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Kris Kristofferson is still alive; let's appreciate this great man


Gil Bang

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5 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

This is, arguably, the greatest American songwriter ever.  And he's a true American badass.  This man needs to be celebrated. 

Greatest American songwriter?  That may be a little far. 

But he should hold the title of Most Interesting Man in the World:

  • Golden Gloves boxer.
  • Rhodes Scholar 
  • Fought forest fires
  • Ranger training and Airborne school
  • Army helicopter pilot
  • West Point Instructor
  • Helicopter taxi to oil rigs
  • Landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn
  • Song Writer
  • Music Star
  • Movie Star
  • Grammy Award winner
  • Golden Globe winner
  • Academy Away nominee 

 

And that's after 30 seconds of searching.   A true American badass.

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4 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

Greatest American songwriter?  That may be a little far. 

But he should hold the title of Most Interesting Man in the World:

  • Golden Gloves boxer.
  • Rhodes Scholar 
  • Fought forest fires
  • Ranger training and Airborne school
  • Army helicopter pilot
  • West Point Instructor
  • Helicopter taxi to oil rigs
  • Landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn
  • Song Writer
  • Music Star
  • Movie Star
  • Grammy Award winner
  • Golden Globe winner
  • Academy Away nominee 

 

And that's after 30 seconds of searching.   A true American badass.

I think Shakespeare said it best -we shall not look upon his like again

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7 hours ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

Greatest American songwriter?  That may be a little far. 

But he should hold the title of Most Interesting Man in the World:

  • Golden Gloves boxer.
  • Rhodes Scholar 
  • Fought forest fires
  • Ranger training and Airborne school
  • Army helicopter pilot
  • West Point Instructor
  • Helicopter taxi to oil rigs
  • Landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn
  • Song Writer
  • Music Star
  • Movie Star
  • Grammy Award winner
  • Golden Globe winner
  • Academy Away nominee 

 

And that's after 30 seconds of searching.   A true American badass.

Nothing like a squeeze to the balls to show how little I have accomplished.

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At one time, "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and "Me and Bobby McGee" were the two recorded songs.    From that first album:  

- To Beat the Devil
- Me and Bobby McGee
- Help Me Make It Through The Night
- For The Good Times
- Sunday Morning Coming Down

Just about everyone has recorded this one as well and is my favore Kristofferson song.  My current favorite version is Jamie Lin Wilson's version that Bruce Robison produced, but Kris' version gives me chills EVERY time I listen to it.  I don't know if there is a more authentic performance of any song, anywhere, by anyone. 

 

 

 

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I knew I was always supposed to like him, but I came around only the last few years. A shameful admission, but I think I just wasn't quite ready for him and his music other than the headliners.  There's a loneliness or melancholy about him maybe that now witnesses to me in ways his music didn't when I was younger.

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On 2/26/2022 at 10:28 PM, 0xdeadbeef said:

Greatest American songwriter?  That may be a little far. 

But he should hold the title of Most Interesting Man in the World:

  • Golden Gloves boxer.
  • Rhodes Scholar 
  • Fought forest fires
  • Ranger training and Airborne school
  • Army helicopter pilot
  • West Point Instructor
  • Helicopter taxi to oil rigs
  • Landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn
  • Song Writer
  • Music Star
  • Movie Star
  • Grammy Award winner
  • Golden Globe winner
  • Academy Away nominee 

 

And that's after 30 seconds of searching.   A true American badass.

Tapped this - 

Rita Coolidge Stock Photos And Images | Rita coolidge, Coolidge, Rita

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On 2/28/2022 at 11:22 AM, hullabelew said:

At one time, "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and "Me and Bobby McGee" were the two recorded songs.    From that first album:  

- To Beat the Devil
- Me and Bobby McGee
- Help Me Make It Through The Night
- For The Good Times
- Sunday Morning Coming Down

Just about everyone has recorded this one as well and is my favore Kristofferson song.  My current favorite version is Jamie Lin Wilson's version that Bruce Robison produced, but Kris' version gives me chills EVERY time I listen to it.  I don't know if there is a more authentic performance of any song, anywhere, by anyone. 

