Cowboy Songs

I have always like the western films and like wise I'm fond of almost anything "cowboy". Here I've put together some of my favorite cowboy songs. Performer-wise they pretty much run the gamut.   Included are the singing cowboys of the movies,  Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Who can forget the string of western hits Marty Robbins had.  Wasn't that a great quartet of Johnny Cash, Kris Kristopherson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings?  The Sons of the San Joaquin  tell the story better than I can.


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I couldn't resist this Roy and Trigger video.  Boy did I think this was cool way back when.  Yes, I wanted to grow up to be a cowboy.

Where is Jack?

We were in the Green River area of northern Utah and had been driving most of the day in the dry hilly country. We had gone north and into the state of Wyoming through natural gas fields watched over by golden eagles before reentering Utah on primitive roads and the valley of the Green river in this area of the America where Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado meet. This particular area is called Brown's Park.We had driven across a suspension bridge on the Green River. The movement of the bridge was not noticeable in the car but if you walked across the bridge the swinging movement was quite noticeable. The weight limitations of the bridge were posted in number of sheep. A rough gravel road skirted the river and we eventually reached the historic Jarvie property on the Green River which provides a glimpse of life in the turn-of-the–century west. This is Bureau of Land Management land. John Jarvie, a native of Scotland, had settled the property in the 1881 after selling his business interests in Wyoming. He had become a naturalized citizen in 1875 and picked this spot on the Green River which had been a crossing for wild animals and Native Americans for centuries to build his home, trading post and other business enterprises which would include a ferry service, general store, post office, liquor distillery and other services.

There are a number of structures here, a reproduction of a general store, an original stone house, a blacksmith shop and an underground house. We parked in the nearby parking lot and began to look around the site. We first entered the one room stone house, measuring 18 X 20 feet, which was full of relics of pioneer times and told of the history of the property. The stone house was built by outlaw John, “Judge”, Bennett utilizing skills learned in prison at the request of John Jarvie. Interestingly, inside the house is a post left from the scaffold used to hang Judge Bennett. Bennett's claim to fame is that he was the only person hung in Brown's Park. A few feet away we visited the replica general store and found that the original owner, John Jarvie, had been murdered in 1906 during a robbery of the original store. John sold the whiskey he made in the store. In the early 1900's he was charged with selling whiskey without a license.  During the court proceedings the jury was given a sample of the beverage in question.  They reported that the beverage wasn't good enough to be considered whiskey and Jarvie was found not guilty. The general store also was the dwelling for John Jarvie his wife, Nellie, and their four sons.

It is beautiful here by the river with big cottonwood trees providing shade. You can close your eyes and can almost hear the thunder of horses’ hooves and smell the cooking fires of a pioneer settlement A little over one hundred years ago this settlement was on the infamous “Outlaw Trail” which reached from Mexico to Canada. Yes, such notables as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid frequented these parts. Butch and the Kid had an interesting technique for robbery getaways. They would have fresh horses waiting for them at twenty mile intervals along their escape route. In those days regular folk did not consider robbing the railroad barons much of a crime and often offered sanctuary to these robbers.

While visiting we met the resident ranger, Frank Tankersley, who led us around the property and told us all about it. At the blacksmith shop and corral John showed us how the rustlers could change brands on livestock after rustling them. By adding an addition to the existing brand the brand could be changed allowing the rustlers to claim stolen cattle as their own.  The corral and blacksmith shop had been built from railroad ties that had floated down the river from Wyoming.


Frank led us into the two room underground house in which the newlyweds, John and Nellie Jarvie, set up housekeeping. Nellie had been born in the British Isles. She and John were known to have beautiful singing voices. John was a true renaissance man who was also a talented organ and concertina player as well as a well known local poet. He was quite an athlete as well and frequently challenged younger men to foot races. This dugout was built by the big red-headed Englishman, Bill Lawrence. It is built facing south west toward the river. Over the sturdy door is a rack of deer antlers. As I entered, following Claudette and Frank, I ducked my head due to the low ceiling. The one hundred year old cedar rafters still hold up the earth roof. The walls are of heavy wood of hand-hewn or rip sawn timber.  As we looked around, John pointed out the features and furniture of the compact living quarters such as the cord bed and various cabinets for storage. The wood-burning cook stove looked a lot like the one my grandmother used. Based on the size of the custom-built home, I don’t believe that John and Nellie were tall people. I had to walk stooped over and I’m only six feet tall. Frank told us that after the Jarvies had moved into their house passing outlaws frequently used the dugout when hiding out from the local lawmen. Maybe Butch and Sundance had stood hiding exactly where we were and listened for pursuing lawmen to pass them by. During Frank’s description of the living quarters he mentioned another resident.

