With Frontierado coming up on Friday August 3rd here’s another song for the season. It’s Jon Bon Jovi with Billy Get Your Guns from the Young Guns II soundtrack.
Tag Archives: Billy the Kid
RANGE WARS OF THE WEST
Frontierado is coming up on Friday August 7th. To help celebrate this holiday which commemorates the myth of the American West, not the grinding reality here is a look at some of the best-known Range Wars of the period along with their most famous gunfighters.
Texas
MASON COUNTY WAR
Location: Texas
When: June 1874 to September 1876
The Belligerent Parties: The majority German population ranchers versus the English-speaking ranchers.
The War’s Most Famous Gunfighter: Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
GORGEOUS CASEY JAMES AND ANOTHER OF BALLADEER’S BLOG’S OBSCURE SPAGHETTI WESTERNS
Casey James, the Official Movie Hostess of Balladeer’s Blog
THE FRONTIERADO HOLIDAY IS FRIDAY AUGUST FIRST! We’ve all got our painted rocks on various bits of furniture around the house, we’ve all got our potted cacti with the toy gun-belts slung over them and for those old enough to drink there are Cactus Jacks and Deuces Wilds to be slammed down. In some homes families and friends will be gathering around to watch the official Frontierado Western, Silverado.
In the buildup to this major holiday I periodically reviewed my favorite weird westerns so to give us all a few more chuckles here’s one more, presented by the legendary Casey James, Balladeer’s Blog’s Official Movie Hostess.
JESSE JAMES’ KID (1966) – In my review of The Price of Power earlier this Frontierado season I mentioned how fond I am of those Spaghetti Westerns that distort the facts of the American west more outrageously than even our own home- grown westerns do. Jesse James’ Kid makes The Price of Power look like the writings of Herodotus.
In this deranged western which used to populate the 3am to 5am movie slot on television stations across the country we get the old-school bad movie fun of dubbing that never comes close to matching the movements of the performers’ lips. And that’s just the start. This film tells us that Billy the Kid was Jesse James’ son … yes, Jesse James’ son. And not only that but young Billy witnesses his “father’s” fatal shooting, which in this movie is not done by Robert Ford, but by Bat Freaking Masterson!!! Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO, Sex Symbols, Spaghetti Westerns
RANGE WARS OF THE AMERICAN WEST
HAPPY FRONTIERADO! The great day is here once again which means it’s the first day of a three-day weekend for those of us on four continents who celebrate it! Today we’re all busy getting ready for our meals of buffalo steaks and ribs, New Mexico Territory Fried Rice, Western Spaghetti, rabbit legs, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and cactus salad! After that we’ll all play Frontierado Poker while drinking Cactus Jacks and wind up the evening with Tumbleweed Pizzas and a midnight viewing of Silverado, the OFFICIAL western of Frontierado!
To help celebrate this holiday which commemorates the myth of the American West, not the grinding reality here is a look at some of the best-known Range Wars of the period along with their most famous gunfighters.
Texas
MASON COUNTY WAR
Location: Texas
When: June 1874 to September 1876
The Belligerent Parties: The majority German population ranchers versus the English-speaking ranchers.
The War’s Most Famous Gunfighter: Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
THE TOP “DEITIES” IN WILD WEST MYTHOLOGY
The exaggerated stories that surround the figures of the American West appeal to me as a classic example of the human tendency toward embellishment. In my non-believer’s heart I genuinely feel this tendency lies at the core of nearly all the superstitious nonsense in each of the world’s “holy” books and in all of ancient mythology.
After all, these figures of the Wild West were in action less than 200 years ago, yet look at all the superhuman deeds that are ascribed to them and the outrageous drama that we’re told their lives were filled with. These real-life characters who were often just thugs and criminals have been posthumously transformed into icons whose sagas now bear little resemblance to their actual lives.
I feel that serves as a blueprint for how all mythic belief systems operate. When you magnify the distortions of just 200 years by 10 times or more you can see what tiny little kernels of truth may actually lie buried in the accounts of gods and demigods who are said to have roamed the world ages ago.
All of which Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO, Mythology
FRONTIERADO WEEK: THE BAD, THE WEIRD AND THE FREAKY
Well, it’s Frontierado Eve! We’ve all got our painted rocks on various bits of furniture around the house, we’ve all got our potted cacti with the toy gun-belts slung over them and for those old enough to drink there are Cactus Jacks and Deuces Wilds to be slammed down. In some homes families and friends will be gathering around to watch the official Frontierado Western, Silverado, later tonight. Others prefer to watch that movie on the day or night of Frontierado itself.
In the buildup to this major holiday I periodically reviewed my favorite weird westerns so to give us all a few more chuckles here’s one more.
JESSE JAMES’ KID (1966)
In my review of The Price of Power earlier this Frontierado season I mentioned how fond I am of those Spaghetti Westerns that distort the facts of the American west more outrageously than even our own home- grown westerns do. Jesse James’ Kid makes The Price of Power look like the writings of Herodotus.
In this deranged western which used to populate the 3am to 5am movie slot on television stations across the country we get the old-school bad movie fun of dubbing that never comes close to matching the movements of the performers’ lips. And that’s just the start. This film tells us that Billy the Kid was Jesse James’ son … yes, Jesse James’ son. And not only that but Continue reading
Filed under FRONTIERADO
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