Baby Jesus, Please Make It Stop!!!

Ummm...I'll let this one speak, or rather, caterwaul for itself.

Picture of Mommy Twisting With Santa - Little Cori



If your ears happen to stop bleeding long enough, have a Happy Holiday / Non-denominational seasonal celebration of which I make no faith-based implication in the interests of spiritual equality (sigh).

Just In Case You Forgot the True Meaning of Christmas...

Riverbottom Nightmare Band!!!

In A Recession...

If you think its "the thought that counts" then you got another "Think" commin. Seriously though, if you are looking for some last minute gift ideas for this here RedBoy, keep in mind that I take a 42' length shirt, size 10' shoes, or, you could do a sight worse than rustling me up some more country cuts like the one enclosed.

Take a cracklin' cue from the 'haze' here, "Please be careful. Get there on time. Last minute shoppers must wait in line."

Last Minute Shopping - Eddie Hazelwood

Shot Four Times and Dy'in.

Ya know, it's just like a Oakie screw to give you a runnin' start and then shoot you in the back - Four times no less.

Well, that's still more accurate then the NYPD @ any rate.

Born 1929 in Eagletown, Ark, Bill Carter was a regular on KBOX outta Modesto before the rock and roll bug took a big bite outta the cowboy circuit. Perhaps best known for the insane cut 'Baby Brother', Carter proves here in this 61' 'Tennessee Two' inspired track that despite the the tug of progress, there is still a little somethin' to be said for the squelch of the train and a liberal application of .38 Long Colt provided that one does not find themselves in front of either.

"Bill Carter was a native of Eagleton, Arkansas, but his family moved to Broken Bow, Oklahoma when he was eight years old. In 1943, the Carter family, (who were a farming family) moved out west to California to the town of Idaho, which was where Bill got his start as a professional singer.

He got his first how over station KREO, where he performed until entering the U.S. Air Force in 1950. Even while in the service, he managed to keep up his singing while stationed in San Antonio, Texas.

1952 saw him transferred to a military base near the Bay area in northern California. There, he met up with folks such as Cottonseed Clark and Big Jim De Noon. When he was discharged in 1953, he had a recording contract with the 4 Star label. He also appeared a few times on Cottonseed Clark's television show called "The Hoffman Hayride".

Shot Four Times and Dy'in - Bill Carter

Consistency: The Hobgoblin of a Small Mind?

Well…it was inevitable. Punk had to die sometime. There is no way you can sustain that amount of nihilism without one day questioning your prospects (Dope or Law school?). Like any transition, it was always gonna get worse before it got better: what was once loosely focused anger turning into arty, non-linear existentialism before hatching New-Wave like a neon marshmallow peep. The hippies did it before, but where they so fully turned their back on their granola-eating tenants and embraced capitalism, your average retired punk still, despite the best efforts of upper-management, retains that irreverent shine that makes the movement so appealing after so many years - either that or they join/start a rockabilly band.

So if you, dear reader, like me, bemoan the compromising of principals which are now a luxury one can’t rightly afford, then dig this little road map of a post-punk landscape circa 79-87. You can still not shower if you like. Just make sure you show up to work on time.



The Mad - Sick!

Long before it became quaint to have an unintelligible Asian guy fronting your combo, NYC's Screamin' Mad George was out and about, rollin around on the floor in leathers and making incorrect use of the article "a", as in "I've got a syphilis". While not as good as 'I Hate Music', I don't own that one ($700 bucks my white ass!) so...


Wild Kingdom - The Way to Love

Great demo-tape track plucked from obscurity by the folks @ Boston's Throbbing Lobster Records for inclusion in their legendary series of comps. Why this track never became bigger than clam-chowder and baked beans, I'll never know, but it certainly is tastier, and less apt to give you botulism.



Rhino 39 - Marry It

This is the So-Cal band that got punk legends TSOL into the game, and if that don't get your attention...









