to interview quite a few family members about the robbery. Here’s my favorite:

“Milton Rogers, son of accused participant David M. Rogers. . .had never heard of the 1889 incident until he was grown and his father had passed away. The younger Rogers was selling Raleigh Home Products door-to-door when a woman responded to his knock with an insult and a refusal to buy anything from the son of a Wham robber. Totally perplexed, Milton asked his neighbor Fred Webb [see his bio mention below] about the robbery. Webb responded that the heist had been planned by Chauncey Gilbert Webb, his father, and carried out by Webb Cattle Company cowboys. Dave Rogers was a Webb cowboy. . .Dave Rogers never got a dime.”

To me that is a very telling, and damning statement. And probably the truth. All the evidence, it seems to me, points to a cattle round-up with extra curricular activity. It seems likely that Gilbert got the inspiration while out on his leased land rounding up cows, probably saw the payroll go through (it came through there every month), then got the inspiration, talked about it to his cowhands, Rogers and Lamb, speculated how to pull it off and where, scouted around, found the perfect spot, and it grew out of the cow operation. One of the cow boss's from a different ranch remembered on the day of the robbery, five or six of his cowboys just rode off, during the round-up. The implication being they all went to work as usual, then headed for the robbery site. When the robbers split up after the fight, they rode through a cow herd to mix up the trackers, and that seems planned as well.

Joel Klasky just got back from the annual WETA (Western English Trade Association) convention held this year in Austin, Texas. Here is a summary of the awards that True West won:

Bronze Award: Cover-Consumer:
2005 August issue: History of Western Wear (Tom Mix dressed all in white)

Silver Award: Direct Mail Campaign
True West Postcard Campaign (we send out postcards promoting each upcoming issue, here’s the next one, promoting our October issue)

Gold AIM Award: Public Relations, Supporting Product or Product Series
“True West Moment-Fire Danger” by Bob Boze Bell, on the Westerns Channel

More R.L. Wilson Dirt
“Received June 2006 Vanity Fair today and in Dominick Dunne's diary this month is a page on R.L. Wilson, who was his neighbor in Connecticut and who you mentioned in your May 4th Blog entry. Dunne has a show on Court T.V. called Power, Privilege, and Justice and his diary usually is about celebrities who have run afoul of the law. Thought you might enjoy the article.
—John Hinrichs TWM #15

Kid Curry Query
Dear Mr. Bell:
I enjoyed the article on Kid Curry and Pike Landusky. I have written several books one of which had a chapter dedicated to Kid Curry, Pike and Jew Jake. I was curious regarding the two illustrations that you did for the article. The one sketch with Jew Jake in the front of the saloon with the fourth person believed to be Thomas Carter...is that a sketch from an actual photo...which may be in the forthcoming Gary Wilson book? Also, the make of the gun held in Pike Landusky's coat is news to me also.

You may find it interesting to note that Methodist minister Brother Van had visited the camp of Landusky a few months earlier and that Kid Curry and his clan and Pike and Jew Jake attended the Sunday service together though likely separated. That had to be quite a sight. All the best.
—Samuel Phillips

That's very interesting, the Methodist minister part. These guys led such bizarre lives, pious one moment and deadly the next. I guess that's what makes them so interesting. My painting of Jew Jake, et al, is just fantasy. I often think when I'm doing a Classic Gunfights, "Okay, there's the known photos, now what photo would I love to find? Let's illustrate that!" Ha.

News From The Front Lines
Eleanor Gill of Gilbert called regarding her subscription ( she is a TWManiac) and used to teach high school. She said that she still misses your radio show and enjoys reading your work in the AZ Rep when they get around to publishing it. She was very sweet and sounds like a long-time fan of yours.

She said she was recently in Bisbee in a shop and suggested that they advertise in TW and was told that they do not because of the gun ads. Eleanor said she understood that if you were going to publish a magazine, you need advertising
—Carole Glenn.

