The Texana Review - Podcasts

Bill Leftwich - cowboy, writer, artist, Texan

HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY, Bill Leftwich!

Bill Leftwich lives and works quietly in Fort Davis, Texas. 

He's known as an artist, writer, sculptor, leather worker, educator and storyteller. 

He used to cowboy a bit and worked with the USDA down in Mexico while the United States and Mexico fought the hoof-and-mouth disease. 

But his love lies in his art and even at 85 years old, he's up-and-at-em every day - sculpting, drawing, painting and writing.

I visited with him about a year ago

Listen...

23:00 minutes

Music by Luke McNeil under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

 

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Texas,cowboy,artist,sculptor,writer

Elmer and Anni Kelton - a Love Story: Part Three

A continuation of my interview with renowned western author, Elmer Kelton, and his wife, Anni, about how they met in Austria at the end of World War II and eventually married.

Listen...

18:23 minutes

Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License

Find Elmer Kelton's books at your local bookstore or Amazon.com HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Literature,western literature,Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Elmer Kelton,Spur Award Winner,Western Heritage Award,Texas

Elmer and Anni Kelton - a Love Story: Part Two

A continuation of my interview with renowned western author, Elmer Kelton, and his wife, Anni, about how they met in Austria at the end of World War II and eventually married.

Listen...

14:40 minutes

Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License

Find Elmer Kelton's Books at your local bookstore or Amazon.com HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Literature,western literature,Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Elmer Kelton,Spur Award Winner,Western Heritage Award,Texas

Ted Gray - last of the real Texas cowboys

Ted Gray showed up in the Alpine area with no money and a saddle on his shoulder around 1939.

Since then he’s worked harder than most folks, used his wits and made himself wealthy.

Ted Gray is in his 80’s now, but he stopped long enough to give me an interview and share his wisdom.

Ted Gray  ...last of the real Texas cowboys.

Listen...

24:00 minutes

Music by Justin Gordon under Creative Commons License

Learn more about Ted Gray HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Texas history,Texans

Elmer and Anni Kelton - A Love Story: Part One

Elmer Kelton was a young man when he was in Austria at the end of World War Two. He was barely 20 years old. He was in the infantry and was helping to clean up the mess Hitler and his henchmen had made across Europe in that sad part of the 20^th century.

Anni Lipp was a slight Austrian girl wandering down to the boat dock in her town of Ebensee to check the boat schedule for her parents, who wanted to cross the lake the next morning.

Attracted to this girl and overcoming his natural west Texas shyness, young Elmer Kelton made his quantum leap and engaged the young woman in conversation. He spoke English and broken German. Anni spoke German and learned her American English in west Texas.

She testifies that when Elmer started talking, she had no idea what he was talking about.

I shoved a microphone in their direction and turned on my recorder in the dining room of their home and asked a few questions.

What you hear next is a series of Elmer’s and Anni’s comments on how they met, courted, married and raised a family in San Angelo, Texas.

 

Listen...

17:34 minutes

Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License

Find Elmer Kelton's Books at your local bookstore or Amazon.com HERE

 

Technorati Tags: Literature,western literature,Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Elmer Kelton,Spur Award Winner,Western Heritage Award,Texas

An interview with Dr. Stephen Hardin and Dr. Don Frazier, Texas historians

Regarding the Buffalo Gap Historic Village and the McWhiney Foundation

David Gibson sent me an email complimenting me on the work I've been doing on The Texana Review.

I'm easy, so compliments catch my attention, especially as I evangelize New Media and The Texana Review.

Anyway, come to find out that David is interested in Texas history, too.  His interest lies in the history surrounding Abilene, Texas and he's begun an effort at collecting oral histories for, of and about Abilene.

As our interests dovetailed, he arranged a meeting for me with Stephen Hardin and Don Frazier, who are two of several Texas historians promoting the Buffalo Gap Historic Village and the legacy of Grady McWhiney in the form of the McWhiney Foundation.

We had a very interesting chat.

Listen...

26:00 minutes

Music by Markovich under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

Find out more about the McWhiney Foundation HERE

Find out more about David Gibson's Abilene history HERE

photography by David Gibson

Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Ed Blackburn, Stephen Hardin, Don Frazier, Buffalo Gap, McWhiney Foundation

These Houstonians thought "green" way before it was hip

(Click once to activate, again to play. Double click on screen to enlarge)

Houston, Texas is the fourth largest city in the United States, 99th largest in the world; and it has taken only 171 years.  Quite an accomplishment when compared to the other largest cities.

Houston history tells us that, through the efforts of a small but influential group of people, Memorial Park was founded, fostered, nurtured and became that island of respite from the frenzy of city life …a reminder to Houstonians that there is a slower, more measured approach to daily life.

Several of those people who had the understanding of what Houston was to become and had the foresight to recognize the importance of trying to blend nature with urbanization, were recently recognized for their efforts - Sadie Gwin Blackburn, Terry Hershey and Frank Smith Jr.

This video is a tribute to those efforts…

Produced by Stonefilms of Texas

Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Ed Blackburn, Houston, Memorial Park, Sadie Gwin Blackburn, Memorial Park Conservancy, Texas

Steve Kelton, Editor - Livestock Weekly

(Originally produced for the San Angelo Review which merged with The Texana Review in March 2008)

A couple of weeks ago, I sat down for a few minutes with Steve Kelton, editor of the Livestock Weekly to find out about the Livestock Weekly and a little about Steve himself.

I couldn’t think of a more apropos introductory interview for The San Angelo Review than with the editor of the Livestock Weekly, a publication that has a firm reputation both in and out of the state for reporting not only trends in livestock trades but also news of importance to rural Texans.

Join us for a few minutes while Steve and I become acquainted…

12:00 minutes

Listen ...

Music by Tracy Jane Comer under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

Sponsored by

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,San Angelo,Texas,San Angelo Review

Interview with Elmer Kelton, Part 5

To support his love of writing, Elmer Kelton worked as a newspaperman in San Angelo for years starting at the San Angelo Standard-Times, then Sheep & Goat Raiser Magazine for a while, and finally at The Livestock Weekly for 22 years.

Mr. Kelton talks about coming to San Angelo as a University of Texas graduate to go to work for the Standard-Times; how, as a young reporter, he learned how to use a flash on his reporter's camera; the Screw-worm eradication program of the Sixties; Billie Sol Estes and more.

Join us as we continue to chat about Mr. Kelton's experiences.

Listen... 15:30 minutes Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License Sponsored by

Buy from Amazon.com Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer For more information on Elmer Kelton Elmer Kelton website

Technorati Tags: Literature, western literature, Texana Review, Ed Blackburn, Elmer Kelton, Spur Award Winner, Western Heritage Award, Sandhills Boy, Texas

Interview with Elmer Kelton, Part 4

I've been reading Mr. Kelton's memoirs, Sandhills Boy:The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer, and find that his conversations with me reflect much of what he has already written in Sandhills Boy, I guess because I ask questions that make it easy for him to pull upon the memories, the rich descriptions and the way he wrote them in his book.

Every now and then though, I manage to ask a question where the answer isn't in the book (I think; I haven't finished it yet).  I smile to myself inwardly.

Methinks Mr. Kelton is a wise old fox!

Listen, as we talk some more....

Listen... 21:15 minutes Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License Sponsored by

Buy from Amazon.com Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer For more information on Elmer Kelton: Elmer Kelton website

Technorati Tags: Literature, western literature, Texana Review, Texas, Ed Blackburn, Elmer Kelton, Spur Award Winner, Western Heritage Award, Sandhills Boy