Real Dudes : Pastimes: Country dancing gains popularity and Western garb gathers favor as the county’s cowboy heritage is revitalized.

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

Don’t let ‘em pick guitars and drive them old trucks.

Let ‘em be doctors, and lawyers, and such.

--Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

Jennings and Nelson probably weren’t referring to the folks of Ventura County. Here it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish between the silver spurs and the white collars.

For a few days each year, country Western celebrations such as this week’s Conejo Valley Days in Thousand Oaks turn the general populace into chili-eating, whisker-growing, gingham-wearing, cowboy-crazed fanatics. Blame it on a recessive gene, but once they slip into their duds, these part-time cowboys can’t seem to get enough of rodeos or country dancing.

And though some folks may crawl back into their power clothes until the next annual event, plenty of cowboys can be found in these parts 365 days a year.

What’s the attraction?

“The cowboy is a dying breed,” said Jack Todd, president of the Ventura Tri-Counties Team Roping Assn. “But the efforts of country music stars like George Strait and Garth Brooks have revitalized the cowboy heritage.”

Locally, increased interest in all things country is evident in the surge in popularity in country music and dance, said Don Sinclair, program director of K-HAY Country 101, the county’s only full-time country music radio station.

“A lot of places are doing country nights and giving free dance lessons to meet the demand,” he said.

Chris Hillman, leader of the acclaimed country group The Desert Rose Band and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has lived in the county for 13 years. He refers to this trend as “Urban Cowboy II.”

“I think people are interested in going out and dancing as part of the ever-evolving mating ritual which is now country dancing for suburbanites,” he said. “I don’t think that this so-called boom we’re experiencing will last, but the two-step and line dancing to the Cotton-Eyed Joe are fun, safe alternatives to rap music and heavy metal.”

Everyone becomes a cowboy legend in his or her own mind. But not necessarily all the time.

Many men and women in the county are “weekend” cowboys and cowgirls who may even own ranches. Their “day jobs” allow them to pursue equestrian or rodeo hobbies only in their spare time, unlike the widely admired pro cowboys who compete for cash prizes on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assn. (PRCA) circuit.

The Ventura Tri-Counties Team Roping Assn. has 700 members, and about 200 of them live in this county. Aficionados practice in Fillmore at an arena open to the public, or at one of a few private roping arenas throughout the county.

“It’s a disease,” said Red Titus, 63-year-old president of the High Valley Dally Co., a private team roping club in Upper Ojai. “If you ever put a rope over a cow’s horns going 35 m.p.h., you see stars.”

Which isn’t to say these guys don’t take it seriously.

“This isn’t just hobby stuff. It’s for real,” explained Jim Hall, rancher and owner of a private arena in Upper Ojai. A few times a year ropers also donate their skills to local ranchers at branding time. “Most of these men have other types of jobs. And they do this for recreation and to keep the all-American spirit alive. It’s an all-American red-neck sport.”

In other words, these are real cowboys and they shouldn’t be confused with the duded-up types, said 21-year-old John McCollugh, a recent arrival from Texas. McCollugh was hanging out at the Crazy Bull Saloon in Camarillo one recent night.

“There are a lot of wanna-bes around here,” said McCullugh as he lodged a fresh “dip” of Copenhagen “chew” between his lower front teeth and lip.

“Most people buy a pair of boots and jeans and think they’re a cowboy all of a sudden. But it’s not cool to be a ‘Drugstore Cowboy.’ It’s like being a Dude,” he said. “Out here in California, dude is slang for hip and being cool, but in Texas them’s fighting words. And real cowboys won’t hang out with you in bars.”

Fortunately, there is a great tolerance in Ventura County for all cowfolk--real or imaginary, full- or part-time. So if your skills on the dance floor exceed your equestrian prowess, have a good time.

And take comfort from Bryan Mathis, a 27-year-old truck driver and rodeo clown from Ojai. “If you want to be a cowboy, it’s not in what you wear or where you work. It’s all in the heart.”

