2001-12-19~~12:30 p.m.
Where It All Began
I knew I moved in with Maria for a reason. It became crystal clear to me two nights ago, when I received my Christmas gift. While Omar got an entire Tres Leches cake from her, I received my very FIRST Johnny Cash cd. Yes, 'tis true. I was a cd-less fan. But Maria remedied that with "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" the sequel to "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison." It was chosen because it contains the song "A Boy Named Sue" whereas "Johnny's Greatest Hits" (or something) did not. And for that, I thank her. So I am sitting here at PRF listening to Johnny and reading all about his amazing performance(s) at San Quentin...complete with recaps and emotional tales from his wife, June Carter. Turns out, Merle Haggard was an inmate there (he was pardoned by Ronald Regan in the '80s...who knew?) when Johnny came and sang. And the first time Johnny came, it was New Year's Day and he'd lost his voice in San Francisco the night before, so he could only whisper his songs. But Johnny came through and the inmates all loved him anyway! And that's how Merle Haggard turned from a life of crime to country music. Isn't that heartwarming? So it occurred to me, when I joined the "ring of fire" diaryring, that probably some of you were wondering why I named my diary site that...especially when I didn't even have my own cd. Well, I'll tell you. So it was Senior year of college at UCD, and Jeni and I somehow came upon the punk version of ROF. And since Jeni grew up on old-school country and I on bluegrass, we decided we needed to download the original JC version of ROF. So we did. And we also made up an interpretive dance to it...at 3 a.m. Some of our neighbors were not pleased. But whatever. So then, I was on the Picnic Day planning committe, wherein I met Bevin and Maria. (Insert hilarity here) Sometime during our days in Lower Freeborn or maybe at a planning meeting, the ROF subject came up. I believe it was when we were talking to this cheezy DJ who was going to come do a radio broadcast from our quad the week of Picnic Day. He was a shmoe, and I was screwing with him and made a bargain that I would only keep kissing his ass if he played the punk version of ROF. He said he'd look for it. Fast forward to the day on the quad when DJ Jazzy Full of Himself was there with a stage and microphones and everything and Bevin and I conned our way up to the stage to run the lunch activities. We had open mic time for a whole hour and it was great. But I digress. DJ Jazzy FOH never played the ROF. It was as if a storm had broken over my sunny day. But something good did come of all this Ring of Fire talk (besides this website). On the last day of Picnic Day cleanup, we were all exhausted and drunk at the Cantina and suddenly Bevin decides she needs a Johnny Cash cd to commemorate the Picnic Day 2000 experience. So we piled into the car and off to the music store we went. And then we blasted Folsom Prison Blues and Ring of Fire all the way home. It was wondrous. Fast forward to the present. Bevin studies to Johnny, Maria owns a greatest hits cd, the Grad in Davis plays the punk version of ROF every Friday night thanks to Jeni and the Tri-Delts, the blue martian on that MP3 commercial dances to it and I, the instigator of it's popularity, only recently became the proud owner of my very own Johnny Cash anthology. It is a DCT, to be sure.
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