The Pop Group - Thief of Fire

Circa 79' Dub-Punk (?!?!) straight outta Bristol. Best known for their collaboration w/ the Slits, this 'Group' is so arty they crap Picassos. That's OK though, cause unlike most cerebral acts, they are rather innovative and not in a "Look at me, I have a cello!" kinda way.





The Waitresses - The Comb

Since Christmas is now upon us like a pall of doom you might as well just become resigned to the fact that you are gonna hear that fuckin' Waitresses Christmas song transmitted in the fillings of you teeth from now till the end of advent. It might, however, help you to know that before they knew what boys liked , they were too busy shakin' their asses to give a shit.



The Birthday Party - Kiss Me Black

Everyone has been singing the praises of the new Nick Cave album for months, but I really don't dig it. It seems to me that he dumbed down all his lyrics over the course of the last several years to make them more accessible, but hey, I have a thesaurus and a King James bible. I can hang. Here we find Nick @ his least verbose, though I think it might be a dope thing, and less an ironic departure from preconceived tenants of genre. Still, it works.

Editor's note: Apparently Ed Roth, having designed the cover for 'Junkyard', was appalled at how the album's lyrics offended his Christian sensibilities. 'I stuck a six-inch gold blade in the head of a girl' indeed.


Guided Missles - I Used to be a Rock & Roller

A pseudo New-Wavy band from my neck o' the land (New Brunswick NJ), this track is kinda corny, but the sentiment seems extremely poignant when you consider the over-all death of the bar scene (R.I.P Melody Bar / Roxy), and the inevitable move towards more "grown-up" endeavors (again, dope or Law School?).

Editor's Note: Sorry. Didn't feel like taking a picture of the cover (I'm lazy). You didn't miss much.


The Shirts - Lonely Android

The Shirts are one of those CB's bands that just never made the cut. I guess they were too progressive for the Dead-boys crowd and had too many guitars where 'Television' was concerned.

Concerning CB's: Now that its gone, there is this weird mystique about it, but if you've ever hung your head-piece there, then you know that the booze is lousy, there is that one mutant step near the shitter which you always tripped over, and if there ever were a fire, you would surely be trampled by people trying to force there way though the chained-up fire exit before you even had a chance to burn to death.

Somehow I doubt that the re-dux they are planning in Vegas will embrace those quaint little touches.


The New Math - Borrowed Time (???)

I think that's the name of the song anyways. It's the last tune on Side: A of the 'Gardens' EP but there is no track listing, so I am gonna use the age old method of picking out the most oft used refrain and go with it. Perhaps best known for as the architects of 'Love under Will' offa the ROTLD soundtrack (Credited as the 'Jet Black Berries'), this band is a great example of the pop sensibilities that finally brought punk to its inevitable end.


Click Link Below for Download


Blues for the RedBoy Presents: The Class of 87 Mix

A Thanksgiving Tradition!

Only the country which gave us rock 'N' roll and the teenage identity (For better or worse) could bring Boogey Men and Giant Apes together in the interests of a National Holiday observance.

Here's to having not grown up in some shit-hole third-world death factory. Salute!

Side Dish

When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, I am a compartmentalist. What I mean is I cannot allow certain side dishes to intermingle. Understand, it is not that I am specieist when it comes to my food, its just that I am particular (see: crazy) and will not stand for the sullying of an annual meal, especially one as momentous as that which celebrates our total victory over those evil buffalo-humping savages who so callously stole all our small-pox blankets. Under no circumstances can sweet potatoes commingle with mashed potatoes, and likewise interact with my grandmother's orange/carrot Jell-o (Its better than it sounds - trust me). Bread is cool - it pretty much keeps to itself unless it's services are enlisted in some form of dipping or sopping. Gravy is one of the exceptions to the rule, as it effortlessly traverses the side dish barrier (see: Bread), thus bringing corn, stuffing and potatoes together in a thick slurry of carbo-goodness. And then there are cranberries...

