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An Occasional Newsletter - ISSUE # 13 - April, 2004
Howdy Everyone,
THANKS and a tip o’ the Stetson to . . .
Merridith Hackley, a neighbor and friend of the late entertainer Rick Felix, who let us know about his untimely death in a car accident last November . . . . . Gerald Baumann for tipping us off to the fact that Monte Hale has a brother, Bill Hale, who also was an actor in many B-Westerns . . . . . To Vicki Lynn, who pointed out a typo on one of the pages. Her letter went like this, "On this page on your website you state that Molly Bee was in a movie called Summer Lice. I believe that was Summer Love. Interesting website." Hmmmmm. Summer Love. Summer Lice. One sounds like a Pat Boone movie and the other a Stephen King movie. But Summer Love is correct. Thanks, Vicki.
DEATHS
Rand Brooks, Jim Bob Tinsley.We knew Jim Bob and Dottie Tinsley for many years, mainly through our common membership in Western Writers of America and our meeting up each year at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock. He was the foremost authority on cowboy music, and he was a fine singer and musician himself. But, more than that, he was a kind and gentle soul with a wonderful sense of humor. We sure do miss him.
MISCELLANEOUS
LeRoy Jones, one of our fellow Oklahomans, has a new CD out. He does a fine job on it, with Frankie McWhorter (formerly of the Texas Playboys), playing the fiddle. I especially like the last cut, a haunting song titled, "The Land of the Kiowa".
We attended a fundraiser in Edmond featuring one of our favorite folks, Byron Berline, and Band. We also met and visited with Rosalie Wills (daughter of the one and only Bob Wills). I asked her about a statement that I had read, before, to the effect that when Bob & the Texas Playboys moved to Tulsa the local musician's union would not let them join -- "because they don't play music." She laughed and said it was mostly true, but the reason they were rejected by the union was because none of them could read music. They all played by ear.
Our congratulations to our ol' friend Don Coldsmith. The Western Writers of America bestowed the Owen Wister Award on him at their annual meeting in June, 2003. That award is given to a living writer for his or her lifetime achievement in contributing to the depiction of the historical West. Couldn't have been given to a nicer or more deserving guy.
We are also happy for our ol' pard, David "Buffalo Bill" Nelson. He is choppin' in tall cotton these days. David, who bills himself as a cowboy comic, runs a Bed & Breakfast in Townsend, Tennessee. Here is the official announcement:
"The Senate of the One Hundred Third General Assemly,
The House of Representatives and
the Governor, Phil Bredesen,
Of the Great State of Tennessee
Designate
David "Buffalo Bill" Nelson
as
Cowboy Poet Laureate of Tennessee
"This lifetime honor is given in recognition for his
laudable service to Tennessee and his numerous
contributions to Cowboy Poetry and Storytelling
in the finest traditions of the American Cowboy."Way to go, David. Shucks, he may start sellin' his authographs now, rather than giving them away. You can congratulate him by writing to him at 265 Little Mountain Way, Townsend, TN 37882. Or send him an e-mail at cowboypoet@planetc.com
Wylie Gustafson went to the headquarters of "Yahoo!" in Sunnyvale, CA. in November of 2003. He was emcee and head yodeler for the internet giant's attempt at the Guiness Book of World Records "largest group yodel." And they did it. Yes, Wylie and the group of 1,773 yodeling fools broke the previous record of 937.
Wylie & the Wild West band will be appearing for their 46th appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on Friday April 16th. For you internet savy punchers, you can catch the performance live via streaming audio at: http://www.opry.com
On Monday, March 22nd, I did my second interview with the British Broadcasting System (BBC). They were doing a radio segment on John Wayne and called me and asked me to comment on his career and movies. The interview was recorded at 6:20 a.m., CDT, for broadcast world-wide later that afternoon. My first interview with the BBC, a few months ago, was to comment on the death of actor Jack Elam. Now, . . . if I could only figure out how to get paid for these interviews!! Oh, well, they're fun.
On Monday, April 12, I attended a meeting of the "Hungry Poets Society" in Edmond, OK. I went to hear our former neighbor at Laverne, Barbara Bockelman, read her cowboy poetry. She did a fine job, as usual. And a real special treat was to see and hear Ralph Chain, of the famous Chain Ranch in western Oklahoma (Nebraska and Colorado), play the guitar and sing about five cowboy songs. Really enjoyed that. Ralph is being inducted this week into the Oklahoma Agricultural Hall of Fame. The Chain Ranch has been in his family for more than 100 years. Of course, I have socks that are about that old, but not a ranch.
NEW BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
We have made changes and/or additions regarding listings for the following persons: Rand Brooks, Wylie Gustafson, Bill Hale, Richard Kiley, Vic Morrow, Hal "Nevada" Smith, Don Bendell, David Nelson, and the great Ray Whitley (composer of "Back in the Saddle, Again").COMING ATTRACTIONS
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Peggy and I will attend the annual Western Heritage Awards banquet and ceremony at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City this Saturday night. "Open Range" (Robert Duvall & Kevin Costner) won for best theatrical movie, the winner for best TV feature film is "Monte Walsh" (Tom Selleck, Keither Carradine). More about the awards later.Monday, May 31
Peggy and I will celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary. Hmmmmmm. I can remember when I thought people who were just lived to be be 42 years old were "ancient". Looks like we may even get to be great-grandparents in late November, if our granddaughter Jodi delivers as promised.Friday, June 11, 2004.
That’s when the fabulous Sons of the Pioneers will be celebrating their 70th year as a group. The event will take place in Carnegie Hall in New York City. Joining the Sons will be The Prairie Rose Wranglers, and two of Roy Rogers’ children - Roy (“Dusty”) Rogers, Jr. and Mindy (Rogers) Petersen. See PrairieRoseChuckwagon.com for details.Oh, one more thing. We have moved across town.
The last two months have been consumed with looking for another house, then getting our's through a VA inspection, and closing on both on March 26th and moving from one to the other. My apologies to all of you who have emailed me and have not YET received a response. Lord willin', you will.
We lived at 1008 S Neptune Road in Edmond for ten years, so we had sorta forgotten how hard it is to move. Not only did we have that stress, but the additional stress of our son being stationed in Iraq during most of that period. But, praise the Lord, we survived. Our son returned from Iraq on March 9th. And our move is complete. We're starting to feel better all over.
We now live just north of the campus of Oklahoma Christian University.
Correspondents please note our new address:
1304 Pepperdine Ave. Same phones. Y'all come see us, ya hear?
Edmond, OK 73013-6366
Adios for now,
Cowboy Stan Paregien
© 2004 by Stan Paregien, Sr.