RIVER CROSSING, INC.
Miss Tabitha and Mad Mountain Mike have 43 years of combined experience in historical research and re-enactment. Mad Mountain Mike’s work has been featured in museums, movies and galleries across the country and in Europe, while Miss Tabitha has focused on historic dance and fashion. Their partnership enables them to cover many eras and topics, ranging from the Revolutionary War to modern day, with a special focus on the American Old West. Mad Mountain Mike and Miss Tabitha enjoy presenting history in an entertaining as well as educational style.

Thursday and Friday morning, enjoy a unique presentation as Miss Tabitha demonstrates for you how a Victorian lady would have dressed from the “inside out”. Beginning with chemise and bloomers, she adds corset, petticoat, bustle, and on and on until at last she is attired in her final outfit -- “properly and decently” dressed to appear in public, not forgetting her headpiece and correct accessories. As each piece is added, she shares entertaining and historical anecdotes about the clothing of the Victorian era. This is a delightfully educational program you won’t want to miss!

In preparation for Saturday night’s Cattle Baron's Ball, on Thursday and Friday afternoon Miss Tabitha will present a lesson on dances of the Victorian era, such as the Grand March, Virginia Reel, and Quadrilles. Topics such as fan flirtations, bows and curtsies, escorting your lady and managing the train of a gown will also be covered. Miss Tabitha has been researching and teaching old-time dance for over 15 years, and she specializes in adapting historic dances for modern-day folks. All dances will be taught, and no previous experience is necessary. Not a stuffy class, you will be pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of many of these elegant dances. Ladies attending are encouraged to bring their trained or bustled petticoat or skirt in which to practice.

On Saturday only, Miss Tabitha and Mad Mountain Mike are pleased to once again present their Old West & Victorian Fashion Show tailored especially for SASS shooters! Practical, beautiful, historical, fanciful – you’ll find it all featured here in a wide range of Wild West, Native American, Victorian and B-Western styles. Miss Tabitha and Mad Mountain Mike provide a historical and humorous commentary with each outfit, giving “inside information” of value to costume buffs and SASS members alike. Don’t miss it!

Syd Masters & The Swing Riders

Syd Masters & The Swing Riders are a talented and humorous musical group specializing in what Syd refers to as Vintage Western Cowboy Swing!

Recently they received the 2004 "Best Humorous Song" award for the track "My Dog," as well as the 2003 "Country Song of the Year" MIC Award for Syd's original tune, "Out In The Country." Other accomplishments include winning the Western Music Association "Best Western Swing Band" international nomination during each of the last three years, as well as wrangling in the New Mexico Music Industry's "Best Vocal Performance" award for singing and yodeling on recorded works.

The boys can also be seen on television and on posters throughout the West as the new "Singing Cowboys" for the Powerball Lottery advertising campaign.

Alibi Music magazine named "Cowboys on the Moon" one of it's top ten best albums for 2003. This CD, which was nominated for best album by The Western Music Association, The Academy of Western Artists, and the New Mexico Music Industry, features all original music and is played on the air in at least 15 countries around the world!

Syd's rich lead vocals and unique brand of unspoiled rhythm guitar are complimented by the accomplished finger picking of multi-instrumentalist Uncle Bob.

These boys have been headline performers at the Elko Cowboy Gathering, Western Music Association Awards Show, Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering, Westfest, Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, Withlacoochee Bluegrass Festival, Rancheros Vistadores Trail Ride, Silver City Cowboy Jamboree, South Texas Ranching Heritage Festival, Carbon County Gathering of Cowboy poets, Gene Autry Museum, Superstition Mountain Cowboy Gathering, and many more events across the United States.

They have also performed as musical ambassadors for over 25 different countries in the Bureau of Diplomatic Affairs Antiterrorism Assistance Cultural Exchange Program. Syndicated Radio show host Rick Huff dubbed these singing cowboys the hardest working band in western music. During one stretch they actually performed over 150 shows in 170 days.

Paul Hutton

Paul Andrew Hutton is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico and Executive Director of Western Writers of America. His Phil Sheridan and His Army (1985) received the Billington Prize from the Organization of American Historians, the Evans Biography Award, and the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America.

