The Story So Far
Aug 3rd, 2009 by Jeff
Or, I shook Johnny Cash’s hand.
Yeah, I shook the hand of Johnny Cash. He was a big man. I did a shot of whiskey with Bo Diddley and sang with Tina Turner for about 11 seconds. A Cleveland-area native (lifelong devotion to the Indians may explain a perpetually gloomy demeanor), I’ve also lived in Texas, Idaho and New York.
Four decades spent wrapped in newspapers like a market-fresh red snapper, including the last 20 or so years as a music critic, have brought me a handful of shiny plaques that serve as coasters in my home, including the most-recent acquisitions, three straight years of first-place finishes in the New York State Associated Press Association Writing Contest as of the fall of 2009.
Loch Ness Monster? No. An alien spaceship crash at Roswell, N.M.? No. Ghosts? No. A hollow Earth populated by a secretive race of sentient beings? No. Bigfoot? Yes.
I collected antique pipe holders for a few years, until I decided a dozen or so were quite enough, because they all look pretty much the same, and I don’t smoke anyway.
My lime-glazed smoked salmon finished 9th out of 89 competitors (just behind the Danish National Barbecue Team) at the ‘09 Memphis in May world barbecue competition. I have grilled a 48-pound hog. I like wine and dogs.
“He’s very intelligent and funny too!”
- Lucinda Williams, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and heartbreaker