Here at Frontierado international headquarters things are as hectic as you would imagine with the Frontierado holiday coming up on Friday, August 4th. As always, Frontierado celebrates the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Balladeer’s Blog is not affiliated with any of the following brands.
These are my four best bourbons for your celebrations this year, starting with my newest addition to the list.
LARCENY BOURBON – Making its debut on the Bourbon Breakdown for Frontierado is this Kentucky Bourbon which meets my usual standard of letting you blow flies out of the air after a swig.
I prefer Barrel Strength at ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE POINT TWO PROOF (123.2 proof).
This whiskey is distilled from 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. For the next 6-8 years it ages in barrels made from charred American Oak. You can drink it straight or as a mix for your Cactus Jacks.
IRON SMOKE BOURBON – Hunker down with some Iron Smoke Bourbon to help you and yours celebrate Frontierado.
The people at Iron Smoke amusingly call their cask strength bourbon “Casket Strength.” It’s ONE-HUNDRED TWENTY PROOF, making it one of the most potent potables on this list. This bourbon goes with any celebration. Continue reading
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam. 
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #33 (February 1947) 
CALIFORNIA JIM – The Frontierado Holiday is coming up on Friday, August 4th, so here is another blog post in honor of the season. California Jim was also known as Six-Shooter Jim Smith and Six-Shooter Bill, but on his deathbed, he claimed that his real name was John Henry Hankins (some sources say Jankins or Hawkins). 
Jim lingered in Dodge City, Kansas for a time, committing various crimes. On August 17th, 1878 Deputy Marshal Bat Masterson himself arrested California Jim for stealing a horse. 
Balladeer’s Blog gives a shoutout to yet another cool-named sports team:
A MODERN MUSKETEER (1917) – This 68-minute film was released on December 30th, 1917, when Douglas Fairbanks was known for his comedies rather than for his later success as cinema’s first swashbuckling superstar. 
I’m not exaggerating when I say that that opening segment provides almost as many thrills and spectacular stunts as the entirety of Doug’s 1921 serious turn as D’Artagnan in 
HURRICANE NELL, THE GIRL DEAD-SHOT (1877) – Written by Edward L. Wheeler. This blog post is dedicated to the prolific author and fellow blogger 
That brings us back to Hurricane Nell, the Girl Dead-Shot, also known as Hurricane Nell, the Queen of the Saddle and Lasso, and, in a misleading re-titling, as Bob Woolf, the Border Ruffian. (NOT three separate books.) Though published in May of 1877, Nell’s adventures were set earlier in the 1800s than most of the other big-name heroines of Dime Novels, so I am starting with her and will move on to the others in the next few weeks. 
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #95 (January 1973) 
When the Man-Bull begins rampaging through Frisco in order to flush out our hero, the Black Widow and Daredevil swing into action against him. Eventually the villain renders Daredevil unconscious, leaving the Black Widow alone against him for the cliffhanger ending. 
FERD THE DANDY (1821-1866) – The Frontierado holiday is coming up on Friday, August 4th this year, so here is another seasonal post from Balladeer’s Blog. This one covers a ruthless, yet often forgotten, gambler-gunslinger. 
Come 1859 Ferd the Dandy had acquired too big a reputation as a professional gambler to even get in a game anymore, so he gravitated to the Sailors’ Diggings Gold Rush near Waldo, Oregon. The mining town had already known the murderous rampage of the Triskett Gang by the time Patterson arrived to stain Waldo with his own activities. 
Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Forgotten Television returns with this look at four television presentations of works by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov.
TEMPLE LEA HOUSTON (August 12th, 1860-August 15th, 1905) – This future gunslinging lawyer and last child of Sam Houston with his wife Margaret Lea-Houston was born in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, TX. His storied father, the first president of the short-lived Republic of Texas was then serving as governor for the state of Texas.
It was during this time that Temple met an old friend of his father, who arranged a job for the young man as a Senate Page in Washington, DC. Working in that capacity for 3 years, Temple developed an ambition to study law and enter politics himself someday. 
Balladeer's Blog 