May 22, 2004
Samantha has been selling True West Maniac Club memberships, like, well, a maniac. The dang club ain’t even open for business yet (it’ll be on the site right here very soon), and she’s already sold six. The first one she sold was from a couple in South Carolina who found us on the newsstand there, never knew we existed, bought an issue and called the next day to inquire about a subscription. Samantha sold her and her husband the deal ($149). She is the number one charter member and receives a lifetime subscription, plus tons of other goodies.

This morning I bailed into a scratchboard of John Selman creeping through the swinging doors of the Acme Saloon on a hot and humid El Paso night. Have a couple more I want to do this weekend.

Henry Martinez of Reserve, New Mexico called and said the town is offering a scholarship to a local student who writes the best piece on their local hero Elfego Baca. This is all part of Henry’s efforts to build a museum in Reserve for the famous Old West lawman and to promote and encourage the unique history of their little town. Henry sent me the winning essay. Here it is:

Elfego Baca Scholarsip Application:
Please write an essay of 500-1000 words describing what you feel are the important lessons learned from the life and times of Elfego Baca

Winning entry:
Lindsy Glick
GPA: 4.04
Plans after High School: attend Goshen College, Indiana
Career Goal: to do God’s will for me—possibly mission work after college

Lessons from a Legend
“Most everyone enjoys hearing stories about ‘wild west,’ but it is not often that those stories are factual, and that the events of the story took place a few blocks down the road. These thoughts kept occurring to me as I read about the noble Mexican-born youth, Elfego Baca.

“The most prominent lesson that immediately hovers in my mind from the story of this man, concerns the numerical odds he faced when challenging the huge lot of unruly cowboys. He had one purpose: to stop the actions that he felt were wrong. Elfego paid no heed to fact that he was one man, and the cowboys were a massive group. Yet the odds did matter, and did not win; Elfego’s mission was successful. This lesson is a great one when pondering the gigantic odds that often seemed stacked against us. That is not to say we should ignore opposition to our goals, but we should consider a way to get around them, or through them, in order to succeed. We should not give up, thinking that ‘there are just too many cowboys.’

“Another thing that strikes me about Elfego’s story is the reversal of malice (or at least spite). It is obvious by the 367 bullet holes in the door of Elfego’s hideout that the cowboys did not appreciate the authority and law that Elfego was enforcing. However, after a third party (with a badge) arrived and made a treaty between the sides, the cowboys drank with Elfego, and he told them how he managed to survive their bullet massacre. I imagine gruff, dusty men sitting at the bar laughing at the scene which they just ended—as enemies moments before. It seems that Elfego won the respect of his adversaries; not only by his miraculous survival, but perhaps because he refused to give in even while facing likely death. He would not surrender himself, and with himself his morals and his mission.

“This is an additional thing to remember when facing a multitude of opponents, or even peers: continue to do what you know is right. Even if the others do not agree now, and seem to hate you, you may yet prevail. And, you will leave with a clear conscience, no matter what the outcome.

“Though the wild times that Elfego Baca lived in have come to an end, or settled down, these lessons will never lose their truth. Never give up; you can win against great odds; stand up for what is right; do not give in to any amount of pressure. He proved all of these things to be valid. The greatest of these lessons, though, lies within the greatest thing Elfego did: Elfego Baca did what was right. He did not let anything get in his way, and this makes his feat more impressive, but his most commendable act was doing right by stopping wrong. After hearing about the wrong done to Mexicans, he set out to make it right, with no hesitations. After surviving great peril, he left the small town as he set out to leave it: peaceful.”
—Lindsay Glick

“Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.”
—Garrison Keillor

Bob Boze 1:39 PM

May 21, 2004
The tv show I worked on and provided artwork for, Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral will premiere this coming Monday night on the History Channel (10:10 PM Eastern). Paul Hutton and Bill Kurtis both told me they think it’s the best show they’ve done yet. Looking forward to seeing it.

Worst pun in a newspaper since, well, yesterday, ’Troy’: Hollywood hits a homer. Why is it that print media is the absolute worst perpetrator of bad puns, that would get you pummeled and shunned at any social gathering in the continental United States? I’ll tell you one reason: because the people who write them are far, far away when you read them, and you can’t track them down quick enough to throttle them. That’s why.

