Thursday, November 27, 2008

The Spirit of the Old West Alive Bob Boze Bell Interview


The Spirit of the Old West Alive Bob Boze Bell Interview

Featured November 19th at Bison Western Museum

The 3000 Club Food Rescue benefits from auction

(SCOTTSDALE) – The Spirit of the Old West Alive lecture series continued November 19th, the second in the series to honor people who have “kept the spirit of the old west alive”. Bob Boze Bell Executive Editor of True West Magazine was center stage and offered some candid insight to events never before discussed as he was interviewed about his life and times in Arizona.

“I don’t know if I can say this if there are kids in the audience,” Bell sheepishly confided. His story continued about how the “P” word got one of his books pulled from a bookstore for indecency when a customer complained. The audience laughed at the absurdity of the situation and at the endless quips Bell let loose in the 2 hours on stage.

The Spirit of the Old West Alive (SOWA) was founded by LeeAnn Sharpe with the purpose of collecting oral histories. “Too often we see the passing of significant people in our history without their stories being recorded. It means so much more to hear their stories directly from the individual. To hear their voice, to see their body language and pick up on their personality,” Sharpe comments. These video taped interviews will be available as DVD’s and online for research.

Why Bell? “We have to honor those people who have impacted our western experience. Bob Boze Bell has written a number of books on old west characters, created western art, and brought a publication, True West, back to life and introduced the history of the west to a whole new generation.”

Bison Western Museum is an excellent partner in the SOWA program as their goal is also related to gathering history of the southwest. The lectures are presented in their theatre seating 125 people. With the gorgeous museum upstairs for guests to explore while enjoying a buffet of hor d’ouveres and a cocktail, the location is about as enjoyable as possible. (www.bisonhomes.com )

Also sponsoring the event is the Wild West Gazette dedicated to promoting Arizona history, education and tourism. Sharpe as Editor of the publication had little trouble convincing Publisher Sid Hagel to jump onboard. The current November issue of Wild West Gazette boldly depicts the first two lectures in the series. ( www.wildwestgazette.com )

The 3000 Club Food Rescue (www.the3000club.org) was a beneficiary of a third of the evenings receipts. The 3000 Club Food Rescue, with founder Lon Taylor and Ethel Luzario, do incredible work transporting produce that can not make it to market to food banks that would be otherwise sent to landfills. Their program makes a major impact feeding the hungry with high quality nutritious produce. A portion of the proceeds from the SOWA lecture will support their efforts. Taylor took the stage to describe the work they do in these much needed times. He told how they had lost a major sponsor and needed to raise $30,000 to replace that income to keep the project going. “We need 3000 members to donate as little as $100 to make this happen,” Taylor commented. The audience responded with questions of how to join. The website above has an application online. Or call 602-549-1011.

The next lecture will be January 7th and honor Wyatt Earp Grandnephew of the famous lawman. as one of the people who keep the “Spirit of the Old West Alive.” Earp has preserved the family history and performs a one man show. He has traveled the world with his show and certainly is deserving of this honor.

Bison Western Museum is located at 16641 N. 91st St., Scottsdale, AZ (just north of Bell Road) Parking is free and admission is a $15 donation to benefit our selected charities. Doors open at 5PM, Cocktail hour begins at 6pm and the program will begin at 7pm and last until 9pm. (www.spiritoftheoldwestalive.com )

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Review by Sarver Marshall Trimble Interview


Marshall Trimble, Arizona’s Official State Historian Honored by “Spirit of the Old West Alive”
By Karen Michelle Sarver