He has published widely in both scholarly and popular magazines, and is a four-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award and a five-time winner of the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum for his print and film writing. He is the editor of Frontier and Region (1997), Soldiers West (1987), the ten-volume Eyewitness to the Civil War series from Bantam Books (1991- 93), and The Custer Reader (1992). In 1988 he was the Mead Distinguished Research Fellow in American History at the Huntington Library. From 1977 to 1984 he was associate editor of the Western Historical Quarterly, from 1985 to 1991 he was editor of the New Mexico Historical Review, and from 1990-2006 served as Executive Director of the Western History Association. Hutton served as President of Western Writers of America in 2002-2004. He has written a dozen television documentaries and has appeared in over 150 television programs on CBS, NBC, PBS, BBC, Discovery, Disney Channel, TBS, TNN, A&E, and the History Channel, and in 2003 was historical consultant for the Ron Howard film The Missing. In 2003-2005 he wrote and co-produced five episodes of the History Channel series Investigating History with Bill Kurtis. He has also been active as a public historian with museums, guest curating major exhibits in 1985 on the Alamo at the DeGolyer Library in Dallas, in 1996 on the Custer legend at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles, in 2002 on Davy Crockett at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, and in 2007 on Billy the Kid at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History

Buck Montgomery

Buck Montgomery spent 33 years as a stuntman in Hollywood working on films such as The Long Riders, Barbarossa, The Sacketts, and Pale Rider. Buck then became the general manager and stunt show coordinator of the Ponderosa Ranch, and three years ago he founded the Wild Western Festival, which has now found a home at Pioneer Village north of Phoenix. Buck will discuss how to incorporate stunts into your performance and how to perform them safely (despite his eleven concussions, countless broken ribs, crushed vertebra, and a fully re-built leg).

Jim Dunham

Jim Dunham has spent most of his life pursuing his love of the American West. Although born in Illinois, Dunham grew up influenced by the art of Charles M. Russell, Frederick Remington and the books of Will James.

Jim was a boy when the Westerns dominated both TV and the movies. As a teenager he was active in the sport of Fast Draw and became accomplished at gun spinning and fancy gun handling. He studied acting and Fine Arts at the University of Colorado and began performing a show about the Gunfighters of the Old West for service clubs and church roups. In 1967 Jim took his act to Hollywood and was hired by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation to perform in their Studio Tour Stunt Shows. During the next few decades Jim would teach gun tricks and fast draw to movie actors, speak at conventions, work as a performer in the Chuckwagon Supper Show business, appear as a guest on national TV talk shows and perform at the Winter Olympics. urrently he can be seen as a Western historian on 4 episodes of the series “Tales of the Gun” on the History Channel. Dunham is employed as the Director of Special Projects and Historian for the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA. Jim has recently combined his art skills with his acting ability to create a program where he paints a watercolor painting and tells humorous stories from C.M. Russell’s book Trails Plowed Under. To book a show, please call (770) 607-6362.

Hotshot Johnny minks

Hotshot Johnny Mincks has been thrilling audiences with his unique blend of extraordinary theatrics and amazing skills since childhood. An incredible entertainer who brings belief and vitality to even the most outlandish characters, he has developed his presentation ability to the height of audience enjoyment. Whether on screen, stage or street, Mincks captivates audiences with his beguiling presence and razor sharp wit. He is at once cool, charming and a complete numbskull whose charm is only rivaled by his incredible skills and physical mastery. His trick and fancy gun handling is rivaled by only a handful of professional gunslingers today.

Kowboy KAL

Kalvin Cook, Kowboy Kal, one of the nicest and most accomplished entertainers of today, hails from Apache, Oklahoma and still lives on the spread his grandfather homesteaded. In fact, Kal learned the ropes from his grandfather, Evert Cook. He studied the films and books of Will Rogers, the legendary writer, humorist, and cowboy, and dreamed of becoming an entertainer in Roger’s manner, which clearly he has! Kowboy Kal is the Guinness Book World Record Holder for the largest wedding ring loop. He has won the Will Rogers award for fanciest trick roper of the year, the Monty Montana award Wild West Showman of the year in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the National Champion fancy 6 gun spinner. Kowboy Kal is a Screen Actors Guild member with performances in many feature films, commercials and live shows around the world for over 10 years.