Issue 37 -- July 11,
2010 -- Page 1 of 3
A perodic publication. Copyrighted 2010 and all rights reserved.
_________________________________________________________________________________
A perodic publication. Copyrighted 2010 and all rights reserved.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Howdy all you buckeroos and buckerettes,
Our Stetson is tipped to our Lipscomb, Texas pard, R.J. Vandygriff, for his efforts to get the message out that, contrary to the media, the cowboy ain't dead yet. R.J. had developed a one-man show titled, "The Cowboy Ain't Dead, Yet." In it he uses humor and music and quiet moments around the campfire to present the culture of the American cowboy and the fact that there are thousands of honest-to-God cowboys out working cattle every day. I highly recommend that you take a look at his promotional video, "The Cowboy Ain't Dead, Yet," on his YouTube account. Anyone can enjoy it, but other entertainers might get an idea on how to promote their own acts and venue managers may want to contact R.J. for a show.
Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns, our favorite email pal in Wyoming, sent me a photo the other day. It is of that famous landmark, Castle Rock. But she pointed out an unusual cloud formation which appeared to be just like the Wyoming license plate's cowboy on a bucking horse. You judge for yourself:
I sent this email back to Rhonda: "I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I 'saw' that Wyoming bucking horse in the clouds. Actually, I thought it was pretty neat, even if it is a Photoshop creation.
"But it reminded me of the old, old Peanuts cartoon where Linus and friends are lying on the ground looking at the clouds. Lucy says, 'What do you see in the clouds, Linus? I see Beethoven composing his 5th symphony.' One of the other friends chimes in, 'And I see Einstein at the blackboard creating his theory of relativity.' And still another says, 'Oh, I see Thomas Edison the moment he created the light bulb.'
"Linus finally says, 'Well, I was gonna say that I saw a rubber ducky, but I've changed my mind.'"
Additions and/or Changes
I have added listings for or made changes to the listings for Ken Curtis ("Festus"), Jimmy Dean, Harvey Derrick, Andy Devine, Dennis Hopper, Rance Howard, Chris LeDoux, Katie Lee, Jack H. Lee ("Powder River Jack"), John Legg, Paul Evan Lehman, Fess Parker, Gil Prather, Ray Price and John Quade.
A Really Bad Day
by Stan Paregien
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
by Stan Paregien
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
An aging rancher was
down on his luck. He had been sitting there by himself in the Tombstone
Saloon just staring at his drink for half an
hour. He alternately rubbed the rib of the glass and then held it up to the light to examine its contents.
All of a sudden a young cowboy threw back the batwing doors of the saloon with a loud bang. "My name's Deadeye Dave and I'm ready to howl at the moon and shoot out the stars."
The young man swaggered through the bar, his big spurs jingling with each thud of his big boots, and his rough hands were planted firmly on the butts of his twin .45s. He stopped at the old rancher's table and reached over and grabbed the man's drink. He threw his head back and downed it in one gulp. "There, now, what the hell you gonna do about that, old man?"
The rancher began to shake and then to cry like a baby. And the cowboy who had been hell-bent-for-leather a moment before was taken back. "Hey, come on pard. I was just joshin' you. I can't stand to see a growed man crying like a calf fer its mama. What's goin' on?"
The befuddled rancher took out a red bandana out of his pocket and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. "I'll tell you somethin', son, this has been a really bad day. I woke up this morning and checked my cattle, only to find that my prize bull had stepped in a prairie dog hole and I had to shoot him."
The younger man put his hand on the rancher's shoulder and said, "Sorry 'bout that, but ya can't let one bad thing get ya down."
"Well," the rancher said, taking a deep breath, "there's more. I decided I better go to town to see my banker and get some money for another bull. My banker said he was glad I came in, so's he didn't have to come get me. He said the bank is havin' hard times and I would have to pay my loan right then or lose my who ranch and all my cattle. And I didn't have even twenty dollars to my name."
The younger man shook his head and said, "Oooh, that really hurts. But gents like you have a way of boucing back from a setback or two."
The rancher began to cry again. "Yeah, guess you're right. But there's more. I went on back to the ranch and got there early, only to find my foreman in bed with my wife just a-rompin' to beat the band. Me and him begins to fight and that's when we knocked over a lantern and caught the house on fire. It burned to the ground while my foreman was beatin' the daylights out of me. Then my foreman drives off with my wife in my own buggy."
The younger man swallowed hard and a glint of a tear appeared in his eyes. "Mister, that was sure 'nuff awful. Sounds like your cup was runnin' over with the miseries."
The old man pushed back his hat and said, "Yeah, it has been a really bad day. And that ain't the worst of it. You see, young fellah, I came here to this saloon nearly an hour ago. I've been trying to work up the nerve to kill myself. And I'll be danged if that's not when you showed up and drank the poison. Sometimes nothin' seems to right."
[ Based on a joke sent to me by friend Rex Berryhill. ]
hour. He alternately rubbed the rib of the glass and then held it up to the light to examine its contents.
All of a sudden a young cowboy threw back the batwing doors of the saloon with a loud bang. "My name's Deadeye Dave and I'm ready to howl at the moon and shoot out the stars."
