Archive for February, 2012

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

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photo: Janis Tillerson

History’s About to be made! Colorado can vote to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in November 2012

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

www.regulatemarijuana.org

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol received word this week that the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol has officially qualified for the November 2012 ballot. That means in just eight months voters will have the opportunity to make Colorado the first place in the world to end marijuana prohibition and replace it with a legal and regulated marijuana market for adults 21 and older.

The news is spreading like wildfire — stories from the Associated Press and Reuters news wires are up on newspaper websites across the nation, and the Denver Post and other Colorado and national media outlets are also on top of it.

The campaign ultimately ended up with about 90,500 valid signatures — about 4,000 more than needed! This surplus was the result of a huge outpouring of support over the past couple weeks in which we collected more than 14,000 total signatures to cure the petition. Thank you once again to everyone who lent a hand by collecting signatures, signing the petition, donating, and spreading the word!

With the petition drive behind us, the campaign is ready to pick up the pace with its public education, organizing, and outreach efforts, and we hope you will stay in touch and get involved. Even if you do not live in Colorado, there will be a number of opportunities to help throughout the year. One thing you can do now to help spread the word is forward this news to others, post it on Facebook, and join the campaign on Facebook if you have not done so already.

With your help and continued support we will make history in Colorado this November!

For more information:
http://www.regulatemarijuana.org/

Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, at US Festival 1983

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

http://somethingelsereviews.com
by:  Nick DeRiso

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson took the stage of the 1983 US Festival as confirmed crossover country stars — but without all of the sell-out slickness that’s attached to the term these days.

No, Jennings and Nelson were unreconstructed rebels, each in their own fashion. You had Nelson, the cookie-cutter song plugger-turned-shaggy dog superstar. And Jennings, the rough-hewn outlaw playing by his own rules. Yet both had experienced, to that point, a series of unheard-of successes for musicians in their chosen genre.

Jennings’ album Are You Ready for the Country went to the top of the country charts three separate times in 1976 — part of a run of 54 charting albums between 1966-95, and 11 No. 1s. Nelson, meanwhile, produced a platinum project of standards called Stardust in 1978, a gutsy highlight in a career that’s produced some nine platinum and two double-platinum albums. Together, Jennings and Nelson helped fashion 1976?s Wanted! The Outlaws into the first platinum country music recording, and later collaborated on Waylon and Willie in 1978, WWII in 1982 and The Highwaymen albums from 1985-96, among many other projects. Jennings was on television, as the narrator and theme-song singing star of TV’s “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Nelson, meanwhile, had become a part-time movie actor appearing in 1979?s “The Electric Horseman,” followed by appearances in “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Thief,” and “Barbarosa.”

These guys, somehow, were as a famous as they were outsider cool. So who’s to tell them they didn’t belong on an US Festival bill that included U2, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, The Police and the Clash? In the middle of all that, June 4, 1983 had been dubbed “Country Day” at the event, organized by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and held in the Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernadino, Calif. Jennings and Nelson were the highlight of a group that also include Alabama, Hank Williams Jr. and Emmylou Harris.

Each performed a slew of his own hits — Nelson’s “Whiskey River,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “Funny How Time Slips Away”; Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” “Only Daddy That’s Walk The Line” and “Theme from ‘The Dukes of Hazzard.” It’s perhaps no surprise, though, that the highlights come when they shared the stage. Jennings guests with Nelson on “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” and “Good Hearted Woman.” Jennings also includes a series of collaborations with Nelson, notably “Luckenbach, Texas,” “I Can Get Off On You.”

These tracks — set for release on February 28 from Shout! Factory on CD and DVD — serve as a reminder both of the memorably productive partnership between Jennings and Nelson, but also of a time when country music played by its own rules — sounding not like its glossy commercial pop-music neighbors further down the FM dial, but instead like a thing unto itself: As raw and dangerous as a late-night honky-tonk parking lot, then as tender and true as the last dance inside.

Read entire article here.

Moody Theater, Austin City Live

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

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Thanks to Monique, of Amalphi Design, for sharing this picture she took at the Austin City Live. in Austin.  She was on holiday with husband Mark, and when I asked if she would take some pictures at the venue, she kindly did.

See more of her creativity at Amalphi Design.

[Monique is my tech genius; she taught me how to create links like that.]

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

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photo credit: Anna Gregory

Mickey Raphael plays Bruce Springsteen with Kenny Chesney on Jimmy Fallon, “I’m on Fire” (2/28/2012)

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Willie Nelson picked to honor Fred W. Smith, open new Smith Center in Las Vegas, NV (March 10, 2012)

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

www.lvrj.com
by Norm Clarke

How’s this for openers?

