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Clouds On the Horizon?
January 6, 2010
Long day doing budgets and planning. Hard work, but worth the effort.
My son called me yesterday and said, "Adrian's is dead to me." I laughed and instinctively knew exactly what he was talking about. One of our favorite Phoenix Mexican food restaurants has always been Adrian's on McDowell Road. Ed Mell turned us on to it and many times after returning to Phoenix and landing at Sky Harbor, we have stopped at Adrian's for a welcome…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on January 6, 2011 at 5:49pm — No Comments
BBB on CNN
January 3, 2011
Back in the office for a new year. Ken and Lucinda Amorosano are here from New Mexico and we're meeting to go over goals and strategies for 2011. Very exciting. 1010 was a good year and we're hoping for a better year coming up.
Recollections of A DiscomBOBulated Head
I'm not sure who recommended me to The Wall Street Journal, but I got a call from a reporter last week about the impending decision…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on January 3, 2011 at 12:00pm — 10 Comments
Quotable Quotes
December 27, 2010
Did a phone interview with the Wall Street Journal at lunchtime today. They are doing a story on Governor Bill Richardson's threatened pardon of Billy the Kid. Supposed to run in tomorrow's edition. Did another phoner with a Durango, Colorado radio station about them being crowned a Top Ten Western Town in our current issue.
After the interview I whipped out a nice little fire rider study:…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 27, 2010 at 3:08pm — 7 Comments
True Grit Here We Come!
December 20, 2010
Since we're about 40 hours out from the opening of the new True Grit, let's take one last look before you go take a look:
As one of the critics, who has seen it, remarked: it's the least ironic of all the Coen brothers' movies. Being a fan of The Big Lebowski, Fargo and No Country For Old Men (okay, two thirds of it), I think this played into my expectations. I was expecting more Dude and less…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 20, 2010 at 3:00pm — 9 Comments
Healthy bacon and Jo Jo Left His Home In Tucson, Arizona
December, 17, 2010
Someone asked me what Yoko Ono has to do with anything Western and to that I say, quite a bit actually. Last week I attended the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas and, as mentioned, the music was wall to wall Metal Town with AC/DC sort of being the house band. About the lightest thing I heard was "Get Back" by the Beatles. Given the tenor of the tunes it seemed a tad light, but then I realized they played it when one of the competitors, who was named…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 17, 2010 at 2:43pm — 3 Comments
Cowboy Christmas Wrap-up
December 13, 21010
Back from Vegas and Cowboy Christmas. Met lots of readers and fans, met a ton of new subscribers and soon to be readers. Gave out several thousand True West Source Books. Got the method down to a science: I would spot a guy coming down the aisle and I would accost the wife, saying, "He's into history, isn't he?" The wife would invariable say, "Why yes he is. How did you know?" Then I would hand the Source Book to her in a bag and say, "It's…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 13, 2010 at 4:00pm — 1 Comment
Hat Rant Recap
Just got in the new Cowan's Auction catalog today (December 10, 2010), and it has some wonderful new images in it. First up, here is a photograph I have never seen of John Clum of Tombstone Epitaph newspaper fame. This was obviously taken before Tombstone, when he was the agent for the Apaches at San Carlos:…
Added by Bob Boze Bell on December 6, 2010 at 2:56pm — 6 Comments
Mickey Free's Mammoth Jack
Worked hard this weekend trying to wrap up a series of paintings before departing this Thursday for Cowboy Christmas in Vegas. Was supposed to go last week, but last minute changes in our cover story forced me to change schedules with another staff member (Sheri Riley).
Going to feature Mickey Free and his 16-hands-high mammoth jack in the next installment of Graphic Cinema. Here is the Mick, astride that mammoth… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on December 6, 2010 at 12:03pm — 1 Comment
Red Storm Rising & The Dude vs. The Duke
Still tweaking our January cover which goes to the printer on Tuesday. Working from home, Meghan Saar emailed me she wants to get in our coverage of the new True Grit (The Duke vs. The Dude), which Henry Beck did a great job on. So Dan The Man added that cover blurb to the mix.