Dear Bob,
Yoga....Recycling? OK.... you still ARE the editor of a mag called TRUE WEST right?
—Mike

Mike,
Yes, but this is where a former underground cartoonist, rock drummer and weekend hippie comes home to roost (and do the down dog). Sorry. Hope I haven't busted the Old West perception bubble too much, but it's the truth.
—BBB

P.S. on a related note, someone put a gag bumper sticker on my truck today (prime suspect, Dave Daiss):

Annoy A Liberal: Work • Succeed • Be Happy

Actually, a more accurate bumper sticker for my truck would be: How to Annoy A Liberal: Marry One

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
—Lao Tzu, A Flaming Warrior

May 7, 2007
Our neighbors invited us to the Eleventh Annual Sonoran Symphony Concert last night, down at Rancho Manana, featuring Riders In The Sky. It's sponsored by the Desert Foothills Land Trust and is a fund raiser to help preserve the narrowing pristine desert that's left from bulldozers. So far they have successfully saved the cave that Cave Creek is named for, and are working on Spur Cross Ranch, a sprawling and beautiful section of land that land developers have eyed for years.

As I said, the concert is held every year, down at Rancho Manana Resort, on part of the golf course, and makes for a very nice outdoor setting for a high end dinner and music under the stars. I believe it's $150-$250 a ticket and my neighbor (a major lawyer and decent roper) bought an entire table (10) and we sat at table no. 3, which was right in the front and to the side of the stage.

The dinner was catered by the chef at Tonto Bar & Grill and included a nice filet, and a chile pepper loaded with some exotic vegetables, mashed potatoes, numerous bottles of top drawer wine, dessert and decaf coffee. Very tasty.

The Phoenix Symphony led by Michael Christie, opened the show and played a John Williams (he wrote Star Wars theme) rendition of "Cowboy Overture" from John Wayne's The Cowboys, then a long Aaron Copeland piece From Rodeo which included Bucaroo Holiday, Corral Nocturn, Saturday Night Waltz and Hoe-Down.

Next up came Riders In The Sky and they announced this was their 5,286th performance, and that they had been performing together for 28 years. Amazing. They were quite good, and with the symphony backing them they ripped through all the classics, including Ride, Cowboy Ride, Back In The Saddle Again, Cool Water, Yellow Rose of Texas, South of the Border, Rawhide (my personal favorite), Red River Valley, Ghost Riders in the Sky and, as an encore, Happy Trails.

Their set made me damn proud to be a Westerner, and when I get like that I feel nothing but pity for those who aren't.

True West was a sponsor, so we had mags at each table and a coupon offering $10 to the land trust for any subscriptions. I got two handed to me personally before we left and Bob and Trish Brink, who were also there, were speculating how many we would get. I'm guessing a dozen or so. We'll see.

Minnesota Mike came over Friday after work to pick up his camper shell, which I have been storing for him in the tractor garage. He's trading in his old F-150 and asked me what I thought a new one ran, and I guessed $25K and he laughed and said, "That's what I thought, but there's four levels of F-150s now and the one I want, a King Cab, runs $55K! For a Ford pickup!" Last night when we met our neighbors at their ranch house, they showed off their new roping-trailer-RV-combo-diesel truck, which they bought used for $92K (new $150K!). What's the world coming to? Pricey, that's what. My uncle Bud Linn bought his first ranch for $75K and now a pickup is more expensive? Yikes!

Working hard today on the Whambam Buffalo Soldier Ridge Fight. I really want to capture the fog of war, with a ton of black powder floating in the air. I'll post a rough here tonight.

Deena Bell celebrates her 26th birthday tonight with a dinner at Taco Villa. We're all meeting there at five, so I have to get to work.

"Drawing is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do."
--Vincent Van Gogh

May 6, 2006
Steve from Grant's Appliance came out yesterday and fixed our coolers for the summer run ($305, house account). Very nice and cool in the studio this morning. Went for a bike ride with the dogs at eight. Getting almost too warm to go this late.

