Archive for November, 2012

Willie Nelson & Family in Birmingham, AL tomorrow night (12/1/2012)

Friday, November 30th, 2012

www.al.com

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Heading out to hear music this weekend? Consider this:

Willie Nelson, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m., Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North, $49.35-$92 through Ticketmaster. With Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.

Aaah, Friday, so nice to see you, Happy Shoeshine Friday!

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Heroes

Friday, November 30th, 2012

heroes

Kinky Friedman talks about Willie Nelson, and “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die”

Friday, November 30th, 2012

http://blog.sfgate.com
by: David Downs

 Poet-philosopher and outlaw country music legend Willie Nelson released memoir Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die Nov. 13 in hardcover. The breezy, funny chapbook mixes never-before-heard stories, life lessons, and loads of jokes; with a foreword by author, singer, and cult provocateur Kinky Friedman.

An author of 35 books himself, Kinky took a few minutes to chat with Smell the Truth via phone from his ranch in Texas, where he was preparing for the second phase of his Bi-Polar Tour, which starts Nov. 30 in Kansas City, MO. and ends Dec. 20 in Eugene, OR.

Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die began as a co-writing project with Willie, Kinky says, but Nelson’s editor wanted one star, and Willie didn’t want an editor at all.

“The editor only wanted one voice, then Willie says ‘I’m not going to write it if you’re not going to write it’. It was like Tom Sawyer painting a fence. I had to write 27,000 words of which the foreword is all that survived.

“But that title makes sense and is brilliant and a great statement,” Friedman says. “The book gives you some insights into Willie’s actual mind, which are always interesting and diverting and funny and enlightening. It’s music. It’s jokes. It’s a story about farting on an airplane – things like that. And it’s kind of where he is today.

“He is pushing 80 and he was concerned about his mortality – as anybody would be,” Friedman said. “God knows how you feel at that age. Most of Willie’s friends and contemporaries are dead. He’s got some real wisdom.”

“Something about what he is doing is working. He is really honestly connecting with people in a way that’s different than most artists or entertainers. Everybody thinks that they’re Willie’s friend and that’s true, from the doorman, to the guy loading the garbage truck. I’ve been around with Dylan. People are in awe of Bob Dylan, but they certainly don’t come over and say, ‘Hey, Bob, how are you? My name’s Bill.’ And it’s a good thing they don’t.”

Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die is easy to pick up and put down, making it great light reading over the holiday vacation. Here’s Nelson:

on exercise:
“Work out, work out, and work out.”

on drug legalization:
“Addiction should be treated as a disease.”

and on President Obama:
“I think that once you become President, the first thing you realize is that you can’t do shit.”

Friedman shares Nelson’s point of view on legalized pot, saying “we got prisons full of people that shouldn’t be there, meanwhile all the pedophiles and politicians run around free.”

And Friedman echoes Nelson’s contempt for corporate Nashville country music.

“Somebody is recording this shit and somebody is listening to it, I guess, and it must be making money, but I can’t think of any classics, anything great that have been written in the past 30 years in Nashville,” Friedman says.Like the book, Friedman’s Bi-Polar tour – which pulls into San Francisco Dec. 18– mixes songs, stories, jokes, and politics. Friedman says exploring another run for Governor of Texas.

“I think we really got a good shot at it. It’s a giant step down from musician to politician and I would only take it for Texas.”

Friedman’s also hawking a new solo CD, Live From Woodstock, a new tequila Kinky Friedman’s Man in Black Tequila, and branded cigar the Kinky Cristo. The music, the tequila, and the cigar all pack Kinky’s trademark punch and sting.

“It’s something that really got to zing for me to feel it,” he said. “We’re a homogenized, sanitized, trivialized culture already. I only have two tastebuds left but they are having a hell of a party.”

Don’t forget to vote for “Just Breathe” by Willie Nelson and Lukas Nelson (one more day!)

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

contest2

Voting ends November 30th for GAC’s ” Top 50 Videos of 2012″ contest.

The Great American Country television station GAC is sponsoring a contest, and you can vote for your favorite videos and register for a chance to win $50,000 cash. You can vote daily for up to ten videos, but I just voted for Willie, I’ll let those other fans cast their own votes for Kenny Chesney , or whoever.

Vote daily for up to 10 of your favorite videos and enter daily for your chance to win. CLICK HERE to get started!

And if you forgot how incredible this video is, here it is for your viewing enjoyment.

‘Just Breathe’, by Willie Nelson and Lukas Nelson, is included on Willie Nelson’s new album, Heroes

And enjoy this ‘making of’ video:

Willie Nelson arrives for appearance on Today Show (11/20/2012)

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

nbc

Willie Nelson Doll sits down with a good book

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

Thanks to Juul de Graff, from the Netherlands, for sharing this picture

Willie Nelson & Family Kick off 20th Anniversary Season at Back Yard (April 28, 2013)

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

by
www.BackYard.net

The Backyard is celebrating 20 years of live music in the Texas Hill Country and who better to kick off this monumental season than the one and only Willie Nelson. Willie will be joined by his family on Sunday April 28th. Just two days before his 80th birthday. 

