Happiness Is Hanging With Historians

November 15, 2016
   Spent most of the day yesterday with Paul Andrew Hutton. He came over from New Mexico for my induction ceremony at AMEHOF on Sunday evening.

    On Monday, we got to do what historians everywhere like to do—hang out with other historians. In this case the legendary Robert Utely. He's working on a new book, but he swore us to secrecy.

Hutton, Utley and BBB at his home in Scottsdale

   After a wild weekend at the Hall, I got back to work this morning on a project near and dear to my heart:

Daily Whip Out: "James Young Unsung Arizona Trailblazer

"Happy is that man who has found his work."

—Elbert Green Hubbard

We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Out The Jams!

November 14, 2016
   Last night was the night Zane Grey, Andy Devine and myself got inducted in the Hall:

Members of the Razz Band and the Weeklies kick it at The AMEHOF Hall in Scottsdale.

   We kicked out the jams last night after the induction ceremony at AMEHOF (Arizona Music And Entertainment Hall of Fame).

Two Kingman Boys Get Into The Hall of Fame In One Night

"Big night for Kingman. Mrs. Logsdon must be smiling (in disbelief, but still . . . )"
—Tom Carpenter, former Kingman resident

   Mrs. Logsdon was my English teacher at Mohave County Union High School and Andy Devine was also from Kingman (the main street is named in his honor).

Speaking of Kingman, my first two grade school girlfriends, Jan Prefontaine and Karen Johnson attended the event, as did my favorite ex-wife Olive Mondello, from Tucson. Another woman, who was instrumental in getting me into the Hall was this beauty:

The Legendary Dee Dee Wood

   My Kingman cowboy cousins were there: Brenda and Kevin Stockbridge and their daughter Sharon, and also my cousin, Robert Jerl Stockbridge, who gifted me a pair of chaps that belonged to the Guess girls. That would be his mother, Patsy Guess, my mother Bobbie Guess, Mary Guess, Sadie Pearl Guess and Jean Guess.

Guess Girl Chaps

   My radio pards, Jeanne Sedello, Lee Powell, Liz Boyle, Jeff Parrots and Linda Thompson also came out for the fun. As did the director of a certain musuem:

"Bob, I’ve been so wrapped up in the election news of late that I hadn’t played much attention to other news, so when I saw you from a distance last evening as I came into the hall before I went over to visit with you my heart started throbbing in joy! You see, I thought I had missed the obituaries of late and that the Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame was inducting posthumously three highly distinguished Arizonans, Andy, Zane and you! Pinch yourself that indeed this morning you are still kicking after that great fun and most deserving evening of celebration! For certain, and thankfully, you are aLIVING legend of our great and funky state!  Congratulations and my sincere thanks for ALL you do in support of our little hut here in historic downtown Scottsdale, albeit not with an address the likes of your Dad’s Mobil station on Route 66!"

—Michael Fox, Director of the Scottsdale Museum of The West

   Other notables included Joanne Goldwater, Ed and Rose Mary Mell, my agent Jeb Rosebrook and his wife Dorothy. Plus their son, our book editor, Stuart Rosebrook. True West staff members Greg Carroll, Carole Compton Glenn, Robert Ray and his wife Bea, Dan and Darlene Harshberger and Pam and George Richards. Garry Conrad. Jenny Pekarek Smith, Hilda, Betty Drake, Kent Usery, Fran and Mike Douglas, Julia Flannigan, Billy Driskill, and many other of old friends.

   As I mentioned earlier, I had a heart attack at the Exits reunion back in 2008 and if it wasn't for some fast acting first responders I would have been, well, here's how my friend Vince put it:

"If it wasn't for Dr. Michael Ward and the Kingman Regional Hospital, last night's induction ceremony would have been for three dead guys, not two."
—Vincent Murray

The Aftermath

November 12, 2016
   I have always thought Donald Trump was a joke and I have never taken him seriously. Some would include me as a member of the "lamestream media," and I wear the badge proudly. There was no way, I said to myself when I went to bed early on Tuesday night, America was going to elect a bad joke. 

