Pribek

There was a thing on PBS the other night about Johnny Cash. I don”t know what the name of the show was. Dan Rather was the host and it was focusing on the spiritual side of the man. I didn’t see much of it, about a half hour or so. I didn’t really see enough of it to comment much about it but, it got me to thinking.

I’m sure some of you have had an experience where you have met someone that you admired and, for some reason or other, came away feeling disappointed in that person. Lou Whitney says it this way; “You don’t want to meet your heroes”. It often is the truth.

I never met Johnny Cash so, I don’t have a first hand story here but, seeing the little bit of that show the other night reminded me of a few things other people have told me that left an impression.

Bill Dees, who I have worked with quite a bit, lived in Nashville during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. He has met many, many “legends” during his time. Bill doesn’t go around dropping names to impress. Sometimes though, I will ask him, have you ever met so and so?

I did ask him about Johnny Cash and he told me a couple of things. He first met Cash when pitching him a song. Bill was writing with Roy Orbison at Roy’s house. This would have been in the mid 60’s. They were working on a song called “Best Friend”. Bill said something like; “This would be great for Johnny Cash, you ought to get it to him”. Roy said; “Well, he just lives across the street. Why don’t you take it over to him?” Bill, told me that he thought Roy was kind of testing him, sort of a dare. Bill was kind of the new guy in town and he didn’t know Johnny. And, if you don’t know somebody personally, especially the guy who is the biggest name in Nashville, it’s a pretty bold move to barge in on them with a song pitch. Now, Bill-he knows that but, he also has Roy there daring him to do it and, he can’t back down from a dare.

So, Bill grabbed the tape recorder and marched across the street. He said; “Man, I was scared walking across there”. He gets to the door and knocks, rings the bell and he’s waiting, waiting, just about to turn tail because he’s waited long enough to hold up his end of the deal and, the door cracks open. He heard this deep, gruff voice say: “What do you want”?

So, Bill, shaking in his shoes, says; “Well, me and Roy we was just over there writing and, we had this song…We thought you might want to hear it”. The door opened and Johnny Cash was standing there, with his hair uncombed, looking like he just woke up. He said, in a soft voice; “Well, come on in and play it for me then”. Bill said he just as friendly as could be and he ended up cutting the song.

Bill told me that he ran into Johnny a few more times after that. They weren’t fishing buddies or anything but, he said he was always friendly and Bill always remembered how graciously Johnny had treated him when they met that first time.

During the 90’s, Cash had a show in Branson for a short while and he had a house down across the line in Arkansas.

Bill was down at the Berryville Wal Mart one hot sumer day. He was standing out in the parking lot, smoking a cigarette, waiting on his wife who was shopping. So, he’s standing out in the hot sun and he hears a voice over his shoulder say: “Hey, Bill how you doing?” He turns around and it’s Johnny Cash. Bill told me; “Now, he hadn’t seen me in about 30 years but, he came up to me and started a friendly conversation like we had just seen each other the other day. Just polite and nice, like talking to an old friend out there in the Wal Mart parking lot”.

Now, there is nothing truly remarkable about any of this, I know. But, maybe that’s what is remarkable. Like I said, I never met the guy but, the people that I know that did meet Johnny Cash all have similar tales. I have friends down in Arkansas, who answered their doorbell on a Thanksgiving day to see Johnny and June standing there with a turkey in a roasting pan. They needed to “borrow an oven” because theirs was broke (they ended up staying and sharing the turkey and the holiday). I know a couple of Branson stagehands that said Johnny would join them pitching quarters or throwing dice in between shows. Over and over, I’ve heard words like; “down to earth” and “just a regular guy”. With someone of that stature, a legend, an icon, I think that that is remarkable.

Back in June, I wrote a couple of posts about remarks that Dan Rather made about CBS news.

You can view my posts here and here.

Rather accused CBS of dumbing down the news and also “tarting it up”. I was of the opinion that Danno was directing the tart remark directly at Katie.

I was actually trying to stick up for Katie.

