Archive for February, 2008

Sustainable Biodiesel at National Biodiesel Board Conference (2008)

Friday, February 29th, 2008


Annie Nelson and Darryl Hannah

Visit the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA) website, and learn more about the benefits of sustainable community-based biodiesel, the work of the SBA, and how you can get involved or contribute at:
www.sustainablebiodieselalliance.com

SBA Board members and staff attended the 2008 National Biodiesel Board Conference, and you can read about their conference and see more pictures at the site, as well.

Owen Wilson in Willie Nelson’s Music Video

Friday, February 29th, 2008

 

LOS ANGELES (UPI) — Hollywood actor Owen Wilson, who has been keeping a low profile since last year, stars in Willie Nelson’s new music video.

Also featured in the video for “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore” are actor Woody Harrelson and Jessica Simpson, who played Daisy Duke to Nelson’s Uncle Jesse in the 2005 big screen version of “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

In the new music video, which can be seen on YouTube, Simpson is shown giving the boys a run for their money during a lawn mower race held in Luck, Texas.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4zR0bhyAvk]

Willie Nelson and Morgan Fairchild

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Co-Stars of ‘The Red-Headed Stranger,’ at the show’s premier.

More Willie Nelson Fans (Hillary and Bill Clinton)

Friday, February 29th, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) — Garry Mauro will never forget that night in 1972 when he says Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham ignored the post-election party surrounding them, instead preferring to huddle in a corner and talk about changing the future.

The young then-unmarried couple and he were three among a group of Young Turk Democrats working that summer to register voters in Texas. The Clintons had just started dating, said Mauro, who years later became Texas land commissioner. “They obviously had a lot of respect for each other, and they would spend hours talking to each other.”

Mauro recalls the night it was all over in 1972, after Democrat George McGovern lost to Republican Richard Nixon. He says he and the Clintons decided to let loose in lively Austin, paying $1.50 to see a Texas singer by the name of Willie Nelson before rambling back to a colleague’s tiny apartment.

Willie Nelson, in Dallas (2/5/08 and 2/6/08)

Friday, February 29th, 2008

 
www.dallassymphony.com

by Preston Jones
www.star-telegram.com

The Red-Headed Stranger’s gonna turn 75 this year, but his latest album, Moment of Forever, released in January, is one of his strongest in recent memory. Teamed with Kenny Chesney, of all people, Nelson sounds focused and full of life, covering a wide range of moods, including a grim reading of Dave Matthews’ Gravedigger.

Hopefully he’ll pull out a few tracks from Forever during his two-night stint with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which kicks off Wednesday.

8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas. $47-$110. 214-692-0203; dallassymphony.com

Willie Nelson

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Thanks to Sandie, of California, for letting me post the pictures she took of WN&F in concert this month.  Sandie is a member of Willie’s fan association www.ClubLuck.willienelson.com, and she first posted the pictures there.   And kindly said I could post them here, too.

I found it on ebay: Willie Nelson and Leon Russell, in Hawaii

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

 

Willie Nelson – Leon Russell / Autographed Concert Poster This auction is for a classic original, full-color screened Concert Poster (signed by artist Mark L. Arminski) for three Willie Nelson and Leon Russell shows in Hawaii and Maui during their 1996 Hawaii tour. The concerts were at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Castle Theatre)on March 20th, the Waikiki Shell on March 22nd and the Kona Surf Hotel Convention Center on March 22rd.

The Rolling Stone Checks in With Willie Nelson

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Mar. 6, 2008
Rolling Stone Magazine

Have you seen this? Willie Nelson, ‘Gravedigger’ music video (It’s so good)

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDgoHBxEJro]

Willie Nelson Jeans

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Willie Nelson’s Picnic, July 4, 1987

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

 

by Carl Hoover
Tribune-Herald
July 5, 1987

CARL’S CORNER — The head count for the first Willie Nelson Fourth of July Picnic held here was varied and its benefit to America’s truckers unknown, but the turnout was enough to please Carl’s Corner owner Carl Cornelius and Nelson who promised to bring his picnic back next year.

