Monday, April 26, 2010

Johnny Cash Project is a Freaking Cool Tribute

There is no way for me to prove it, but I liked Johnny Cash before it got cool a few years back, not long before, but still before. Now that he has fallen out of buzz-worthiness I can safely go back to being a fan. Walk the Line with Joaquin (pronounced JOE-ah-quin) Phoenix was an abortion, and I hated people fawning over it. Jamie Foxx did a better job in Ray. I was in college when Cash died, and I remember it kind of affecting me. I was sad. I'm not a fortress of snark, after all. When I was goofing around trying to be a musician in college two out of the first three songs I performed live were Cash songs. I played and sang Folsom Prison Blues, Drive On, and squeezed in Keep on Rockin' in the Free World by Neil Young. It was fairly mediocre, and that's probably remembering it through rose-colored glasses. The most vivid memory I have around the time Cash's death was beginning work on a short story about him a few days before his death. I may have cursed him the same way I did Joey Ramone who also died from cancer while I was in college the day after my roommate and I put up a Ramones poster in our dorm room. True story. Weird, huh? I never finished the short story. It didn't seem a fitting tribute at the time, but this site I found does seem like a fitting tribute. It may be because I envy people who can draw, but I think what they have done at The Johnny Cash Project is so cool. I recommend starting at this link to get an idea of what's going on with the site. It's a great site, and I really appreciate the work they have put into it. Here's the Man in Black himself performing the same song I covered but doing an infinitely better job of it in 1994 at The Viper Room in Los Angeles. Here's Drive On.

I would have put a video or pictures from the site up, but I couldn't find a way to embed them, and I think they want it that way. For something so cool, I can respect it.

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