TOMBSTONE & THE BIRD CAGE THEATRE (Or, PAT BERRINGTON & ALLEN STREET ROSE)

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2010: Bird Cage Theatre -- Tombstone, AZ.

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1992: A cool cowboy dirty dog waits for easy prey to wander by.

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{*If you've come here from my July 1, 2025 > Battle Of The Bands blog bit, I thanks ya!*}

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The first time I went to Tombstone, Arizona, it was in early June, 1992. I was on vacation with the Countess (Trip Name: "Sniffy's Damn German Fudge Fiasco Trailblaze"). That was a year and a half before the movie 'Tombstone' was released. So we got to see Tombstone before it became a major tourist destination. The popularity of that movie really changed the place. It got painted and upgraded and didn't have the lowdown, grungy look of a real old Western mining town anymore, like it did when The Countess & I first experienced it. 

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Muddy & the Countess in Tombstone before it became a major 20th Century movie star.

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1992: Muddy sitting on Doc Holliday's shotgun.

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When the Countess and I were there in '92, we visited the Bird Cage Theatre. The hallways leading to the cribs were blocked off, but there was a knothole in a wooden plank that one could peer through to see what it looked like down there. 

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Bird's eye view knothole view of the cribs' hallway. 

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The Countess had an eye up to the knothole and was staring down the hallway, when she felt someone run their finger down the back of her leg. She had assumed it was me, but when she turned around, she saw that I was on the opposite side of the Bird Cage Theatre stage, and there was no one else there. We were the only two visitors in the Bird Cage Theatre at that time! This is a 100% true story.

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Six years later, in 1998, I was in Tombstone while on a trip with my Brother. We were in the Bird Cage Theatre and walking up the wooden stairs that led to the stage. About midway up the stairs, I stopped my Brother and asked him if he could hear some faint music playing. He said, "Yeah, I hear it". I breathed a sigh of relief, because that faint music had a very haunting sound to it, and I had momentarily thought that perhaps I'd slipped into the Twilight Zone.

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Wooden stairs on the left, where I was standing when I first became aware of the music of Patricia Berrington.

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I was so captivated by the song playing that before leaving the Theatre, I asked an employee about it. She showed me the album 'ALLEN STREET ROSE' by Pat Berrington, on cassette & compact disc. I bought the cassette, because it was cheaper and I was unsure what the rest of the album sounded like.

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When I got home and played that cassette, it turned into a massive "Mr. Toad Mania" for me. That cassette was pretty much the ONLY music I listened to for the next 2 to 3 months. I was so immersed in it and mesmerized by it that I drove back to Tombstone (six hours round trip) solely to buy the 'Allen Street Rose' album on compact disc.

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My brother, Nappy, in a > Mr. Bascom cowboy hat, Three Stooges T-shirt, and threatening Pooh, the cameraman, with a toy pistol. Tombstone, AZ., circa 2000.

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Selected Tombstone Videos:

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Tombstone Tour - Arizona - October 1992 

[This is how Tombstone looked when the Countess and I visited it in early June of '92.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rn3njFPR8Q

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Tombstone, Arizona Walking Tour in 4K - OK Corral Gunfight, Wyatt Earp House, Boot Hill Graveyard

[Today, sadly, Tombstone looks more like Disney's Frontierland.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPq1kSvu2mo

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“Tombstone” Filming Locations | Mescal Movie Set 

[Fun Fact: My all-time favorite Western, 'Monte Walsh' (1970) starring Lee Marvin, Jack Palance & Jeanne Moreau, was also filmed at the Mescal movie set... where I sneaked in once, when I was a younger maverick than I am today. Also, the "Countess" derived her nickname from the film 'Monte Walsh'.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ1yXjxfVJw

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TERROR in Tombstone | Ghost Activity in Haunted Brothel | Birdcage Theatre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B0OupRna9M

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Bird Cage Theater!! THEY TALKED BACK!!!!! Tombstone, AZ Part 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4D_zDAY9A

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The infamous Ice Cream Cowboy of Allen Street. Photo by General Poohregard, circa 2000.

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And now, for your listening pleasure, I present to you the extremely rare (harder to find than a snowflake in a Phoenix summer!) 'Allen Street Rose' album by Pat Berrington!

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* Special thanks to Bryan "Julio" Pedas for creating these videos from my compact disc!

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ALLEN STREET ROSE (complete album) 

by Pat Berrington 

@ YouTube: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBztZRTnDxABMdaR-eKBoAGiAFd7oK_C

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy 

(...the "dirty dog")