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and welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web prairie! |
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My name is Bill
Burns and I've been a Wild West reenactor for well over 10 years now. I
figured it was about time to put up stakes, build a 'Home Range' and
share my exploits with like-minded folks and even some greenhorns who
might be interested in looking into Wild West reenacting. I started back in 1989 with the Silverado Western Gunfighters (soon to be changed to the Silverado Wild West Co.) as a bad guy known as 'Black Diamond Bill'. Silverado is a comedic group that performed bank robberies the first Sunday of every month at the San Jose Historical Museum in San Jose, California. The bank robberies there are gone now, But Silverado still performs the routine and other acts at various events throughout the S.F. Bay Area.
Currently, I am shooting it up in the Santa Cruz (CA) Mountains with Shadows of the Past, robbin' trains and hasslin' the passengers. Shadows of the Past is based out of Santa Cruz, CA and spends most of the summer up at Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad in Felton, CA.
Be sure to check the Reenactor's Journal and Image Gallerie sections for more pics of Shadows of the Past! I can also be found reenacting the OK Corral and other historical gunfights with Gunfighters of the Old West based in Fremont, CA. |
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I'm not as mean as I
look...really. |
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When I first began reenacting, I had a 'working'
knowledge of the Old West, the hats, guns, boots, spurs and the like. I
knew of Billy the Kid and Jesse James but in name only. I only faintly knew the name of the man folks started calling me as I grew a moustache in my early days as a reenactor... Wyatt Earp. So I spent months researching Mr.Earp. When I came upon the first few photographs of him for the first time I began to understand why folks were making a connection, I had to admit, I did resemble him quite a bit and it just was'nt the moustache either. I'm a wee bit taller than he was (I'm '6"6 with boots on, Wyatt was about '6"2 I believe) but it just added a little more to the legend of the man wherever I appeared as him, a legend he could never escape for the rest of his life and oddly enough I can't seem to escape it either these days, even when I try to play a bad guy during a train robbery, folks just look at me and say "You ain't no train robber...you're Wyatt Earp!" Well, I've learned to live with it, but I still rather play a bad guy any chance I get...its more fun by far!
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The
Silverado Þ
Western Gunfighters at Living History Days in San Jose, CA.
circa 1990. Yes that is a real Gatling gun and it was used in the
performance. It was the quickest bank robbery we ever had!
One
of Silverado's famous bank robberies at the San Jose Historical Museum
from the 'old days' Be sure to mosey on over to the Image Gallerie for more pictures of past
Silverado events.