dual personalities

Tag: Johnny Cash

September 26, 2024

Disturb us, Lord

by chuckofish

Today is the 444th anniversary of the completion of Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the Earth in Plymouth, England on September 26, 1580.

This was the first English circumnavigation, and second circumnavigation overall. Drake’s exploits made him a hero to the English, but his privateering led the Spanish to brand him a pirate, known to them as El Draque (“The Dragon”). “While Spain regarded him as a pirate even then, he was really a privateer, since he carried the royal warrant and the Crown participated by furnishing money and armed ships. That is hardly piracy as we understand it.” (This is an interesting article about Drake.)

I have shared this prayer by Drake before, but it bears repeating:

“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, 

when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, 

when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore. 


Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,
we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, 
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 
we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim. 


Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, 
where storms will show your mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. 
We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes, 
and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. 
This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ. ”

Wonderful.

We also remember Paul Newman, who died on this day in 2008.

Kind of like Sir Francis Drake, Paul Newman is in a league of own. Nominated eight times for Best Actor (and once for Supporting Actor), he only won one Oscar for The Color of Money (1987) and that seemed like a consolation prize at the time. Newman wasn’t even there to pick up his award. C’est la vie. He was great and everybody loved him. Anyway, a toast to the great Paul Newman!

And speaking of cool, how about that new statue at the U.S. Capitol? Johnny Cash, representing Arkansas, became the first professional musician to be honored with a statue in the Capitol.

Cash’s daughter, Rosanne Cash, said her father would have viewed the statue “as the ultimate honor” in his life. She said her father’s hard upbringing instilled in him a strong work ethic and that he loved the idea of America as a place of dreams and refuge. “This man was a living redemption story,” Rosanne Cash said. “He encountered darkness and met it with love.” Amen, brother.

Now there’s three aces! Sir Francis Drake, Paul Newman and Johnny Cash. Woohoo! Have a good day!

3 Comments
November 18, 2021

“Wash your hands, ye sinners”*

by chuckofish

Today is the last day of my 12-week Bible Study of Leviticus. We’ll start up again in the new year–still with Leviticus. I must say I have a new respect for Leviticus and a new understanding of how all those dietary laws and burnt offering regulations point to the one true and only sacrifice/atonement offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It has really been fascinating. And I like my group of ladies. I have enjoyed doing something serious. I have enjoyed doing my homework. I am sure I am a better person for doing it, and, God knows, I need help with that. (Read Leviticus, chapter 19.)

ONE DAY I WAS having lunch with two Wheaton students who were talking about whatever they were talking about—the weather, the movies—when without warning one of them asked the other as naturally as he would have asked the time of day what God was doing in his life. If there is anything in this world I believe, it is that God is indeed doing all kinds of things in the lives of all of us including those who do not believe in God and would have nothing to do with him if they did, but in the part of the East where I live, if anybody were to ask a question like that, even among religious people, the sky would fall, the walls would cave in, the grass would wither. I think the very air would stop my mouth if I opened it to speak such words among just about any group of people I can think of in the East because their faith itself, if they happen to have any, is one of the secrets that they have kept so long that it might almost as well not exist. The result was that to find myself at Wheaton among people who, although they spoke about it in different words from mine and expressed it in their lives differently, not only believed in Christ and his Kingdom more or less as I did but were also not ashamed or embarrassed to say so was like finding something which, only when I tasted it, I realized I had been starving for years. 

–Frederick Buechner, Telling Secrets

Have you noticed that the red kettles are out and the Salvation Army bell ringers with them? Every year, from November through Christmas Eve, bell ringers stand next to Salvation Army kettles around the world and encourage passers by to donate money for those in need. The donations are used throughout the year to extend a variety of assistance to members of the community. This holiday tradition began in 1891 when Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee placed an empty crab pot outside a San Francisco ferry landing to collect money and provide a free Christmas dinner for the city’s destitute and poverty-stricken. Beside the pot he placed a sign that read, “Keep the Pot Boiling.” As the boats came in, people tossed a coin or two into the pot, and soon he had all the money needed to purchase the meal. The idea soon spread to other cities, and it continues today.

