The Frontierado Holiday is coming up on August 5th. As always, the holiday is about the myth of the Old West, not the grinding reality.
FARMER PEEL – Gunslinger Langford Peel got the nickname “Farmer” Peel through the same sense of irony that earns some tall people the nickname Shorty and some fat people the nickname Slim. Peel was always well-dressed and smooth-tongued and the furthest thing away from the image of a Farmer that you could get among the high-stakes gambler/ gunslingers of his era.
Peel was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1829 but his family moved to America during his childhood. In 1841, at the age of 12, Peel was accepted into the U.S. Army as a bugler. Buglers and drummers could indeed be enlisted into the service as company musicians with their parents’ consent. Education in their intended musical instruments was part of the bargain.
David Robb would have made a great Farmer Peel
The young Langford Peel was shipped off to Governor’s Island, New York and then Carlisle Barracks, PA for his military and musical training. After 13 months he was discharged at Carlisle on October 24th, 1842 but chose to reenlist. Come 1845 the 16 year old blonde was with Company B of the First Regiment of U.S. Dragoons at Fort Atkinson, IA. (Yes, this would indeed have made him the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B when he was first posted there. I’m kidding!)
By the spring of 1846 Peel got his first action against Native Americans, bugling and fighting for his unit in what is now Pawnee County, Coon Creek and along the Arkansas River. Already skilled at gunplay, Langford notched 3 kills in his first battle and became even deadlier in the future, seeing a great deal of action against the Great Plains and Mojave Desert Tribes. Continue reading
Once again, Mary Harris Jones – aka Mother Jones – speaks with Balladeer’s Blog despite having passed away in 1930. 
The Marvel Comics run of stories based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan character from 1970-1993 helped maintain the character’s place in the public consciousness after the end of the Pulp Magazine era. 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #46 (January 1975) 
Before long he passes through the village of Sfanol, where he sees the inhabitants about to burn at the stake a beautiful young woman named Stefanya. 
Our hero saves Stefanya from this fate and learns she was being burned for her service to the late sorcerer Zoqquanor now that he is no longer alive to protect her. The panicked woman tells Conan that they must retrieve Zoqquanor’s body from the ruins of his castle, which was leveled by the same superstitious villagers who tried to burn her alive. 
Over 10 million viewers watch the first night of the NFL draft every year. While those figures pale in comparison to the Super Bowl, you can bet industry insiders are all glued to their screens. Pundits endlessly pore over pick possibilities in the lead-up and will start speculating on how new arrivals will contribute to their franchise the second a draftee puts on his new team’s cap for the cameras. 
Eric July aka YoungRippa59 has launched what he’s calling the Rippaverse. July has been touting this independent publishing project for quite some time and, after investing $200,000 of his own money and, having now raised well over 2.25 million dollars more, went live with his website on July 12th. UPDATE: He is now over 3.7 million dollars. People know a good thing when they see it.
Rippa’s first superhero is called Isom and his 96-page debut book is lengthy enough to deserve the term Graphic Novel. And this is just the start of a brand-new superhero universe that Eric vows will compete with Marvel and DC eventually. 
As promised, Balladeer’s Blog returns to some brief looks at assorted Pony Express Riders as seasonal posts now that the Frontierado Holiday is fast approaching. (It falls on August 5th this year.) Frontierado is about the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality.
IRISH TOMMY – Thomas J. Ranahan was better known as Irish Tommy during his days as an Expressman (the official title of Pony Express riders). Ranahan was born in Ireland on August 28th, 1839 and his family moved to America in 1841, settling in Vermont. 
A. Ngai, the creator god, divider of the universe, divider of the land from the sea and owner of the dazzling light, descended to the Earth shortly after making it. Mists covered the entire world because of how freshly made it was. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve written plenty over the years about how the increasing derangement, intolerance and fascism of the Democrats drove me to leave that political party and become an Independent Voter. Periodically I shine light on other people who have come to feel the same way. Here are several: 
“The video centered around how Petrov had considered herself a Democrat like most people her age. She was neck-deep in leftism, especially in her university … She couldn’t get through a math class without it being woke. Soon, Petrov found herself unable to continue identifying with the left and as her video states, she left it. This includes her university which had sunk so far into wokeness that it stopped being a place of learning.” (NOTE FROM BALLADEER: Which is why I often refer to how Democrats have
A MAN CALLED SLEDGE (1970) – Garner’s lone Spaghetti Western was a fascinating departure from his usual depictions of a roguish but not ruthless rascal. This time around he plays Luther Sledge, a grim, pitiless bandit leader who becomes obsessed with robbing a fortune in gold from its temporary storage place in a combination fortress and prison for hardened criminals.
Balladeer's Blog 