I’ve got 16 speakers across’n my back dash

A little bobbin’ dog watchin’ everybody pass.

Dual antennas whippin’ in the wind,

Oh there ain’t a country station that I can’t tune in.

--Aaron Tippin

It’s 6:30 a.m. and Don Sinclair, program director of K-HAY Country FM 101 in Ventura, has already been on the air for an hour, playing a mix of upbeat and somebody-done-somebody-wrong country songs.

Around the county, trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles bearing green-and-white K-HAY bumper stickers have their radios set at 100.7 (not precisely 101) on the FM dial for the seasonal Ventura County agricultural weather forecast. Radios in many of the cars stuck in Los Angeles-bound commuter traffic are also tuned to the station.

“When I first got involved with the station 13 years ago, we did a research project. At that time country music listeners were all considered to be hayseeds in bowling alleys or out riding tractors,” Sinclair says.

“But the project showed that the number of people who listened to K-HAY was larger and broader. It included doctors and professionals who would leave the office in their three-piece suits, slip on a hat and boots and go out to party.”

K-HAY is the only radio station in Ventura County that plays country music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can be heard throughout the county and into parts of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties.

“People have adopted the radio station. And the on-air personalities have become part of the family,” says Sinclair.

Listeners are especially familiar with the intrepid Ray Taylor, who frequently hosts weekend “Country Celebrations” from the sites of sponsoring advertisers. Taylor recently rode in a 1,000-pound monster truck during a car-crushing demonstration at an Oxnard auto parts store.

On weekdays between 5:30 and 9 a.m., the all-important drive time, the affable Sinclair hosts “Sinclair and Company.” Charlye Parker, K-HAY’s only female on-air personality, provides traffic updates. Doug Drigot, the station’s news director, breaks in for K-HAY’s “101-second news capsules.” And Sports Director Barry Turnbull contributes sports briefs.

Listeners probably envision the neighborly quartet sipping coffee around a kitchen table while exchanging pleasant banter between Top 40 country hits, on-air phone requests and commercials for the latest in backhoes and other farm equipment.

But each person is actually broadcasting from an individual glass-enclosed studio within the labyrinth of offices shared with KVEN 1450 AM news/talk radio.

Parker, a 20-year radio veteran, joined K-HAY last October and hosts the four-hour slot following Sinclair. During the morning program, Parker monitors the police scanner and a two-way radio which connects the station to its traffic airplane.

On a recent morning she wore a denim appliqued duster coat over her jeans and cotton shirt. Parker’s face was flushed from an unsuccessful attempt at lacing up her deerskin roper-style boots.

“I can’t lean over since I broke my ribs three weeks ago. I fell off my horse and couldn’t believe it. So I got back on and let him do it again,” she says. “Well, there’s a country saying: ‘never a horse couldn’t be rode, never a cowgirl couldn’t be throwed.’ Now that would make a nice country song, wouldn’t it.”

I wanna hear a band with a country sound

...Well it’s a girls’ night out.

Honey, there ain’t no doubt

I’m gonna dance every dance till the boys go home.

--The Judds

It’s a typical Sunday night at Cousin’s in Simi Valley, Ventura County’s newest full-time country bar.

About 90 patrons, age 30 to 50, have come to take part in the free line dance lessons. Men and women will later pair up for the waltz, two-step and cowboy cha-cha.

Under dim lights the crowd dances the Cotton-Eyed Joe with military precision. Several lines of about 20 individuals place their arms around the shoulders of strangers at the direction of instructor Ron Miller. They don’t stay strangers for long. They are here to have a good time.

The hoedown atmosphere spills into the parking lot where 29-year-old Louis Lee, a graphic designer from Korea by way of Van Nuys, is staring at his feet, intently practicing dance steps as he counts aloud. “I was interested in the music for the last 10 years, before I came from Korea,” he says. “But I didn’t know there was dancing until one year ago.”