So don’t be annoyed, be glad that the Salvation Army is still out there doing good. Carry some dollar bills in your purse or pocket so you are ready with some cash–because who uses cash anymore? Be generous and get in the holiday swing.

Yesterday was World Preemie Day, so, of course, daughter #3 made the wee twins special shirts to wear. (Lottie’s pants were real special too.)

Their shirts said: “Fight like a preemie/ 27 weeker/1 lb. 12 oz.” Lest we forget.

Fans of Dean Martin (and who isn’t?) may be interested in this.

This was very awesome.

And I ran across this recently. Perfect.

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.

*James 4:8

4 Comments
September 14, 2021

“Questions I have many, answers but a few”*

by chuckofish

What are you reading? I just finished Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, a memoir by the actor Michael Caine.

I have to admit I enjoyed it a lot. He writes well and he is a very positive fellow who has enjoyed his life, from a happy, but what we might term, disadvantaged upbringing in London to international stardom. He is grateful and he is happy to share what he has learned. The book is full of practical advice for actors, but it is all applicable to the rest of us.

I remember Roger Moore, years ago, saying to me “Cheer up. You’d better have a good time because this is not a rehearsal, this is life. This is the show.”

Yes, indeed. He is all about hard work: know your lines, be on time, don’t fool around.

When you are prepared, you are able to subdue your fear, control your nerves, channel your energy, and enter that state of highly alert relaxation that is spontaneity’s best friend.

Don’t think you deserve anything.

Find something you want to do and learn how to do it really well. Take what you got and make the most of it. Learn how to do something, whatever it is, you would choose to do for nothing. Whatever it is, when you are doing it, it makes you feel amazing and most yourself. Throw yourself into it. Challenge yourself to be the best you can be. We can’t all be famous actors. But, if you can find something you love and if that something will also pay the bills, you will be on your way to your own personal paradise.

Anyway, now I am going to watch a lot of Michael Caine movies. He is the first to admit that he has made a lot of bad ones. (I watched Swarm recently and, despite its stellar cast, it is pretty terrible.) But I watched The Man Who Would be King (1975) the other night and enjoyed it.

Caine and his good friend Sean Connery are perfectly cast as the two British soldiers who set out to be kings of Kafiristan in the Rudyard Kipling story. “We meet upon the level, and part upon the square.”

Next up: Zulu (1964), The Italian Job (1969) and Alfie (1966).

We will also note the passing of “controversial” Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong–as Anne Kennedy describes him, “that famous Episcopal bishop who denied so many tenets of the Christian faith that eventually he ran out of stuff to deny. And yet, he remained a bishop.” Listen to her podcast to find out “why that’s not a good thing and how to avoid it.” She and her husband are right on target about actual heresy and how it takes over the church because everyone is too embarrassed to say anything. “The Episcopal bishop in Hell believes he has led a courageous life.”

Can you believe it has been 18 years since Johnny Cash died? Well, it has–September 12, 2003.

(Photo by Marty Stuart)

So a belated toast to Johnny and here’s Bob on Johnny’s show back in the good ol’ days.

“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” 

–Leo Tolstoy

*Dolly Parton, “Travelin’ Through”

8 Comments
June 15, 2018

“On a lonely road quite long ago, A trav’ler trod with fiddle and a bow”*

by chuckofish

On this day in 1836, the Arkansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the 25th state. In 1861 Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. It returned to the U.S. in 1868.

Screen Shot 2018-06-14 at 10.25.28 AM.pngArkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, and Tennessee and Mississippi to the east. Considering it is our neighbor to the south, I am not at all well acquainted with this state. I have been there only twice. The OM and I visited Eureka Springs, an historic Victorian town in the Ozarks, years ago, and daughter #1 and I drove to Bentonville a few years ago to see the Crystal Bridges Museum.

Historically, the Arkansas River, a major tributary of the mighty Mississippi, is a very important river, especially in regards to the Santa Fe Trail, which, you know, interests me a great deal.