Johnny Weinkauf resent me the measuring tape to measure my foot for my new custom BBB boots. I had to call him and have him walk me through it. High instep, low instep, ball, it's all too confusing to me. It was funny, with him in Kerrville, Texas, trying to tell me, in my office with my shoes off, holding the tape measure in my hands with the phone in the crook of my neck. Here's the photo of me and John in March of 1980 when I got my first boots.

Worked until 9:30 last night on Whambam illustrations. I'm worried now that I don't have enough room (6 pages) to tell the story. Building an article is like building a house. You gather all of the materials, lay the foundation and it looks like you've got tons of room for everything, then when you put the walls up it looks too little, you panic, you think it's way too small, then you put the roof on and it's amazing how much will fit in the sucker and when others come into your house they marvel how right it seems.

This also is true of doing a book, a True West Moment, no doubt a movie and probably an album.

Went up at ten and dropped off recycling, and yoga, then farmer's market and bought some New River tomatoes ($5.10 cash) and big boy onions ($2 cash) and came home to make Cinco de Seis tacos.

"Beware of undertaking too much at the start. Be content with quite a little. Allow for accidents. Allow for human nature, especially your own."
--Arnold Bennett

May 5, 2006
Another tip of the hat to Darcy Peterson, the gal who has been helping me organize my studio. I was looking for Buffalo Soldier and mule photo reference in my library last night and I spied the word “Eden” on the spine of a book on the top shelf in the new Town section. I often buy used books at yard sales featuring those really bad books put out by small towns on their history. I usually buy them on the off-chance that they run old photos I might be able to use.

Now the word “Eden” was fresh in my mind, because yesterday while culling pertinent facts out of Larry Ball’s definitive book on the Whambam robbery I found this bit of info:

Homeward Bound
After the robbery, the outlaws split into two groups, with one going north towards Fort Thomas and Pima, and the other going south towards Norton’s ranch. The northbound robbers (believed to be seven in number) made a beeline to the Gila River and crossed at Eden, where they threw incriminating evidence into the deep water, then went upriver (east) to the Holladay Crossing and recrossed. The next day, trackers found hoofprints leading from there straight to Ed Follett’s ranch. A week later, on May 19, a group of kids were swimming in the river, and in a shallow slough (the river had gone down dramatically) the children found six-shooters, canned goods, a pair of boots filled with rocks, and a bunch of horse shoe nails tied up in a silk handkerchief (trackers claimed the robbers tried to throw them off by putting horseshoes on their mounts backwards). When the pistol showed up in Pima, it was claimed by, none other than Gilbert Webb who alleged it had been lost by his son Wildred during a high water crossing.

I pulled down the book and sure enough, it was a local history take on the same small berg of Eden referred to in Ball’s book. Of course, just like the Pima Centennial book I have, there is not one word on the Whambam robbery, but in the Eden book I discovered a bio and photo of Frederick Taft Webb (his father Gilbert Webb, see above, is considered the mastermind of the robbery, and his sons are believed to have participated in the robbery with him). To me, Fred’s got the eyes of a hardened criminal, but his bio reads like a Sunday school teacher. In fact he was a teacher in Eden for ten years (1888 to 1898), but evidently gave up that profession for something that pays better, like highway robbery! (this isn’t in the book of course). Fred went to school at Tempe Normal School (later ASU), and he married a Holladay girl (see river crossing above) Other benign entries include: “Fred was always active in church and community activities. He organized and was manager of the outstanding Pima baseball team.”

There’s more: “In recognition of his ability and sound judgement, the people of his legislative district in Graham County called on Fred to represent them in the House of Representatives of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Legislature [often called the “Thieving Thirteenth”]. In this legislative work he exercised the same full measure of conscientiousness and close attention to duty that distinguished his whole career.

“Fred died on April 17, 1954, at his home in Pima at the age of 87 years. Inza [Holladay Webb] lived alone until her death on October 6, 1966. They re both buried in the Pima Cemetery.”

Inza by the way, was one of his students, who he dated when she was sixteen and he was 28! Eden? Boy Howdy!