Estimates of the crowd size varied from 25,000 by the Associated Press to roughly 40,000, the latter figure announced from the stage.  However, Cornelius said the bottom line was happy people and he said he saw plenty of those.

“I think it’s a total success ’cause every body’s happy,” he said.  “It didn’t cost me anything — except $1,071.000.

Nelson, speaking at an impromptu press conference midway through the picnic, said it that he planned to return to Carl’s Corner next year with another picnic.

“I really feel at home here,” he said, noting that his hometown of Abbott was only a short drive down Interstate 35 from Carl’s Corner.  “The house I’ve been living in lately is about one block from where I grew up… I’m having a lot of fun.”

Much of Nelson’s remarks to the press concerned his Farm Aid III, which will be held Sept. 19 in Lincoln, Nebraska, and will feature a tentative lineup of Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Bon Jovi, Neil Young, John Cougar Mellencamp, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Emmylou Harris.

He said the first Farm Aids had raised roughly $8 million that was disbursed in loans, grants and supplies for needy farmers.

Although this year’s Fourth of July picnic was dedicated to the truck drivers of America.  Nelson noted, “Truckers are having the same sort of problems making a living.”

Drawn by a lineup promising Bruce Hornsby and the Range, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Joe Ely, Asleep at the Wheel, Roger Miller and Kris Kristofferson, thousands of spectators showed up hours before the picnic officially kicked off at 10 a.m.

Among the celebrities int he audience, according to pronouncements from the stage, were McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell and State Attorney General Jim Mattox.

Security personnel stationed at the numerous ticket entrances kept spectators from bringing in alcohol, as well as metal and glass containers — a policy that forced some groups to finish off their beverages outside the gates before the concert started.

Welcoming the crowd to “Willie What’s-His-Name’s Picnic,” Nelson, dressed in a black Farm Aid T-shirt, black jeans and a headband, took the stage shortly after 10 a.m..

Before starting the music, however, he introduced Wayne Johnson, pastor of Abbott United Methodist Church, the church Nelson attended as a boy.

Johnson led thousands of concert goes in the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer punctuated by whoops and applause from those agreeing with the sentiments, if not the spirit, of the prayer.

Nelson and his band then rolled into “Whiskey River,” the start of a 30-minute set that featured “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Good Hearted Woman,” “Blue Eyes Crying’ in the Rain,” a romping, rollicking instrumental for “Under the Double Eagle” and “Blue Skies.”

Texas bands filled much of the days’ schedule with headliners playing during the night, a fact that irritated many spectators who endured a day of sun and heat in order to hear the likes of Bruce Hornsby, Roger Miler, Kris Kristofferson and Asleep at the Wheel.

Temperatures were in the 90s for much of the afternoon, but occasionally overcast skies and a constant breeze kept the heat bearable for almost of the picnic goers.   Free cups of Gatorade were provided on tables near the rear of the audience, but 150 water spigots drew the biggest crowds, as hot listeners loaded up cups with free water and doused themselves and neighbors.

By late afternoon 110 persons had received first aid, primarily for heat-related problems, said Bruce Whitten, a medical supervisor from Allyn Ambulance Service in Houston.  For were taken to area hospitals for treatment, one for a drug overdose, one for an ankle injury and the others for dehydration, he said.

Hill Country Praise, with Bobbie Nelson (2000)

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

If you enjoy gospel music worship, then embrace your faith for this powerful new video from 2 Hats Entertainment, Inc.  Bobbie Nelson’s Hill Country Praise features Bobbie Nelson at the Bosendorfer piano in a heavenly performance of many of today’s most popular Christian hymns.  Special guest host Lou Wills Hildreth guides us through a lavishly picturesque Hill Country journey as she joins Bobbie to talk about everything from faith to hope to family.  Truly food for thought as we embark on a new millennium.

