March 10, 2009 - Issue 30
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We will also be using "stan@cowboydirectory.com" anytime we communicate with readers of this Newsletter, including the periodic notices of a new Newsletter being available.
The Thirteenth Annual Kamloops
Cowboy Festival kicks off in Canada's original cow town,.
Kamloops British Columbia. March
12-15 2009 for information
go to www.bcchs.com
or phone Mike 1-888-763-2224
BAXTER BLACK IN OK CITY
BAXTER BLACK IN OK CITY
The one and only Baxter Black, the
best-known cowboy poet of all time, will perform at a dinner and show
at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City
on Friday, March 20. Call the Museum for details at 405-478-2250 or see their web site at www.nationalcowboymuseum.org
Black is a former big animal vet who found his groove doing comedy poetry and storytelling. He is the son-in-law of Oklahoma's own talented couple, Dr. Guy and Dr. Phyllis Logsdon.
WESTERN
HERITAGE AWARDS
On April 18th the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City will have their annual Western Heritage Awards ceremony.
Veteran Western movie actor Morgan Woodward will be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. Woodward made more guest appearances (19) on the TV show "Gunsmoke" than any other actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the snarling guard with reflective sunglasses in the Paul Newman classic, "Cool Hand Luke".
The late Dub "Cannonball" Taylor will also be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. Taylor, the father of actor Buck Taylor ("Newly" in the Gunsmoke TV series), was in some 50 movies, including many B-Westerns. For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.org or call 405-478-2250.Missouri Cowboy Poets Festival
The annual festival of the Missouri Cowboy Poets Association will be held at the Community Center in Mountain View, Missouri on April 24th to 26th. The location is some 100 miles east of Springfield, Missouri. Jennie Cummings, who is the director of the Mountain View Arts Council, is the ramrod of this event now in it's 12th year.
Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival
This large and well-organized event takes place April 25-26, 2009 in Santa Clarita, California at the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio. You can listen to great music and poetry, then walk out onto the streets of Dodge City, just like the folks on the TV show "Gunsmoke" (and "Deadwood") used to do. Call 661-286-4021 or visit their web site: www.cowboyfestival.org
Tough Time in Tascosa
by Stan Paregien, SrCopyright 1991
Tascosa was roughter'n an outhouse
Corn cob back in 1873.
But that just made it more to the
Likin' of cowboys like Billy McKee.
They were trailin' north on another
Long and dusty cattle drive,
When McKee and two other buckeroos
Lit out for the nearest dive.
Now, don't get me wrong, the foreman
Allowed as how they could go,
So long as they got back by the sun's
First morning glow.
So that's how they got to Tascosa Town
With money jinglin' in their pants.
They were eager to gamble and drink,
And to watch them saloon girls prance.
Long about midnight, young Billy McKee
Got awful dadgummed riled
When a tall, lanky farmer took his girl
And added an insult when he smiled.
That's when the fight broke out,
And someone shot out the light. The tall farmer and his pals were primed
And ready for one helluva fight.
Oh, it was a real sting-a-roo, a punchin' And gougin' and bitin' kind of fight. It was somethin' local Tascosa folks still
Talk about on a cold winter night.
Billy McKee's pards were takin' a lickin' ,
And his broken nose didn't feel too good.
Then the barkeep pointed a shotgun at 'em
At and said, "Pay up, if you would."
With not one sayin' so much as a boo.
For they knew what was in store for them,
Down to the last bloody buckaroo.
The cowboys at camp hurrahed them,
And laughed and rolled upon the ground.
Billy McKee learned a hard lesson:
Don't ride anywhere near ol' Tascosa town.
[ This poem is copyrighted and may not be performed or printed for profit without the express written approval of the author. ]
Did you hear about the Texas teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots?
He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn't want to go on. By the time they got the second boot on, she had worked up a sweat.
She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they're on the wrong feet."
She looked, and sure enough, they were on the wrong feet. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on.
Then she managed to keep her cool as,together, they worked to get the boots back on, this time on the correct feet.
The little buckeroo then announced, "Teacher, these ain't my boots."
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, like she wanted to.
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.
No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said,"Teacher, ain't my boots. They're brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em."
Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. But she mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.
Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"
He smiled and said, "Oh, teacher, I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots."
She will be eligible for parole in about three years.
[Sent to me by Rex Berryhill, the New Mexico road runner ]
Pat Nobles is a man of many talents -- an artist, author and photographer. He holds the distinction of having been born in a railroad box car, and he spent the first 17 years of his life riding the rails.
However, he
started drawing at the age of four. And that natural ability has been
honed by study at the feet of several master artists. And he recently
published a spiral-bound book titled, A Cowboy Coloring Book:
Drawings by Pat Nobles. It features 50 scenes from ranch life
and rodeo, each one suitable for coloring with crayons or colored
pencils.That book can be purchased on E-bay for $12.00, which includes shipping and handling. Or you may order it directly from him at P.O. Box 624, Broken Arrow, OK 74013-0624 or phone 918-698-6756 or email him at patn1@cox.net.
