Going to Banff for 3 days. (not my idea). But Banff is quiet right now. (I’m told). Cuz of Covid. Nobody is travelling except us Albertans. Had to cancel 2 holidays we had planned previously – one to Tofino on Vancouver Island – and the other to Newfoundland (which has shuttered itself up tighter than Alcatraz). So it’s been a weird year all the way around.
After Banff we come back here – then head out again – to the stomping grounds of my youth – out Drumheller way and other places around Central Alberta. There’s plenty to see and do around here – no need to go to foreign empires. This should be very interesting (for me at least). And it all seems like some kind of closure – full circle. Maybe it is.
We’ll be taking a ton of photos and I’ll toss some up on this board.
I hope you are all getting by OK with all that has happened (and we ain’t ‘out of the woods yet’) It’s going to take longer than we all hoped – unless they really do come up with some kind of vaccine? Who knows? Some folks probably think things will then go back to ‘normal’. But I don’t. This has changed the world. “Going forward” is the catchphrase of the day.
Burl Ives – The first cover of Ghost Riders In The Sky, recorded in 1949
Very sweetly done Burl.
Steeds of Renown: Tom on unidentified paint.
Tom Keene
Wikipedia:
Tom Keene (born George Duryea; December 30, 1896 – August 4, 1963) was an American actor known mostly for his roles in B Westerns. During his almost 40-year career in motion pictures Tom Keene worked under three different names. From 1923, when he made his first picture, until 1930 he worked under his real name George Duryea. The last film he made under this name was Pardon My Gun. Beginning with the 1930 film Tol’able David, he used Tom Keene as his moniker. This name he used up to 1944 when he changed it to Richard Powers. The first film he used this name in was Up in Arms.
He continued to use this name for the rest of his film career.
Somewhere in there Tom Keene made a lot of Westerns and was a well known Western Star of his day
– as the photo below attests.
Available on DVD From 1930 to 1958
Though many Westerns from this era are ‘lost’ Tom still has a substantial collection.
World Famous.
Then … incredibly, just a few short years after you hung up your spurs …
Everything disappeared.
You were erased. By time.
Why? It’s understandable maybe? Because most early Western Stars were dead before most of us were born. And many of their movies are ‘Lost’. Even now only a handful of Western Film buffs try to keep their memories alive. And the Wonders that they brought back then.
I don’t count myself among those that do that.
They’re several notches above this tenderfoot.
I’m bringing this all up because back in 2014 I had an idea:
I’d post series of images of Western Stars performing
a very popular Publicity shot from the early era of Westerns: The Cowboy Star rearing up on his Steed.
I called this Steeds of Renown.
I even made some banners.
And a few posts.
Then … I ran into a problem (as I usually do).
My original plan to just post some images got ambushed.
I found that I couldn’t just throw up some pics of these guys
without providing some kind of bio or profile on them.
It didn’t seem right.
Sooo very quickly my little dust devil of an idea turned into a tornado!
On Buck Jones alone I did about 18 posts!
WOW!
Waaaaaay more than anything I had intended.
Eventually the whole thing bogged down and collapsed into a heap of road apples.
And I got distracted by other things.
But now! Since I find myself doing nothing at all …
(I got them old covid blues) … I’ll try to pick up the trail where I left off.
And who knows? I might even finish this thing.
Some day. But I doubt it.
So Nick, our Guide/Driver, says there’s something else he wants to show us close by.
Lead on …
He points to a nearby tree and says: “See this tree?” “This is John Wayne Tree”.
What?! Really!! How so?
Nick says that back in 1947 when John Wayne was starring in Angel and the Badman
John had posed by this tree for a photo.
I now recalled seeing that photo somewhere? but I’ve been able to find it since.
This did seem seem to be an amazing coincidence though because there’s no way Nick could have known
that I had a blog called My Favorite Westerns where I had extensively featured The Duke.
Nick claimed John posed something like this. (Notice how I bear absolutely no resemblance to John Wayne who was without a doubt about one of the most photogenic Celebrities who ever lived.)
But I really had to wonder though at the odds of this??