Sixth Annual Willie Nelson Birthday Run (April 21, 1984)

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Willie Nelson, on Guitar

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Willie Nelson Interview (Modern Screen’s Country Music July 1997)

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

One-on-one With America’s Greatest Singer/Songwriter… Willie Nelson
by Elianne Halbersberg
Modern Screen Country Magazine
July 1997

It’s raining in Mississippi, which means “too wet to play golf” for Willie Nelson.  Instead, he’s enjoying, as he says, “great food,” which, in this case, is organically grown spinach, turnip greens and potatoes. This is significant for the man in charge of Farm Aid, and he has decided to spend this day granting interviews…although in Nelson’s case, they’re mostly conversations — relaxed and open to any subject.  Asked if he always schedules interview based on the weather, he chuckles, “I hadn’t really planned on golfing today. I was sitting here and Evelyn [his publicist] sent me a list of phone numbers.  I thought today would be a good day to start talking.  It’s nice to have people who want to talk to you — that makes my day!

Elianne Halbersberg:  Your publicist told me you usually schedule only 15-minute interviews.  How much can you accomplish in such brief soundbites?

Willie Nelson:  I don’t know. It depends how good I am at using a few words to say a lot.  It also depends on the particular writer who puts it down on paper making it sound better than I said it.  I may need your help on this!

EH:  Do you ever lose patience with interviewers?

WN:  Oh no.  I get asked the same questions over and over, three or four times today, even.  I usually just answer it differently, try to make it colorful.

EH:  Does the press really understand, in your opinion, what fans want to know?

WN:  I doubt it, unless they’re fans too. You have an opinion and it’s more powerful because you’re the press.  It’s like me and a song — we have an edge on the rest of the people.  A fan can only get his message across by reading your articles and buying my records.  Hopefully, they do both.

EH:  What DO fans want to know?

WN:  Everything you don’t want them to — they want to know that first!

EH:  In order to succeed, you must have self-confidence.  What’s the difference between that and conceit?

WN:  Not much!  It’s a thin line.  That’s a good question.  Neither one, in and of itself, is totally negative.  Or positive.  I think confidence is good, but it is very similar to conceit.

EH:  How do you know when you’ve crossed that line?

WN:  Your best friends may tell you.  But better to have that than the alternative.  It’s kind of like halitosis — bad breath is better than no breath at all.

DH:  A couple of days ago Marty Stuart told me, “I believe in friends like Johnny Cash and Willie.  They make the trends look ridiculous, thin, and vain.”  Aside from knowing Marty’s in your corner, how does such a comment make you feel?

WN:  I knew I was in trouble when I heard someone say, “I wish they’d play the old guys like George Strait and Randy Travis.”  You know, music changes, fads come along.  Remember when Ray Charles released ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ and brought millions of new fans?  Every time country goes through changes, it brings a lot of new people.  But it’s all phases and stages.  I never had that much radio airplay, never depended on it to make a living.  I depended on having a good band, doing a good show, and when you work clubs — which I still do because I enjoy them — you have the advantage of them being open every night, so with a poster, they can advertise who’s coming.  That gives a guy a chance to go to town without a record being played every day on the radio.  Word of mouth is stll the best advertising and if you do a good job, you’ll have a better crowd next time, then next year you play theaters, and so on.  The system fights the hell out of it and tries to tell you that getting played on their radio station is the only way.  There are several stations in any town, and if a guy really works and wants it enough, you can make your own record, sell it out of the trunk of your car, find a station who’ll play it, work a club, and work each town individually.  A lot of people I know have put their futures in the hands of a record company and that’s not very wise, because you’re only as good a major label as your next record and they’ll drop you like a hot potato and then what do you do?

EH:  Sell your records out of the trunk of your car?

WN:  Right!

EH:  You’ve written so many classic country songs.  Do you appreciate your own compositions as much as country fans do?

WN:  Probably not.  I’m sure I take a lot of them for granted.  There’s a lot of my own songs I do every night, on stage that have the same special meaning to my audiences as certain songs (by other artists) that have touched me.

