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Featured Blog Posts – April 2010 Archive (24)
Lessons Learned At Procrastination Seminar
It was a week ago today that I spent the day in a procrastination seminar. It cost my wife $185 ("Money well spent," she told me). So, to save you $185, here are the four main things I got out of it:
• Ask yourself this question: What do I need to stop doing and start doing in order to succeed? (I told this… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 30, 2010 at 9:55am — 5 Comments
Male Bird Tango
Every spring we have birds who start pecking on our windows. I read somewhere, perhaps in Clay Thompson's column in the Arizona Republic. that these are male birds who see themselves in the reflection and think it's a rival male trying to make time in their territory and so they peck at the reflection.
This year's annual male bird tango started more than two weeks ago and one bird in… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 29, 2010 at 9:51am — 1 Comment
Billy the Kid's First Press Conference
Worked last night on sketches for the Digging Up Billy the Kid cover illustration. I have great reference—thanks to Robert Ray—of a dead guy sitting up in his coffin and giving his first press conference:
That, and the other photos led me to here:…
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 29, 2010 at 8:57am — 7 Comments
How to Enjoy A Wench On A Sandbar
Got this in this morning from Chalfont St. Giles, Britain:
Bob ~ Something happen to your blog? -- it hasn't been updated for yonks, while your posts are available on the "Community" section of the TW website. No sweat, but I can't believe I'm the only one who noticed this. Incidentally, and I quote you ["take the anchor, out in a small boat and plant the sucker on the far side of the sand bar, take out the slack with a
wench, and then hand… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 28, 2010 at 9:00am — 3 Comments
Mickey Free: Headhunter
Went home for lunch and looked through my stack of 10,000 Bad Drawings sketchbooks and found this page of roughs from March 7, 2007:
This was right after Paul Hutton and I joined Bob Brink in New York to attend the annual New York Comic Con in February of 2007. No doubt inspired (or infected) by the mucho macho Manga…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on April 27, 2010 at 3:00pm — 5 Comments
Steamboats Skimming The Colorado
Thanks to the Googling expertese of Meghan Saar, I finally located Richard Lingenfelter, the author of "Steamboats on the Colorado". He lives in San Diego and on the phone answered a critical question for me about one of the techniques that the early Steamboat pilots used to get over sandbars. When these intrepid men, like Jack Mellon, would encounter a sandbar they had several methods for getting over them (all they needed was two… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 27, 2010 at 10:44am — 2 Comments
What The Kids Taught Me This Weekend
I'm relatively new to the art teaching profession, having taught my
first real class of students in February at the Orme Ranch School.
Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching two classes of about 20 kids
in each class at the Vision Gallery, which is on the west side of the
old-town plaza in Chandler. It's part of a program for the Chandler
Center for the Arts and since schools are cutting out art from… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 25, 2010 at 12:48pm — 2 Comments
Wanted! More Unwanted Immigrants
Lots of talk in Arizona about a tough new immigration bill our governor is considering signing. Very contentious on both sides and to hear them talk you'd think this is something we have never faced before.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Case in point:
"For every…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on April 22, 2010 at 4:54pm — 2 Comments
O.K. Corral Fight Inquest Papers O.K.
Everybody, I mean everybody, has forwarded me the news about the O.K. Corral inquest papers being found. Unfortunately, the reports make it seem as if these have been missing since 1881, but that is not the case.
Here is Mark Boardman's take on the find:
"Just to be clear--this is the Coroner's Inquest, done the same day as the Street Fight. It is not the trial inquest (the so-called Earp Hearing). The originals of… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 22, 2010 at 9:46am — 4 Comments
Why Is The Colorado River So Cold?
When I was growing up in Kingman many families went "to the lake" on the weekend to boat and water ski. That would be Lake Mohave. Even though it was blistering hot out, the water was not warm, but it was warm enough to swim comfortably.