Screen Shot 2018-06-14 at 10.36.31 AM.pngHowever, I can’t say I have a great desire to go to Little Rock.

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The William J. Clinton Presidential Library kind of looks like a giant double-wide…seriously, did they do that on purpose?

The Fort Smith National Historic Site might be interesting to visit with Judge Parker’s courtroom…

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…but I’m not putting it on my bucket list. Instead I will suggest we watch a movie starring one of these illustrious sons of Arkansas:

Alan Ladd in Shane (1953)

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Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade (1996)

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Dick Powell in Murder My Sweet (1944)

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Arthur Hunnicutt in El Dorado (1967)

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…or True Grit (1969) which stars Glen Campbell, who haled from Arkansas. Fort Smith actually plays an important part in the action of the film as does Judge Parker, the “hanging” judge.

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Of course, one of the most famous sons of Arkansas is Johnny Cash.

How can you top that?

Have a good weekend! Mine will be a quiet one. The wee babes don’t return from Florida until Monday night!

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We miss them!

*The music for the Arkansas state song, “The Arkansas Traveler,” was written by Colonel Sanford (Sandy) Faulkner (about 1850). Lyrics were added by the Arkansas State Song Selection Committee in 1947.

3 Comments
June 14, 2017

Gonna stand my ground

by chuckofish

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Today we celebrate Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States. You will recall that this happened on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the 2nd Continental Congress.

Huzzah!

And I thought this was interesting from Philip Roth in The New Yorker last week:

A Newark Jew—why not? But an American Jew? A Jewish American? For my generation of native-born—whose omnipresent childhood spectacle was the U.S.A.’s shifting fortunes in a prolonged global war against totalitarian evil and who came of age and matured, as high-school and college students, during the remarkable makeover of the postwar decade and the alarming onset of the Cold War—for us no such self-limiting label could ever seem commensurate with our experience of growing up altogether consciously as Americans, with all that that means, for good and for ill. After all, one is not always in raptures over this country and its prowess at nurturing, in its own distinctive manner, unsurpassable callousness, matchless greed, small-minded sectarianism, and a gruesome infatuation with firearms. The list of the country at its most malign could go on, but my point is this: I have never conceived of myself for the length of a single sentence as an American Jewish or Jewish American writer, any more than I imagine Dreiser and Hemingway and Cheever thought of themselves while at work as American Christian or Christian American or just plain Christian writers. As a novelist, I think of myself, and have from the beginning, as a free American and—though I am hardly unaware of the general prejudice that persisted here against my kind till not that long ago—as irrefutably American, fastened throughout my life to the American moment, under the spell of the country’s past, partaking of its drama and destiny, and writing in the rich native tongue by which I am possessed.

(from an acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, delivered on November 20, 2002)

Hear, hear.

(The song is, of course, Johnny Cash covering the classic “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty.)

2 Comments
April 21, 2017

Further on up the road*

by chuckofish

Now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time
Searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign
If there’s a light up ahead well brother I don’t know
But I got this fever burnin’ in my soul
So let’s take the good times as they go
And I’ll meet you further on up the road

–Johnny Cash

The other day I went to yet another funeral for an old friend. It was held at the Episcopal church I used to go to–a “Requiem”–rather a high-falutin’ name for a memorial service with music and communion–but it was Rite I and done just right. This man loved his church and he would have approved of the service.

In contrast, a couple of weeks ago I attended the memorial gathering of another dear friend, whose children arranged for a get-together at the Ethical Society, but had no plan further than to say, “If anyone would like to say something about our mother, please feel free to do so.” I had come prepared to say something, so I broke the ice and said my piece, but it was all a pretty sad effort.

Which got me thinking about how important it is to have a real service to fall back on. I mean, even John Wayne on a cattle drive saying, “Get the book and I’ll read over him,” (and I have to admit, this appeals to  me) counts as a service.

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In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life
through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty
God our brother N.; and we commit his body to the ground; *
earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless
him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him
and be gracious unto him, the Lord lift up his countenance
upon him and give him peace. Amen.