Tombstone Proves Blog Worthy
“May 3rd's posting with the exciting news about the extra Tombstone
movie footage is exactly why you need to keep doing this blog!”
—Mark Kilburn

There’s more. The actor also told Henry Beck that at one point, just before filming started, Willem Defoe was being considered for the roll of Doc Holliday. Of course, Val Kilmer got the nod and was great, but Defoe would have been an excellent choice and he even looks like Doc! The producers also considered having Kurt Russell play Doc with Richard Gere as Wyatt Earp! Now that would have been a train wreck.

Whambam Photos, Finally
Here’s a couple images I shot out at the Whambam site last Saturday. That’s Robert McElroy in the foreground, firing from the exact spot the Buffalo Soldiers tried to defend on May 11, 1889. In one of the photos he’s aiming directly back at Fort #1, where the main contingent of robbers fired from and where Wham later discovered hundreds of exploded shells. The soldiers couldn’t hold this position because the outlaws had another fort on the west side of the road, directly below (south of) this position and were pouring "enfilade" fire in on the troopers. Robert McElroy is an ex-marine (notice his fine firing form) and he told me enfilade fire is triangulated fire, coming in from three sides. That’s Rob Bandhauer , another TW staffer, firing in the background. My job now, is to add another seven or eight soldiers in along this four-foot high ridge to illustrate the pivotal point of the battle. Eight of the soldiers were wounded by the time they evacuated down the hill to Cottonwood Creek.

“Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.”
—Mark Twain

May 4, 2006
Got up this morning and finished the Whambam Overview painting. Got some decent landscape effects, but I missed on the actual forts-bluff area (the most important part). Can’t stop now though, got to keep moving. Got another ten or fifteen images to execute by Monday.

Sam organized a Subway lunch today and we all chipped in $5 and had a little feast in the conference room. We also celebrated Trish Brink’s birthday, which is actually tomorrow, but she won’t be here. We all sang happy birthday and demanded a speech, but she wasn’t buying (ironic as she’s the sales manager).

Beautiful Women With Great Taste Department
For my birthday this year my wife gave me first editions of your two "Classic Gunfights" books and "Bad Men," and I am awed. Each book is an example of *high concept*, the information is fascinating, the writing is first-rate, and the art is—well—*alive*. Great books, Mr. Bell, absolutely great, and I will read and re-read them for many years to come. (Looking forward to the book on Hickok and the one on the ladies.) Just a thank you to you for creating them.
—Sarge McClintock

P.S. Last year she gave me a new Corvette for my birthday; this girl knows how to give presents.

How Not to Preserve History
Last year the Cholila [Argentina] authorities, in a misguided effort to renovate the Butch & Sundance cabin, which was in a dilapidated state, leveled it and rebuilt a brand new cabin in its place. Most if not all (reports disagree) of the materials from the original structure were burned. Of course, in a few years the new structure will have weathered and few visitors will know the difference. A tragedy, nonetheless. The f***-up— quilombo in Spanish—cost the Chubut tourism minister his job.

We have a photos of the new structure (as well as of the old), in the event you think this might merit a TW mention. There's the true west, the old west, and the ex-west. File this under ex-west.
—Dan Buck

Yes, Dan, we want those photos. We are going to be running a new department on "Preserving the West" and we'll file this under how not to preserve. Thanks.

Another Old West Compadre Goes to Jail
Robert Lawrence Wilson was the traffic cop at the intersection of old guns and old money.

In high style, the former longtime Hadlyme resident plied his expertise in Colt and Winchester firearms into a lucrative, globetrotting career. He wrote more than 40 books, appeared on TV, tended the collections of powerful men, consulted with museums and made his name as a raconteur of the first order.

He brokered millions of dollars of trades in antique pistols and rifles, making himself a super-star in the world of 19th century firearms -- and arguably the foremost expert on old Colts.

His home office -- down the road from Gillette Castle -- was a Teddy Roosevelt-inspired shrine to rare-gun collecting, big-game hunting and the eccentric tastes of a man who bought Mario Andretti's 1983 Indy car and wheeled it up to the foot of his desk.

