To the ‘Magnificent’ Guys

It’s hard to put into words what my father means to me. He’s old school. So writing some emotional, eloquent, diatribe to his greatness would likely embarrass him more than it would pay tribute. There is an art form to the minimalist compliment among men that I’m still trying to master. My favorite scene in “It’s A Wonderful Life” is when George Bailey sits at the table with his father and can’t put into words how he feels about his old man, “You want a shock, Pop? I think you’re a great guy.”

Part of what I love about my father is how he is a vessel that carries the good things from the past into the future. His generation may have brought some bad things along with them too, but we don’t mourn or fear the passing of bad things. It’s the good things that I fear are leaving us, and our society no longer produces men like Lincoln, Johnny Cash or even my dad. That’s what a father is, a vessel that ushers greatness into the next generation. Dads bring great things from the old school to the new school. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Father's Day, George Bailey, It's A Wonderful Life, johnny cash, Lincoln
Posted Jun 21st 2009 at 6:25 pm in Entertainment | 165578No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/06/21/to-the-great-guys/To+the+%27Magnificent%27+Guys2009-06-22+01%3A25%3A25Doug+TenNapel

Johnny Cash: Fade to Black

Last night, I dreamed of Johnny Cash.  He was sitting at the edge of my bed with a guitar, strumming and humming no tune in particular.  Then he stopped, looked at me and said, “You got to play, son.”  I woke with a start.

I remember when Cash died in September, 2003.  It was strange that it hit me so hard.  He had, after all, been ill for quite some time.  I remember him being diagnosed with Shy-Drager Syndrome, a mysterious, degenerative nervous ailment.  That turned out to have been a misdiagnosis, though he was still plagued with diabetes, and bouts of pneumonia which hospitalized him for long stretches.  And, of course, the massive drug and alcohol abuse which characterized his early life had taken their toll as Johnny slid from middle into old age.

In the spring of 2003, his wife of over three decades, June Carter Cash (who wrote his most famous song, Ring Of Fire about their tempestuous romance) passed from the earth, leaving Johnny without his best friend and closest companion.  It is a cliched truism that, when one lifelong partner dies, the other often follows in rapid succession.  When two hearts beat together for so long, they can no longer beat independently, and so it proved for Mr. and Mrs. Cash.

I was raised in rural Colorado, with naught but country music to grace my ears through my early youth.  I detested it so, the sad sameness of it all, the poverty of its vision.  Country musicians made music seem so small.  Then I heard Johnny. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: "Hurt", Country Music, Folsom, johnny cash, June Carter Cash
Posted Jun 4th 2009 at 9:51 am in Entertainment | 148578One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/06/04/fade-to-black/Johnny+Cash%3A+Fade+to+Black2009-06-04+16%3A51%3A13Matt+Patterson

Republican is the New Punk

Johnny Cash was punk rock. The birth of rock came when Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Cash toured small towns and set the youth on fire. Parents were outraged. The long dippity-doo hair atop gyrating men “dancing like the negroes”  before frothing young girls set mainstream culture against this rebellious little movement. It was our first smell of anarchy and it scared the establishment.

Johnny Ramone

The rebellious spirit of rock is dead. No better evidenced than by its formal endorsement of President Obama. Never before has rock been so central to the inauguration of a president. Bono is an ambassador in sunglasses who still knows how to pull a string and get an audience of thousands to put their fist in the air. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: checks and balances, establishment, johnny cash
Posted Jan 31st 2009 at 1:15 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 36278203 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/01/31/republican-is-the-new-punk/Republican+is+the+New+Punk2009-01-31+21%3A15%3A24Doug+TenNapel