" I'm Johnny Cash"
The smile was 'intoxicating' and 'The Man In Black' started singing gospel music.
It was , if memory is correct, 1971, in Suffolk County on Long Island, and it was a pentacostal country gospel show Jayne and I went to - we were
'converts' to country music 'countrypolitan' as WHN 1050AM called it. I of course had been a 'country & western' fan for decades starting when I was a kid listening
late at night to "clear channel" radio in New York coming all the way from Wheeling West Virginia and the Grand Ol' Opera.
We'd already been on a Long Island RailRoad Country special to Madison Square Garden to see George Jones and Tammy Wynette when they were just starting to become big stars
and were still married, singing among many other song s(we still have all the LP albums) 'We're Gonna Hold On' - (they didn't).
Bill Anderson was also at the country gospel show - another favorite of ours. But Johnny Cash was the big attraction having just (again) found Jesus after
years of 'hard' living. His performance was mesmerizing. I'd been a Johnny Cash fan since my BYU days when in November 1956 - as if it was an 18th birthday gift to me,
"I Walk The Line" hit the Pop charts - I was listening at the time to KOVO Provo, KLUB 570 SLC, KNAK SLC ('You're On The Right Track with KNAK')
all of course AM radio - FM had not yet been 'invented' and stereo was still 10 years away.
Driving back to Long Beach, we were in a 'spiritual country gospel song' place and have been there since.
Many years later, Johnny Cash, as an actor on both 'Little House on the Prarie', and Columbo, a role in which he sang the Hank Williams song 'I Saw The Light', was an established star, and we had, and still have all his country albums.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Gene's World
Gene's World
TURIN 2006 OR TORINO 2006
NBC uses TORINO; the NY TIMES and WORLD ALMANAC uses TURIN
1 - Which is the correct designation ?
2 - Does each name mean anything ?
First 'correct' answer wins a prize ... the satisfaction of being first (with all due humility of course - right Provo daughter?)
TURIN 2006 OR TORINO 2006
NBC uses TORINO; the NY TIMES and WORLD ALMANAC uses TURIN
1 - Which is the correct designation ?
2 - Does each name mean anything ?
First 'correct' answer wins a prize ... the satisfaction of being first (with all due humility of course - right Provo daughter?)
Monday, January 09, 2006
Yes,maybe I do have a few thoughts to share
I felt something was not right - no, it wasn't the towel not folded correctly with the tag on the inside out of sight, no, it wasn't the continuing 'stay the course' in the country most Americans knew little about a few years ago, and most would like to know even less about now, (or maybe 'we' will, somehow, transform a culture structured on tribal allegiance into a model of democracy, even as it continues to kill and disable thousands of our fellow Americans as well as drain our treasury of funding for so many perhaps more worthwhile, achievable objectives), no, it wasn't my bicycle rusting away from lack of use while I await arthroscopic surgery, for four+ months - no, it wasn't the inconvenience of Walgreens Pharmacy and my Medicare Insurance being unable to 'communicate' with each others computer system, although that's where I need to fill my presriptions, no, it wasn't any of these, or a myriad of other of life's minor and major inconsistencies, inabilities and/or stupidities (??Is Howard Stern really worth $100 MILLION a year to be obscene on Sirious Satellite Radio where he can't be regulated by the FCC (and why not??- is it not just another form of media??) and are there really now, THAT MANY people intelligent enough to understand how to subscribe, what equipment is needed, have the 'disposable' income and WANT to listen to his nonsense (a value judgement, obviously, on my part??)??