Marshall Trimble, Arizona’s Official State Historian, was honored with a “Spirit of the Old West Alive” award Nov. 5 at the Bison Western Museum in Scottsdale.
LeeAnn Sharpe, director of the program, presented the award following her videotaped interview of Marshall. The video is the first in the lecture series, “People Who Keep the Spirit of the Old West Alive,” created to promote the history of the West both online and in museums nationwide.
The interview, accompanied by a slide show, focused on Marshall’s life as a teacher, historian, and musician. While Marshall is certainly all of those—and more--the presentation proved he is also a man with a lot of friends.
The late Senator Barry Goldwater was one of them.
Marshall met Barry Goldwater in 1972 when the senator spoke at Scottsdale’s Coronado High School where Marshall was teaching Southwest history.
Marshall said he and the senator became friends that day, “and we were friends until the day he died.”
Following his introduction of Goldwater at the high school, Marshall said he went on to introduce the senator “on the Barry Goldwater Lecture Series for more than twenty-odd years.”
“We never talked politics,” Marshall said. “Barry had this whole other side; he liked to talk about Arizona history…we always talked history. That suited him and it suited me too.”
Another of Marshall’s friends was Henry Cordes, grandson of German immigrant John Henry Cordes who established the town that bears his name in 1883, and became its first postmaster.
Marshall’s family met Henry when their 1936 Ford broke down in Cordes.
“Not Cordes Junction, Henry Cordes’ town,” Marshall clarified. “We lived there for two, three, four days. We were the guests of Henry Cordes.”
He added, “I think the population of Cordes was one.”
Besides a politician and a town founder, Marshall’s list of friends included an Academy Award winner: Ben Johnson.
Marshall called Johnson, who acted in “The Wild Bunch,” “Shane,” “ Junior Bonner” and other westerns “one of the best storytellers.”
The two men camped together in Monument Valley for a week for an “Arizona Highways” piece that Marshall was writing about the actor.
“Other than his loud snoring, we had a very wonderful time,” Marshall said. “You met him and it felt like you knew him all your life.”
Marshall said that when he heard the news of Johnson’s death in 1996 he had to pull his car off to the side of the road to gather his thoughts.
“He was just that kind of guy. I’ll never forget him.”
But one of the Official State Historians dearest friends is Arizona Official State Balladeer Dolan Ellis. Marshall and Dolan have performed together since about 1978.
“He’s a great guy, like Ben Johnson,” Marshall said, “to know him is to love him.”
Marshall recalled that when he “went down with a heart issue” and couldn’t make his performances, Dolan called him, asking if Marshall had any shows he needed covered.
“I said, ‘Yeah, all of ‘em.”
Marshall said Dolan drove “all over the place to cover my shows. And when the checks came in and I tried to give ‘em to him he wouldn’t take ‘em. We’re that kind of friends.”
Marshall concluded the interview with a reflection on his book signing for “Ash Fork,” his book about the history of his childhood hometown.
“The day… that the book came out and we went up there for the book signing, there was a blizzard,” Marshall said. “I started signing books at…noon and it snowed up at Flag. and Prescott—everywhere. And people came from as far away as Kingman and Flagstaff, through the storm to come to the book signing. And, those,” he said, “are friends.”
To learn more about Marshall Trimble, visit his website at www.marshalltrimble.com

Bob Boze Bell Featured November19th


The Spirit of the Old West Alive Announces
First Interview in Lecture Series

Bob Boze Bell Featured November19th at Bison Western Museum

Cowgirl Designs displays art and The 3000 Club Food Rescue benefits from auction

(SCOTTSDALE) – The Spirit of the Old West Alive lecture series continues November 19th, the second in a series to honor people who have “kept the spirit of the old west alive”. Bob Boze Bell Executive Editor of True West Magazine will be center stage interviewed about his life and times in Arizona.

The Spirit of the Old West Alive (SOWA) was founded by LeeAnn Sharpe with the purpose of collecting oral histories. “Too often we see the passing of significant people in our history without their stories being recorded. It means so much more to hear their stories directly from the source,” Sharpe comments.

Bison Western Museum is an excellent partner in the SOWA program as their goal is also related to gathering history of the southwest. The lectures will be presented in their theatre seating 125 people.

Also sponsoring the event is the Wild West Gazette dedicated to promoting Arizona history, education and tourism. Sharpe as Editor of the publication had little trouble convincing Publisher Sid Hagel to jump onboard.

Sponsors also include photographer Karin Johnson of Cowgirl Designs who will auction some of her horse photography art work to benefit the designated charity for the evening, The 3000 Club Food Rescue (www.the3000club.org).

The 3000 Club Food Rescue, with founder Lon Taylor and Ethel Luzario, do incredible work transporting produce that can not make it to market to food banks that would be otherwise sent to landfills. Their program makes a major impact feeding the hungry with high quality nutritious produce. A portion of the proceeds from the SOWA lecture will support their efforts.

Sharpe says, “I hope to build an archive of stories that combine to tell the history of Arizona. The lectures will be entertaining evenings for anyone interested in cowboy western art, music, history and lifestyle. It’s also a great opportunity for business and social networking! We had 88 people attend our event for Marshall Trimble on Nov 5th and expect a similar crowd for this event.”

Bob Boze Bell is a historian, a humorist, a storyteller, and as True West editor has brought the history of the old west to people all over the world. It seems only fitting that he should be the among the first to be honored as one of the people who keep the “Spirit of the Old West Alive.”

Bison Western Museum is located at 16641 N. 91st St., Scottsdale, AZ (just north of Bell Road) Parking is free and admission is a $15 donation to benefit our selected charities. Cocktail hour begins at 6pm and the program will begin at 7pm and last until 9pm.