Curiously, a lot of the women that I know thought my opinion and remarks were in poor taste. I said that Danno might as well have said “whoring it up”. I heard from a lot of people that either said that Danno was directing the remark at CBS, not Katie, and/or that I had the wrong connotation of the word tart.

Rather has since filed a lawsuit against CBS and CBS is now trying to get it thrown out of court.

I don’t have time right now to go into why I think that the lawsuit is frivolous.

I do, however, have three brief opinions that I would like to express.

1. I am not a fan of CBS news.

2. Dan Rather is a dick.

3. Dan Rather took a bush-league cheap shot at Katie Couric with the “tart” remark.

It is also clear that Katie is very able to stick up for herself and doesn’t need my help. Take a look at this YouTube video (courtesy of Harry Shearer) of Katie slamming Dan Rather’s famous raincoat scene. Also note that Katie says; “This tart is ready to go”.

What is Dan Rather really trying to accomplish? This is from My Way News.

While referring to Couric as a “nice person,” Rather said “the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ show ethos to the ‘Evening News,’ and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience.”

Moonves, speaking at an event in New York Tuesday morning sponsored by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, called the remarks “sexist” and said he was surprised at the amount of negative coverage Couric was receiving.

Moonves is right. The remarks are sexist. Rather doesn’t agree, this was part of his response on Fox News.

Look, this isn’t about Katie Couric. It’s nothing to do with her gender. Anybody who reads what I wrote and what I said knows that that’s true.

Nothing to do with Katie Couric?

Ethos

The character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

Nothing to do with Katie Couric? Well, what are you referring to when you say “ethos” of the Today Show, Dan? Do you think that Katie had nothing to do with the “character and disposition” of the Today Show? Katie Couric was the face of the Today Show.

Nothing to do with her gender? What does the word “tart” refer to here? He’s not talking about a small fruit pie. He might as well of said “whore it up”. The word “tart” is definitely referring to gender. So, he didn’t say; “Katie Couric is dumbing down and tarting it up”, he was talking about ethos. Ethos my ass. Dan’s trying to play lawyer ball.

In further response to Moonves, Rather went on to say…

What he’s trying to do is change the subject. And, I find it insulting and I find it disappointing, that’s a better word, disappointing. That Les Moonves, who knows a lot about entertainment, would try to mask the real point with that line of attack.

More bush league lawyer tactics. Rather was the one that said, “dumbing down” and “tarting it up”. He is the one on the attack. Moonves is responding, defending his show and anchor. He is on the defense.

More of Danno’s Fox spiel.

My lament is that there once was a line between entertainment and news.

This is priceless. Dan Rather of “courage”, “Kenneth”, and memo gate, the guy that pioneered the technique of inserting himself into the story on network news, is concerned about the news turning into show biz. Danno, you were a big part of erasing the “line” between entertainment and news.

So what is Dan Rather trying to accomplish with all of this? Ironically, the answer is showbiz.

When he said “dumbing down” and “tarting it up” on the MSNBC interview (see yesterday’s post) he made sure he got both digs in twice. He did it twice to make sure that it didn’t go unnoticed. “Dumbing down” and “tarting up” are pre-conceived phrases. They are designed to cause a stir. When he goes on some cable show nobody is watching, to plug his own cable show, and says something controversisal it will become news. It’s no different than Will Farrell going on the Today Show and acting half drunk when he is promoting a movie. It’s no better than the type of stuff Paris Hilton pays people lots of money to conjure up. It’s P.R. It’s showbiz.

Here is the complete Fox News interview where you can see Danno feebly explaining his remarks, lamenting the fact that news is the entertainment business, laughing at his own stupid jokes and pimping his own show.

And in closing, also from Fox News, here is Katie Couric’s producer Rick Kaplan’s response to Rather.

“This is someone who should go through his life quietly.”
“We had to build back from when Dan left,” Kaplan said. “What’s really upsetting is that the same people are still here doing the news as when Dan left; those are the people he’s criticizing. A lot of people at CBS are disappointed that he said that.”