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Paula Nelson Band
Folk Uke

Willie has been a part of The Backyard family since the venue’s conception and performed as the first musical guest on April 15th, 1993. 

Tickets will go on-sale this Saturday 12/1 @ 10am

Tickets on sale HERE!

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Lyle Huisken
artist: Lyle Huisken

Available for purchase here:

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Willie Nelson & Family in Indio, CA (3/1/2013)

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

www.FantasySpringsResort.com

Country music legend Willie Nelson will perform at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino on March 1, it was announced Monday.

Nelson has made a series of concert appearances in the Coachella Valley in recent years.

He performed at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert in January 2011, at Fantasy Springs in 2009 and at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in 2007.

Nelson, whose career has spanned 60 years and more than 200 albums, this month released an autbiography titled “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From The Road.”

Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are $99, $79, $69 and $39 and are available by calling 800-827-2946 or at www.fantasyspringsresort.com.

This Day in Willie Nelson History: Grand Old Opry debut, as member Opry (11/28/1964)

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

On November 28, 1964, Willie Nelson made his Grand Ole Opry debut, as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the oldest continuous radio program in the United States, having been broadcast on WSM since November 28, 1925. It is also televised and promotes live performances both in Nashville and on the road.

Willie Nelson, with Piers Morgan, CNN

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012


http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com

Another segment from Piers Morgan’s interview with Willie Nelson.

On Monday “Piers Morgan Tonight” welcomed legendary musician and songwriter Willie Nelson, peppering the 10-time Grammy award winner with questions on everything from pot to politics to proper love.

Currently on his fourth wife, the 79-year-old admitted that he’s become a better husband as he’s grown older: “You get older, you get wiser.” However, he said he’s learned “nothing” about marriage. His lessons, he said, have come from his separations: “The reason divorces are so expensive is they’re worth it.”

Joining Morgan for a primetime exclusive, Nelson proved adept at dodging the host’s signature question (“how many times have you been properly in love?”)

“I don’t think there’s anything improper,” said the musician who has sang often about “All the girls I’ve [he’s] loved before.” “I think love is love is love is love. God is love is love.”

Asked by the host if his current wife – Annie, whom he’s been married to for more than 20 years – is “the real love of your life,” Nelson quickly showcased his sharp-as-a-whip sense of humor:

“Well, for the moment she is.”

All joking aside, Nelson is certain of one thing: he’s a “hundred percent” romantic at heart.
-–
» Follow Piers Morgan Tonight on Twitter

Willie Nelson, ‘The Scientist’

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

The Willie Nelson rendition of “The Scientist” is available for download at iTunes, and 60 cents from each 99-cent download goes to Chipotle’s foundation.

Over the last two years, the Denver-based company has donated more than $2 million to groups like Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and the Nature Conservancy. At the end of last year, the foundation presented its first major award, of $250,000, to Farm Aid, which was founded by Mr. Nelson and other well-known singers to promote family farms.

http://www.nytimes.com
By: Elizabeth Olson

Chipotle Mexican Grill, the fast-food marketer, began thinking about ways to promote improvements to the country’s food supply, it decided to skip the graphic photos of jampacked chicken coops and other unsettling farm practices.

Instead, Chipotle took a more upbeat approach, creating an animated film with puppets to show a family farmer switching first to factory farming, then back to the sustainable approach of turning animals out to pasture. After showing the film, called “Back to the Start,” first online and then in movie theaters, the company decided to turn it into its first national commercial. The two-minute ad will be shown on Sunday’s Grammy Awards telecast, and viewers will be urged to download, via iTunes, the song that accompanies it — a Willie Nelson rendition of “The Scientist” by Coldplay.

The proceeds from the downloads are to go to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. Chipotle’s founder, Steve Ells, started the foundation last year to encourage sustainable farming methods and family farming. A major selling point for the fast-food chain, whose 1,230 outlets brought in nearly $2.3 billion in sales last year, has been the fresh and sustainably grown ingredients, including pork and beef, in its burritos and tacos.

National television is a new tack for the 19-year-old company, which has produced some advertising on local television but mostly has employed radio, billboards and digital advertising. The Grammy Awards, which this year will feature performances by Bruce Springsteen and Adele, among others, is a much bigger arena. Last year the telecast drew more than 26 million viewers, the most since 2000, and at least that many are expected to watch this year’s ceremony.

Chipotle, which does not employ an advertising agency, devised its marketing approach based on its own research, which it said showed that 75 percent of its 800,000 daily customers came for the taste, value and convenience of its food. Those are positive reasons, but expected for any food franchise that wants to be successful. So to get customers more passionately involved, the company decided it “needed to have a general, higher-level message and to tell the story in a more approachable way,” said Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief marketing officer.

“And we wanted to make the message interesting and entertaining,” he added. (more…)

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012