   We had a cowboy come in on Wednesday to renew his incarcerated son's subscription. The father, who is hispanic, voted for Trump. He couldn't say enough nice things about the president-elect. He wasn't alone. Close to 30% of hispanics voted for Trump. And 53% of women.

   We weren't expecting any of this. On the other hand, I have to say, I expected this:

"TRUMP WON, you commie shmucks……..and remember, we all know who you are. This is a revolution, and you need to shaking in your boots. The Trump administration will reward its friends, and more importantly, remember its enemies. And you have exposed yourselves as the enemy by supporting the commie BITCH.

Again…we win, you lose."

—Hateful email to columnist Linda Valdez at The Arizona Republic

   Or this, from the other side:

"My problem? You and idiots like you, full of straight white male privilege, who never understood the life-or-death stakes of sexism, racism and homophobia in our recent election."
—Janelle (no last name given) railing against a columnist in the New York Times who had the audacity to suggest we should "look for the best in each other and talk about it."

   On the other hand, here's a post by my good friend Russ Shaw, Jr., who gave The Donald plenty of grief on his Facebook page for over a year now. Here is what Russ posted the day after the election:

"Donald Trump IS the winner.

I did not think this was going to happen. And it is NOT what I wanted or expected.

But it does not matter what I or anyone else thought would happen. He won.

Hopefully he will rise to the occasion. Maybe he will. I surely hope so!

If not, he will provide me (and therefore you) with at least four years of humor. And I promise not to be shy about that part.

But if he does a good job I promise to not be shy about that too!"

—Wonderful Russ

Now THIS is to me the kind of American I want to be.

Russ Shaw, Jr. live on the Rita Davenport Show when he ran for Governor of Arizona

 in 1974, as a write-in candidate.

   Great Big Wonderful received over 800 votes. I am proud to say I was his campaign manager. Some people like to say the election was stolen from Russ by Jack Williams and some electoral shenanigans at a certain college (Al Collins Graphic Design Institute) but I won't go that far. I will say this, and I'm quoting Russ Shaw here: "I can't prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but I can say with some conviction, a whole bunch of Americans have had a humor bypass."

The biggest takeaway I've heard so far on what happened is this:

"The press takes Donald Trump literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."

—Selena Zito, in The Atlantic

Cheating Death And Kicking Out The Jams

November 10, 2016
   Band reunion gigs have been dicey for me. My friends and family know I almost died from a band reunion the Exits played on March 22, 2008. We were rehearsing the extended drum solo on "Wipeout," when I had my own personal wipeout. Thanks to some fast acting bandmates—Terry Mitchell, Wayne & Cody Rutschman, Garry Conrad and Dr.  Michael Ward at Kingman Regional—I lived to fight another day.  

   This coming Sunday (Nov. 13) me and some of my former bandmates are going to be at Pranksters Too at Thomas and Hayden Roads in Scottsdale for the induction of the three Zonies, below, into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. I don't think I'm being inducted for my drumming, but we're going to rock out after the ceremony, which lasts from 4 until 7 p.m. and we would love for you to come. You can bring anyone you like, no cover (just a $10 recommended donation to the museum).

Tres Hombres Inducted

The Razz Band Revived

   Hans Olson is working on the songlist for the entertainment after the induction. Here, let me have Hans tell it:

   "One of the greatest things about the Razz and the times I've played with you in the past was the completely off the cuff faking aspect...we just had fun! The looseness was the best part. On 'Whole lotta love,' I say we just fake through it with you singing whatever you remember of it. . . do that break where you sing 'Woman! You need. . ." and we all scream  "loooooooooove!"... vamp a little while and end it...   If we try to act like we're a real band on a song like that, it will suck...It's too hard of a song to try and act like we really know it.. The other songs are so easy they will work no matter what."