“I haven’t seen Jack today,” said Frank.

“And who is Jack?” I asked.

“He’s a snake about four feet long,” answered Frank as he gestured the length with outstretched hands.

We decided that our house tour was over.



The Jarvie Property in northern Utah is one of the best pioneer homesteads we visited.

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* A photograph of John Jarvie

          *A photograph of the Sundance Kid and his girlfriend, Etta Place
         
          *A photograph of Butch and Sundance and the Wild Bunch

          *The movie trailer from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

          *Jarvie Property in Utah

Monkfish and Cockles

We were going to walk along the east bank of the Thames to the Tate Modern museum and back across the river via the Millennium Bridge. Having just finished our lunch of bangers and mash with mushy peas we were looking forward to the walk for exercise. Little did we know that we would be wander into an incredible display of food at the Borough Market. I have a fondness for outdoor markets. There is always an array of fresh and delightful foodstuffs and they seem to offer sort of a cross section of local culture.

The Borough Market is located beneath the railroad tracks between the river Thames and Borough High Street. Some of the covered area has a Victorian look about it with soaring ceilings with ornate iron supports and clear glass. The vendors or traders as they are called have their designated small spaces usually fronted by a table. There are two distinct markets within the Borough Market; the Jubilee Market which is newly covered and the Green Market. The market is open Thursday and Friday afternoons and all day on Saturday. A market has existed here since the 12th century and reflects the diversity food products of the once vast British empire.

As you wander these walkways you’re overcome by the variety of the products where freshness abounds. Many products are sold by their producers and straight from the farms. Seafood is just hours removed from the sea and you can almost feel the pulse of fresh hung meats. As in any unfamiliar place there are new things never before seen. And, by the way, there are also those things to taste.  Free samples abound. There are also methods of food presentation which I had not seen before such as melting cheese before eating it. Here you find those odd and unusual vegetables and fruits not to mention creatures from the sea and land. Some vendor persons also fit into the odd and unusual category as well. All of this adds up to an interesting travel experience and for the artist or photographer it is a visual treat to record and remember.

I recommend the Borough Market in London as a great way to enjoy an hour or so and to introduce yourself to the pulse of the London food market.

From Wikipedia...  Raclette is also a dish indigenous to parts of Switzerland and the Savoie region of France. The Raclette cheese round is heated, either in front of a fire or by a special machine, then scraped onto diners' plates; the term raclette derives from the French word racler, meaning "to scrape". Traditionally, it is accompanied by small firm potatoes (Bintje, Charlotte or Raclette varieties), gherkins, pickled onions, and dried meat, such as jambon cru/cuit and viande des Grisons.

For a great online experience visit the Borough Market at http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/. This is a great website with lots of photos and maps. It even has recipes. You can almost smell the fresh food. 

Monaco

We awoke to a gray day. The sun was obscured by a blanket of clouds. We dressed  hurriedly and were on our way. But first we stopped by the front desk to ask if the clerk would take care of our parking fee. You could only pay for six hours of parking at once. We would be gone longer. We needed help. The day clerk said that he would be glad to take care of it for us. Having solved this problem we breakfasted at a cafe on the way to the train station which must have been at least half a mile down through the zig-zaged streets. Coffee and croissants make a good breakfast when you are in a hurry. Buy it at the counter, sit and enjoy, no waiting for wait staff. The place was crowded with natives on the way to work, reading their newspapers, buying lottery tickets over the din of musical French in a light cloud of cigarette smoke.  It's almost like fast food. I guess it is food, fast. We catch the train for Monaco. It was easier here because there was a ticket agent instead of the usual automated ticket dispensers. It would have been a very nice train ride had it not been for rude Americans. One woman yells loudly, "Is this train going to Italy?" Then complains about all her misadventures and about how they don't do it this way in Dallas. We  spoke not a word and tried to appear European.

