Blogs - True West Historical Society

A Stroll Down Ricca Drive

March 31, 2009

On Saturday morning, bandmate Wayne Rutschman and I decided to walk from the King's Inn to the final rehearsal at the Fairgrounds. Crossing Old Route 66 we walked straight into Ricca Drive (the very first subdivision in Kingman) and, of course, as we walked, we began pointing out the houses where many of the coolest girls in Kingman lived when we were in high school. Among the houses we pointed out, were the houses of Michele Gilpin, Gail Nash, Debbie Dunton, Karen… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 31, 2009 at 3:00pm — 4 Comments

Exits Exit First Look

March 31, 2009

Here are two photos taken from an iPhone of the opening at the Kingman Fairgrounds last Saturday night. The woman at left, is a hospital administrator who looked in our high school annual and came to the Exits Exit dressed exactly like Dorian Trahan. She had a bow in her hair and everything:

After… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 31, 2009 at 9:30am — 10 Comments

D J View, All Over Again

March 30, 2009

The ceiling lights of the ambulance looked vaguely familiar, but the oxygen mask fogged my glasses, blurring out everything. I felt my heart beat quicken as the driver hit the siren. The attendant leaned over me and said, "The last time we did this you had no pulse and no heartbeat."

I knew one thing: it was D J View, all over again.

I heard the sliding doors rake open as the gurney jiggled and then lurched onto cement. I could hear gasps and… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 30, 2009 at 3:04pm — 5 Comments

Dick Tracy, Steve Canyon, Mickey Free And The Smartest Kid On Earth

March 26, 2009

Went home for lunch and whipped out a cool little piece on Mickey Free's contentious relationship with his jack mule:

This, by the way, was a daily occurrence for the Mickster. Whenever he set out on the trail, his combative mule always gave him a chance at a blue sky experience. The name of the painting is: "Damn You Tu!" (Free called his mule Tu, which is Spanish for "you".)

Been studying… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 26, 2009 at 4:15pm — 10 Comments

Loves Authentic Western Cooking

March 25, 2009

Carole Glenn often gives us feedback on the phones so we can guage our reader's temperature. Here is a call she took today:

News From The Front Lines

Laura N. called to renew her subscription today. After she completed this, she asked Lynda to speak to a supervisor and Lynda put her through to me. Laura was laid off last September from her job with Toyota as Customer Service Specialist. She wanted us to know that Lynda was very sincere and had… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 25, 2009 at 4:40pm — 4 Comments

Hot Licks For Hospital Fix

March 25, 2009

I did something last night that I haven't done for the past 367 days: I got my drums out and actually laid some licks on them. The last time I did this was on March 22, 2008 at the Old Elks Lodge in Kingman. Didn't have the heart to do Wipeout, yet.

Ha.

The benefit concert to raise money for Kingman Regional Hospital is this Saturday night at the Fairgrounds.

We're having a big debate here at the magazine on how to monetize… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 25, 2009 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Shoot For The Stars (And Stripes, Brits)!

March 24, 2009

When Shoot magazine went out of business last year, we took over their subscription list to honor the remaining issues owed to subscribers. I received this email from a former Shoot subscriber:

On Mar 23, 2009, at 9:00 PM, Hugh Macmillan wrote:

Dear Bob,

64 years ago, in England where I was born, I fell in love. Which may seem a little strange as I was only 10 years old at the time. The object of my affection was Western movies.… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 24, 2009 at 4:15pm — 5 Comments

Josh Brolin And A Neigh In The Night

March 24, 2009

We get so far out front of ourselves that I often lose track of where we are. Case in point: May is at the printer and we are working on parts of June and July and September issues. Someone at Festival of the West asked me about the Alamo and I had to stop and think if that is already out, or if it's something we are working on, or something we did two years ago (the Alamo piece is at the printer).

I finished Tom Lea's "The Wonderful Country" on Sunday.… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 24, 2009 at 10:30am — 6 Comments

Inflamations of The Hutton and Bullis Kind

March 23, 2009

Got the word yesterday that the Top Secret Writer was in the hospital for the past two days. He's had pneumonia for eight weeks (he wasn't feeling well last weekend when we hiked to Cottonwood Springs but he was hoping this was the end of it). He didn't get better and Tracy Lee was driving Hutton to the emergency room when he passed out. They had him on a drip. He told me from his room, "I can be this miserable at home." Got a Blackberry message this afternoon that… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 23, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

BBB Death Postponed With Massive Love-In

March 22, 2009

It was a year ago today. Believe me when I say that I perused today's obits with extra interest. All of those fine people (there were multiple pages) lived through March 22 of last year, but didn't make it to this anniversary. For some strange reason through a bizarre series of flukes (and some great friends), I did.