Cranberries hold as special place in the hearts of New Jerseyeans. Much like corn, eggplant and tomatoes, Cranberries are a crop which is quintessentially 'Jersey' in nature (Sorry middle America, but your corn sucks). After all, cranberries require the down home charm of a bog for cultivation, and what is New Jersey besides a loose confederation of criminal enterprises separated by vast stretches of swamp.

As such, we of the garden State take cranberries very seriously. Nary is there another side dish, neither fruit nor vegetable which required its own separate plate, less it's acidic goodness spoil so much soul-food. Should one fail to observe such ritual, they would surely find themselves cursed with pink potatoes (not to be confused with mashed turnips) or - worse yet - fruity gravy...and that my friends is the very definition of Cranberry blues.

Cranberry Blues - Robert Williams & the Groovers

Riding Shotgun!

One can find the most marvelous sundries at one's local shopping-mall.



Stoeger Coach Gun SXS 12 Gauge (Fixed Chokes): While rather stiff in the joints fresh outta the box (Who isn't?), this equalizer should whistle Dixie with a little elbow grease (Polished chambers, reduced tension spring, etc...).

Now all we need is a rawhide sling and an English stock and we are in-the-pocket!

From the Halcyon Days of Yester-yore...

Witness the glory that is Count Fang-Burger and the dreaded Wolf-Burger!

Courtesy of my no-good brother.

One If By Land! Two If By Turntable!

Do you know what it's like to search the interwebs for the terms 'Spirit of 76' and 'Revolution' in tandem? I'll give you a hint - Fuckin' nightmare! Coupled w/ the fact that the A:side is called 'The Ballad of Ethan Allen' and you can just about fully fathom how much of a hens tooth this 68' disc is turning out to be. As the flip implies, Revere's Raiders were pretty soundly aped for this enterprise. No doubt riding boots and ruffled shirts were involved in some capacity.

Yeah, it sounds like It was recorded inside a tri-cornered hat, but beneath the fog of war is some top-notch guitar work in this militia's call to arms. Imitation being the sincerest, yadda, yadda, yadda this soulful track packs a patriot punch right below your rifle sling. Better cup your 'Dragoons'!

Note: I think we'll save the A:side for a season a little more 'Rocket's Red Glare-ish'.

Call on Me - The Spirit of 76' Music Revolution

Stop Stuffin' and Start Sho-Nuffin'!

With All Hallow's Eve soundly in the rear-view, we're gonna pick up the thread right where we left it - in the Broad Street gutter.

Ok, so Confucius he ain't, but Ray Weatherspoon sure does lay down the law on this circa 67' struttin' monster. Now, I could never pass up a platter on a label so shamelessly called 'Satan' regardless of the quality of the cut, but these two tracks don't mearly hide behind such cool trimmings. Instead they stand mighty tall on their own two platformed feet. It's the perfect marriage of infernal form and funky function!

The flip is your typical part duex scenario (Credited to one Billy Wiggens), but rather than just droppin' an instro track and skippin' town, the 'Wig' manages to throw some cool sax and organ work into the fricassee, makin' it a worthwhile flip for inclusion in this RedBoy's hallowed halls.

You heard the man, "Straighten Up!"

Stop Stuffin' and Start Sho Nuffin' - Ray Weatherspoon

Stop Stuffin' and Start Sho Nuffin Pt. 2 - Billy Wiggens

You Should Have Thought of that Before You Ate All That Candy...

Happy Halloween!

And just what the hell are you doing reading this?!?! Its Halloween for Christ's sake! You should be be out hustlin' candy and conducting terribly cliche seances. You should be out smashin' windows, gettin' high and tryin' to bang chicks dressed like sexy pirates or what have you (or, for you ladies - cavemen). No huh? Well then, if you insist on being a wet blanket you can at least check out these fine blogs listed below for more spooky audio goodness, or you can re-live you worst childhood nightmares over @ Kindertrauma. Also, be sure to check out my 'monster' tag for some previous posts of the haunted persuasion. Now if you'll excuse me, I got a date with a box of Alexander the Grape. Happy Halloween!