We hadn’t planned on taking Jeep Tour at all and these Jeep Tours go to many different locations in the area.
Yet here we were. Pretty amazing.
Angel and the Badman / 1947
1947.
One year before I was born.
A John Wayne Production
John Wayne was 40 years old.
He was a Star, but had not yet achieved the unparalleled heights of SuperStardom
he ultimately reached.
Eight years earlier John had Starred the most important Western ever made: Stagecoach. Directed by John Ford which raised Western Film from pulp to legitimate Art. This had been also John’s breakthrough role as a Western Hero.
I never really did tell the full story of our John Wayne Tree adventure at Sedona back in 2013. My previous posts on this were lousy so I want to fix that.
In Sedona my pardner, Rose, won a Jeep Tour prize by getting sucked into a TimeShare presentation. That was the hook. I wasquietly kicking Rose for making me endure the TimeShare thing, but we would never have gone on this Jeep Tour otherwise.Life and Fate, however, often have a different idea that they only let us in on when we’re right in the middle of it all. Sometimes wonderful things happen. Sometimes not. This turned out to be pretty wonderful.
So off we go.
When you realize how many Jeep Tours there are here and the many different places they go,
you have to realize what an amazing coincidence this event turned out to be.
Schnebly Hill Road
A bit of history:
Theodore Carleton (T C) Schnebly and his wife SEDONA Arabella Miller Schnebly
moved to the Sedona area in 1901.
Schnebly Hill Road, of course is named after them and Sedona after her.
The Hill road is an adventure in itself. Below you can see one stretch of the road – and why they use Jeeps. All six of us were all well strapped in, but we still needed to hold on to our saddlehorns. At one point we saw a family in a minivan coming up the road. You can bet they regretted that.
Photo from the Internet.
Nick, our driver, was giving us a running commentary on the area as we bumped along. (Can’t remember a thing.)
Nor was there much chance for taking any pics on the way up.
But we did snap a couple.We jostle and jerk our way up to see a viewpoint Nick calls Schnebly Hill Vista
… and jump out for a jaunt.
I look back down and see the old timer still sitting in the jeep. (below)
(He was a very unhappy camper to be along on this excursion – and didn’t hide it.) Possibly another victim of a TimeShare pitch.
Hiking up a short, but steep little path and arrive at the Viewpoint …
AWESOME!
Nick was right. This is a hell of a viewpoint.
You can literally see for miles. Sedona in the distance.
There are a lot of such vista views around Sedona area.
I’ve been to Sedona on and off since the early 70’s. On my first visit I hiked up to Cathedral Rock. There were no trails or pathways going up there in those days. And no people. I enjoyed a moment of pure solitude. That evening I swam at Oak Creek Crossing as the sun set. Native ladies and their children came down to sit on the rocks to enjoy a serene twilight. It was truly a magical moment and a once in a lifetime experience. I was One with them. Sedona is not the sleepy secret it used to be, but I hope there is still some solitude and peace to be found here.
“Confluence Park”??!
Why sure … it’s right next to Effluence Creek.
Never let a beaurocrat name anything.
I can assure you that 90% of the people around here call this
Split Rock Park.
There she is … reclining in the meadow.
Evidently it didn’t roll here by itself. But was discarded like a pebble from a passing Glacier.
I’m told that “Split Rock” was once part of Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park. That’s about 210 miles away.
No estimate how long it took to get here – or how huge that Glacier musta’ been.
But I’m sure you could have beat it in a foot race.
You might recall my recent posts on our trip to Jasper National Park where we hiked up to Mount Edith Cavell. I never noticed any rocks missing.
I figure Buffalo used to rub themselves on Split Rock before us White folks showed up.
And shot them.
See? I told ya there was interesting stuff on the prairie.
I noticed it. Not because I’m a Christian. I’m not. But because I studied Sculpture at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary. And this is perhaps the greatest work of sculpture ever done. Michelangelo’s Pieta.
Whether this was done intentionally or not, I cannot say. But there it is.
Narsil chooses Aragon
The shadow does not hold sway yet. Not over you … not over me.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadow shall spring, Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be King.”
Rose had spotted some American Avocets in a marsh wetland near by.