—Hans

   And those songs will be:

1. Walk Don't Run (C)

2. Peppermint Twist (C)

3. Jumpin' Jack Flash (B)

4. Honkytonk Women G

5. Route 66 (A)

6. Carole (C)

7. Last Time (E)

8. Whole lotta love (E) (short goofy version?)

9. Louie Louie (E)

10. Gloria (E)

11. Out of time (C)

Alternative songs

• Twist and shout (C)

• Midnight Rambler (B) (Hans on harp)

• Paint it Black (E)

• Pipeline (E)

The Razz Band With Hans Olson and the Cosmo Topper dude, 1985-ish

"If I knew where the good songs came from, I'd go there more often."

-—Leonard Cohen 

The Classic Magdalena Cowboy Crew

November 9, 2016
   Here's a photo mystery for you. One of the least appreciated photographers of the Old West is Joseph E. Smith, who photographed around Socorro, New Mexico in the 1880s. He took some amazing photographs that deserve an entire, special issue of True West to deal with. First rodeo? I believe Joseph captured an impromptu one out on the San Augustine Plains in 1882.

   I recently ran across this photo from an old Life magazine feature about the last cattle drive in Magdalena, New Mexico.

These bad boys allegedly trailed the last bunch of cattle to the Magdalena stockyards

in the mid-1950s. They were the cowboy crew from the Double H Ranch.

   This photo is not a Joseph E. Smith photo, but it struck a nerve with me, because I have been driving through Magdalena, New Mexico for years when I motor over for the annual Lincoln Cowboy Symposium and I've often wondered when the cattle drives started and stopped in this sleepy village. Here I am cruising through the main intersection of Magdalena, during morning rush hour:

Magdalena, New Mexico rush hour—8:05 a.m.—October 11, 2013

   So, I knew that Joseph E. Smith took some great photographs around Magdalena in the mid-1880s and I wondered if he, perhaps, got any images of the Magdalena stockyards. Well, I didn't have to look far:

A Joseph E. Smith photograph of the Magdalena stockyards under construction in 1887.

   So, we know that the stockyards were open for business in 1887 and they lasted until the mid-1950s, but what about a photograph of actual 1880s cowboys straddling the railroad tracks?

A Joseph E. Smith photograph of a cowboy cattle drive at the Magdalena stockyards,

 from the New Mexico State University Library Archives.

   I have requested a high res scan of this image, that dates from 1890. Although you can't tell from this low res scan, this is a great photo and the gear on those cowboys will make you drool. Yes, no doubt about it, we need to do major feature on this Unsung Old West photographer.

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

—Old Cowboy Saying

He Gambled In The White House

November 8, 2016
   I voted. Then came home and whipped this out.

Daily Whip Out: "The Kid Draws Iron."

   Are they related? Probably.

There’s guns across the river aimin’ at ya
Lawman on your trail, he’d like to catch ya
Bounty hunters, too, they’d like to get ya
Billy, they don’t like you to be so free
—Bob Dylan, "Billy Theme #1"

Bob Dylan's Old West Original Songs
   We're still noodling the idea of running Bob Dylan on the cover of True West.

Thanks to two of my friends on Facebook, we have all the songs Bob Dylan wrote about the Old West. Compiled by Rasmus Holmberg and David Lambert:

Original Compositions About the Old West

• Rambling, Gambling Willie       

   (Bob Dylan)                                          

http://bobdylan.com/songs/rambling-gambling-willie/

• John Wesley Harding  

   (Bob Dylan)                                          

http://bobdylan.com/songs/john-wesley-harding/

• Wanted Man
(Bob Dylan)
http://bobdylan.com/songs/wanted-man/

• Billy

   (Bob Dylan)

   [version 1] http://bobdylan.com/songs/billy-1/  

   [version 4] http://bobdylan.com/songs/billy-4/  

   [version 7] http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:Billy_7  

• Knockin' on Heaven's Door

   (Bob Dylan)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/knockin-heavens-door/

• Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

   (Bob Dylan)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/lily-rosemary-and-jack-hearts/

• Romance in Durango

   (Bob Dylan, Jacques Levy)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/romance-durango/

• Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)

   (Bob Dylan)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/senor-tales-yankee-power/

• If You Ever Go to Houston

   (Bob Dylan, Robert Hunter)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/if-you-ever-go-houston/