Devil's Music

The Hound Blog

Funky 16 Corners

Planet Mondo

Like Dynamite to Your Brain

Winchell's Donut House Presents: The Red-Devil Halloween Spooktacular Part 2

Okee Dokee. Me and the Dick over @ Devil's Music got a lot of monster / Halloween related platters between the two of us. In lieu of steppin' all over each others toes (gigantic hairy ones in his case), we decided to join forces and go punch for punch on a two-headed mix so spooky that one post cannot contain the horror (two posts can't really contain it either, but we wanna be done before Christmas). His satanic majesty is runnin' the opening shot on this two-parter as we speak. Be sure to stop on by Devil's Music and fill up on some more Halloween goodness. As for my part in this musical travesty...



Eddie Bell - The Great Great Pumkin

RedBoy: While fronting the Polka band the Versatones in the late 50's, singer Eddie Blazonczyk Sr. musta ate a bad cheregi (for my Warsaw peeps!) or somethin' cause he promptly got on the rock-tip and and made some sheckles for Mercury records before cutting this insane-o 63' disk concerning mystic oracle and all around advice jocky the Great, Great Pumpkin. And just who are you to argue greatness?

"My name if the greeeeaaaat pump-kin! Whadda ya want sonny boy!"



Dicky Doo & the Don'ts - Flip Top Box

DevilDick: Before The Beatles, the earliest artists for Swan Records were Dicky Doo and the Don'ts and Billy and Lillie, who both scored hits in early 1958 to start the label off on a successful footing. "Dicky Doo" was the nickname of Dick Clark's young son, and singer Gerry Granahan used it as the basis for the group name. They scored a top-30 single with "Click Clack" (Swan 4001), but several follow-up singles could only muster mid-chart placement (40s-60s at best). Their second record (Swan 4006) paired the silly "Nee Nee Na Na Na Nu Nu" with the strange "Flip Top Box," and this record alone would have been enough to kill off any thoughts the public may have been harboring that this was a serious group… I don’t know, sharing a coffin with anyone seems pretty serious to me?



Morgus & the Daringers - Werewolf

"Scooby Ooby Dooby Ooby Newbie Ahbba-Gisen. No-one under stood him, but you bet your life they listened! Owwwwwwwwwww!"

RedBoy: This Beat-Werewolf is, like, speakin' my language man! Check out your's truly's 'Things That Go 1-4-5 in the Night' mix for the skinny on faux-Morgus, as well as the yin to this killer cuts yang.



Dave Gardner – Mad Witch

DevilDick: If this here one don’t send a chill down yer spine then you are certainly of the un-living!

This is a devil’s music MUST for Halloween. I can damn near feel the wisp of the witch herself as she fly’s by on her broom & smell the witch’s cauldron a bubblin’ & feel the breath of the ghouls who dance around the pot in eager anticipation of what’s to come!!

I did see an original 78 of this track done by none other than Mel Allen of yep, this week in baseball fame, but some other Halloween geek (ah, hum, red boy) snatched that up on me… Oh yeah, and believe it or not this guy wound up a drug addled comedian of all things…


Dead - The Poets

RedBoy: I love how the Poets aren't fuckin' around with this title. No cutesy play one words; no atmospheric innuendo - just plain ole' D-E-A-D. This 1958 cut has been a perennial favorite for awhile now. Variations abound for this lesser known flip to 'Vowels of Love' including both black and red 'Flash' labels as well as a later billing as simply 'Poet'. By any name this is a great low-key Halloween tune.


The Monotones – Zombi


DevilDick: Ever fallen in love with a Zombi? Well apparently the Monotones did that very thing for this cut. These guys were no strangers to spooky and kooky cuts (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and this aint no Book of Love! The Monotones formed in 1955 when the seven original singers — all residents of the Baxter Terrace housing project in Newark, New Jersey began performing covers of popular songs. God I love Jersey!