Moorpark couple Ed Jotkowitz and Mary Ferris, both 45 years old, are sitting out the Cotton-Eyed Joe. “He got me into this,” says Ferris. “I was the old rock ‘n’ roller, and he said, ‘Come on, let’s take lessons.’ ”

Cousin’s is the only full-time country bar in the east end of the county and is one of only four in the entire county. Owners Joey Iannolo and his father, Joe, said they tried rock ‘n’ roll, blues and other forms of music since buying the establishment in 1990, but found country to be the only style consistently drawing the crowds. Six months ago, they committed to country music and dance to accommodate demand.

“The advantage of line dancing,” says Jotkowitz, a postal employee, “is you can get out there without a partner and feel like you’re fully participating. And it’s a lot of fun. People come here to dance. They socialize too, but you don’t feel like you’re there to be picked up.”

Joe Iannolo, 82, agrees. “Women feel very safe to come here alone. Some people make the assumption that country-Western dancers are heavy drinkers,” he says. “But the dancing is very structured and they need to concentrate. So people drink mostly 7-Up and (other) sodas.”

Twenty-two-year-old Kristen Leigh Mills of Ventura says she has found that country dancing “is not the pick-up scene as in rock ‘n’ roll or singles bars. It is a more comfortable atmosphere, and cowboys are real gentlemen.”

During the house band’s break, bandleader Rick Tucker steps out for some fresh air and displays a 45 r.p.m. record he recorded in Texas called “Patty Baby.”

“When I did this record in 1957, I had just turned 18,” he said. The credits on the record explain that he was backed on guitar by a couple of guys named Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison.

As the band starts playing again and people pack the dance floor, Joe Iannolo talks about his plans to expand the dance floor. His son, meanwhile, points out a group of friends in the corner.

“Look at them, they’re like the breakfast club,” he says. “Over a year ago about 15 of them met in here dancing and now they go everywhere together.”

Family ties run deep in this land. And I’m never very far from what I am.

I was born country and that’s what I’ll always be. Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free.

I got a hundred years of down home runnin’ through my blood. I was born country. And this country’s what I love.

--Alabama

The weathered barn-red warehouse building at the corner of Mill Street and Railroad Avenue in Santa Paula was designated a Heritage Landmark in 1982. But regular visitors probably suspected that there was something special about the place long before that.

As the county’s oldest and most complete farm store--it’s been one since 1886--The Mill sells almost everything for the rural home and garden, from metal mailboxes to live poultry to horse supplies.

“We carry a little bit of everything except clothes,” said 32-year-old Charlie Hengehold, who owns the business with his mother, brother and sister. “Most customers just wait on theirselves around here.”

When people enter The Mill, they experience sensory overload. At first, they are intoxicated by the pungent aroma of alfalfa and fertilizer. A look around is like stepping back in time and into someone’s surrealistic garage sale.

Antique farm implements and a full-size taxidermied plough horse are suspended from the rafters, giving the place the look of a museum of early pioneer culture. “Our dad loved early California history,” said Louie Hengehold.

From all accounts, Lou Hengehold, the patriarch who died in 1986, was a colorful character. Every morning he honked as he drove by the mortuary, just to let them know that he was still alive.

Before his death, he commissioned a coffin to be made out of boards from an old wall in The Mill. In his honor, few motorized vehicles were at the funeral. Most of his admirers came by foot or on horseback.

Owned and operated by the Hengehold family since 1953, The Mill has been a nucleus of social interaction for decades. Several walls in the feed department are covered with yellowed photographs and newspaper clippings that chronicle nearly a century of exploits by friends and neighbors.

“There used to be a group of retired old-timers who came in on Thursdays,” said Louie, “but they’re almost all dead now.”

If the folks run out of things to talk about the road kill display is always a good conversation starter.

“The U.S. Forestry office in Ojai ran out of room and asked us to keep their museum display. It’s real good for the kids,” said Charlie Hengehold. He pointed to several species of stuffed wildlife perched on bales of straw behind a wall of glass. The coyote, racoon, owl, vulture, hawk and ring-tailed cat, all fine specimens of the taxidermist’s art, were victims of traffic around the county.