On Valentine's Day, the road led to federal prison in Lompoc, Calif., for the 66-year-old R.L. Wilson, as he is known on his book jackets, or Larry, as the regulars call him.

After pleading guilty to defrauding a client, Wilson is serving a sentence of one year and one day -- the same jail term former Gov. John G. Rowland received. In his field, Wilson's felony is a scandal akin to, well, Rowland's corruption.
—DAN HAAR; Hartford Courant Staff Writer

We excerpted R.L. Wilson’s book on Women and Guns (“Silk And Steel") and I met R.L. at Northfeild, Minnesota three years ago when Melrose and I went up there for the annual Defeat of Jesse James Days. R.L. brought along a replica of the Remington Rolling Block rifle that local hero, A. R. Manning, used in the fight with the James-Younger Gang, and I shot a roll of film of R.L. shooting in the reenactments, from under the stairs of the First National Bank Building. Nice guy, very gracious, and he looks quite a bit like A.R. Manning, to boot!

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Al-Qaeda Hires Public Relations Consultant Just To Shoot Him

”Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdoned by the past, undistracted by the future, these are they who live, who make the best of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment.”
—Alban Goodier

May 3, 2006
Last night I started my overhead view sketches of the Whambam Payroll Robbery scene. Utilizing the army map, the two surviving photos of the scene as it looked in 1889, and my nine rolls of film I think I’ve got a good mental concept of how the rugged foothills of the Graham mountains spill off into the Gila River Valley. We’ll see. Laid in a light wash this morning of the panorama.

The bizarre twists and ugly aspects of the case are just astounding and I’m going to have trouble squeezing all the good stuff in just six pages. Here’s a few samples:

Wham Payroll Robbery Notes From Last Weekend’s Field Trip
• After driving off the soldiers, the robbers cut loose the surviving mules (9) and these draft animals, some wounded and injured, wandered through the battlefield to the south end where they were found after the fight, standing “up on the hill there sleeping away in the sunshine.”

• The three dead mules were left where they died and at the trial six months later, Major Wham testified their bones were still up there (we didn’t find any trace, but after the fight, many Arizonans travelled to the site to picnic and cleaned pretty much everything of interest away).

• After the fight, Major Wham found “between three and four hundred exploded shells,” in the main robber fort, although at the trial the defense got him to admit he told the grand jury he estimated the number closer to 150. Take your pick, even at 100 that would be a ton of shooting. Keep in mind there were nine forts!

• The robbers stole both Wham’s valise and Gibbon’s, although Wham’s was recovered a mile from the scene and there was blood on the papers. Gibbon's later recanted his testimony and claimed there was no fight and everyone ran away. Two medal of honor winners and ten wounded soldiers would seem to disprove that dubious claim.

Q: Did you hear anybody say anything at the robbery?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: What did they say?
A: Look out, you black sons of bitches.
Q: What did you all do?
A: We looked out. . .
—testimony of Pvt. Young

Was the Fight Formal Or Semi-Formal?
Suspect and Mormon, Lyman Follett “had on a kind of light shirt with a black tie.” Wilford Webb wore a “brown jacket, buckskin.”

• Married, with a daughter (both named Mary) Major Wham had been the paymaster for more than a decade at the time of the robbery. He was appointed to the position by President Grant. He is five ten, and a stockily-built man with greying blond hair. He is fond of good horseflesh, at one time owned a racehorse and is known to be somewhat thin-skinned and blusters when his dignity is hurt.


• Wham started in Tucson (on the 7th) and that's where the payroll money came in by train, he says in the trial. It either came from "one of the National Banks in Los Angeles," or from the sub-treasury in San Francisco. Wham's first stop was Fort Huachuca, then back to Fort Bowie, and he spent the night in Willcox (9th) where he picked up additional funds at the railroad station, and then Fort Grant on the 10th. And he was on his way to Fort Thomas on the 11th when he was robbed of $28,000 by Mormons who needed the cash so they could plant crops to sell to the army at Fort Thomas.

• There was about $1,200 in currency which was "put into a sack and the sack rolled up and then rubbers put around it." (They had rubber bands!)