Country icon Willie Nelson and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson performing plus Neil Patrick Harris hosting opening night of the $480 million Smith Center.

That’s just the teaser.

Smith Center President and CEO Myron Martin is keeping some secrets. But he added the 24 marquee names lined up include six Broadway stars and other surprises for the March 10 debut.

The big night is being filmed, and, while Martin isn’t saying where it will eventually be seen, he added, “My preference is that it’s on PBS, nationally.”

Producing the show will be Emmy Award-winning producer George Stevens, founder of the Kennedy Center Honors, and son Michael.

“We had great dreams for our opening-night ceremony,” Martin said, “but it wasn’t until we engaged Mr. Stevens that it really took shape. We’ll have more than a dozen great, great, great entertainers.”

Nelson was booked to honor Fred W. Smith, chairman of the board of trustees of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Smith is a huge fan of Nelson. The Smith Center is named after Smith and his wife, Mary. The foundation honored them with a gift of $50 million to support and name the building the Smith Center for Performing Arts. Another $100 million was later donated to the project by the Reynolds Foundation.

Martin said the Smith Center has been called “the most important local project to be built in our lifetimes. It’s going to be a night people will remember for a long time.”

 

Harris, who stars in CBS’ hit series “How I Met Your Mother,” has hosted Tony Awards and the Emmys.

“He’s gotten such great reviews as a host we think he’s just going to be great,” Martin said.

Hudson, a seventh-place finisher on “American Idol” eight years ago, won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her film debut in “Dreamgirls.” She won a Grammy for her debut album, “Jennifer Hudson.”

Read entire article here.

Willie Nelson & Family: “There is a Peaceful Solution'”

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

“Being a great admirer of Willie Nelson, I’m honored to pay contribution to his Peace Project. This video contains pictures I took during my visits to the USA accompanied by “A Peaceful Solution” performed by Willie Nelson and Family. I hope you enjoy. Peace to you all.”

AmalphiDesign’s

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

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Shotgun Willie

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

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7 Ways to Occupy Our Food Movement from your home

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

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www.mnn.com
by Robin Shreeves

Rainforest Action Network declared February 2th Occupy Our Food Supply, a global day of action. Across the United States and the globe, people were invited to participate in various ways and joining food activists like Michael Pollan, Annie and Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, Marion Nestle, and Robert Kenner of “Food, Inc.” in the day of action.

The goal of Occupy Our Food Supply is that people who care will “come together to creatively confront corporate control of our food supply and take action to build, healthy, accessible food systems for all.”

Seven things you can do to stand with the participants of Occupy Our Food Supply.

  1. Find out the opening date of your local farmers market this spring and mark it on your calendar, now. Make a commitment to attend opening day and spend as much as you can afford to give local farmers some much needed funds after the lean financial winter that most small farmers experience.
  2. Sign the Just Label It petition. Organizers of the petition hope to have 1 million signatures on a petition that lets the Food and Drug Administration know that Americans want clear labels on foods made with genetically engineered ingredients.
  3. Share a home cooked meal. If you cook with fresh, healthy ingredients, share one of your best dishes with someone else — a neighbor, your kids’ crossing guard, a family with a new baby or a sick family member, or anyone you think would benefit from a good, home cooked meal. Try this Minestrone Soup recipe if you can’t think of one. It’s loaded with lots of fresh, healthy ingredients and makes more than enough to share.
  4. Another way to share your food is to get involved with a food swap, an event where you swap your homemade foods for foods others have made. A list of food swap nationwide can be found at The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking. Not only will you get some great homemade food, you’ll connect with other people in your community who care about good food.
  5. If you’re not already involved in Slow Food, Check out your local organization. See if there’s an event you can attend that will get you familiar with this organization that supports good, clean, fair food.
  6. Take the time to read Prince Charles’ speech from last year’s Future of Food Conference.
  7. Grow something. Even if it’s just a pot with parsley or basil on a windowsill. Once you realize how great just snipped herbs are in your food, you’ll probably get interested in growing something else. The more you grow yourself, the less you’ll need to buy from Big Ag.

Read entire article here.

Willie Nelson (7/4/11) (Fort Worth, TX)

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

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photos: thanks to Janis Tillerson

Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

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Willie Nelson, “Hell and Back” (movie soundtrack), with J. Ralph, and Mickey Raphael

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Original song “Hell And Back” Music and lyrics by J. Ralph, performed by Willie Nelson with J. Ralph on Guitar and Mickey Raphael on harmonica for the  documentary “Hell And Back Again” directed by Danfung Dennis, 2011 Rumor Mill Records

You can purchase this song on itunes HERE.

Monday, February 27th, 2012

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