 

 

 

If you’re not a fan of hers, you should be. She surprised my uncle at his 70th birthday party and sang a few of her favorites as a favor to my cousin who is also in the red dirt scene. She’s fantastic. 
As for Kristofferson, I think he needs to be mentioned as a songwriter with names like Townes Van Zandt and Willie. Guy Clark is my favorite but Kristofferson is right there.

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  • 4 weeks later...

he was an American bad ass for sure and this fucked up ....

 

During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point. Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family dis-owned him because of his career decision; sources are unclear on whether they reconciled. They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, although Kristofferson says he is proud of his time in the military and received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards ceremony.

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5 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Bro I was 1 when she died. Try again.

Also, your premise is just stupid.

My premise? It’s not really an argument. As far as Janis fleeing Austin for San Francisco, that actually happened because she was treated like shit in Austin. In retrospect they probably did her a favor even though they were hurtful and abusive. (Fast forward a few decades and there’s apparently no shortage of Austinites who would stand in line to fuck Fitlump. The only question is whether that line would be longer than the one at Franklin BBQ.)

You are of course free to disagree with my opinion that the Dead’s version of Me & Bobby McGee is better than the version Janis performed on Pearl. Janis was a better singer than Bob Weir, that’s for sure. But she never had a backing band that was as good as the Dead. And here I’ll make an argument that I think is unassailable: the Dead’s version better captures the mournful quality of the lyrics. Joplin’s version is almost celebratory. Yeah, the obvious response would be, ‘That’s the blues, man!’ But I think the Dead delivered the sadness of “I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday” much more poignantly. And Jerry just kills it. You don’t get that in the failed ad hoc group Janis put together after ditching Big Brother & The Holding Company. Big Brother wasn’t (weren’t?) great, but they were okay for the time and place, and Janis ditched them for what was a better band on paper but never really had the chemistry. She got caught up in the emerging machinery there.

Poor Lily.

Here’s a fun fact: the lyric, “Did you ever listen to the sound of street cats making love and think from their cries you were listening to a fight” in the Bob Weir song “Looks Like Rain” was inspired by the noise Janis and Grateful Dead keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan used to make while they were having sex. That was back when the band was all shacked up in the Haight-Ashbury district and everyone knew what everyone else was doing.

Good times.

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Austin didn't treat her like shit.  She basically launched her career at Threadgill's, for pity's sake.

Some dumb frat filled to the brim with dumbass frat boys included her in their "Ugliest Man On Campus" contest.  Contrary to popular belief, she didn't win.  That was the extent of her ostracization.  Frat boys.  Who would ever think frat boys might be insensitive jerks?

 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Austin didn't treat her like shit.  She basically launched her career at Threadgill's, for pity's sake.

Some dumb frat filled to the brim with dumbass frat boys included her in their "Ugliest Man On Campus" contest.  Contrary to popular belief, she didn't win.  That was the extent of her ostracization.  Frat boys.  Who would ever think frat boys might be insensitive jerks?

You weren’t a member of a frat?

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One of my favorite Kris stories

All Peter Cooper did was point out the obvious. An excerpt from Cooper's piece:

Wonder what "star" this could be. The only clue Hawke offers is this: "At that moment in time, the Star had a monster radio hit about bombing America's enemies back into the Stone Age." Let's see... big country star, hit song about military aggression, friends with Willie Nelson. I wish Hawke could have given us something to go on here. Like, "Does a bunch of truck commercials," or "Often refers to himself as 'Big Dog Daddy,'" or "Name rhymes with 'Moby Teeth.'"

Anyway, according to Hawke, former Army officer Kristofferson took offense, stepped forward and growled, "You ever worn your country's uniform?"

Mr. Teeth replied, "What?" and Kristofferson said, "Don't what me, boy! You heard the question. You just don't like the answer. I asked, 'Have you ever served your country?' The answer is, 'No, you have not.'"

https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/shoot-the-messenger-toby-keith-vs-the-tennesseans-peter-cooper/article_04bb704b-16a1-5eb2-8142-6bfad63375ee.html

 

Otis talks to Peter Cooper about this a little past halfway.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9vdGlzZ2liYnMuY29tL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BvZGNhc3QvZmVlZC8/episode/aHR0cDovL290aXNnaWJicy5jb20vP3A9MTEzOA?ep=14

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26 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Not exactly my thing.