• There were 11 men in the escort, all black: a sergeant, a corporal and nine privates, and they were all riding in the second spring wagon. Must have been big.

Tombstone Epilogue
We’ve got a major coup brewing on the movie Tombstone. One of our writers, Henry Beck, was interviewing one of the principals in the 1993 cult classic when the Wyatt Earp film came up. The actor, who has a new movie coming out this Friday, launched off on a twenty-minute soul cleansing monologue about what really happened after scribe and first-time-director Kevin Jarr got fired. Now here’s the great part. The actor, who’s married to the gal who was supposed to play Honkytonk Sue, claims he has much of the missing footage in his garage. Stay tuned.

Count Us In, Count
“Two years ago I went to Tombstone and was allowed to take part in one of the shows at the OK corral.

“I mention 'en passant' that I own the original and old antique western saddle that was 'Bucks' in the TV series 'The High Chapparal' -it is in excellent condition! -I feel that this should go back to America, and I would like to sell it--can you advise a good site (other than e-bay) or maybe advertise it in your magazine? Transport costs may be prohibitive though I feel-unless transported by sea. "
—Count Ralph de Straet von Kollman kt ,Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Nation’s Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue

”If you live for revenge, better dig two graves.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 2, 2006
I got the nine rolls of film developed at Walgreen’s (I first went to Ritz Camera to support the locals, but when I pulled up at 9:45 I saw they didn’t open up until ten, started walking back to my truck, ran into two guys dressed in black walking towards the store and said, “Are you Ritz guys?” They nodded yes, and I went back to the truck to get the film, walked up to the door and they had gone inside and locked the door and then hid! I waited for several minutes, but they weren’t going to accommodate me. This is the kind of story that makes a business owner crazy.)

Dan Harshberger came out at ten this morning and we jammed on cover ideas and a special project. While we were talking, one of our MCUHS classmates, Francine Alexander, called from Wickenburg. She’s on her way to Scottsdale and was just checking in. She'll be here in Cave Creek tomorrow.

Speaking of Kingman, when I was at the Historical Society Banquet in Tucson on Saturday night, one of the guys at my table looked familiar. He kept going up to the podium to tell corny jokes and I finally leaned over and said, "Are you Boppin' Bill?" He cringed. It was him—Boppin' Bill Porter—a Kingman high school intern DJ on KAAA when I was a freshman at MCUHS (1962). He didn't seem to be real thrilled to be reminded of this, although his tablemates were beside themselves with glee.

Constructive Criticism Anyone?
“Bob Boze Bell is a horse’s behind. The only true facts he tells is the way he sees it. He should be fired for telling false stories.”
—Dave1960@aol.com

This Is More Like It
“My husband and my mom watch the Westerns Channel on the weekends and they love your segments. They wanted me to ask you a question, when the cowboys were killed, what happened to their guns, horses, and belongings? Did they bury them with the articles, or did they give them to relatives, or did the sheriff take them? We just wanted to know.”
— Deborah & Jeff Mahan, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Deborah,
You name it and cowboys have done it. One cowboy even demanded to be buried in his pickup, another in his Cadillac. In the old days, some were buried with their ropes and other equipment. But for the most part, the gear was given to family members who either showcased it, or gave it to other cowboys to utilize, as a badge of honor. In terms of outlaws, the sheriff usually got the spoils. Pat Garrett took both Billy the Kid's rifle and pistol, and the rifles of the Kid's outlaw pards. The sheriff of Medelia, Minnesota took Cole Younger's pistol away from him at Hanska Slough, after the Youngers were captured after the Northfield, Minnesota bank job. That gun recently sold for a record $350,000, the most ever paid for an outlaw gun. There's more, but I'll save it for the bit.
—BBB

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Sara Gilbert Crush Finally Starting To Subside

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”
—Old Vaquero Saying

May 1, 2006
Back from an 800 mile odyssey. Took off Sunday morning from Tucson at seven, light traffic on I-10 all the way to Willcox. Got into Safford at nine, had breakfast at Brick’s, a local cafe on the north end of town.

