I spent July 4th with Willie Nelson at his two day concert event. It was tremendous. He's absolutely the best songwriter of our time. I also saw some other great musicians, including Merle Haggard, Toby Keith, and this guy named Pat Greene, who was a pleasant surprise.

The two most noteworthy events, however, were the performance of The Dead (the non-Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead) and the appearance of Dennis Kucinich. As for The Dead, it was interesting to see how well all the guys in cowboy hats treated all the dudes with dreadlocks and the chicks with flowers in their hair. It's a testament to Willie's influence. You could just see the cowboys thinking, "Well, normally, I'd beat the hell out of that dude for dancin' like that, but, if Willie wants 'em here, they must be all right."

As for Mr. Kucinich, Willie introduced him to the crowd just before he played. That's a pretty good little spot for Dennis, and I'm sure he picked up some votes. However, I couldn't help but laugh at this irony: The last song before Kucinich was introduced was Toby Keith's anthem to America's armed forces, Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue. The chorus, for those of you who don't know, is this:

And Uncle Sam put your name at the top his list,
and the statue of liberty started shaking her fist,
and the eagle will fly and there’s gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell
and it will feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.

Ahh brought to your courtesy of the red, white, and blue.

The crowd went bananas. Suprisingly, Kucinich didn't mention his plan to create a Department of Peace.

No word from Willie on whether the irony was intentional.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:57 AM