Organist Edward Torres at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater

03/14/25 • 30 min

Up the freeway a few miles from Downtown Los Angeles, the streetlights flicker on and I approach the warm glow of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Inside, I meet organist Edward Torres.To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

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Henry Real Bird at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Cowboy poetry is often very structured. The good poets play with that structure and surprise you with twists or a pauses, jokes, word play. Henry’s poems do somethin’ else entirely. They feel like suddenly you’re walking down a path and you don’t know where it’s goin’, or if it’s goin’ anywhere, but it usually does and then you’re somewhere a little different and he says thanks and puts his hat back on and sits down in a chair at the back the stage.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering started in 1985, becoming an annual roundup of cowboys, ranchers, poets, artists and the many combinations therein, hailing from all parts the American west and sometimes beyond. Hosted by the Western Folklife Center, the gathering is always held in January/February when folks’ ranches are dormant. Elko’s oft-snowy streets are then marked by the soles of boots, mostly of the cowboy variety, some rounded, some pointed, and most of them pointing into the Western Folklife Center’s Pioneer Saloon, or up the front steps of the Elko Convention Center.

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The Eviction Puppet Show of Silver Lake, Los Angeles

The sun sets over Sunset Boulevard; the palm trees silhouette. In the front garden of a big house off the main drag, the puppet show begins.

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A huge thank you to all of the residents of Ag Lago for speaking with me and for hosting me over the years. Reve, Jeremy, Vita, Josh, Donnie, Storai, Theo, Arden, Sarah and Eleanor. Also a big thanks to Emily, Spoorthi, Greyson, and all the folks that were part of the puppet show and the countless folks that were part of the Ag Lago community.

Music in this episode was Timex by pas Doo, thanks to Pat Mesiti-Miller for letting me use it, Deville by friend of the show Yclept Insan and 2 songs from the public domain, Auld Lang Syne performed by the Princes Band and this song Marionette by Felix Arndt.

The chapter markers were read by the great Cal Bannerman of the podcast Stories from The Hearth. Highly recommended.

Photos, links and more at www.thewind.org/episodes/aglago

To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind

Subscribe at thewind.org