Denny & Lenny (w/ the Hollywood Ghouls) - Monster Love

RedBoy: In the proud tradition of makin' the last dance of the evening a slow one, we're gonna wrap this Halloween hash up w/ a lttle 'Monster Love'. 63' is a little late for this kinda vocal styling, but I ain't complainin'. All you boils out there hold your ghouls tight, dim the torches, slip on a Magnum glove and show some 'Monster love'.

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Red-Devil Halloween Spooktacular Part II

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Well...it's been swell, but the swellins gone down. Be sure to checkout the Devil's Music for part uno of this Halloween craptacular! We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

The Art of Jack Davis

http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterkid4/jdavis.html

Over Ten-Thousand Served!

10,ooo hits and countin'! Let me ask you a question: who actually reads this dreck? Wait! don't answer that...

Seeing as how I just-so-happen to reach this milestone while the candy-corns a' popin', I'm gonna do what is in the nature of a musical misanthrope to do, namely, throw down a celebratory mix - and a spooky one at that.

Remember when makin' mix tapes was a pain in the dick? Me too. I find it ironic that younger kids hold the mix tape up to some form of reverence, especially when technology has effectively taken the tedium out of running out of tape on the b: side of a ninety minute Maxell right at the end of Gimme Shelter (Sonnova bitch!). Now don't get me wrong, I can appreciate an antiquated medium (ehem), but seriously...mix tapes just suck. Regardless, they still get you laid, right?

My intentions with this mix are not nearly as lofty as gettin' laid. Instead I just wanted to throw a little 'Diabolos in Musica' onto the leaf pile with nary a single word spoken or a "Boo!" to be had (OK, Baron Daemon doesn't count). With no approximations of the 'Boris' brogue extant, instead dig these choice instrumental cuts of haunted ham:


Morgus & the Derringers – Morgus Creep

Unlike the 1959 tune ‘Morgus the Magnificent’ by Morgus & the Three Ghouls, it’s doubtful that this song / group is directly related to the Louisiana horror host of the same name. And even though these bums are nuthin' but a bunch o’ creole creeps tryin' to cash in on the main man, they're still a pretty freakin' good act!



Barron Daemon – Ghost Guitars

Yup, another horror host commin at ya, this time from Syracuse NY. Fairly popular in his day, this 1963 disc by the Baron still holds regional sales records in NY state! Dig that crazy tone!

(Note: What the fuck is with the purposeful misspelling of the word D-E-M-O-N. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t know that the P.M.R.C. was pokin' their ass into the instro trade. Next thing I know, a clergyman is gonna show up at my door to warn me about the dangers of Dungeons & Dragons...not that I play that shit or anything.)



The Surf Men – Ghost Hop

So-Cal surf ‘N’ spook from the bowels of 1962 brought to you by ex-members of the Expressos. This track is pretty ominous, even more so when you consider how light and airy the flip is (Paradise Cove). I know most Ho-dads dig the B-side, but for this red boy it's 'A' all the way!




The Crossfires - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

One of, if not thee greatest surf band (It's really a toss-up between them & Eddie Bertrand) that ever walked a fret-board. Featuring future 'Turtles' Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, this disc is some serious-ass surf...and you ain't even heard the flip yet. See my previous post for the whole skinny.




The Deadly Ones – It’s Monster Surfing Time

One of my favorite long-plays, this album pretty much encapsulates all of the best attributes of homogenized surf culture. Couple that with a pinch of Famous Monsters of Filmland and a little Testors plastic cement and you got one monster of a studio-spawned Ax-hangin' romp. Ideally, I would have included ‘Creature in the Surfer’s Lagoon’, on this mash-up, but I gots a fairly noisy scratch on that band, and Lord knows we're all about quality here (*cough*).



The Mysterions – Transylvania

A jangly 1960 rock cut also available on Warwick records. The Mysterions is actually a rather apt name, as I admittedly know shit about this tune. Oh well...