Not mine either. I never felt the need to pay for friends, and watching the other kids dressing up and going through rush looked like a huge hassle. But there are a lot of posters on this board who were frat boys and say so. I wasn’t sure.

It’s also true that Texas wasn’t exactly friendly to the counterculture back then. I know you don’t like the Dead. But there’s a reason they only played Texas 28 times out of 2,317 shows. You probably think that’s a good thing. But it wasn’t just the UT frats that drove Janis to the friendlier confines of the Bay Area. It was more of a cultural thing.

But back to the point, I think the Dead’s version of Me & Bobby McGee kicks ass. It’s more plaintive and soulful and I think it tells the story better. 

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1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Not mine either. I never felt the need to pay for friends, and watching the other kids dressing up and going through rush looked like a huge hassle. But there are a lot of posters on this board who were frat boys and say so. I wasn’t sure.

It’s also true that Texas wasn’t exactly friendly to the counterculture back then. I know you don’t like the Dead. But there’s a reason they only played Texas 28 times out of 2,317 shows. You probably think that’s a good thing. But it wasn’t just the UT frats that drove Janis to the friendlier confines of the Bay Area. It was more of a cultural thing.

But back to the point, I think the Dead’s version of Me & Bobby McGee kicks ass. It’s more plaintive and soulful and I think it tells the story better. 

If you dig into Janis' life story, you'll find she was bullied at her high school in Port Arthur.  She ended up at UT, where there were plenty of like-minded individuals who helped her fit in.  The Daily Texan even did a feature story on her, and it wasn't critical.

She left for San Francisco because she wanted to be part of a bigger music scene that catered to her natural style.  She wasn't run out of town.

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One of my favorite Kris stories

All Peter Cooper did was point out the obvious. An excerpt from Cooper's piece:

Wonder what "star" this could be. The only clue Hawke offers is this: "At that moment in time, the Star had a monster radio hit about bombing America's enemies back into the Stone Age." Let's see... big country star, hit song about military aggression, friends with Willie Nelson. I wish Hawke could have given us something to go on here. Like, "Does a bunch of truck commercials," or "Often refers to himself as 'Big Dog Daddy,'" or "Name rhymes with 'Moby Teeth.'"

Anyway, according to Hawke, former Army officer Kristofferson took offense, stepped forward and growled, "You ever worn your country's uniform?"

Mr. Teeth replied, "What?" and Kristofferson said, "Don't what me, boy! You heard the question. You just don't like the answer. I asked, 'Have you ever served your country?' The answer is, 'No, you have not.'"

https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/shoot-the-messenger-toby-keith-vs-the-tennesseans-peter-cooper/article_04bb704b-16a1-5eb2-8142-6bfad63375ee.html

 

Otis talks to Peter Cooper about this a little past halfway.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9vdGlzZ2liYnMuY29tL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BvZGNhc3QvZmVlZC8/episode/aHR0cDovL290aXNnaWJicy5jb20vP3A9MTEzOA?ep=14


I read up on this. There’s some speculation that Hawke might have made it up. Though I wish like it was true.
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Greatest American songwriter?  That may be a little far. 
But he should hold the title of Most Interesting Man in the World:
  • Golden Gloves boxer.
  • Rhodes Scholar 
  • Fought forest fires
  • Ranger training and Airborne school
  • Army helicopter pilot
  • West Point Instructor
  • Helicopter taxi to oil rigs
  • Landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn
  • Song Writer
  • Music Star
  • Movie Star
  • Grammy Award winner
  • Golden Globe winner
  • Academy Away nominee 
 
And that's after 30 seconds of searching.   A true American badass.

Add “Banged Farrah Fawcett” to that list. Actually, make it #1.
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32 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:


Add “Banged Farrah Fawcett” to that list. Actually, make it #1.

Wasn’t there some quote from him saying she was so skinny his balls had carpet burns from rubbing on the mattress all night 

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1 hour ago, bluto said:

Wasn’t there some quote from him saying she was so skinny his balls had carpet burns from rubbing on the mattress all night 

That's some serious humble bragging right there.  Add it to the list.  First world problems and all.  

"Damn my balls are raw from raw dawging this fine piece of Longhorn ass, while y'all were ruining socks beating off to her poster." 

- Kris, sometime, probably. 

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  • Gil Bang changed the title to Kris Kristofferson is still alive; let's appreciate this great man

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