Kris Kristofferson - "Broken Freedom Song" - Drink Hole Saturday Night Concert

Tonight Ye Olde Drink Hole Amphitheatre is proud to bring you, "New Dylan", "Poet Lauriette", "Rhodes Scholar", "Songwriter Hall of Famer", "Highwayman" Kris Kristofferson with his 2003 live album for Oh Boy Records: "Broken Freedom Song".

If the hallmark for all great songwriters is that their songs are timeless, Kristofferson has proven that for almost 5 decades.

Seriously...get a beer, turn the lights off and enjoy!

"Shipwrecked in the Eighties" - "And you turn and you find that your trusty companion is gone, 'So long, Tonto.'"



"Darby's Castle" - "It took 30 days for the timbers to be raised...but it only took one night to bring it down..."



"Broken Freedom Song" - "No one's missing till you need 'em, ain't no fun to sing that song no more"



"Shandy (The Perfect Disguise)" - "All she could pay was attention, so all they could take was her time."



"What About Me" - "Do you really believe in freedom?"



"Here Comes That Rainbow Again" - based on a scene from the movie "The Grapes of Wrath". I say that because the scene is not in the book, but perfectly an addition by John Ford to John Steinbecks work. True art.



"Nobody Wins" - Started as a broken hearted love song, but just like that election that Bush stole and left us in the diplomatic and finacial mess we're all in...nobody wins. Now that's good songwriting.



"The Race" - The "answer song" to The Wind Beneath My Wings...you are The Shit Beneath My Shoes.



"The Captive" - "For the moment I remain, a captive of the human brain, that blew itself to pieces over you."



"The Circle (Song for Layla Al-Attar and Los Olivdados)" - Searching for what matters instead of just what happened. When art dies for politics sake it may be our greatest travesty against ourselves.



"Sky King" - The story of how Kris knew he was a songwriter.



"Sandinista" - "May the soldiers disappear..." what strikes me here is, may the need for soldiers disappear...



"Moment of Forever" - One of my favorite love songs ever. Those moments that will last a lifetime, but flit away so quickly.



"Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down" - This one goes from Kris' daddy' mouth to the ears of everyone I love and care about...don't let them bastards get you down.



"Road Warrior's Lament" - "...right till the end, until it's over..."



OK...maybe you should have a couple beers. Some sad sounding songs, but every one containing hope.

Talk to you soon.

"He's a Poet, He's a Picker, He's a Prophet, He's a Pusher, He's a Pilgrim and a Preacher and a Problem when He's Stoned...

...He's a Walking Contradiction, Partly Truth and Partly Fiction, Takin' Every Wrong Direction on His Lonely Way Back Home." That's a great song. That's a Kris Kristofferson song. And it's a little bit Kris being described while he described so many people he wanted to be like. A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy song.

Today is Kris' 73rd birthday and this is a guy who has always wrapped himself up in doing what was worth doing. Kris' father was a US Air Force Major General and wanted his boy to follow in his footsteps and indeed his families footsteps and make the military a career. I'm sure like all kids, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, so he went through the paces to see where he'd end up. He was an aspiring writer, so he majored in literature at Pomona College earning the Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University (heckuva jump from Claremont Colleges to being a Merton boy) and graduation with a Bachelor of Philosophy in Literature. A physical guy he made a good name for himself in the Pomona Rugby Team and earned his Blue in Boxing at Oxford.

I actually don't care for it when folks ramble on about Kristofferson's academic achievements, because it's kind of done as if to say, "Yeah, he's a songwriter now, but he could have been ANYTHING."

Horse-shit attitude.

Songwriting is the high pedestal. Would it have been more important or more respectful if he'd become a librarian? A book editor? A closet "reader" while he paid the bills being an accountant?

While serving in the military Kris knew what he wanted. His daddy wanted him to be another General Pershing or Admiral Doolittle, He wanted to be another Hank Williams. And he got it right. That was the thing that was worth doing, and he's been doing it better than most for 40+ years.

There's lots of great anecdotes about how Kris made it big and all, but his songs actually speak a better story. We'll talk more about Kris in the future. For now, he can tell us more.

Kris at a rainy outdoor concert...that's what it's all about...

He may smoke too much...

Kris and Johnny Cash - "Sunday Morning Comin' Down"

"That Silver Tongued Devil and I" and his 6 year old sons' critique...

Kris and Norah Jones and Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash and John Mellencamp and "Me and Bobby McGee"

"And there's a lot of wrong directions on that lonesome way back home. "





It's also would be Paul Frees' 89th birthday. I purposely haven't put his face here because you know him best as...

Ludwig Von Drake...

Boris Badenov, Inspector Fenwick...

The Poppenfresh Doughboy...

Toucan Sam, Boo-Berry...

Freddie Fresh-Up...







Little Green Sprout and about a jillian other characters...or at least their voices. He was about ALL the villains in those Rankin-Bass Holiday specials, from the Burgermeister Meisterburger to Eon the Vulture.

You've also heard him all over Disneyland at The Haunted Mansion, The Enchanted Tiki Room and more.

Remember, "Freedom's just another word for 'nothin'-left-to-loose'" and "Nothin' ain't worth nothin'...but it's free."