As if it was a staged event, yesterday at Festival of The West was a massive love fest. Literally hundreds of fans walked up to our booth all… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 22, 2009 at 9:29am — 14 Comments

Stronger Blacks, Whiter Whites

March 20, 2009

Going to my Wallace speech in about ten minutes, then over to Westworld for an appearance at Festival of The West.

Worked last night on a clean scratchboard style for the Mickey Free book:

More later.

"The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money."

—A. J.… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 20, 2009 at 10:37am — 2 Comments

Wallace And Ad Mo' Pocket Money

March 18, 2009

In meetings most of the day, developing a new category for True West. We flew in an experienced editor from Minneapolis who is an expert on the category and we discussed ways to make it pay (i.e. mo' ads).

Trish and Michelle are on their way to Festival of the West to set up our booth down at Westworld. It runs thru Sunday. I'll be out there all day Saturday.

Yesterday, I got a phone message: "Bob, this is Wallace. Call me." I thought to… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 18, 2009 at 3:30pm — 5 Comments

Half A Happy Baby Ending

March 17, 2009

I have been in a funk all day. I went to yoga this morning and just couldn't stop kicking myself for blowing that Alamo cover painting. We did a half-a-happy-baby pose, but I wasn't a very happy baby. That scene was so sweet in my mind's eye and I just cartooned it.

Damn it all! I just hate being so incompetent.

Meanwhile, our water heater sprang a leak last night so I had to go home after yoga and wait for the plumber. I took the opportunity to… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 17, 2009 at 4:00pm — 6 Comments

Iron Springs Mystery Solved?

March 16, 2009

It just never seemed right to me. The first time I went out to Iron Springs (actually styled Mescal Springs on modern topo maps) was in March of 1980. Kathy was eight-and-one-half months pregnant and I hauled her out there in a borrowed truck (my truck overheated on a side trip to Arivaca and we had to leave it there to get a new radiator. Undeterred, I borrowed Johnny Weinkauf's pickup and we took off for the site of the infamous Curly Bill shootout). I brought along… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 16, 2009 at 3:30pm — 9 Comments

From Mescal Springs Mystery to Alamo Plaza Cartoon

March 16, 2009

Back from a busy Southern Arizona jaunt. Got in at eight last night. Spoke at the very first Tucson Festival of The Book on Saturday. They were expecting 50,000 (and I think they came close); the organizers worked on it for 18 months. Went to dinner with the director of the Arizona Historical Society, Bruce D., and Paul Andrew Hutton at Maynard's, a new restaurant in the old train station (where Wyatt and Doc got Frank Stilwell). Long day Sunday out in the Whetstone… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 16, 2009 at 11:05am — 6 Comments

Alamo Failures In Progress

March 13, 2009

Went home around ten and bailed right into a series of Alamo covers. In typical fashion, I ruined two immediately. Here's they are:

Looks more like Rosy The Riveter than Davy Crockett. Didn't like the building development either. The other one ended up looking more like Che:

This one could be called "The Wrath of Crockett," as Davy cleans out the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 13, 2009 at 3:42pm — 4 Comments

Alamo Due Diligence

March 13, 2009

I started on the Alamo cover assignment about a week ago. Before that we considered using part of the big painting done for John Wayne's The Alamo, but it had two problems: it was too busy for effective cover copy placement, and, although it's a great painting, it really doesn't look like John Wayne (which is always a plus for commercial covers).

We were going to zone in on a vertical (magazine cover… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 13, 2009 at 9:23am — No Comments

Alamo Cover-age

March 12, 2009

The Alamo cover package is getting better by the hour. Lots of loose ends and quote tweaking, high res images retrieval (Meghan tracked down a photographer in England last night who ended up sending us a great photo of the plaza today, showing all the modern buildings. Everyone shoots away from the sky scrapers.)

The feature layout went down to Dan The Man Harshberger today and he is going to put his creative stamp on it. I'm still wrestling with the cover… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 12, 2009 at 10:25am — 4 Comments

The Battle For Alamo Plaza Sketches

March 11, 2009

Worked last night on desert color schemes and a silhouette idea for the Alamo cover:

This morning I whipped out these sketches, taking the concept a bit further:

I'm thinking of the headline: The Battle For Alamo Plaza

With the subhead: Guess Who's Winning?

May change it, as we move through the process. Or,… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 11, 2009 at 9:10am — 4 Comments

Remember To Render The Alamo

March 10, 2009

Had a design review for the June issue with Robert Ray, Abby Goodrich, Meghan Saar and our intern, Ashley Briggs, at ten this morning. Went over images to make each and every feature pop. Going to do a four-page potato chip on the V-topped boots and knife sheath in front of holster thread that ran in this space several weeks ago. Excellent photos from The Lawmen of Texas.

Going home this afternoon to work on the Alamo cover illustration. Had Robert… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on March 10, 2009 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments

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