We head over to snap some photos.
There’s they are!
Don’t recall ever seeing this bird before.
Beautiful! These birds are called Stilts. (because of their long legs). The black and white one is called a Black Necked Stilt. The other is the American Avocet.
Rose and I have been going out often for exercise and just to get out.
The trick is to find a place that nobody else is going to because a lot of the parks
are packed with people with the same idea.
So Rose heard about this place called Ralph Klein Park – outside of South Calgary.
Off we go.
We saw this facility. I figured it was an office building of some sort. Nope. It’s an “Interpretative Centre” for the wetlands conservation area here. Uh huh.
But everything is shut down. Doesn’t matter. We just came for a walk.
But we do hope to see some birds or wildlife.
Doesn’t look too promising.
But then we spot something unusual across the way … ?
What is that?
Better have a look …
Smokestacks??
Oh … it’s Art ?
I was afraid of that.
(I later learned this cost us 1.57 million dollars) I’m 2 breathes away from performing a rant.
Today I will emerge from the tunnel – my cave – having worked 9 of the last 10 days. Whew!
I have my trials. But I’ll get right back to posting something useful up here!
Periodically this happens to me. I get stuck. I’m always working on Posts and I have several in the offing, Just haven’t been able to get anything on the board. I’ve been sick. I was Depressed for over a week which is very unusual for me. I was really low. Don’t know where it came from, but it affected me greatly. We all have our ups and downs of course, but I usually pop right back up and carry on. I’m the guy who is usually cheering everybody else up. Santa Claus. Not this time. I think I’m OK now. ?? Now I’m also working 9 out of 10 days. Crazy schedule. Then I go on a 10 day Holiday – where we had planned to go to Vancouver Island. Then Covid hit and everybody’s plans flew out the window. All things could change back shortly (who knows?) and I expect we will progressively get back to a more usual routine. It’s an amazing experience though and I think we will appreciate what we have here, but that it all can swept away overnight. Love, and our families, friends, are vastly more important than our material things. Love – that irrational and unprovable thing is what we are all here for and all about. Yet, we do have to survive. I hope that you are making it through OK.
I’ll be up and running shortly – like a flower emerging from the snow. Take care All.
The shards of the past lay broken before us. Shattered.
Yet …
They now become the fibres …
The fabric of our new fortune.
Reforged to greater purpose,
A keener Blade.
Begin! Fit for our moment. Fit for a Hero.
The New Day.
“Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it, and the light of the moon shone cold, and its edge was hard and keen. And Aragorn gave it a new name … “ —J.R.R. Tolkien
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ― Joseph Campbell
The Hero Path
We have not even to risk the adventure alone for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known … we have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination we shall find a God.
Now I gotta tell ya that Creamed Eggs on Toast don’t look like much.
BUT Boy!!! it is tasty!!
I’ve heard it said that the the English/Brits don’t have ‘Cuisine’?? They might have a point there?? but they sure got some good honest food.
This is one of ’em. Simple as can be.
‘Down home’ as heck.
This guy shows how it’s done.
I like how he tosses the sausage patty into the pan.
That’s optional though – don’t need no sausage.
He also says this is Cowboy Food.
But I can’t imagine Cowboys sitting around the campfire eating Creamed Eggs on Toast.
You can also use more than 2 boiled eggs. I’d use about 4.
NUM NUM Thank You MUM!
Francis the Talking Mule with the great Donald O’Connor
“Singin; in he Rain” Donald O’Connor with Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly.
Donald O’Connor: His best-known works came in the film Singin’ in the Rain (1952), for which O’Connor was awarded a Golden Globe.
He also won a Primetime Emmy Award from four nominations and received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame throughout his career. In other words, he was damn good.
