The Texas Author and Reader Con on July 19th was a great event with a pretty big turnout! I had an amazing time on the Western panel, and it was an honor to share that stage with Ronnie Ashmore, Phil Mills Jr., Chris Mullen, and RJ Hanson. I learned a lot from these guys, and it energized me to push forward with my writing. It was such a great pleasure to meet and talk with so many great people! These kind of events just breathe new life into me every time I attend. I’m really looking forward to next years’ event. This con is getting bigger every year, and if you weren’t able to attend this year, come out next year! It promises to be an even bigger event! Special thanks to the Irving Community Television Network for coming out and doing a story on the event!
Family Adventure Part 4: The Black Cowboy Museum
We had a good time on our trip, learned a lot, and before long we were on our way to our last stop from the High on the Hog series (on Netflix, Season 1 Episode 4), and the Black Cowboy Museum didn’t disappoint. When we walked in we were immediately greeted by Cowboy Larry Callies, who was for sure a cowboy through and through! He stands with a presence, almost larger than life, but with a strong kindness about him. Larry looked every bit the cowboy and you could tell he lived it as well. No window dressing here. As he told us, “I am a Christian first and a cowboy second!”
While the museum was small, there was an enormous amount of history there, and he proceeded to take us through it, imparting knowledge about how the Black cowboys survived, and in some cases, thrived. This also included Larry’s life as a Western musician before vocal Dysphonia took his vocal cords. He was also involved in the rodeos and showed us pictures of his own bull-riding exploits of him and his contemporaries. He also showed us actual sheriff and marshall badges, and one I had never seen before: badges worn by men whose job it was to round up escaped slaves. We also got to see a myriad of old west pistols, including a replica of Wyatt Earp’s Peacemaker, which for the life of me I couldn’t see how he could shoot it with how long the barrel was. We surmised the pistol was more ceremonial than anything else, and not something he would wear day to day.
Larry was very open to questions, and we peppered him with many of them, and he was gracious and patient with us. The day ended with Larry showing my son how to use a lasso, and in return was shown how to do the griddy!
Larry proved he could hang tight on the dance floor too! Larry and I spoke at length about Bass Reeves, Nat Love and others, and their recognition in pop culture. We spoke about my novel The Girl With Strawberry Hair and the next book in the series, and of course, I had to give him a copy! I also expressed an interest in writing non-fiction accounts of some of the history he knows. We agreed to talk some more down the line. That was where our fun pre-thanksgiving adventure ended, but wait! I was delighted to find, on Christmas Day, my wife had an additional present for me: Larry’s book, “ Here Comes Larry Callies, Stepping Out In Faith”!
We had an amazing time, and it was the right way to end our family adventure. I can’t recommend enough taking a day and just going out and about, learning things you didn’t know. Go with family, or friends, to the places you see on TV, or read about. You’ll have a great time, and expand your mind all at once! I would also recommend reading the book High On the Hog, which you can purchase here, or watch the Netflix series of the same name, and if you happen to find yourself in the Houston area, how about a trip to the Black Cowboy Museum?
Family Adventure Part 2: The Negro Green Motorist Handbook
One of the reasons for our 4-hour excursion to Houston was to see the museum exhibit The Green Negro Motorist Handbook at the Holocaust Museum before it moved on to other pastures (in this case Los Angeles, CA). For those who don’t know, during the Jim Crow days the Green Negro Motorist Handbook was a way for Black people to travel the country with grace and dignity, and just live with the freedom that car travel provides, despite the laws that restricted our rights. There is an interactive display where you can navigate a trip to grandma’s house, and you can choose to use the handbook or go without, to your own peril.
The exhibit is divided into regions, North, South, and West. The ingenuity of what it took to survive was, frankly, genius, such as many black men drove their own cars with chauffeur hats next to them, so in case the police stopped them they could claim they were driving their employers’ car, and taking the help home ( if your wife happens to be in the car with you). If you get a chance to see this please don’t hesitate. You can go to the website to see when the exhibit reaches your town here: https://negromotoristgreenbook.si.edu/
There was a lot my 9-year-old son didn’t understand, but a lot he did. It was worth it to expose him to a part of the history of his people. We also explored the Holocaust museum, and it was a sobering experience to say the least. There was much to digest and think about, and anyone who denies it happened is simply insane.
Next in Part 3: Time to Eat! (and time to meet someone from the show!)
