Hey y'all. We are in the heart of spring, with Summer coming up fast. I hope everybody is having a good time.
There is one upcoming event that has come to my attention. The Ghost Town Calico Bluegrass Festival is happening on May 7th and 8th in Yermo, California (about a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from Los Angeles). There will be many performers there and cost is only $15 per person.
Randal Massaro would like you to sign a petition to help
the Department of Interior to issue emergency Endangered Species Act protections while it completes its status review of wolves in the Northern Rockies and Western United States. I have already signed this, you should too, as every signature is important.
Anyway, enjoy the Nooseletter.
~Charles P. Scott
FEATURED ARTICLE
Hollywood is Coming to the High Desert ~The Pulse of the High Desert
Rich Rossi Films LLC has chosen several locations for the upcoming feature film shoot; The Italian Cowboy.
Rich Rossi a Hollywood actor who has been in many feature films previously before taking on this project, he has played oppossite Al Pacinio, Robert Deniro, Tom Sizemore and has been in such movies as...
Sometimes in life a person needs to let well enough alone, and not push an issue. Billy Claiborn should have learned that lesson. Unfortunately, on November 14, 1882 he didn't let well enough alone, and paid the...
For a brief period toward the end of the 19th century, the mere mention of the name 'Daltons!' was enough to send paroxysms of terror through the towns of the Frontier West. Ruthless to a fault, they robbed and murdered at will, outwitting or outrunning hundreds of law enforcement officers—until the crisp October day in 1892 when a group of citizens, in defense of their...
How Tall Was James Arness?
~INSP.com
Yes, at 6 foot 7 inches, James Arness was tall, very tall, and some fans would say, quite a tall drink of water! During WWII, Arness won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart among many other distinctions, and his height was used as a strategic tool by his Army Infantry Division as they headed into one of the bloodiest battles of the war at Anzio Beach. Arness obeyed orders to jump off the landing craft...
Brent Gaddis Interview
~Randal Massaro
Brent Gaddis (Mojave River Valley Museum & Deep Creek Hotsprings / Bowen Ranch Campground & Channel 36 Apple Valley) is interviewed by Randal Massarro, Actor & Animal Activist. The interview is Directed and edited by Tom Porter of the Animal Consciousness show (This show covers important issues about our government and wildlife issues).
How common were Common Law Marriages? On the remote frontier they were fairly common but in more settled areas, especially with family nearby there was usually a regular marriage. However, often times in the Old West couples….well….coupled… without a license or ceremony because there was no preacher of judge around to marry them. I would guess in the more informal West a couple might also have a common law divorce.
Divorces varied from state to state and territory to territory. Arizona...
9 Strange Facts of the Wild West
~Jenna Maxwell
American's love the old west. Gunfights. Stage Coach robberies. Cowboys and Indians. Hearty pioneers were heading west. Gold Rush fever. Outlaws. Poker games and saloon brawls. Life in the old West can almost seem romantic at times, and there are plenty of gritty Western films that fully perpetuate this notion. No matter what your vision of the old west may be, it's likely that the reality of nineteenth-century western life is not nearly what you may have envisioned. Here are some strange facts about the Wild, Wild West that you probably...
1800s Popular Food and Fads
~Jeff Somers
Food is so fundamental to our existence that it's no surprise humanity has spent tens of thousands of years obsessing over it. Prior to the invention of 7-11s and bags of chips, that obsession mainly focused on hunting and gathering enough of the stuff to ensure survival. But as civilization has crept in, our food obsessions have gone a little wonky, because we're biologically programmed to eat as much as we can when we have food (per Psychology Today)—and programmed to eat stuff that's actually unhealthy for us when...
Johnny Crawford 1983 Profile & Interview With Chuck Connors Remarks
Johnny Crawford is interviewed at home in this 1983 profile of the actor / singer / musician. Crawford talks about working with Chuck Connors on "The Rifleman" TV series and of being a child actor. Includes video of Crawford singing while playing guitar, and also driving his vintage automobile. Chuck Connors remarks on how he admires Crawford as a person. Crawford also talks about feeling gratified in his endeavors as an actor performing in stage plays. Johnny Crawford died in Los Angeles at age 75 on April 29, 2021.
POETRY CORNER
In the Droving Days
~A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson
"Only a pound," said the auctioneer,
"Only a pound; and I'm standing here
Selling this animal, gain or loss.
Only a pound for the drover's horse;
One of the sort that was never afraid,
One of the boys of the Old Brigade;
Thoroughly honest and game, I'll swear,
Only a little the worse for wear;
Plenty as bad to be seen in town,
Give me a bid and I'll knock him down;
Sold as he stands, and without recourse,
Give me a bid for the drover's horse."
Loitering there in an aimless way
Somehow I noticed the poor old grey,
Weary and battered and screwed, of course,
Yet when I noticed the old grey horse,
The rough bush saddle, and single rein
Of the bridle laid on his tangled mane,
Straightway the crowd and the auctioneer
Seemed on a sudden to disappear,
Melted away in a kind of haze,
For my heart went back to the droving days.
Back to the road, and I crossed again
Over the miles of the saltbush plain --
The shining plain that is said to be
The dried-up bed of an inland sea,
Where the air so dry and so clear and bright
Refracts the sun with a wondrous light,
And out in the dim horizon makes
The deep blue gleam of the phantom...
WHITE BULL (Ho-tu-a-hwo-ko-mas, a/k/a Ice and Ice Bear), 1901. White Bull, a Northern Cheyenne medicine man, had fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Gary Coffrin used Photoshop to sharpen details and present the first-ever close view. Now you can see White Bull’s dust goggles and his intricately decorated moccasins, fringed pants, leather vest, and wrist guards, garments worn only for special occasions.