Maybe I am acutely aware of the truth of “in the midst of life we are in death” because I work with older adults, or maybe it’s because I’m getting older myself, but for whatever reason, I am reminded regularly that life is precious and one never knows when you will be talking to someone for the last time. So pay attention to the people you love and the people you like. Pay attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhpjkkaK5EY

Have a good weekend!

*Note that it’s further on UP the road, not down. Discuss among yourselves.

1 Comment
January 13, 2015

“I hear the train a coming”*

by chuckofish

On this day in 1968 Johnny Cash, backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, gave two performances at the Folsom State Prison

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which were recorded and subsequently released as a live album–At Folsom Prison.

Johnny_Cash_At_Folsom_Prison

The album was a hit, reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. The lead single from the album, a live version of “Folsom Prison Blues,” was a top 40 hit, Cash’s first since 1964’s “Understand Your Man.” Indeed, the success of At Folsom Prison revitalized Cash’s career. According to Cash, “that’s where things really got started for me again.”

Hats off to the Man in Black! You were one of a kind. Awesome.

 

It is also the birthday of A.B. Guthrie, Jr. (1901–1991), the author of six historical novels that gave an unromanticized picture of the settling of the American West from 1830 to World War II. The most famous, “The Big Sky,” launched his career in 1947, and “The Way West,” published in 1949, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1950. He also wrote the screenplay for Shane (1953), my favorite movie of all time.

I recommend A.B. Guthrie, who is a really good writer and whose character, Dick Summers, is (in my opinion) one of the great ones of literature.

He tried to put himself in Brownie’s place, tried to put there the him that used to be, not the him of now, worn and hard and doubtful by the knocks of living. You couldn’t tell a boy how few were the things that mattered and how little was their mattering. You couldn’t say that the rest washed off in the wash of years so that, looking back, a man wanted to laugh except he couldn’t quite laugh yet. The dreams dreamed and the hopes hoped and the hurts felt and the jolts suffered, they all got covered by the years. They buried themselves in memory. Dug out of it, they seemed queer, as a dug-up bone with the flesh rotted off of it might seem queer to the dog that had buried it.

–-The Way West

So a toast to Johnny Cash and to A.B. Guthrie–two favorites of mine.

4 Comments
December 19, 2013

One for the little bitty baby

by chuckofish

The+Kingston+Trio+-+The+Last+Month+Of+The+Year+-+LP+RECORD-530122

Our parents were big Kingston Trio fans and I have fond memories of listening to their 1960 Christmas album, The Last Month of the Year.

The album included spirituals and Old English rounds and none of the standard stuff. Nick Reynolds said in an interview later that “musically, it came off very well; it just didn’t sell.” Well, we had a copy and we played it a lot!

Click this link for a little something to whet your appetite for the those clean-cut boys of yore.

Click here
for another version of the same song performed by the great Johnny Cash with Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers, and all the lovely Carter ladies.

Listen to it all–you’ll be rockin’ your way closer to Christmas!

P.S. Is this where the expression “five by five” comes from?

2 Comments
June 6, 2013

I want to go to there

by chuckofish

Something new has opened in Nashville, Tennessee! A Johnny Cash Museum!

the-johnny-cash-museum

You can read about it here.

Well, until we can get back to Nashville, we’ll just have to listen to Johnny singing. Here’s a little something:

Hear the trumpets hear the pipers.
One hundred million angels singin’.

Testify. Can’t do better than that.

3 Comments
February 14, 2013

It’s about time

by chuckofish

cashstamp

Johnny Cash gets his own stamp! Coming to a post office near you in 2013.

(As you know, I have been a big fan of Johnny since I was a small child with absurdly good instincts. I blogged about him here last year.)

Here he is singing one of my personal favorites, “Ring of Fire”:

Didn’t that make your Thursday a whole lot better?

Well, here’s something else to perk up your day. My friend Gary Hunt’s band Son Volt has a CD coming out soon. Here’s the teaser:

(Gary’s playing the fiddle and is visible in the first 2 seconds.) Word is that the band is scheduled to perform on David Letterman! We might have to actually tune in.

7 Comments