And then there’s the bear, across the hall from the road kill.

Yes, nailed above eye level on a wall bearing photos of 4H prizewinners is the dusty, moth-eaten pelt of an enormous Alaskan Kodiak brown bear poised, paws extended, in a nose dive he will never complete.

“My aunt heard somebody in Santa Barbara was going to throw him away,” said Charlie Hengehold.

“For the kids and even the adults I’d say the bear is the most impressive item.”

WHERE TO FIND THE COUNTRY

The following is a partial guide for the whole family to the Country Lifestyle in Ventura County:

Country celebrations and events

* Conejo Valley Days--Today through Sunday several events are taking place including the Women’s Western Wear contest, junior and regular Rodeo, and a Western Pit Bar-B-Q. For details, call the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, (805) 499-1993. For information about similar annual Western celebrations in other parts of the county, call your local chamber of commerce.

Note: For complete Conejo Valley Days listings, see today’s B Section.

Music and dancing

* K-HAY Country 101 radio station, (100.7 FM) located at 3897 Market St. in Ventura. The request line is 656-K-HAY or 656-5429. To reach the business office, call 642-8595.

* The Ventura Theatre, 26 S. Chestnut St. in Ventura, holds country dance nights about two weekends a month. The next country dance night will be Friday, May 8. On May 2, the national band Texas Tornados with Freddy Fender is scheduled to appear, and Waylon Jennings will play June 6. For tickets, call 648-1888.

The following bars feature live country music and dancing and provide free dance lessons at least once a week. Call for days and hours:

* The Crazy Bull, 4426 Central Ave., Camarillo, 988-4209.

* The Ban-Dar, located at 3005 E. Main St., Ventura, 653-9176.

* Cousin’s, 2381 Tapo St., Simi Valley, 522-2559.

* The Maui Broiler, 2639 Wagon Wheel Road, Oxnard, 983-6284.

* The Chaparral Club, 281 W. Main St., Ventura, 643-7321.

* Splash, 999 Enchanted Way, Simi Valley, 583-2000.

* Alexander’s, 1050 Schooner Drive, Ventura, 658-2000.

* Black Angus, 4718 Telephone Road, Ventura, 644-7323.

For additional information about country, square and clog dancing lessons, call your local parks and recreation department.

* The Country Lovers Demo Team, which puts on country dance team exhibitions, welcomes new members. For details, call 643-8833.

* The California Old Time Fiddlers Assn. meets on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, 1:30-4 p.m. at the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View to play and dance to country music. For details, call 486-8744.

Team roping

* Team roping lessons and practice are held at R&R; Equestrian Park, 308 Chambersburg Road, Fillmore, Wednesdays, 7 p.m. and Sundays at noon. For information and directions, call 524-0024. For information about the Ventura Tri-Counties Team Roping Assn., call 524-3340.

Youth programs

* Some high schools in the county have a chapter of Future Farmers of America, a club designed for students interested in agricultural careers. For details, call Robert Young, FFA adviser at Santa Paula High School, 525-4406.

* Projects for children and teen-agers in the 4-H program range from animal husbandry to computers. For more information, call Larry Yee at the University of California Cooperative Extension office, 645-1470.

Save the date

* On Sunday, June 28, The Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation of American Roots (FARM), and K-HAY radio will sponsor the Ojai Country Music Festival, a daylong event. The festival will feature ample servings of country and Western, bluegrass, rockabilly and Cajun music performed by top local and national acts, such as the Desert Rose Band, from 2-9 p.m. at the Ojai Bowl in Libbey Park in downtown Ojai. Admission is $20 per adult, and $10 per child age 12 and under (under age 5 free). For tickets, call 646-8126. The California Old Time Fiddlers Assn. will give a free concert from noon to 2 p.m. in the gazebo at Libbey Park.