Family Adventure Part 1: High On The Hog
As we start 2024, I’d like to show a little adventure I took the family on during the week of Thanksgiving 2023. But first, a bit of background about how it started…High On The Hog. This is a book about African-American history as told through our food. The book was turned into a Netflix series which is currently in its second season, and I can’t recommend it enough. Everyone, no matter your skin color should watch it. It’s beautiful, it’s challenging, it’s full of heart and I know you’ll find something out about Black cuisine and the history behind it you didn’t know. The fourth episode is called Freedom and moves the story to Texas, and I was exposed to places I have never heard of and people I have never met. I decided to change that in a big way. After all, I can’t be a Black Western writer and say “Nope never been” when asked if I’ve ever been to the Black Cowboy Museum, could I?
This is the first of a series of posts, and if you’d like to play along, start by watching the Netflix series High on the Hog. While I think you should watch EVERY episode because they are all simply fantastic, starting out with episode 4, Texas, will suffice! And look what I got for Christmas! The book itself!
Read an e-book week is here!
Happy Read an Ebook Week! You can find my book, The Girl With Strawberry Hair, available now at @Smashwords at a promotional price to help you celebrate. Find my book and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek from March 5-11! #ebookweek23 #Smashwords
Popcorn Western Friday: The Professionals (1966)
What’s it About?
Four men, all of them with different skillsets, are brought together by a wealthy businessman with one mission: cross the border into Mexico to rescue his wife who has been kidnapped by a Mexican revolutionary. But this simple rescue mission is far more complex than they realize…
Who’s in it?
This is the great Woody Strode, one of the few black actors to play a major character in these early westerns, playing the expert tracker Jake. What I loved about this is that the question of race only comes up one time. Lee Marvin’s Fardan is asked by his employer if he has an issue working with a Black man. He says he doesn’t, and THAT’S IT. No one ever questions his expertise, and no one doubts what he can do, ever. As with the rest of them, he’s a pro at being a tracker, and doesn’t make mistakes. He’s treated the same as every other member of the team, as it should be.
It was still something even in 1966 to see a western with a Black character treated as an equal among his white team members. Particularly since the others were major actors in Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan.
Warning!
The Professionals is a really fun Mission-Impossible style western featuring grand vistas and some really great suspenseful set pieces. The only negative is Raza, the main “villain”, a Mexican character played by the very not Mexican Jack Palance. He does a good enough job, but in todays’ world that casting isn’t going to fly. Your mileage may vary with that.
Where To Watch:
You can find The Professionals on DVD or Blu Ray on Amazon.
You can also stream on Netflix for free or rent through Google Play or Amazon Prime Video.
If you give it a watch let me know what you thought of the film in the comments below!
Why this book now?
Channel 39. That’s a good place to get started. Like most kids in the 80’s I adored Saturday morning cartoons. And we knew when it was over because right after Looney Tunes (the last cartoon) American Bandstand came on. Followed by Solid Gold and Soul Train. The cartoon party was officially over for the weekend.
But one day, my Dad went into my room just as Don Cornelius started introducing the show, and changed the channel to 39. And it was in this moment I watched The Lone Ranger for the first time. That was followed by some combination of Have Gun Will Travel, or Branded, and then The Rifleman, Bonanza, The Wild Wild West, and after that The Big Valley, ending the day on Gunsmoke. Sometimes a western movie followed it, but I was outside playing by then. Gunsmoke was too grown up to hold my interest.
Men and women riding horses, guns blazing, righting wrongs every week, and every episode ended more or less on a positive note. ‘Until next week, my friends!’ was the promise, and I did my best to be there, with my silver popgun and fake cowboy hat. Appointment TV, indeed! As I grew older I started watching John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies, loving them all (I have pictures of both men in my office) and while I greatly enjoyed their movies, something was always missing.
Me.
Or rather, someone who looked like me. As a small child I didn’t notice it too much, but as an older one I did. ‘Why weren’t there any Black cowboy heroes who looked like me? Maybe they didn’t exist?’ The latter was something I said to myself often. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I started to hear about Bass Reeves, Stagecoach Mary, Nat Love, Bill Pickett, and so many more people who never came up in my history books in school. Or television. Or movies. Or books. Now, in the year 2022 we are starting to hear about these fine folks, but we’re only just starting to scratch the surface of who they were and what they did to help shape the wild west into the most uniquely American thing on Earth. One day a thought came into my head, and before long I had the book written and ready to go. Now let’s enjoy a new journey that is filled with adventure, action, and some humor, featuring a new Black western hero everyone can cheer behind!
Liberty Saints Press 