I was inspired by the Pandemic to try to come up with something that would lift people up during these times. The Lord of the Rings seemed to (me) have some inspiring elements that I could try to so something with …
When I start a project/Post an idea first comes to me. An inspiration. It is Art. And like all Art is it alive. It has a Will and Mission of it’s own – that I am just a vehicle/vessel for it’s message. The greater I am at allowing this – the greater the Art. I do not own it and It is not me. Or mine. It has a life of it’s own. I don’t know where it comes from. I do know that if I don’t allow this, mostly what I do is not worth much. Is there a formula for this? If so, I don’t know it. I can’t make it happen, I can only put my pencil to the paper and start – with no idea if will occur or not. Maybe the greatest Artists, Writers, Musicians, etc (for ANYTHING can be an Artform) were the best at this. I don’t know. I do know when it’s happening though. I can feel it. Writers know I mean – when if flows you can’t get the words down fast enough – and the words aren’t yours.
Here are two pages that I’m working on in Corel Draw: I started with simple idea: Reforge the Ring. Then I started working. Then the project expanded – and truly took on a life of it’s own. This is good – though it may mean I won’t be able to Post much right away. I’m not even sure anything useful may happen. Sometimes I’ll work on a project for days – then weeks – even months. And I have several unfinished. Possibly never to be Posted. Hopefully, eventually, something emerges that is worth something. To somebody. ???
Firstly, I strongly believe there are Spiritual elements / purposes behind all things. Knowing this helps me immensely. Even in my darkest times I could see the great hand moulding me to something of greater use. My Destiny / Fate are a reality, but not premade patterns of my unfoldment. My choices are not limited. I am Soul. A perfect atom of God. His child. And the throne will mine. But not to rule over others – but to serve in any way I can. Total Service / Total Love. Unconfined in all aspects I move higher, deeper, farther toward an infinite horizon …
We’ll get through this thing. And we can help each other.
Blessings … and take care.
John Prine died on April 7th. He had been stricken with COVID-19. He was 73. He won two Grammy Awards in his career and was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.
He leaves us with a tremendous legacy of songs.
John and I never saw eye to eye on Spiritual things. But I’m sure there’s lots of fishing in Heaven.
It is not despair, for despair is only for those
who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.” Gandalf the Grey / Fellowship of the Ring / JR Tolkien
“Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back and home to bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!” J.R.R. Tolkien / The Fellowship of the Ring
“I had holes in my jeans well before it was fashionable.” – Kenny Rogers
He went from Folk, to Psychedelic, to Rock, to Country… to become the greatest Ballad singer I’ve heard.
Kenny Rogers has passed at age 81. Kenny was one of the Greatest Entertainment Star of our time
with an immensely successful career in Country and Popular music. Legendary Status.
Along the way he also made a 1980 TV Western called The Gambler that was spearheaded by an iconic Hit Song also called The Gambler which all led to a series of 5 TV Westerns with Kenny Starring as Brady Hawkes, a fictional old-west gambler. Most of these Movies were … well not so good. They rode completely on Kenny’s Star Power and his Song.
(Originally sung by Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, among others) But only Kenny’s version clicked.
Grammy award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1980.
It’s one of those songs that sticks in your head.
A winner.
The TV Movies
Kenny’s first movie,The Gambler (1980) was OK …
Worth a couple of watches – despite Bruce Boxleitner.
“6.4” That’s about right.
It’s popularity led to 4 sequels. Most of ’em pretty bad.