Covers and Traditionals About the Old West

• The Hills of Mexico

   (Traditional)                                                         

http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:The_Hills_Of_Mexico

• Cool Water

   (Bob Nolan)                                                                             

http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:Cool_Water

• Ain't No More Cane

   (Traditional)                                                         

http://bobdylan.com/songs/aint-no-more-cane/

• Days of '49

   (Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Frank Warner)

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/daysof49.html

• In Search of Little Sadie

   (Traditional)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/search-little-sadie/

• Take a Message to Mary

   (Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/take-message-mary/

• Lily of the West

   (Traditional)

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/lilyofthewest.html

• Diamond Joe

   (Traditional)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/diamond-joe/

• Stack A Lee

   (Traditional)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/stack-lee/

Original Compositions With Lyrical References to the Old West

• Outlaw Blues  

   (Bob Dylan)      

http://bobdylan.com/songs/outlaw-blues/

• Tombstone Blues          

   (Bob Dylan)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/tombstone-blues/

• She's Your Lover Now

   (Bob Dylan)      

http://bobdylan.com/songs/shes-your-lover-now/

• Brownsville Girl

   (Bob Dylan)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/brownsville-girl/

Civil War Songs

• No More Auction Block              

   (Bob Dylan)                                          

http://bobdylan.com/songs/no-more-auction-block/

• Shenandoah

   (Traditional)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/shenandoah/

• Two Soldiers

   (Traditional)

http://bobdylan.com/songs/two-soldiers/

• 'Cross the Green Mountain

   (Bob Dylan)

http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Bob_Dylan:'Cross_The_Green_Mountain

David Lambert is an artist and screenwriter from Menifee, CA. His controversial Western The Scarlet Worm was released by Unearthed Films in 2012 and his artwork is viewable at Instagram.com/davidlambertart "

And Rasmus (usually called Russ when he is stateside) Holmberg lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. Russ is 36 years old and works as a detective investigator with the Gothenburg Police Department. When he was 5 years old he visited a Wild West theme park in Sweden called High Chaparral. He told his parents he was going to work there when he grew up (which he did, starting ten years later).
He has been doing serious Old West research for about 20 years. Russ discovered Bob Dylan as a teenager and his music and poetry has been his second biggest passion, behind the Wild West. Mr. Holmberg has been to the States a few times and visited Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He has also visited historic western sites such as Cody, Deadwood, Tombstone, Fort Worth, Atoka and Fort Smith. But, as he puts it, "I have to say Tombstone was something extra."

Tommy Johansson and Rasmus Holmberg visited the

True West World Headquarters on September 13 of this year while on

a tour of the Wild West. Both are from Sweden. I know. Amazing, huh? 

They love the West and all things cowboy.

He gambled in the White House and in the railroad yards
Wherever there was people, there was Willie and his cards
He had the reputation as the gamblin’est man around
Wives would keep their husbands home when Willie came to town
And it’s ride, Willie, ride
Roll, Willie, roll
Wherever you are a-gamblin’ now, nobody really knows.
—Bob Dylan,  "Rambling Gambling Willie

Jim Young: Unsung Arizona Trailblazer

November 7, 2016
   Working on a portrait for a forgotten Arizona pioneer who needs a headstone.

Daily Whip Out: "Jim Young, Unsung Arizona Trailblazer"

   It's either the portrait or an etching of him riding hard on the border:

Daily Whip Out: "Jim Young Riding Hard"

   Here's the basic direction on the headstone:

Sketch ideas on Jim Young headstone

   We're waiting for Dan The Man Harshberger's graphic application on these. I may go home and do one more horseback version.

   Okay, went home for lunch and referenced several sketches I did yesterday:

Daily Whip Outs: "More Jim Young Sketches"

Also did another take on the riding angle:

Daily Whip Outs: "Jim Young Rough Riding"

  Note how the looseness of the riding is much more fluid than the "finished" version. Decided to try a scratchboard of this basic idea:

Daily Whip Out: "Black Man On A White Horse"

   Still not right. Need to let it go. Yeah, right.

"This is a grave matter."

—Old Vaquero Saying