Canadian cowboy poet Mike Puhallo advises us that a life size statue of rodeo legend Kenny McLean riding three-time bucking Horse of the year War Paint will be erected in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia this Fall. More information is available at www.kennymcleanbronze.com This project is being funded through the sale of 100 18" limited edition bronze replicas of the monument. (22 bronzes are already sold)
Author David Dary, former president of the Western Writers of America, has a newly released book titled, Frontier Medicine: From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 1492-1941.
Dary, former head of the journalism department of the University of Oklahoma, has written 20 books since 1967 and garnered many awards in the process. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
On Sunday night, February 8, the late cowboy actor and singer Gene Autry was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Autry is still the only person with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame--one for his movie career, one for his live music performances, one for his radio broadcasts, one for his popular recordings and one for his TV career.
Benefit for Poet Rusty McCall
Montana cowgirl Rhonda Sedgewick Sterns notified me that popular poet and reciter Rusty McCall--who has faced multiple surgeries, radiation, and ongoing treatment for his serious neurofibromatosis condition--underwent major brain surgery on March 5, 2009, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Texas writer and poet Linda Kirkpatrick has agreed to collect donations for Rusty. Those donations will be pooled, and then sent to Rusty, along with the names of those who have donated (except those who prefer to remain anonymous). All donations, of any value, can make a difference.
Individual amounts will not be recorded or transmitted, and those who wish to remain anonymous to the McCall’s may request that. Only Linda will have the detailed information, which she will keep confidential, even from the rest of those involved with the benefit. Linda has generously offered this service in previous benefits, which have been accomplished with quiet success and sensitive confidentiality.
You can send a check or money order, made out to Linda Kirkpatrick and with the note "For Rusty McCall" by March 31to:
Linda Kirkpatrick
P.O. Box 128
Leakey, TX 78873
You can also contribute to the fund via Linda Kirkpatrick by secure credit card payment through PayPal (no PayPal account needed):
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/mccalls.htm#creditcard
You can also donate directly and/or write to Rusty and the McCall’s at PO BOX 376, Timberon, NM 88350-0376.
Bob Boatright, who from 1977 to 1986 played the fiddle in the current edition of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys band, died of cancer at the age of 69 on Dec. 28, 2008. Boatright started playing the fiddle at age 10. He graduated from He graduated from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He also earned two masters' degrees and taught physics and math at Cameron State University in Lawton, Oklahoma. His last CD, done with his brother Johnny Boatright, was a collection of cowboy songs.
Molly Bee died Saturday, February 7, 2009 in Oceanside, California. She died of complications following a stroke. She was 69. Molly Bee, born Molly Gene Beachboard in Oklahoma City on Aug. 18, 1939, began her music career at age 10. In 1952, at age 13, she hit it big with the novelty tune "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
Pat Hingle, actor, died in Carolina Beach, North Carolina on January 3, 2009. He spent nearly fifty years doing character parts, rather than leading roles. He narrowly missed becoming a household word when he was hired to star in the movie "Elmer Gantry," but had a near-fatal accident and was replaced by Burt Lancaster. Pat Hingle went on to appear in scores of television series, from "Rawhide" and "Gunsmoke" (7 episodes in 1971, temporarily replacing Milburn Stone as "Doc") to "Dawson's Creek" in 2001. He played the shady mayor in the movie "Invitation to a Gunfighter" (1964) and the hanging judge in "Hang 'em High" (1968), starring Clint Eastwood. Younger fans know him best as Commissioner James Gordon in "Batman" (1989), "Batman Returns" (1992), "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman and Robin" (1997).
Tom Brumley, one of the best steel guitar players ever, died on Feb. 3, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas as the result of a heart attack. He was 73. Brumley, a son of the great gospel music writer Alfred E. Brumley (wrote "I'll Fly Away" and "Turn Your Radio On"), was born in 1935. He recorded with scores of major singers including everyone from Merele Haggard to Glen Campbell, Reba McEntire, Waylon Jennings and Rod Stewart.
He backed Buck Owens for ten of Owens' most productive years and it is his steel guitar you hear on "Act Naturally" and "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail". He also traveled with Ricky Nelson for several years and may be heard on Nelson's hit, "Garden Party," that revived Nelson's sagging career.
I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Brumley on Nov. 17, 1988 when he was touring with a new country music artist named Mac Abernathy. Brumley and Abernathy came to our studio at KSNY radio in Snyder, Texas and they were my guests on my morning talk show.
The last time I saw Tom Brumley was about 1993 when we went to the "Brumley Family Music Show" that he was managing in Branson, Missouri.
In 1966 the Academy of Country Music named him the number one steel guitarist. He was a member of the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and of the International Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. A celebration of his life was held in Branson, Missouri on Feb. 15th.
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Adios,
my friends, until next time.
--Cowboy Stan
CowboyDirectory.Com
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CowboyDirectory.Com
News is an
occasional newsletter sent to those who enjoy reading about Western
writers and entertainers and the Western lifestyle in general. If that
isn't you and you wish to be removed from our mailing list, just reply
to this email and put "Remove -- John Smith"(your name) in the subject line.