In Chesapeake,Virginia, a beautiful area of the country we'd vacation'd in years and years (another lifetime, or so) ago, an LDS Missionary from Bountiful, with only a few months remaining on his mission, was shot and killed in an apparent senseless (although 'not racially motivated' - Elder Young is (was) white - the killer, black) crime. Why? What purpose, grand plan was served? At his funeral, I'm sure it will be stated, probably numerous times: 'our Heavenly Father called him to another, greater mission' Did HE? Since our sojourn on this earth is 'but the blink of an eye' - not to us it isn't, but according to some writer years ago, purportedly quoting God, in the totality of existence, and by God's standard, couldn't HE have 'waited' a nanosecond of time?? What was the rush to bring grief, sorrow, and a quick end to the Elder's earthly 'trial'? Was (is) this a blessing to the young man, at the expense of the joy and happiness he was obviously bringing to his family and friends?? Why didn't his garments 'protect' him? What did the Church spokesperson mean when the statement was issued: 'the Church leaders assure current missionaries, their parents, and those contemplating serving missions, every step is taken for security and safety of the missionary'. I must have missed something - this was stated right AFTER Elder Young was killed, and his companion injured,(now recuperating at his home in Colorado)
I don't know, and at times, I envy those of you who DO 'know'. I'm told, it is comforting to 'know, beyond a shadow of a doubt' - is it? Is it , just possibly, an 'escape' from, at times, the harsh realities of life - the cognizance MOST of the world lives in abject poverty and misery, apparently, just to test our levels of love and charity.
I don't know - I do know some of you are thinking: 'If Gene only 'KNEW', he'd UNDERSTAND' Guess I just don't see the same vision.
And this is probably good - strenghtens belief in the believers - read that carefully - belief and believers are interchangeable on both ends of the spectrum.
Someday, we'll 'find out' OR maybe we won't but we won't know we haven't 'found out' Now, I could sermanize on the sentence I just wrote (No, not this one, the previous - now, the previous previous - the ..'and this is..' sentence) I'll save it for some future 'BLOG'
Life is, among many things, a continuing adventure, a contining experience, a continuing 'lesson', if you will (even if you won't) to be enjoyed, contemplated, ignored, laughed at, sorrowed at ...you get the jist of this.
.....Gene
In Chesapeake,Virginia, a beautiful area of the country we'd vacation'd in years and years (another lifetime, or so) ago, an LDS Missionary from Bountiful, with only a few months remaining on his mission, was shot and killed in an apparent senseless (although 'not racially motivated' - Elder Young is (was) white - the killer, black) crime. Why? What purpose, grand plan was served? At his funeral, I'm sure it will be stated, probably numerous times: 'our Heavenly Father called him to another, greater mission' Did HE? Since our sojourn on this earth is 'but the blink of an eye' - not to us it isn't, but according to some writer years ago, purportedly quoting God, in the totality of existence, and by God's standard, couldn't HE have 'waited' a nanosecond of time?? What was the rush to bring grief, sorrow, and a quick end to the Elder's earthly 'trial'? Was (is) this a blessing to the young man, at the expense of the joy and happiness he was obviously bringing to his family and friends?? Why didn't his garments 'protect' him? What did the Church spokesperson mean when the statement was issued: 'the Church leaders assure current missionaries, their parents, and those contemplating serving missions, every step is taken for security and safety of the missionary'. I must have missed something - this was stated right AFTER Elder Young was killed, and his companion injured,(now recuperating at his home in Colorado)
I don't know, and at times, I envy those of you who DO 'know'. I'm told, it is comforting to 'know, beyond a shadow of a doubt' - is it? Is it , just possibly, an 'escape' from, at times, the harsh realities of life - the cognizance MOST of the world lives in abject poverty and misery, apparently, just to test our levels of love and charity.
I don't know - I do know some of you are thinking: 'If Gene only 'KNEW', he'd UNDERSTAND' Guess I just don't see the same vision.
And this is probably good - strenghtens belief in the believers - read that carefully - belief and believers are interchangeable on both ends of the spectrum.
Someday, we'll 'find out' OR maybe we won't but we won't know we haven't 'found out' Now, I could sermanize on the sentence I just wrote (No, not this one, the previous - now, the previous previous - the ..'and this is..' sentence) I'll save it for some future 'BLOG'
Life is, among many things, a continuing adventure, a contining experience, a continuing 'lesson', if you will (even if you won't) to be enjoyed, contemplated, ignored, laughed at, sorrowed at ...you get the jist of this.
.....Gene
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