revolver

The gun that won the West. Maybe.

Talking Machine

OK, this is a really crappy sketch, but it was an interesting experience for me, who loves old, old music. One of the Trust properties in Lincoln is Dr. Woods' home. There, in 1978, was an old Edison talking machine which played wax cylinders. It was spring-powered (with a crank) and as it spun, the needle and brass horn moved along. I rigged up a microphone to the horn and recorded all of the cylinders. For the recorded music enthusiast, here is the list:
My Old New Hampshire Home 1907
Where the Sunset Turns the Ocean's Blue to Gold 1905
Throw Out the Life Line 1907
O'Brian has no place to go
The Whistling Girl 1905
Hey Mister Joshua
You Can't Make Me Stop Loving You-1903 or 08
Medley of Straight Jigs 1904
Charge of Roosevelt's Rough Riders 1904
Shame on You 1903
Down Where the Bluebells Grow 1905
Down in Jungle Town 1907 2:20
Everyone work but Father 1905
When the Mockingbirds Are Singing in the Wildwood
Dixie 1905
Tippicanoe 1907
Jim Lawon's Horse Trade - Cal Stewart 1907
3 Rubes Seeing New York 1907
In Timbucktoo 1907
Who threw the overalls in Mrs Murphys Chowder? 1905
The Laughing Coon 1907
The Cornfield Medly 1905
Ayesha, My sweet Egyptian (Maurice Scott) Herbert Payne 1908
Arab Love Song (Silvio Hern) Ada Jones 1905
Arrah Woman Medly 1905
Arrah Woman Duet 1905
Medly of War Songs 1905
Ida Ho
The Laughing Song 1905 George Johnson
Has Anyone here seen Kelly? Murphy and Lett?? 1908
Where the silvery Colorado wends its way
Blue Bell 1905
A scene in a Country Blacksmith Shop 1905
Accordian Solo 1905
The Messenger Boy March
Orchestra Solo? 1905

wildflower

The wildflowers are definitely easier to capture than the butterflies.

moth

I made nets and would sandwich my captives in two glass ashtrays so I could then release them relatively unharmed. Ain't I green?

swallowtail

While making my Grand Circuit of the US in 1978, I drew a lot of butterflys and moths from life...for some reason this sketch scanned blurry.

El Torreon

Few artists who spend time in Lincoln can resist sketching this reconstructed tower. The earliest Spanish settlers would take refuge here during Apache raids.

General Lew Wallace

Here in military uniform, is Lew Wallace...later Governor of New Mexico Territory who bargained with the Kid while writing "Ben Hur"

mustachioed dude

I forget who this is...maybe Murphy or Chisum...

Charles Bowdre

This is the Kid's good friend and rustling associate, Charles Bowdre and his wife Manuela. Charlie was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett's posse at Stinking Springs and is now buried beside the kid in Fort Sumner, NM.

William H. Bonney

Of course, Billy the Kid, is the focus of much of the fuss in old Lincoln Town.

Ula Joe

Matt had a fire at his rental house, so he moved in with Ula Joe, a Texan who worked for The Trust. The Trust was an entity which owned a number of historical buildings in Lincoln. Joe later moved back to Midland/Odessa and resumed his career as a teacher. Great guy.

Matt

My lovely wife Ann and I are revisiting some spots in New Mexico next week where we honeymooned 25 years ago. So prior to our absence this week I am posting various scribblings from a sketchbook I kept while in Lincoln, NM in 1978. Here is my good old buddy, the late lamented Matt.

mado

We went to "mado", a BYOB restaurant in Wicker Park, Saturday night. The decor is nothing outstanding. I did like our tabletop alot...roughly textured boards with a nailed sheet metal strip down the center...the nails ground down smooth. "mado" does a great thing by purchasing from local farms within the natural "foodshed" as Joel Salatin dubs it. However, I was less than satisfied with my entree, a bowl of seafood stew...one-third of which was a chunk of bread...the stew was bland, amazing, considering that it was topped with a home-made green salsa. And it was $18! No sides or anything! Several of the other diners complained that their salads were salty. Whoever heard of a salty salad? Overall disappointing...the sketch above is of the man responsible, the chef and boss...he was wearing odd shoes with elven type tips which looked good on him.

cheesecake

This was a Tribune illustration...when it was published they cropped the left and right sides, thus the strange arcs.

utility pole

A smattering of unfinished sketchbook drawings...the great cartoonist R. Crumb routinely depicts the modern technological clutter, such as power lines, which form such an ugly, inelegant background to our everyday life...objects which many of us probably barely notice because we are so used to it.

African girl

A woman of African ancestry, observed in a Tobago tavern.

Hindi Girl

Trinidad & Tobago has sizable population of ethnic Hindis, brought over by the British as laborers following the abolition of slavery.

Winkler

Sandwiched around my sojourn to T&T, I visited with my friend Winkler. He was living his dream-- or part of it, anyway: he had moved to Florida. Winkler was a character...13 years older than me, we worked together at the Glenrock Company when I was in college. He had been a cook in the navy during the '50s and still used the same flapjack recipe, scaled down from thousands of servings to two or three.

The Monster

Scary, huh?

Self Portrait

Drawn on the train, reflected in the window, Easter 2009

SaxMan

Here is the third leg of the stool, Greg. You can't see them so well but he cultivates mutton-chops which would do honor to a Regency beau. In another vein, I shall observe that for a late Easter Sunday night, this nightclub actually had quite a few patrons- mostly young beautiful hipsters of various persuasions...perhaps a testament to the Abominable Twitch and his collaborators.

DOJO

Here is my hurried impression of Dominic, the Twitch's musical associate. DoJo is one of 2 violinists appearing in the current production of "Twelfth Night" at Navy Pier. He has been compelled to grow an imperial as a condition of employment, however he is happy to be acquiring an ear for Elizabethan dialogue.

The Abominable Twitch

My old pals Deb and Mike invited me to join them on Easter night to see their son Max, aka The Abominable Twitch, and associates perform at Rodan, a nightclub in Bucktown. Here is the Twitch deejaying.

Vine

This sketch is originally B&W inked...I colorized it with GIMP.

Dried Corn

Mmmmm- corn on the cob!

Cornelius Cobb, Esq.

Here's another Tribune illustration...an R.Crumb inspired cheery fellow likely to brighten your day...or creep you out!

Citron

Here's a Tribune
illustration honoring
the humble citron.
Don't believe I ever ate
a citron, but I sampled
some citron liqueur which mon ami Mike brought back from
France, the epicenter of fine liqueurs. That's a fine drink!

Capsicum

When Ann and I were in the wonderful land of Australia many years ago we ordered a pizza one evening while on an outing to Katoomba. One possible ingredient was the intriguing "capsicum", so I had to try it and it turned out to be our common bell pepper! This one was drawn in Tobago but they're good wherever you eat them.

bell

This great old bell sits atop a post in front of the log cabin. Our host got it from his mother, but I was surprised that he uncharacteristically had no tale to tell of its history.

Goose

Our host family has many animals- dogs, cats, chickens and a horse. And some more unusual creatures as well, such as this goose that thinks it is a duck, acting as a drill sergeant over the ducks (including an exotic African duck) as they go to and fro the beaver pond. Yes, the family also imported Canadian beaver to dam up the stream, creating a pond for their fleet of boats.

log cabin

Our "host" family lives in this ancient timbered house (c.1793) while awaiting repairs on another dwelling down the road which had a fire. They have no running water, but depend on rain-barrels and a mountain stream. What immediately strikes you upon arrival are the rebel battle flags festooned about the place. They fashion their own flags and confederate uniforms and are armed to the teeth.