Desert Messenger

10 www.DesertMessenger.com November 21, 2018 Need Someone to Talk to? Problems with Drugs? Alcohol? Depression? Mental Health? Suicidal Thoughts? Serving Quartzsite 24 hour Crisis Line 1-866-495-3735 County Landfill Transfer Station now on Winter Hours The Quartzsite Transfer Station is now on their WINTER hours. They are open Sunday thru Wednes- day 7:30am to 2:30pm. Winter Hours are from Oct. 1st thru March 31st. Dump your trash for free at the Transfer Station. Please cover your load. For more info call the Main landfi ll 928-916-1253 or Main offi ce at 928-854-9152. The transfer sta- tion is located north of Town, just off Hwy. 95, near the Sewer Treat- ment Plant. We have great lunch menus, serving at 12 noon sharp! Suggested donation is only $3.50. There's cards, books, games, puzzles, pool table, Wi-Fi available. Community Services, Volunteers Needed! Come join the fun at Quartzsite SENIOR Center 40 Moon Mountain Ave. For more information call 928-927-6496 Senior Center open all year! Monday - Friday, 9am – 3pm Will Roberts, the performer, the man READER'S OASIS BOOKS 690 E. Main - Quartzsite (one block east of Family Dollar) Quartzsite TOPS Chapter 0078 on Winter Hours! Meets at the Quartzsite Alliance Church, 720 W Desert Vista. Every Tuesday morning. Weigh-ins start- ing at 7:30A.M. Meeting begins at 8A.M. - 9A.M. Drop-ins welcome. For information call Nancy at 928- 210-6564. TOPS meet Light, Medium, Heavyweight Fabrics. Quality Work, Great Prices, Fast Returns! SEWING! Call Jody at 760-600-6719 Heavyweight Fabrics. by Jackie Deal Will Roberts...He's more. He's much, much more. Sure, he's an actor, entertainer, columnist, trick roper, gun spinner, comedian, and magician: but he's much, much more. I was privileged to talk, no "converse" with Will Roberts after the great "Dr. Buck's Wild West Show" at the Quartzsite Improve- ment Assoc. (QIA) and came away in a daze. He's a real, authentic, caring human being. I asked him for one special thing he wanted to share and he said, "Behind every great man is a woman in front of him with his car keys and direc- tions so he doesn't get lost." But let's start with Will the per- former (anybody remember Will Rogers?). Will Robert's ropes do things no ordinary rope could pos- sibly do, and, yes, it's the guy twirl- ing the rope, jumping through it and over it that defi es logic and gravity. The Town Park was the best venue for showing off his amazing abili- ties. But even in the cramped stage area of the "Desert Sky Theater" (the Quartzsite Improvement's old "big" room) he was amazing. How about gun spinning? Will's guns (yep, he used two of 'em) twirled around his fi ngers like an extra digit. At times the guns were just a blur. Try twirling a pencil in your fi ngers and then imagine do- ing it with a three pound gun. The fi nal demonstration of "cowboy tricks" was with the bull whip. The crack of the whip woke up even the deaf in the audience. His assistant from the audience held a newspaper up in front of her and we all cringed with her as Will deftly halved it with the fl icking whip. And then halved it again. And again. Until it was about the size of a playing card. Will sat with me for almost an hour after the show (Sorry about your dinner, Will, I hope they warmed it for you!) and I'm con- vinced he does, as he laughingly says, "possibly channel Will Rog- ers". He does a "Will Rogers-type show" but wonders "if Will Rogers would make it now." Will wrote a column "the Daily Scream", carried by 150 news- papers, as a "political and social humorist". He says, "I'm not left wing or right wing, I'm chicken wing." He wrote a book titled "A Crackpot's Potshot On American Politics." Only recently he discon- tinued his column when he tired of "getting threats" and lamented that people don't seem to have a sense of humor anymore. At one time he did 120 shows every year for seven years all around the world. His blue eyes sparkle when he laughs and deepen when he discusses "hu- man values" that are dear to him. He lamented the plight of returning Veterans: "They gave us apple pie and we give them empty plates." Will was born 1964 into a poor, dys- functional family. He grew up "in Chicago's South side with gangsters and bikers." He says "We moved 15 times before I was 10 years old; mil- itary family? No, bad checks, funny but true." He comments, "We had a plastic fork not a silver spoon". There has to be room in the world for a gentle, caring, gun slinging, rope twirling humorist who believes we need to take care of the basic human needs and move forward. Hang in there, Will, we need you! ����� | S������ RAIN G�����-B���

• Cover