The young man swaggered through the bar, his big spurs jingling with each thud of his big boots, and his rough hands were planted firmly on the butts of his twin .45s. He stopped at the old rancher's table and reached over and grabbed the man's drink. He threw his head back and downed it in one gulp. "There, now, what the hell you gonna do about that, old man?"
The rancher began to shake and then to cry like a baby. And the cowboy who had been hell-bent-for-leather a moment before was taken back. "Hey, come on pard. I was just joshin' you. I can't stand to see a growed man crying like a calf fer its mama. What's goin' on?"
The befuddled rancher took out a red bandana out of his pocket and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. "I'll tell you somethin', son, this has been a really bad day. I woke up this morning and checked my cattle, only to find that my prize bull had stepped in a prairie dog hole and I had to shoot him."
The younger man put his hand on the rancher's shoulder and said, "Sorry 'bout that, but ya can't let one bad thing get ya down."
"Well," the rancher said, taking a deep breath, "there's more. I decided I better go to town to see my banker and get some money for another bull. My banker said he was glad I came in, so's he didn't have to come get me. He said the bank is havin' hard times and I would have to pay my loan right then or lose my who ranch and all my cattle. And I didn't have even twenty dollars to my name."
The younger man shook his head and said, "Oooh, that really hurts. But gents like you have a way of boucing back from a setback or two."
The rancher began to cry again. "Yeah, guess you're right. But there's more. I went on back to the ranch and got there early, only to find my foreman in bed with my wife just a-rompin' to beat the band. Me and him begins to fight and that's when we knocked over a lantern and caught the house on fire. It burned to the ground while my foreman was beatin' the daylights out of me. Then my foreman drives off with my wife in my own buggy."
The younger man swallowed hard and a glint of a tear appeared in his eyes. "Mister, that was sure 'nuff awful. Sounds like your cup was runnin' over with the miseries."
The old man pushed back his hat and said, "Yeah, it has been a really bad day. And that ain't the worst of it. You see, young fellah, I came here to this saloon nearly an hour ago. I've been trying to work up the nerve to kill myself. And I'll be danged if that's not when you showed up and drank the poison. Sometimes nothin' seems to right."
[ Based on a joke sent to me by friend Rex Berryhill. ]
Oklahoma's own Jet McCoy and Cord McCoy are still ridin' high.
Cowboy crooners Don Edwards, Red Steagall and Jim Garling performed for the annual Chuckwagon Gathering & Children's Festival over the Memorial Day weekend. Our pal Wayne Cantwell, otherwise known as the "Flying Fiddler," walked among the crowds entertaining them with fiddle tunes.
Our ol' saddle pal Cowboy Jim Garling is one of the featured entertainers at the annual Oklahoma's International Bluegrass Festival in Guthrie, Oklahoma. That event will be held Sept. 30th through October 2nd. Click here to visit the OIBF web site.
My wife and I recently watched a video copy of "Hard Hombre" starring Hoot Gibson. It was, well, a hoot. And sometimes a hiss. This old Western was a very low-budget film produced by Allied Pictures and released in 1931. Hoot Gibson was used to being a vaulted star in much better films with Universal Studios. He worked there during his most productive years, starting in 1917 and ending in 1930 by studio head Carl Laemmie giving Hoot the boot. The problem was the arrival of sound in movies. Universal had rushed to try to convert to sound their current productions, as well as some of their already released movies. It was an expensive move and they got into deep financial doodoo. So they dropped their entire Western film production. Shocked down to his spurs by this untimely demise of his income (remember, also, the stock market crash of 1929), ol' Hoot crawled into bed with Allied Pictures and its head honcho, M.F. Hoffman. Hoot starred in 12 of these Western movies for Hoffman, and all of them were made on a very short shoestring. Still, we got a kick out of watching the kinda "stout" Hoot Gibson trying to carry this movie "Hard Hombre" with very little help. It had a totally implausable premise, and went mostly downhill from there. But it was a good filler for a quiet evening, with some comic relief and different scenery.
Turns out the Riders in the Sky had some property damage in the big Nashville flood a few weeks back. They had some items stored at the Grand Ol' Opry building and it took on lots of feet of water. Ranger Doug lost a beloved and high-dollar Martin guitar, while band mate Joey Miskulin had an accordian ruined, along with some of his fancy Western shirts made by Manuel.
Johnny Western---legendary singer, songwriter, guitarist and radio disc jockey---has left the building. That's the building in Wichita, Kansas that houses KFDI radio and where he worked some 24 years. As a very young man, he followed famed guitarist Johnny Bond as the lead guitar player for Gene Autry and toured extensively with him. And he is the gent who wrote such TV Western show themes as "Johnny Yuma," "Bonanza," and "Ballad of Paladin." He and his wife, Jo, have already moved to Mesa, Arizona. Thankfully, he plans to continue performing and making personal appearances.
The current issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine has a very interesting feature article about Robert Duvall. I consider Duvall to be one of the finest actors on the planet. And he uttered one of my favorite Western movie lines when, in response to Marshal Rooster Cogburn (aging John Wayne) and his call to surrender, he said: "You talk awful big for a one-eyed fat man." Of course, those were the last words that his character ever spoke, too.
End of Page 1 of 3 Go to Page 2