But the real shocker was when we went to the river at Bullhead, just below Davis Dam, it was really cold. We were always told it was freezing cold because of the water coming out of the… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 20, 2010 at 4:00pm — 9 Comments
Finger Rock Vs. Eagle Rock
One of the questions I often get is "What happened to the Billy the Kid dig?" Well, Mark Boardman is on the trail of this wacky, bizarre story and I'm planning on a cover painting to illustrate it. Going to start roughs this weekend. Mark has been sending me a few of his observations and I was laughing out loud this morning reading them.
Also working on a steamboat painting. Got some excellent photo reference on my trip back… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 20, 2010 at 11:07am — 2 Comments
True West Moments From The Arizona Republic
Thanks to Meghan Saar and Abby Goodrich we finally have all the True West Moments that have run in the Arizona Republic up on this site. Check them out right here:
http://www.truewestmagazine.com/stories/a_true_west_moment/1465/…
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 19, 2010 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments
Arizona History Conference & Martha's Voice
In Laughlin for the Arizona History Conference. This morning at ten, Robert Ray and Meghan Saar joined me for a presentation "paper" on "The Battle of Big, Dry, History." We cross examined, via a slide show, how we create our Classic Gunfights and the hurdles to accurate history. Went really well. Had a surprise guest: Dr. Sam Palmer, who is the unmoved mover on the actual Battle of Big Dry Wash fight in 1882. Pulled him right out of… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 16, 2010 at 5:26pm — 1 Comment
Hope For the West In The East
Got this interesting link to a story about young Japanese girls who are hooked on history. While it's the history of Japan they are attracted to, the parallels to our Western history are compelling.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125898462
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 14, 2010 at 11:24am — 1 Comment
Bell On Wheels Vs. The Cash Cow
Yesterday I posted a scratchboard of Coyote Pass near Kingman and a friend asked me, "Didn't your dad used to drive you as a baby over that pass in a '49 Ford? And don't you wish you still had that Ford?"
Yes, and yes. Here is a photo of my father and his pit crew on the annual Route 66 Fun Run in 1993:…
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 14, 2010 at 9:30am — 5 Comments
Memories of Coyote Pass
Cooler out and cloudy, but no rain. Actually very nice out.
I'm rereading Martha Summerhayes' Vanished Arizona and enjoying it even more than the first five times I read it. One of the main reasons I always enjoy her adventures is that she goes right through my old stomping grounds. The soldier columns followed the freighting outfits, run by Captain Hardy, as they marched up from Fort… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 13, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments
Gunshots & Landscapes
Went for a walk with Peaches at about 7:30 this morning. Just about perfect out. Halfway up Old Stage Road Peaches lurched around on her leash and I turned to see a large coyote coming right up behind us, within fifteen feet. My big "Hey!" and my flailing arm movements scared him off, but barely. He merely loped off about fifty yards and looked at us contemptuously.
Walked on with no further incidents although I met a woman on… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 10, 2010 at 11:00am — 7 Comments
NPR Radio Interview On Buffalo Bill Museum
I did a taped interview earlier this week for "Colorado Matters" a KCFR (Colorado Public Radio) program. The subject was us naming two Colorado museums in our top ten museums piece in the current issue of True West. Here is the info, if you want to access the interview:
The interview with Bob Boze Bell is currently scheduled to air today,
Friday, April 9 on Colorado Matters.
Here's how you can… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 9, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments
Steamboat Willies & Bandido Billys
Still gripped by the lore of the Colorado steamboats. This is one of the blessings of Attention Deficit Disorder. I wake up excited to learn more. Unlike
George Eastman, the unmoved mover of Kodak, I have never awakened in
the morning and said, "I have nothing to live for."
I never realized how much of the world I grew up in (Mohave County, Arizona) was developed from the opening of the river to steamboat access in… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 8, 2010 at 10:53am — 6 Comments
Rollin' On A River of Reticular Activity
Got a call from my road warrior daughter yesterday. She was driving from Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin to give 401K presentations at a slaughter house (they recommended she stop and buy Vick's to rub under her nose to combat the smell). She was supposed to fly into Milwaukee and fly straight in, but flights were canceled and she ended up in Chicago with a rental car. I told her I hoped the scenery was good and she told me it was foggy… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on April 7, 2010 at 10:30am — 4 Comments
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