EH:  You’ve recorded approximately 100 albums!  Do you even remember all those songs.

WN:  I normally do. Some nights I forget “Whiskey River,” but we do 40 or so a night and they’re not always the same.  When I worked with Waylon, Kris and Johnny, I felt like I retired!  I was only working one-fourth of the time with my corner of the stage, my monitor, with the words — I felt like Frank Sinatra!

EH:  Do you ever play a song, the crowd goes notes, and wonder, “Why are they screaming for THAT one?”

WN:  No, because the ones they really like every night, I like, too, like “On the Road Again.”  Or “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” — I didn’t write it, but it’s still a great song.  “Always On My Mind” — I didn’t write that one, either, but I really enjoy singing it.  The audience knows that, and they like seeing somebody enjoying what they do.

EH:  Are you still in touch with President Jimmy Carter and his family?

WN:  Occasionally.  I talk to him about one thing or another, usually his Habitat for Humanity program.  We’ve done things together.  He’s a great man. He’d still have my vote.

EH:  Were you invited to Amy Carter’s wedding?

WN:  No, I wasn’t.  But, I move around so much, I’m sure [the invitation] is lying around somewhere!

EH:  I hear you’re cutting a reggae album.

WN:  I’ve already recorded it.  It probably won’t be out until the first of the year.  Island is using this year to still work Spirit.  It surprised me when Don Was brought up the reggae idea. I wasn’t sure how it would sound until we went to the studio and cut one of my obscure ’60s songs that i think only he remembered, with a reggae band.  It sounded so good, we thought maybe we should try to put out an album. So we went to Jamaica, talked to Island, I had Spirit with me, and we just did it.

EH:  Nashville still doesn’t get it, do they?

WN:  Not really, but Island does and that’s the big difference.  Label Chairman Chris Blackwell got it immediately, never hesitated.  It was completely produced, finished product.  All he had to do was put it out and advertise.  They’ve-done a great job.  I had been presented with problems with “Just One Love” and “Moonlight Becomes You” and fortunately there’s Justice Records.  If Island hadn’t gotten it, I’d have probably gone to Justice (in Texas) or kept looking.

EH:  Is it difficult coming to terms with people thinking you’re great?

WN:  No, but I used to think so. Now, thought, I can completely understand it.  Leon Russell — remember him? — once had people at a fevered pitch as only he can do.  It was right after he put together the “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour for Joe Cocker.  The first time I saw him, playing to tens of thousands every night, he stopped and said, “Be careful of who you let get to you.”  It’s a responsibility, a highly electrical period with everyone’s emotions out there.

EH:  Farm Aid has a website.  Are you into the computer onling thing?

WN:  No, that’s beyond me.  There’s one on the bus, the house, the office and, fortunately, someone knows all about it. You can’t do that and golf! It’s like fishing — there’s no time to fish AND golf.  Computers?  That’s completely out of the question.  I’m not going for it.

EH:  You recently won the Living Legend Award.  What does that mean to you?

WN:  [laughs] After the show, I asked them, “How do you find someone every year?”  Do they go through a list and ask, “Who’s living?  Give me the legend list?”  I dont’ know.  I guess it means, “We’re glad you’re still alive.”

EH:  Will we see another Highwayman tour?

WN:  Probably not.  It’s not likely we’ll tour… this week.  We may all tour individually, the four of us, but not this year.  “Ever” is a long time, putting out the word that it’s over forever, but Waylon wants it that way.

EH:  Maybe Sinatra could stand in.

WN:  He’d be a good one.  Or Billy Joe Shaver.  Or Merle Haggard.  Or none of the above.  Give me that legends list!

EH:  Does it really matter to you what critics think?

WN:  Not really. For most of ’em, their daddy’s got ’em there jobs anyway.  Otherwise, they’d be out on the streets selling drugs.  Critics are like the Bitch Box we had in the Air Force.  Any complaints, you wrote them down, you put them in the box.  It wouldn’t help at all, but you could bitch freely.  That’s a critic.