TWR Listeners Lounge - Jim Dunham

In this episode, Alan Sanders and Walt Murray chat with cowboy historian, performer and artist, Jim Dunham. Jim joined us back in season two as an Old West expert to help with with five episodes of Blazing Saddles. This time we wanted to get his history. Jim Dunham first became fascinated by the Old West after watching the Davy Crocket Show on The Wonderful World of Disney. The show led him to the library to read more about him and other characters from the West. By the time he was in college, he was taking acting classes and learning how to speed-draw and do gun tricks. Jim loved to learn the history of the West and soon found a job at 20th Century Fox studios performing in a Wild West Show. His career was growing when he was called to serve in the Army for a time. When he finished his service, he tried to get back into the film industry, but wasn't making any in-roads. He created a one-man show, performing all over the United States. Along the way, he would help actors with proper gun techniques. He also made himself available to help with Western screenplays. One of those just happened to be for the film, Tombstone, by Kevin Jarre. Tombstone, though still not entirely accurate, may be the closest we can get to the events leading up to and after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The Booth Western Art Museum Jim found his way to NW Georgia, getting hired as a special projects manager at the Booth Western Art Museum. The museum is a world-class, Smithsonian affiliate. In 2020 and 2021, it was listed as the number one art museum in the United States according to a USA Today Reader's poll. While continuing to work at the museum, Jim created a 30 minute show, recreating the OK Corral gunfight every October during the Cowboy festival. Jim still loves to tell stories, even if his draw is getting slower. At the age of 78, he still loves to entertain an audience and hopes to keep doing so for years to come. Jim can be heard every Tuesday morning at 8:40AM on WBHF radio hosting a segment called, "Stories That Won the West." After Jim's interview, Alan and Walt talked about movies for a few minutes before diving into their odd news segment. They then ended with the entertainment segment, where they discussed what they have been watching, reading and listening to. WATCHING Walt started to dive into season 3 of Lost in Space. Alan has not seen any prior seasons to which Walt told him to stop watching anything else and catch up with the show. Alan watched episode 4 of The Wheel of Time and admits he may not watch too many more if it doesn't get better. He re-watched WandaVision with his daughter and still thinks it's been the best MCU extension for the small screen. Alan also gave two thumbs up for the first two episodes of Hawkeye to drop on Disney+. He and his wife watched the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street and went to the theater to see Ghostbusters Afterlife. Alan liked it, but said it wasn't as good as the first Ghostbusters movie, but far better than the sequel. As to YouTube, he suggests Ashleigh Burton, Popcorn in Bed and his newest wormhole discovery, The TRY Channel. That last one is basically Irish people simply sampling foods or beverages and reacting. READING Walt is still trying to finish, "Killing the Mob," and Alan is still trying to finish, "Dune." LISTENING Walt has started to listen to The Clip Out, a podcast by two Peloton users. He also loves the podcasts Holy Crap It's Sports with Pete Davis, The Murdaugh Murders and Radio Labyrinth. Alan reminds everyone about a new podcast called The Time Bandits Minute where he was a recent guest for minutes 4, 5 and 6. Other than that, he has been listening to Christmas music. Also, make sure you have subscribed to The Wilder Ride on your pod-catcher of choice so you will not miss a single episode! If you have not already done so, please come join our Listener’s Group on Facebook. Just visit our public page and click on the button to join the group. You can learn more about us by visiting our About Us page. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.