"I've met him a couple times now," says Keith, pulling out a keychain from his pocket. "Just after he'd had a double bypass… He gave me this bullet that says Roy Rogers… OK, so he had a bucket full of them, but I was happy." Keith isn't like most Rogers fans who watched the TV show in black-and-white in the '50s. He's 26. And he's been nuts about old-timey Western culture ever since his dad played him a Sons of the Pioneers record when he was 12 years old. Sipping coffee at the Tenth Street Pour House coffee shop, Keith (whose real name is Keith Thompson) says he has a soft-spot for twang. "I love that crack in the voice," says Keith, stroking his wiry goatee. "Even if it's that guy in Journey or the guy in Slade. If someone has a falsetto, I'm right there." Cowboy Keith has been a cowboy-styled scenester in Philly's nightlife for years. A few years ago Keith ran a manly cigar shop/hangout in Old City called Old Hickory - he sold everything from shaving kits to Macanudos. He quit that business (didn't turn out to be too lucrative) and went on tour with the Mexican Elvis - El Vez - as his sound man. These days, Keith works a regular job as the TLA's sound and production engineer and is busy trying to put together a TV show, much in the style of Pee Wee's Playhouse, called Cowboy Keith's Cartoon Corral. "I told Roy when I met him that we were modeling the show after the guidelines for his cowboy code. At the end of the show I say, 'Play fair, deal square. Be good to your moms and dads. And always drink your Ovaltine.' Roy used to say, 'May the good Lord take a liking to you, and always drink your Ovaltine." This busy East Coast cowboy is also organizing a Western dance night at the Five Spot called "Swinging Hard with Cowboy Keith" on Saturday, May 24. Starring the local 13-piece Western swing band Beats Walkin' and the Slobber Mountain Boys, the evening will be run like a live radio broadcast featuring live old-time commercials. "We've even got one for Spearmint Gum. This is no country night. It's hardcore Western swing. These guys rock." So, to prep for the big night of Western dance, we reckoned we oughta share Cowboy Keith's Five Steps To Cowboy-dom: 1.) You gotta have a hat. "And it can't be a cheap hat. It's got to be at least two-X-beaver. Hats are measured by how many beaver pelts go into them. 2.) You have to own at least one Sons of the Pioneers record, preferably Cool Water. 3.) Know the name of your favorite Western star's horse. For Keith? Trigger of course. 4.) Always greet people with the phrase, "Howdy." 5.) Never kiss your leading lady on-screen. "You'd never see any of the B-cowboy movie actors smooching on screen. Why? Because the kids hated it. No mushy stuff allowed." But what about cowboy boots Keith? "I never wear cowboy boots." |