Marathon Pundit: Happy 78th birthday, Johnny Cash

Friday, February 26, 2010

Happy 78th birthday, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash week at Marathon Pundit ends today, the 78th anniversary of the birth of The Man in Black.

The legend, who passed away in 2003, was born in Kingsland, Arkansas during the Great Depression. When he was four, Cash moved with his family to the Dyess, Arkansas home on the left--I took the photograph three years ago. The Cash family were cotton farmers.

In honor of Cash's birthday, many people, including myself, will be wearing black today. Adding to the frivolity is this week's release of American IV: The Man Comes Around.

Rather than posting a video, today I'm going to end with a story, which I found in Bill Miller's book, Cash: An American Man:

On a summer night in the 1960s, the Johnny Cash Show was in town for a performance at the local high school gymnasium, just another stop on the long dusty trail for the touring musicians. As townspeople filled the place and the air became electric with anticipation, the troupe realized the star was missing.

Tommy Cash, who was part of the show, walked the halls and checked the classrooms in search of his brother. The last place he looked was the boys' locker room. He found Johnny walking slowly and peering deliberately into each of the mesh-wire lockers, a rolled $100 bill tucked between his thumb and index finger.

"What are you doing? The show's about to start," Tommy said.

"I'm looking for the dirtiest, rattiest tennis shoes I can find," Johnny said. "I figure the boy could use this."