The railroad track follows the contour of the land as it meets the sea and we had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean  off the starboard side of the train. In less than an hour we disembark at the station in the principality of Monaco.  We have indeed crossed the border into the only true monarchy in the free world.  Monaco like Villafranche-sur-mur from which we came seems to be cantilevered on the side of a

mountain. We exit one of the four exits of the station into the minuscule country (.75square miles) of 30,000 residents.  It is one of the money laundering capitals of the world. (Infamously known as "a sunny place for shady people") Our goal is to see the changing of the guard at the prince's palace. We tend to like the military pomp of these ceremonies.  Ah, yes, the thunder of drums and flash of sabers! Monaco is the only city we've visited where you can take an elevator between streets.  I often have difficulty getting my head around this idea...but I did it..so...  We have a small map of the city in our guidebook and notice how reality is very different from the printed page.  The page lies flat, the city does not.  It's about ten o'clock in the morning and the ceremony is at 11:55 and we decide to walk to the top of the mountain upon which Palias Princier sits. The climb is steep and I cursed my miserly Scottish ancestry which kept me from the one euro bus ride.

The palace is the home of Monaco's ruling monarch, Prince Albert, whose full name and title is Prince Albert Alexandre Louise Pierre, Marquis of Baux. I'm not sure why he's not a king, since he is the head of the Gramaldi ruling family. The court yard is beautiful and there are great views of the city and harbors below. This would possibly have been a great place to view the Grand Prix of Monaco, an automobile race of international renown. A statue of Francois Grimaldi dominates the palace square.  Old Francois conquered the area in 1297 masqueraded as a monk. Although the Prince is the ruler of Monaco, the country administrator, telephone system, electricity ,water and so on are French.

We arrived early at the palace and got a front row view of the changing of the guard. We spent the waiting time looking at the various cannon on display  and admiring the views of the harbor but avoided the gift shop which was doing a booming business with the burgeoning crowd of tourists.  By this spectacular ceremony you would think that Monaco was a world power. It's quite entertaining with a brass band and pith helmeted palace guards.  I noted that the rifles were M-16's with bayonets.  Bayonet training was eliminated  from the American combat training regimen recently.  After the changing of the ceremony, the guards return to their respective posts and we leave the palace.  And it's all downhill.  We wanted to see the casino.  The most famous casino in the world.



Monte Carlo is a area of Monaco.  (I always thought it was the name of the casino.) Monte Carlo actually means "Charles's Hill" in Spanish and was named for the ruling prince at the time the casino was built.  Over the entrance to the casino reads Casino de Monte Carlo.  It is flanked on the right by the Hotel de Paris and on the left by the Loews Casino.  Casino de Monte Carlo is the gambling establishment frequented by James Bond in the 007 films.  I would have been great to have seen Sean Connery drive up in an Aston Martin DB-5. Connery did not appear but the exotic sports cars were there;  Ferrari, Maserati, Aston -Martin, Bentley and others. This place exudes conspicuous consumption. The casino doesn't open until 2:00 P.M. and we weren't interesting in waiting.

However, to feed the desire take a chance, we entered the Loews Casino.  The machines seem to have in insatiable appetite for euros.  One noticeable difference from Vegas was the absence of free drinks. There is a lot of security here and no cameras allowed in the casino.

After spending the allotted amount on casino entertainment we would catch the train to Nice for an afternoon admiring the artwork of one of the great French masters.

Scanography

Scanography--a new way I've  found to create pictures or images. As an artist I am always attempting to create images, whether in painting, collage, photography, computer generated or other means or a combination of media.  Recently, I discovered scanography. I use a scanner to create pictures. Initially, I simply placed objects on the scanner and scanned, much the same way as you would make a copy or scan images into  an image editing program.  Then I remembered what things were like in the early days of photocopiers. People would put anything in the copier.  Once when I was working at an iron foundry a worker put a one dollar bill in the copier and made a copy of it and  then used it in a vending machine to get a burger.  Once we convinced him he was counterfeiting money, he was terrified. And, of course, there are those stories of the office staff making photocopies of certain body parts.

At first I placed scraps of paper on the scanner and scanned them.  Then I arranged the multicolored scraps of paper in a pattern and scanned.  I added photographs and anything else flat and paper thin. You can compose a picture of these bits.  It's like assembling a collage without the glue. You are composing the picture on your scanner from front to back. The first abjects placed will be at the front of your picture. All the rules of composition work here just like in a painting or photograph. Adding three dimensional objects creates even more interest in the composition.

This is a great way to exercise you creativity. The images created can be printed  or edited with software such as Photoshop.

In the examples below I have used various scraps of paper, photographs, textile fabric, and solid objects to create the image.  One is a scan of a piece woven from newspaper strips with a red paper tear-out added.  Next to is is a scan of my hand manipulated in Photoshop.  In the two scanographs below I have used bamboo leaves with a photograph and autuum leaves with a marker drawing to create the images.

These are merely examples of what can be done. Think of the scanner as a camera. See the scanner as "new"  media!