Several of my friends have already seen the new True Grit and the… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on December 3, 2010 at 2:30pm — 4 Comments
Cowgirl-Steampunk Action At Cowboy Christmas
Got these photos from Allison Cabral at our booth in Vegas:
That's a Steampunk deal around Allison's neck. Steampunk is all the go now. We are doing a cover story on the phenom shortly. Bascially, it's Victorian Science Fiction, best exemplified by the old classic TV show "Wild, Wild West," which had as a theme,…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 3, 2010 at 12:33pm — No Comments
The 150th Anniversary of the Cochise-Bascom Affair
Home stretch on our big Apache Wars package for the January-February issue. We are telling the story all the way from Felix Ward's kidnapping to the Cochise, Cut-The-Tent, so-called Bascom Affair, on through the 1880s and up to and including the latest Geronimo movie. Quite a spread of images and text, with a massive timeline, wonderful original photos from the collection of R. G. McCubbin, John Langellier and the Sharlot Hall Museum… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on December 2, 2010 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment
Our Women Warriors Are At Cowboy Christmas
Allison Cabral and Sheri Riley motored to Las Vegas today, meeting Ken Amorosano at the Madalay Bay Exposition Center to set up our booth for this year's Cowboy Christmas. Here is Allison in the booth:
That is a sneak peek at our January cover, "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" (which goes to press tomorrow, but we made a…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on December 1, 2010 at 5:00pm — 2 Comments
Beh-to The Mexican Apache
Worked at lunch today on an image of Beh-to, also called Victor, a captured Mexican boy who grew up to be an Apache warrior. And, in fact, is the leader of the Coyotero raiders who kidnapped Felix Ward on January 27, 1861. I wondered what a Mexican boy raised as an Apache might look like, so utilizing some stills I took off the TV a month or so ago (the Mexican Pancho Villa movies that ran on the Westerns Channel), I extrapolated… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on December 1, 2010 at 3:07pm — No Comments
The Birth of Mickey Free
Woke up early and got out to the studio at seven to attack a long list of images I want for the next Graphic Cinema on the Birth of Mickey Free. Finished up a couple hanging illustrations like this one:
This is of the Coyoteros escaping towards the San Pedro with 20 head of John Ward's cattle and his step-son.…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on November 30, 2010 at 2:55pm — No Comments
Vaquero Joe vs. Tom Horn
Last night at the Buffalo Chip, Vaquero Joe Freedman rode a bull. Yes, a real sized-rodeo bull. The Chip has been having these bull riding sessions out back of the saloon and Joe told me he was going to ride. Now I had mixed feelings about this because, yesterday was Joe's best day ever at True West. He sold a ton of ad space, more than he has ever sold, IN ONE DAY! I thought to myself, finally, after a year, Joe gets untracked and… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on November 18, 2010 at 5:59pm — 4 Comments
George Warren: The Man Who Thought He Could Outrun A Horse
Worked most of the day on our January cover. Or, I should say, our art director, Dan The Man Harshberger, worked on it and then we picked it to pieces and started over. More than once. Had a group of classic cowgirl photos from our vast collection and hit a dead end with the first one. The cowgirl's funky smile and the hand tinted color clashed, ending up with not quite right effects, or, as one staffer commented, "She looks like… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on November 17, 2010 at 5:29pm — 2 Comments
Hog Ridin' Fools & Blakely Tumblers
In the S. Clay Wilson classic biker tale that ran in the first Zap Comic (1968), the Checkered Demon gets into it at the end of the first (and apparently last) installment of "Hog Ridin' Fools" over a set of tumblers at a gas station.
In real life, the best example of gas station tumblers (a free glass with every fill-up!) was Blakely's Arizona Cactus Tumbler set. And this was when gas was 19 cents a gallon!…
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Added by Bob Boze Bell on November 15, 2010 at 5:31pm — 5 Comments
The Bascom Affair From Afar
Had an interesting encounter in Googleland. Wanted to do a drawing of Tom Horn, and rather than find it in one of my many books at home, I Googled Tom Horn and hit "images" and, of course a million images came up, but three of them were drawings I have done of Mr. Horn and published on this blog. They weren't too bad, either.
Meanwhile, worked today on a timeline for the so-called Bascom Affair at Apache Pass. Utilizing… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on November 12, 2010 at 5:08pm — 1 Comment
Geronimo's Cadillac Was Actually A Locomobile?
With the Source Book at the printer in Kansas City, I had a chance to work on a couple new True West Moments this morning. Abby sent via dropsend, the "Ay Chihuahua!" TWMoment this morning, and then after lunch I whipped out a drawing of Geronimo, the tycoon, behind the wheel of a roadster:
This is taken from a…
ContinueAdded by Bob Boze Bell on November 10, 2010 at 4:28pm — 1 Comment
Source Book Goes to Press, Finally
We were up against it this time. Two people leaving, one in the hospital, a new board and our giant, record breaking ninth annual Best of the West Source Book clogging up every bit of computer space we could find. Thanks to herculean effort by the sales crew, Sheri, Sue and Joe, and Abby in production and Meghan and Lauren in editorial, we were able to upload our final files about an hour ago.
Whew! Now on to our January… Continue
Added by Bob Boze Bell on November 9, 2010 at 5:18pm — 4 Comments
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