I got gas in Thatcher, plus water, ice and almost-food (convenience market vacuum packed ham sandwiches in the walk-in cooler). Stopped in Pima and took a series of photos of the downtown. By then it was 10:30, so I took off and met True West staffers, Robert McElroy and Rob Bandhauer out on the Klondyke Road, a dozen miles south of Pima, Arizona. They drove out from Phoenix in Robert's jeep. We drove south for another six or seven miles and as we topped a ridge, there it was, the site of the infamous Wham Payroll Robbery! I had driven past this site twice in the past, while out looking for Geronimo and Apache sites, but this time I knew what I was looking for. We parked at a set of corrals and loading chutes at the bottom of Cottonwood wash, loaded up with props, water, my sketch book, notes and cameras, oh, and two Winchesters, and hiked up the canyon to the site.

There is a famous photo of the crime scene, taken the day after the robbery and that was our first stop. I had Robert and Rob pose in the exact positions from the 1889 photo. We then looked around and found most of the other “forts.” The army did a map of the site for the trial and they located and labeled nine forts where the robbers had built fortifications and we easily found most of them.

Posing the guys in various scenes, I shot the three phases of the robbery like a movie, with POV angles both from the buffalo soldiers’ angle and the robbers’ angle. Of course I quickly blew through four rolls of film and when I sprinted down the canyon to the truck to get more film, I spotted a rancher’s pickup parked at the corrals.

Epigmenio “Tex” Salazar, 77, wanted to know if we were “up there” hiking. When I told him our history angle, he said, “You mean the Whambam robbery?” He said it like it was one word, which is ironic because I’m leaning towards the title: “Wham, Bam, Thankyou Uncle Sam,” for my title. He confessed to me he worked this ranch all his life and never knew the draw above us was the site. When I told Tex the payroll was intended for Fort Thomas, Tex said, “They had a fort at Fort Thomas?” At first, I thought he was joking, but I don’t think he was.

When I got back up on the ridge it was one o’clock sraight up, which is the actual time of the robbery. It happened on May 11, so the shadows and the time of year were perfect to match the actual event. I ended up shooting eight rolls of film. Pictures tomorrow.

From the Wham site, we drove to Peridot on the San Carlos Reservation (a fifty mile run) to meet the Apache Tribe’s Official Historian, Dale Miles. He took us down to the old San Carlos camp at the confluence of the San Carlos River and the Gila River. Today, of course, it’s San Carlos Lake and the fort site is usually underwater, but the lake is low and the foundations of the old fort spread out in a row like the bleached bones of a dinosaur. Dale brought two Apache models, his son Levi and a striking Apache girl named Lisa, both were dressed in authentic Apache costumes. I shot another four rolls there.

We’ve got a new poll up: Who was the more dangerous man in the Old West?
Billy the Kid
Jesse James
John Wesley Hardin
Wild Bill Hickok

A Question From Yesterday’s Post
“What did Dr. Bostwick say about the lead swords?”
—Carol

In the 1920s a heavy lead sword with latin writing all over it, along with the date 600 A.D. was found on Silver Bell Road outside of Tucson. More swords and lead artifacts were found and many thought they were proof that a civilized group of people inhabited America long before the Spanish came. The main problem is they didn't know it was 600 A.D. in 600 A.D. The president of the University of Arizona, and a world famous archeologist believed the swords were real and staked his reputation on it.

As Dr. Bostwick pointed out in his session, fifty pound lead swords were not readily carried by anyone hoping to survive on the Arizona frontier, and, it turns out, there was a kiln on the property owned by a Mexican family, and, according to scholars, the latin turned out to be pilfered from three grammar books (and poorly done at that), and the professor ultimately renounced, or at least backed off the claim of authenticity. But, of course, to this day there are those who believe the finds are authentic. Given enough time there will probably be a religion based on the swords.

The more things change, the more they remain the same, no?
—BBB

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Supreme Court Told To Take Down Tip Jar

“Between two evils, choose neither;
between two goods, choose both.”
—Old Vaquero Saying