I knew nothing about his--or I wouldda tried to get it! There's good news in
here about Johnny..some less than good news about Waylon--and notes on
televising of this salute very soon.
Barry
-----------
He Walks The Line... to NYC
An all-star tribute to Johnny Cash is
bringing some big guns to town
By BILL BELL
Daily News Staff Writer
Hold those obits � the only
place Johnny Cash is going anytime
soon, it appears, is New York.
In fact, barring the absolutely
unexpected, the admittedly
ailing Man in Black will be
performing here April 6, at an all-star
salute marking his first public
appearance in nearly two years.
Not only that, but Cash may even close the
show, most likely by
singing "Jackson" with wife June Carter
Cash. It was a giant hit for
them in 1967.
The show,
"An All-Star Tribute to Johnny
Cash," is
just that � a taped-for-TV special
featuring
Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, Lyle
Lovett, Kris
Kristofferson, Willie Nelson,
Emmylou
Harris, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Isaak,
Wyclef Jean,
Brooks & Dunn, the Mavericks,
daughter
Roseanne Cash, ex-son-in-law Marty
Stuart and,
according to scuttlebutt, some neat
surprises.
It's a
tremendous lineup, and the only songs
anyone will
sing are the ones Cash wrote. (This
should not
include "A Boy Named Sue," his
biggest-selling pop song but one he did
not write.)
TNT will air it April 18 as part of its
Masters Series, the last subject
of which was Burt Bacharach.
But, the big news is Cash's appearance.
The reason is that for the past year or
so, alarmed reports about Cash's
health had him one step from the grave.
"Cash Close to Death," a
headline screamed last month in a British
newspaper. The story said
that his hair was white, his eyes dim, and
his face bloated. He was
described as a sad, almost unrecognizable
sight.
Newspaper dispatches aside, there's reason
to worry: Cash, 67, is not
in good shape.
He spent a week in a Nashville hospital
last fall with pneumonia, and
19 months ago, doctors said Cash was
suffering from a rare
neurological disease, Shy-Drager syndrome,
a degenerative disorder
that causes progressive damage to the
nervous system. Its symptoms
includes blackouts, tremors, stiff muscles
and difficulty in moving.
There is no cure.
On the telephone the other day from their
Nashville home, his wife said Johnny was
feeling
pretty good, and in the background, when
he
spoke, he did not sound nearly as
enfeebled as
reports suggested.
"We're going to spend a few days in New
York,"
said June. "Maybe see a few [Broadway]
shows,
do a little shopping, see a few friends."
They spent the winter at their Jamaican
hideaway, where June said Johnny played a
lot of
golf and loafed. He also did a little work
�
Stuart, who once was married to Johnny's
daughter Cindy, flew to
Jamaica not long ago to record Cash
reading a poem on one cut for an
upcoming album.
"He was cool," says Stuart, who will bring
on the Fairfield Four as his
guests and sing an old Cash gospel song,
"Belshazah."
Stuart said he was happy he was asked to
take part. "John hasn't been
in front of a microphone in a couple of
years," he said. "I'm just
hoping he's emerging, and if we need a big
ol' pep rally to get him
started, let's do it."
It's doubtful that he'll ever tour again,
but Cash, once one of country
music's busiest and most prolific � and
rowdiest � performers, and,
along with Hank Williams Sr. the only
country artist in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, is reported as ready to
work as he'll ever get.
"Tanned, rested and ready," said June.
"If he feels like singing, he'll sing,"
she said. "Right now, he feels like
it."
Putting this tribute together was like
arranging D-Day. John and June
invited many of the performers, among them
Stuart, who once
worked for Cash. "I guess I was the only
ex-son-in-law available," he
said.
"We're taking everybody who worked for
us," said June, "and all the
roadies and spouses and staff. About 50
people in all."
The Cashes don't know who is going to sing
what, beyond that
everybody will perform one or more Cash
songs, and that's plenty �
he has written about 1,000 in a career
that began in 1955 on Sun
Records, home of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis
and Carl Perkins.
One absentee will be Waylon Jennings,
whose health is too poor for
travel. He was, along with Cash,
Kristofferson and Nelson, a member
of a highly popular group that billed
itself as The Highwaymen.
"He asked Waylon," said June, "but they
tell us he's not up to it."
"We really enjoyed the time off," Johnny
told June, "but, maybe it's
time we went back to work."
Tickets for the show, at the Hammerstein
Ballroom in midtown
Manhattan, cost $70 and $85.