The Tarantulas – Tarantula

Hard to imagine Ahmet Ertegun co-signing this cut. Perhaps he was busy shoving his finger up some poor unsuspecting girl's ass (You're gonna have to read Josh Alan Friedman to catch my drift). The flip ' Black Widow' is equally cool, though it is a decidedly more low-key affair than this eight-legged mover. You gotta love the disks overall spider theme.


The Big Guys – Zombie

Much like 'Hooks' Coleman's 'Black Widow Spider', this little "Momento Mori" by the 'Big Guys' is inspired by the 3rd movement of Frederic Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (Watch here as Vladamir Horowitz fucks some shit up!). At first I found the 'Zombie' title a little strange, but in retrospect, I doubt they could fit '3rd movement of Frederic Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35'. on the label. Personally, I think they should have went with 'corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur. "


Kenny & the Fiends - House on Haunted Hill

Here's another celluloid-related cut, this time inspired by the 1959 William Castle film of the same name. Also available on the ‘Dot’ label, 'House' is backed by the ubiquitous ‘Part 2’, but before you go cryin’ foul about it’s exclusion, the tracks are virtually identical save for some panning. Trust me. You ain't missin' much.


Jack Marshall - The Ghoul

Perhaps most famous amongst miscreants for his ‘Munsters Them’, Marshall is far from a one note guy. As is evident by this little 1966 B-side, Jack can certainly throw down. Shit! he's got more brass behind this cut than a Mexican firing squad, and unlike said squad, is more than twice as likely to hit you square between the eyes. What better track to send you packin'?



...and tyin' this whole train-wreck together is this 7 inch EP on the 'Sound' imprint outta Glendale California. As I'm sure you know, Halloweeny sound-effect platters are a dime a dozen, but thanks to Goth / Industrial music and Radio Shack, fairly competent theremin playin' is not.




Well...I'm whupped! Hope you dig this little foray into the world of instro-mental excess. Thanks again, dear reader, for all the laughter and the tears. Keep your orbs peeled for some more Halloween junk, including a special Halloween mix with that asshole over @ the Devil's Music. Until then...

Blues for the RedBoy Presents: Things That Go 1-4-5 in the Night!

Oooowwwwwwwww! - Goes the Lobos

There is just something plain eerie about country music (when it's done right).

Every time I spin 'Ramblin Man' by Hank Williams, or any cover of Leon Payne's 'Psycho' for that matter, I get the coyote shivers (the nervous disorder, not the canuk). Now, factor in some haunted 'hollars' and the spectre of poverties-past and those weepy lap-steel riffs can go from sad to foreboding in less time than it takes to brew up a slippery-elm tincture.

Of that strange breed of haunted hayseed, Red Sovine's 'Phantom 309' springs to mind, that and the enclosed offering by one Jimmy Kish of Nashville TN.

Kish, a self-professed entertainer, singer, song writer, square dance caller, and airplane pilot (since 1953), was a regionally famous band leader and disc jockey for WHK in Plainsville Ohio before hosting his own weekly T.V. show "Ten-O-Two Ranch" in the early 50's.

While national success eluded Kish, he released some eclectic country records up into the early 70's, including this strange little ballad concerning the well known South-Texas legend of the wolf-girl of Devil's River (Mwahahaha...oh, sorry).

In 1835, a group of American colonists, led by Dr. Charles Beale, were camped at Lake Espontosa, a renowned haunted location near what is now Carrizo Springs in southwest Texas. Half a mile away from the Beale group, John Dent and his pregnant wife Mollie Pertul Dent, both from Georgia, had built a brush cabin. Dent had come to trap beaver in the Devil's River area, north of the present day Del-Rio, but was also on the run from the law for the murder of a fellow trapper in Georgia. The Dents were to prove fortunate in their choice of a site distant from the lake. A band of Commanches raided the main Beale camp and massacred most of the inhabitants, afterwards throwing the bodies of the victims and their carts into the lake.

One night in May 1835, there was a severe thunderstorm and Mollie went into labor. She appeared to be having problems with the birth so Dent decided to ride westwards for help. He arrived at a Mexican goat ranch on the Pecos Canyon, and told them desperately about his wife's condition, begging for someone to ride back with him.
But as the Mexicans prepared their horses to leave there was a furious crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck Dent from his horse killing him instantly.