Last night Bart Bull came over to the casa bearing two videos: Serge Leon’s A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More. I hadn’t seen either since at least 1967 (Double feature, El Rancho Drive-in, Tucson, Arizona) and I had forgotten just how revolutionary and fun they were. As Bart puts it, “the first five minutes of Fistful destroys all the American Westerns of the previous two decades.” Clint is drinking water from a well in a small border town. The Mexican adobes are of course, actually in Spain, and having just been there last Christmas I was especially excited to see the terrain, which was just as I remembered it. And the houses were real adobe as they should be on the Mexican border. Most Westerns from the so-called Classic period, are frame buildings, and on the “back lot” in the San Fernando Valley, to boot. Clint drinks his water and watches as a young Mexican kid is abused and shot at. “This is where John Wayne would be going to the boy’s rescue,” Bart narrated, as Eastwood drinks his water and looks on bemused. And he ultimately doesn’t save the kid. How shocking and revolutionary is that!? “Of course, by this time,” Bart continued, “John Wayne is thundering toward the exit of the movie theatre.” Way true. Wayne hated the Spaghetti Westerns because they undid all the things he thought Westerns should be about. Serge Leon was reportedly stunned by the hostility, because he thought he was making an homage to the Westerns he loved. The other thing that was so profound was how much the films were obviously influenced by comic books. A giant hand dangles next to a holstered gun in extreme close-up, while the opponent ripples in a heatwave, far in the distance. Way cool. And so Mexican, or Italian, or both. One of the stars of the films is the music. It’s got that Mexican bullfight meets Duane Eddy meets the Mitch Miller Choir on acid deal going and it’s just genius.

Other than that, I didn’t think much of the films. Ha.

"No matter what a man's past may have been, his future is spotless."
—John R. Rice

Bob Boze 3:51 PM

May 21, 2004
Lots of controversy in the office about the next cover. We first plugged in a famous photo of John Wesley Hardin at age 18, but it just didn’t look right. Hardin was shot down at age 42 (he’s being featured in Classic Gunfights), so the earlier photo just seemed wrong. So we sent down the morgue shot of Hardin to Dan yesterday and he whipped out three versions, one close-up and colorized, another two, black and white, with the frame of the photo card showing. The most common reaction has been, “You’re not going to put that on the cover, are you?” Robert Ray absolutely hates it and thinks the headline is way intrusive and overdone. I may post it here to get your opinions.

Speaking of opinions, we have a new poll up. “Do you think buffalo are still an endangered species?” You can vote right here.

More social observations from our correspondent in Spain:
“Valencia just won the UEFA cup which is the winner of the Spanish league and the winner of the French league. That´s two things they have won in one year and the place is going crazy. We went down to the Politecnico University where they played the game on a huge screen and had a bar and announcer set up. There were hundreds of people sitting on the grass and people would always cut across to get to the bar. We couldn´t see the game while they were cutting so people would start yelling and throwing trash at them. The funny thing though is that when a couple of hot girls walked through, instead of getting trash thrown they would get a round of applause. Spaniards are funny.”
—Tomcat

“The ethics of any idea are completely overruled by a good logo."
—Kathy Radina, speaking of her husband’s main, guiding principal

Bob Boze 2:26 PM

May 19, 2004
The road association finished paving two rough sections of the Old Stage Road area last night. We can’t drive on it until this afternoon and had to park last night, up the road a piece and walk home. Surprised the dogs, who are used to seeing us drive up.

Had a planning session yesterday, tweaking departments, culling out the weak stuff. Much debate and disagreement. Felt good and we have a bigger planning session on tap today.

Gus copied and grafted a section of two paintings of John Wesley Hardin onto another version of the same painting. Here’s what happened. I painted a proposed cover for Leon Metz’s book, and the publisher rejected it. So I took a photo of it, then painted over the original, adding detail to his hands and guns (I also added a mustache). As it so often turns out, I liked the face in one and the hands in another. Thanks to Gus and Photoshop they now reside in the same image.