Awards and Honors:
Islands in the Stream with Dolly Parton Written by Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb
2017 Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee 2013 Country Music Association Awards Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 Country Music Hall of Fame Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame 2010 American Eagle Award American Eagle Award[62] 2009 ACM Honors Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award (w/ Jerry Reed, Randy Travis, Hank Williams Jr.) 2007 ASCAP Golden Note Award ASCAP Golden Note Award 2007 CMT Music Awards Album of the Year—Water & Bridges 2005 CMT Music Awards Favorite All Time Country Duet—”Islands In the Stream” (w/Dolly Parton) 2004 CMT’s 100 Greatest Cheating Songs “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love to Town”—No. 6 2003 International Entertainment Buyers Association Lifetime Achievement Award 2003 CMT’s 100 Greatest Country Songs “The Gambler”—No. 26 2002 CMT’s 40 Greatest Men of Country Music Ranking—No. 19 2000 TNN Music Awards Career Achievement Award 1999 BBC’s Greatest Country Singer Ranking—No. 2 1988 Grammy Awards Best Duo Country Vocal Performance—”Make No Mistake She’s Mine” (w/ Ronnie Milsap) 1986 USA Today Favorite Singer of All Time 1985 American Music Awards Favorite Country Album—Eyes That See in the Dark 1985 American Music Awards Favorite Male Country Artist 1983 Academy of Country Music Awards Single of the Year—”Islands In the Stream” (w/ Dolly Parton) 1983 Academy of Country Music Awards Top Vocal Duet (w/ Dolly Parton) 1983 American Music Awards Favorite Pop/Rock Country Artist 1983 American Music Awards Favorite Country Single—”Love Will Turn You Around” 1983 ASAP Awards Favorite Single—”Islands In the Stream” (w/Dolly Parton) 1982 American Music Awards Favorite Country Album—Greatest Hits 1981 American Music Awards Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist 1981 American Music Awards Favorite Country Album—The Gambler 1981 American Music Awards Favorite Country Single—”Coward of the County” 1980 American Music Awards Favorite Male Country Artist 1980 American Music Awards Favorite Country Album—The Gambler 1980 Music City News Country Single of the Year 1979 American Music Awards Favorite Male Country Artist 1979 American Music Awards Favorite Country Album—10 Years of Gold 1979 Country Music Association Awards Male Vocalist of the Year 1979 Country Music Association Awards Vocal Duo of the Year (w/ Dottie West) 1979 Country Music Association Awards Album of the Year—The Gambler 1979 Music City News Country Male Artist of the Year 1979 Music City News Country Single of the Year—”The Gambler” 1979 Grammy Awards Best Male Country Vocal Performance—”The Gambler” 1978 American Music Awards Favorite Single—”Lucille” 1978 Country Music Association Awards Vocal Duo of the Year (w/Dottie West) 1978 Academy of Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year 1978 Academy of Country Music Awards Top Male Vocalist 1977 Country Music Association Awards Single of the Year—”Lucille” 1977 Academy of Country Music Awards Top Male Vocalist 1977 Academy of Country Music Awards Single of the Year—”Lucille” 1977 Academy of Country Music Awards Song of the Year—”Lucille” 1977 Grammy Awards Best Male Country Vocal Performance—”Lucille”
Goodbye Kenny Rogers
Charities & foundations supported 7
Kenny Rogers has supported the following charities:
During the 30’s, Buck Jones made a few Movie Serials. One such wasRed Rider.
Movie Serials first appeared in the 1910’s and were popular the right up into the late 50’s. These were usually about 15 (black and white) Episodes that were less than 10 minutes in length and shown at Saturday Matinees prior to the main attraction. They always had a ‘Cliff Hanger’ ending. – the idea being that you’d have to come back again next week to see what happened to your Hero.! Would Buck, survive the fall off that cliff?
Of course he would, but we wanted to see how?
These old time stunts were amazing. And dangerous. No wires or CGI.
Sploosh !!
This is why stuntman Richard Farnsworth
eventually formed the Stuntman’s Union.
Rose and I (and four other folks) took a very bumpy Jeep ride
(hang on to your saddlehorn folks) up Schnebly Hill Road. (Theodore Carleton (T C) Schnebly and his wife SEDONA Arabella Miller Schnebly
moved to the area in 1901. Guess how Sedona got it’s name?
Sedona Jeep tour
Eventually we jostled and jerked our way up to a viewpoint near Schnebly Hill Vista … then jumped out for a jaunt. Climbing a short, but steep,
little path we arrived at a location overlooking the whole valley. Beautiful! There are lots of vista shots around Sedona.
Sedona – the view from Schnebly Hill
Here’s where Nick – our Jeep driver – points to a certain tree and tells us “This is John Wayne Tree”. Really!! (He had no knowledge that I had a blog called My Favorite Westerns). There’s a photo (somewhere) of John Wayne posing by this tree when he was filming Angel and the Badman in 1947.
I believe I saw that photo once, but after hours of searching the net was unable to locate it.
John Wayne Tree
Nick claims that Wayne posed somewhat like this (above) in the famous photo. You know … I could almost hear Duke whispering in my ear: “Get yer hand off my tree pilgrim.”
