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Nocturne
Honored Fellow Grover
| Joined: | Wed Apr 6th, 2005 |
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Posted: Sun Jul 17th, 2005 08:42 am |
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You got to give this dude some credit, still crazy after all these years..
Veteran performer Willie Nelson has this week achieved two things rare in a man of his age: the release of a new reggae album completely different from his many country offerings, and the courting of fresh controversy with his blatant espousal of marijuana use.
If there is a spare edifice at Mount Rushmore, it is surely reserved for Willie Nelson. Like the faces of the revered former presidents, his famous rugged features seem to have borne witness to a long episode of American history.
In fact, he's been around so long, they probably have. In an industry where the word "legend" is bandied around willy-nilly, Willie Nelson remains the real deal.
But the Red Headed Stranger has left his record company red-faced this week with his latest album, Countryman. Not only has he departed from his usual country sound for the off-beat twangs of reggae, but on the CD cover, he's put what is clearly a large marijuana leaf.
'Cosmic cowboy'
Nelson himself is a known long-time user of this particular "herb", but Universal Music executives have moved swiftly to turn the offending leaf into a more universally acceptable palm tree, for those albums on sale in Wal-mart stores.
Wal-mart is one of America's biggest distributors of country music, but also one of the most sensitive about lyrics and packaging.
The cover of Countryman with its offending leaf
"They're covering all bases," explains Nelson, who can clearly take such marketing controversies on his weathered chin. He may have slept at the White House, and may be a close friend of Jimmy Carter, but Nelson has been a self-professed outlaw of the musical establishment for many years.
His rebellion dates back to 1979 when, feeling unloved, and un-marketed, by his record company, he turned his back on Nashville to start his own "outlaw country" movement, along with Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings.
Back in his native Texas, Nelson created a more progressive sound that attracted a huge audience from different directions, what one observer called "rednecks and hippies coming together in a new cosmic cowboy culture". Willie's star was born again.
The musician also famously found God, but was later found himself, by the nation's tax men, who presented him with a bill for his newfound success to the tune of nearly $17m.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4686697.stm
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when will all this end?
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Psycho Gizmo
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Posted: Sun Jul 17th, 2005 03:04 pm |
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Yes, Willie is willy a Wildman. Walmart will want to wemove the weed from the wapper or Willie's woik won't be welcome.
Meanwhile, I couldn't help but notice the following on the same webpage attached to the article above. Sure, Willie N. had some tax problems and gets three "shame on youse"! But not even a guy who admitted to smoking pot on the roof of the Whitehouse and went $17 million in the hole to the IRS, was ever sentenced to 25 years in jail.
This is victory for those who believe that this country really is of the people, by the people and for the people, not just for Greenheads and Mega-Corporations.
I noted with a chuckle, another Willie, "Slick Willie's" comment about the defendant below in red, and how it is more true than he could possibly have intended at the time. Da' President gotta watch out to whom he give da' glowing compliments. Sometimes gettin' chummy with the wrong veck can boomerang right back atchya!
I wonder if anytime in the next 25 years, Ebbers the filthy Greenhead will wish that he had stayed a milkman...
BERNIE EBBERS
Former Worldcom boss Bernie Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in jail for his part in the scandal that brought down the firm, the biggest bankruptcy in US corporate history. Formerly a basketball coach and milkman, Ebbers became the darling of Wall Street when Worldcom shares reached an all-time high in 1998, and President Clinton called him "the symbol of 21st Century America". Ebbers will begin serving his sentence in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
BTW Nice post Nocturne! Not too hot, not too cold, but juuust right! 'Sorry to hijack your topic a little here but it seemed like a lil' synchronicity that begged revelation. If you'all see Bernie on a chain gang down younder in Yazoo, y'all be sure an' say "Howdy!" and wave to 'im!
He is our own American version of your "Sherriff of Nottingham". But in this tragic case, there was no Robin Hood to give back the money- only a court system to punish the bastards after the damage was done - never to be fully repaid or repaired.
I wonder if Bernie will put out an "outlaw" CD when he gets out of prison at the age of 93? In the picture below, Ebbers has just been told by his attorney that there are no "executive washrooms" in jail, and that he should try to get used to being called "Shirley".
Attachment: 1_22_ebbers_bernard_030805.jpg (Downloaded 3 times) Last edited on Sun Jul 17th, 2005 04:17 pm by
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