“Experience, the name men give to their mistakes.”
—Oscar Wildee

Bob Boze 7:35 AM

May 18, 2004
Yesterday, Dave Daiss and I left at six in the morning and drove up to Young to visit the historical Tewksbury Ranch where one of the gunfights in the Pleasant Valley War took place. The ranch is owned by Bobby Sicora, of Bobby McGee’s fame, and he bought a full page ad to advertise the ranch for sale in the next issue. Dave is always in the ranch buying mood, and I wanted to see the place because this is the gunfight where they had to stop the shooting because the hogs were eating one of the bodies (sound familiar, Deadwood fans?).

It’s about a three hour run up the Beeline. Stopped in Payson at the Knotty Pine Cafe and had the special (ham and eggs, hashbrowns and sourdough toast, I bought $16 cash, includes tip).

Got up to Young at about 9:30, met Linda, who drove us out to the ranch. Rough roads, many dry creek crossings, which she told us are normally wet and running. She showed us one spot where she got trapped and had to walk out.

Ranch is great. Found the graves of the two victims, took photos. Checked out the guest house (picture Bobby McGee’s tricked out ranch style). Got back to Young at noon, and took our host to lunch at the only cafe open. Worst service I have encountered in a decade (didn’t get menus or drinks for a good twenty minutes. Waitress surly and curt. Had a cheeseburger with green chiles and iced tea (bill was $15, and I left a twenty. Why do I tip bad service?! It must be Lutheran guilt).

Came back the Globe way, All dirt roads with a smattering of pavement at odd places. Got back to Cave Creek at five. On the road for 11 hours. Fun and informative. I think we’ll get several articles out of it.

Got an e-mail from my son Thomas in Spain. He is busy studying abroad, literally:

“Frank just got back from Italy with his mom and his sister and was in France the other week. The verdict on the girls is in and I happen to agree with him. France and Italy have some really drop dead gorgeous girls but the rest are really sub par. Neither can compete with Spain. Spain has probably the biggest middle class of good looking girls we´ve ever seen and some drop dead gorgeous girls on top of that. So the US has the biggest economic middle class and Spain the biggest cute girl middle class.”

“It’s a wise man who knows his father.”
—Dave Daiss quoting Shakespeare

Bob Boze 6:42 AM

May 16, 2004
Yesterday at three I was a guest on Gordon Smith's KXAM (1310 AM) radio show: The name of his show is Mind Your Business and he talks to small business owners and asks the tough questions: "How do you keep the doors open?" He is so funny. I came right at three, there was five minutes of news and so he was a tad nervous whether I would make it, so he went out by the elevator to wait for me. I came in the lobby and there was a moving company moving in a huge amount of office equipment and they had the elevator jammed, so I went around to the stairs, walked up, went in the studio and Gordon wasn't there. I asked the producer where he was and he didn't know. So I open the door to the hall, and here comes Gordon from the elevator area and I start to say, "I used the stairs," but before I can get it out, he says, "Save it for the show! Save it for the show!" which is something I always rode about him on our show, when we would get to talking off the air, and then when we'd try to revisit those same stories on the air, they were never as good, so anyway, the Gordone makes me laugh, and we laughed for an hour straight. Went by very quickly.

Working on a couple of illustrations today. One is a cover illustration for a friend of mine. Knocked out two images, in scratchboard. Always struggling. Never gets any easier. Never quite what I wanted it to be.

My neighbor JD came down and looked at my driveway and all the rocks I've collected. He recommended I come down with my truck and load up with his creek rock. I will definitely take him up on that offer.

That's Mike Melrose and the mysterious Ms. M on yesterday's posting. Photo taken at El Encanto last week. She is a hypno-therapist, and it is my hope that she will hypnotise Melrose and plant the suggestion that he's a computer nut and marriage material.

As Mike would undoubtably say, "Not going to happen."

Kathy came out this afternoon and cleaned part of my studio. Really needs a woman's touch. I can actually see the floor in several areas.

"Jennifer Lopez is engaged to Latin singer Marc Anthony. Lopez said she was excited because she's never been engaged to a guy named Marc."
-Conan O'Brien

Bob Boze 4:02 PM

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