Johnny Cash 1932-2003
i don't know what to say. never before has a celebrity death had such a profound impact on me. always before i would just say in response to a celebrity death, " bummer" and reflect on what that person contributed to our lives thruogh their work. when i woke this morning i heard the news and was immediatly saddened. i began reflecting on his career and his music. and i feel like i have lost a distant relative. i know little about the man in black, but i know his music and i know how it has affected me. i sit hear at my computer and i can remeber places and people whom i shared my life with, all with Johnny playing soulfully in the background. i remeber my friend John leaving on a journey home, us standing in the back yard drunk, arm in arm, holding each other up crying singing along to Cash's "highway patrolman"............
"........yeah, me and frankie laughing drinking, nothing feels better than blood on blood. taking turns danncing with maria, while the band played the night of the johnstown flood, i catch him when he's straying, like any brother should, a mans turns is back on his family, he ain't no good"
it times like that, the bittersweet memories, the good and the bad, that his words and voice triggers. his voice has been an intregal part of my life from the time i was a child, he has always been there, always in the background of my life. saying things i could not find words for.

i heard again the other day that all that matters is the dash between the two dates. and in this case that dash was 71 years. i'm at a loss for words today. he lived life hard and fast, found God and contiued to live more than before.
he was a the man the myth and the legend. woven so tightly into the fabric of america.
Godspeed Johnny, Godspeed. can you hear that train a'coming now? you've been released from the prison of life and your on the train home.