BLACK COWBOYS: African Americans rode the range...

BLACK COWBOYS: African Americans rode the range along with white and Native American cowpokes--and today black cowboys can be seen at rodeos and singing Western music. . . . A pioneer black movie cowboy, jazz singer Herb Jeffries (F1), recalls that once in the 1930s he saw a black child crying, because the other kids wouldn’t let him play Tom Mix, and he knew he had to bring the African American cowboy to the screen.

TEXAS BLUES: If the artists booked at Cozy’s Bar & Grill, a new club in Sherman Oaks, seem to have the flavor of the Southern- and Texas-style acts that might be seen in, say, Austin, it’s no accident. Club owner Steve Rakoczy made a point of calling Clifford Antone, whose Texas club is famous for showcasing blues men like the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Antone agreed to send his artists west (F1A). . . . “I’m just trying to bring some down-home blues to the Valley,” Rakoczy said.

BOOK COLUMN: A new column on books, “Words and Images,” debuts in Valley Weekend. . . . Staff writer Pat Biederman talks today about being a “book person” in the Valley.

JOB CUTS: Northrop Grumman Corp. announced additional layoffs among workers on the B-2 bomber Wednesday, but none will be at Northrop’s Palmdale plant or its Edwards Air Force Base testing facility (D1). Still, Northrop’s Antelope Valley work force is shrinking: By year-end, 3,100 people will be working on the B-2 bomber, down from 3,700 last year and 4,500 in 1993.