After a considerable delay the goat herders mounted up and followed Dent's directions. However, darkness fell before they had got over the divide to Devil's River, thus delaying the search. Finally, at sunrise the next morning they located the Dent's isolated cabin. But what they found outside the cabin, in an open brush arbor, was Mollie Dent lying dead, alone. She had apparently died in childbirth, but there was no trace of the baby anywhere. The child was never found, but fang marks on the woman's body and numerous wolf tracks over the area made the goat herders naturally assume that the infant had either been devoured or carried off by lobo wolves.

But this was just the beginning of the story. Ten years later, In 1845, a boy living at San Felipe Springs (Del-Rio) reportedly saw 'a creature, with long hair covering its features, that looked like a naked girl' attacking a herd of goats in the company of a pack of lobo wolves. The story was ridiculed by many, but still managed to spread back among the settlements. Around a year after this incident, a Mexican woman at San Felipe claimed she had seen two large wolves and an unclothed young girl devouring a freshly killed goat. She approached close to the group, she said, before they saw her and ran off.

The woman noticed that the girl ran initially on all-fours, but then rose up and ran on two feet, keeping close to the wolves. The woman was in no doubt about what she had seen, and the scattering of people in the Devil's River country began to keep a sharp watch for the girl. There were similar reports by others in the region during the following year and Apache stories told of a child's footprints, sometimes accompanied by hand prints, having been found among wolf tracks in sandy places along the river. A hunt was organised to capture the 'Lobo (or Wolf) Girl of Devil's River' as she had now become known, comprising mainly Mexican vaqueros. On the third day of the hunt the naked girl was sighted near Espantosa Lake running with a pack of wolves.

The cowboys managed to separate the girl from her wolf companions and cornered her in a canyon, where she fought like a wildcat clawing and biting frantically to keep her freedom. They finally managed to lasso her to keep her still, but while they were tying her up she began to make frightening, unearthly sounds somewhere between the scream of a woman and the howl of a wolf. As she howled, the monster he-wolf from whom she'd become separated appeared and rushed at her captors. Fortunately one of the cowboys reacted quickly and shot it dead with a pistol, at which the wolf girl fell into a faint. Securely bound, the men were now able to examine the girl and noted that despite a body covered in hair and her wild mannerisms, her appearance was human. Her hands and arms were well muscled but not out of proportion, and she lacked the ability to speak, only making deep growling noises. She moved smoothly on all fours, but was rather awkward when made to stand up straight.

The girl was put on a horse and taken to the nearest ranch, an isolated two-roomed shack amid the desert wilderness. She was put in one of the rooms and unbound, the cowboys offering her a covering for her body and food and water, but she refused, cowering in the darkest corner. They then left her alone for the night, locking the door and posting a guard outside. The only other opening in the room was a small boarded up window.

But as night fell the cowboys heard terrifying howls coming from the wolf girl's room. The strange cries carried through the still night air, unsettling her captors and soon finding answers from among the wolf pack in the wilderness beyond the shack. Soon there were long deep howls coming from all sides as the pack drew closer to the house, and occasionally strange howling screams from the girl answering them from inside her dark room. Suddenly the large pack of wolves charged into the corrals, attacking the goats, cows and horses and bringing the cowboys outside shooting and yelling to drive them away. In all the confusion the wolf girl managed to tear the planks from the window and escape into the night. The howls soon abated and the wolves crept back into the wilderness. The next day not a trace of the girl could be found.

So there you have it folks, the wolf-girl of Devil's River. Ya gotta love a good folk-tale, and this certainly is the season for spinnin' some awfully fanciful yarn. Some might call Jimmy Kish and his Slim-Whitman-esque howl "Old Hat", but at ten gallons, that's an awful lot of hat.

Oooowwwwwwwww......

Wolf Girl of Devil's River - Jimmy Kish