Cowboy Pinches Pecker on Saddle

One of the cowboys in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill), Disney Village, Disneyland Paris France, competed in the famous Pony Express Race and celebrated by doing The Worm - an 80's breakdance move where the dancer undulates the full front of his body against the ground, propelling himself forward. There is nothing choreographed here - each cowboy celebrates as he wishes. Some raise their hat. This cowboy, on occasion, does The Worm, a move at which he is particularly gifted. He simply falls forward into the move from a standing position, the momentum allowing impressive height and distance from each undulation.
On this occasion, however, as he walked towards the judges stand after performing The Worm I could see he was in pain, favoring his stomach or groin area. I think he was trying to smile through his grimace, but I couldn't be sure. Half doubled over, he made his way off stage, letting us know he needed a few minutes to recover.
My first thought was that he had  accidentally mashed his man parts against the uneven ground of the arena as he fell into The Worm so I jokingly advised the audience not to try this move at home - it's only reserved for experienced professionals.
I later learned that the injury had occurred when he vaulted onto the horse. After launching himself upwards, the horse at a full run, he came down a bit farther back on the saddle than intended, pinching the tip of his manhood between the falling weight of his descending body and the sharp lip of the cantle. I cringe just thinking about it. And yet, and yet.. consummate professional that he his, he still did The Worm - the pinched worm, on this occasion.

Panoramic Photo of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey & Friends

Our beloved friend and photographer Marc Veillard took this photo of the entire cast (minus those absent on the day) of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey and Friends, Disney Village, Disneyland Paris, as a Happy New Year's wish from all of us. (I found this photo on bbwws.blogspot.com, another blog in French, maintained by one of the stage managers.)

Our show is the longest-running, most successful dinner show ever produced by Disney (and maybe any other organisation). It's one-of-a-kind. Come see us!

Ryan Bingham Nominated for Oscar

Ryan Bingham, ex-cowboy in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill), Disney Village, Disneyland Paris France, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, for his song The Weary Kind (The Theme From Crazy Heart) on the soundtrack for the movie Crazyheart. Bingham already one a Golden Globe award for the song but was at the bar waiting for a beer when the award was announced. In a recent article in Vanity Fair, Bingham explains that he promises it won't happen again.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is Disney's longest-running and most successful Dinner Theatre, or any kind of theatre show, worldwide, ever. It features authentic Cowboys and Native American Indians - and the occasional Golden-Globe-winning-and-Oscar-nominee singer and songwriter. If you haven't seen us yet, you're missing out.

Ex-WWS Cowboy Wins Golden Globe Award

Ryan Bingham won the 2009 'Best Original Song' Golden Globe award for The Weary Kind (The Theme From Crazy Heart) which he wrote with T Bone Burnett. Ryan played the role of Cowboy for a few months several years back in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill) and remains good friends with several members of the cast, especially Lucas, who helped him get the job. Unfortunately, Ryan wasn't present to receive his Golden Globe award.


One might be forgiven for thinking he was on tour, or in the middle of a recording session, or had some other obligation that prevented him from being present, but in fact he was at the ceremony.



At the bar. Having a beer. With a friend. How's that for unassuming?

 

Crazyheart also won the Best Actor Golden Globe award for Jeff Bridges' performance.

Trent Features in Wyoming's "Casper Star Tribune"

I was recently interviewed by Margaret Matray for a feature article in The Casper Star Tribune, Wyoming's premier state-wide newspaper. I think she did a great job. Here's the link to the web version of the article: La Legende de Buffalo Bill.

Trent, Kave, Wiley, Shawn, and Carlos Perform in Fontainebleau

Kave, Wiley, Shawn, Carlos, and I performed at the Theatre Municipale de Fontainebleau in Fontainebleau, France on December 17, 2009 in a show I put together for the kids who attend my son Zachary's school. We recently moved to the area for the school so, eager to be an "involved parent," I attended a meeting for the association of parents (who organize social events etc for the kids) and volunteered my friends' talents if for some reason they might be useful. At a different school, Kave and Shawn gave a presentation of their impressive native singing and dancing skills, which is what I had in mind when I volunteering them here.

A couple months later the President of the parents' association called to say they had met and decided they wanted to take me up on my offer. I was delighted. When they said our "show" was going to be THE end-of-the-year show for all 400 kids plus several teachers and parent chaperons, I got a bit nervous because, well, THERE WAS NO SHOW! My friends danced and sang, but it wasn't a SHOW, just incredible talent. The parents' association said they only needed to secure a venue. I was thinking a gymnasium or cafeteria or something, but the Mayor of Fontainebleau donated the use of the Theatre Municipale for an afternoon.

Realizing I needed to throw together an actual show of some kind, I arranged to meet the theatre manager to better understand what my options were. I was completely bowled over by the delightful charm of the space. It's literally across the street from the Fontainebleau Castle, Napoleon's old digs. The theatre started construction in 1905, the same year Buffalo Bill toured 120 villages in France, and was inaugurated in 1912, the year he borrowed $20,000 from Harry Tammen in Denver - a loan that would eventually force Cody to sell his show and work for Tammen in the Sells Floto Circus.

The theatre is built in the Louis XIII style and is "one of a rare specimen of Italian theatres and one of the most beautiful in the Paris area" according the the theatre's website. It's like the ones you see in period films, with seats at floor-level and then 3 levels that seem to climbing up the walls of the auditorium. Yet it's very intimate. The audience feels within arms' reach. I absolutely fell in love with it, and realized immediately that I needed to create a great show for such a great venue.

With the help of my wife and friends, I did. Fortunately I had a rare theme for this area: real cowboys and Indians, and some of the most talented people I know helping me: Kave, Shawn, Wiley, and Carlos. And of course my wife Susan. I cut a few video montages to project on the video screen behind us at certain moments and wrote a song for me to sing. Two moms dressed up like Saloon Girls to give out hats from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which were used interactively in the show.

But not all went smoothly. On the night before the show, one of the biggest snowstorms we've had in years hit, which meant my talented friends had to travel at a snail's pace for 1 1/2 hours and when I had a technical problem and had to go back home it took me an hour and a half instead of a half hour. I was still booting my computer when the kids arrived. I had to tell my friend Chris, who had also volunteered to help, to just figure out the Video-rich Powerpoint Presentation himself because I didn't have time to explain it. So it was a close call getting the show going at all, but it turned out brilliantly. The kids were delighted, as were the teachers and parents who attended. And it was fun for me to do something new for a change. I'll post the video montages shortly.

Whatever you do, DO IT NOW!!

My good friend, ex-actor, ex-Buffalo Bill, writer, sculptor, and ever-creative Jim McMullan recently wrote that he's made this new video to inform folks about his inspirational book, "Do It Now! Book & Clock Set." Jim writes on his website,

THE CLOCK IS TICKING...

Find inspiration to make all of your dreams come true in this handy book of motivational quotes about living each day to the fullest. Do It Now! Book & Clock Set will help you forge a new path leading to calm and serenity. This collection of quotations from such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway, Eckhart Tolle, and Goethe teaches us to live in the NOW—not in the past or future, but the present. Their wit and wisdom will help center the mind and give the NOW all of your attention. Just as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that’s why they call it the present.”

So DO NOT DELAY! BUY THIS BOOK! DO IT NOW!!