Just finished Robert Hilburn's Johnny Cash -- The Life. Still thinking about it, but there seems to be a theme to his life -- he had the ability to hit peaks of accomplishment, and then would risk it over silliness, again and again and again. I can relate because his addiction was both part of the risk and he fooled himself with it. But, turns out June had some addiction problems as does his son and most of the people around him. No fairy tales here -- talented man with a lot of integrity but definite feet of clay, at least up to mid-calf... I'd heard before of how there were two Johnny Cash personalities -- JR when he was right with himself and Cash when he wasn't it. Seems like a waltz. And, he was incredibly sick at the end -- Parkinson's , broken jaw that was not fixed properly, arthritis, diabetes, and you name it, family dying around him and the fear of being irrelevant... So, that makes his work with Rubin even more amazing...guy had a wicked sense of humor when he was right...but when he was in the throes of his addiction, he was pretty well screwed up as a human being. So, I'd recommend it, but with the proviso that you have some of his music handy to soundtrack it and get perspective. He also seems closer to Dylan than I had realized -- seems that since they were both such strong introverts, they'd get together and play a little but not talk too much...could have stood more from people like Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell. Nice pieces from Marty Stuart, the family, and so on. I always thought Larry Gatlin was a Houston artist, but appears the first time John heard him was at his local church when he went with June and then between the despair, the singing and the companionship, he once again answered an altar call. The secret to understanding Johnny Cash seems simple -- see the good, accept the bad and evaluate as opposed to judge. Of course, if you were having to deal with doped up crazy Cash, that was hard to do. Lots of people did it well, like Billy Graham and Kristofferson because they weren't there all the time. Cash was very vulnerable to emotional judo; and, some people got more out of him artistically and professionally than others. Hilburn indicates and cites examples of Cash saying that the first producer he really trusted after Sam Phillips and Cowboy Bill Clemens was Rick Rubin...30 plus years after leaving SUN. Go figure...
Christmas Time With Some Spirit --- Sheri Miller and Neko Case
I discovered Sheri Miller a few years ago largely by accident, and have never been sorry for it. Sheri is an exceptionally talented young singer-songwriter and has been growing in popularity and impact since the release of her first album. Anyway, one of the songs she had out on YouTube was a Christmas piece that really spoke to me and a lot of other people. However, it wasn't really in line with what she was doing on her CDs really -- she's not happy, happy, happy like some artists her age, but she's not a despairing female goth trying to channel NICO from Velvet Underground or Leonard Cohen's feminine side either. I've written about it before and encouraged her to publish it more formally, and she's gotten around to doing it, which is an excellent thing, and is giving away downloads of Merry-Christmas (Jesus it's been a helluva year!) and Diamond Christmas here. Visit, tell her what you think and tell her I sent her...or not. But, download the music. The one that I've done everything but beg or bribe her to release is Merry Christmas (Jesus it's been a Helluva Year.) Here's the You Tub Version) --and some other stuff. She's great, and will be around for a while...her last album included a session with Steve Cropper of STAX and Booker T. and the MGs fame, and Cropper is notorious for not wasting his time ....She's also willing to do a lot for her music, as Mantra's sel-inflcited semi-drowning attests...
And then there's Neko Case. Ms. Case is the exceptionally talented, fellow-NW self-exile that I've occasionally written about but follow closely because of her excessive talent, interesting story and odd take on life, love and the baseball game. She's an incredible singer, good guitarist and an exceptional songwriter. I suspect that at some point she'll write something other than lyrics, and when she does, I intend to pre-order it where ever she sells it. She's fascinated by history -- ask her to tell you how she feels about George Armstrong Custer, for example, and she'll cite a list of things making him obnoxious and vastly overrated that most professional soldiers and objective historians can sign on to without hesitation. I follow her on Twitter, and she's got a someone rough attitude toward Christmas celebrations. I think it's a combination of sad memories combined with no longer wanting to endure the ShoppingPorn and general absurdity of the season. I think that's sad because she's entirely too beautiful in body, soul, heart and mind to be that bitter. That doesn't, however, make her wrong. If anything, probably makes her more right than not...Anyway, she covered a Tom Waits classic a couple of years ago, and I discovered it by accident, trolling You Tube for something else entirely, and fell in love with it. In it's own way, it expresses what Christmas should be about, even though we lose sight of that in contemporary culture.
And then there's some kind of reality. The House-Senate Conference Committee appears to have reached a compromise that both sides will hate but will at least keep us from Son of Shutdown until after the mid-terms. As most Progressives and Republicans will be pissed off by it, I suspect it can pass but only as everyone holds their noses. Well, at least it will make them actually do something over the next 10 months or so besides cry about the budget. Maybe they'll actually do something in the House besides vote to repeal Obama care!
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