I think it was supposed to be about entertainment, especially during the hard times of the depression and WWII. The Old West was not the first or the last period of history to be glorified by Hollywood, with very little reality involved in it. Jan g. ----Original Message Follows---- From: "jcurtis" <jcurtis@redrock.net> Reply-To: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com To: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BS-L] Spade Cooley/band member Smokey Rogers Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 21:32:21 -0600 Thanks Bob...I really had to clue to who these men were. I've never listened to Country, but I do remember hearing someone (long ago), sing the smoke that cigarette ditty. And of course, we all remember Roy Rogers & his horse...and Gene Autry. I don't think my gr.grandfather in Texas would have been *amused* at the Hollywood version of the "cowboy & Indians" era....(ca 1840-1886). It was a bloody, wicked, and deadly page in history. They didn't sing songs riding into the sunset, or wear spotless white cowboy outfits like Roy Rogers did, nor did they harmonize singing with the wife much...my gr.grandmother Maggie packed a Colt 45, and had a loaded Winchester in the kitchen. Anything to make a buck...Spade Cooley, et al. And Roy Rogers would have been dead-in-the-water had he lived during that period of time...he was too pretty, clever, and cute....someone would have picked him off. So much for the movies.....<g> Jan C. -----Original Message----- From: Bob D Call <r_d_call@juno.com> To: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com <BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, May 02, 2002 7:46 AM Subject: Re: [BS-L] Spade Cooley/band member Smokey Rogers > >On Wed, 1 May 2002 22:03:19 -0600 "jcurtis" <jcurtis@redrock.net> writes: >> What happened to Spade Cooley? Who was Smokey Rogers? Country >> Western? >> >> Jan C. > >1> Spade was due to be released in 1969. A few days or so before his >release he was allowed to perform at a concert. He had a heart attack and >died, off-stage I believe. He spent the minimum time in prison. >Also it was he who fired Tex. Interesting note on Tex, one of the online >biographies claims he was a chain smoker. One of his biggest hits was >"Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" an anti smoking song. > >2> Smokey Rogers was one of the band members. As far as being "band >leader" goes, my oldest brother remembers my father having to continually >use the union book to locate replacement musicians during WW2 as the >turnover was high due to enlistment. But the one they considered the >leader was Tex Williams, it was he the followed when Spade fired him. > >3> NOT Country Western, Western Swing was the type of music. Eventually >WS merged with CW though. > >By the way, Spade was Native American. He greatly resembled Roy Rogers, >was his stand-in. >Spade was in the process of developing his own amusement park when he >killed his wife. >Most of the band members were heavy drinkers and gambelers. > >Bob > > >==== BlackSheep Mailing List ==== >--- > >The contents of the Blacksheep-L@rootsweb.com archives are copyrighted by each individual submitter. >The BlackSheep Rootsweb Links page has many Rootsweb based search engines,as well as links to the BlackSheep Message Boards. >http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/resources.html >--- >The Blacksheep Message boards are at: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=topics.organizations.blac ksheep > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > ==== BlackSheep Mailing List ==== --- The contents of the Blacksheep-L@rootsweb.com archives are copyrighted by each individual submitter. Visit the Black Sheep Home page, http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/ BEST OF THE WEB-Bronze Award for 1998, Gail's Genealogy Wonderland SITE of the YEAR (1998) Proudly Hosted by Rootsweb, and a supporter of Rootsweb through "good will" and funds. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com