KRIS KRISTOFFERSON THUMPS TOBY KEITH

First off, we hate Toby Keith. The jingoistic country star made a fortune on pro-war lyrics about putting a boot up your ass because "it's the American way." And his music sucks. So we were delighted to hear that an outlaw country singer thirty years his senior gave the stupid putz a schoolin.' That old guy would be Kris Kristofferson, a country boy himself, who also happens to be a Rhodes scholar and a Ranger who flew helicopters for the Army--and a liberal to boot!


Kris Kristofferson, early in his career

Ethan Hawke, a lifelong Kristofferson fan, wrote a great profile of Kristofferson in Rolling Stone which opens with details of a backstage showdown with Toby Keith at Willie Nelson's 2003 birthday concert at Madison Square Garden. Hawke doesn't identify Keith by name, but he makes his identity pretty clear. "At that moment in time, the Star had a monster radio hit about bombing America's enemies back into the Stone Age."

Toby Keith performing "in costume"

"Up from the basement came one of country music's biggest stars (who shall remain nameless)," writes Hawke, who reports the unnamed star told Kristofferson not to perform "any of that lefty shit out there tonight."

"What the (blank) did you say to me?," Kris growled, stepping forward. "Oh, no," groaned Willie under his breath. "Don't get Kris all riled up."

"You heard me," said Keith.

"Don't turn your back on me, boy," Kristofferson shouted. "You ever wear your country's uniform?" Kris asked rhetorically.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me, boy! You heard the question. You just don't like the answer." According to Hawke, Kris paused just long enough to get a full chest of air. "I asked, 'Have you ever served your country?' The answer is no, you have not. Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man's life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not. So shut the (blank) up! You don't know what the (blank) you're talking about!"

Kristofferson in uniform

After studying at Cambridge as a Rhodes scholar, Kristofferson flew helicopters for the army and completed Ranger School. After his tour of duty, he was offered a position as a professor of English Literature at West Point.

Instead of West Point, Kris left the service to pursue songwriting professionally. He went to Nashville and took a lot of odd jobs, and ended up sweeping floors at Columbia Studios where he met Johnny Cash and watched Dylan record Blonde on Blonde. Kristofferson went on to write such classics as "Help Me Make it Through the Night," "Loving Her was Easier," "Sunday Morning Coming Down," and "Me and Bobby McGee," made famous by his sometime girlfriend Janis Joplin. She recorded the song just a few days before her death, and Kris didn't hear her version until after she was gone. It became a number one hit.

Hear Janis Joplin's version of "Me and Bobby McGee" by clicking the button:


Kristofferson became good friends with Johnny Cash, a man who wasn't offended by the scruffy look and long hair, which back then was still rare in country music circles. Johnny had been a wild man in his younger days, too. Here they perform a song Kris wrote, "Sunday Morning Coming Down."



Kris Kristofferson has been an outspoken critic of George W. Bush and the Iraq War from the start. He's an active member of Veterans for Peace, endorsed Obama for president, and described himself in 2009 on the Colbert Report as "left of liberal."

Toby Keith is incensed about the Rolling Stone story. "It was a fictitious (expletive) lie," he says. A Rolling Stone spokeswoman says that the magazine fully stands by the story and Hawke's reporting. Kristofferson claims he doesn't remember the incident.

"That was six years ago," Kristofferson said. "I spoke to Ethan before I put out my statement and thanked him for the beautiful story he wrote for Rolling Stone and I also told him I did not recall the incident at Willie's birthday party. This is the last statement I will put out about this nonsense."

"Don't get Kris all riled up"

HENDRIX AT MONTEREY POP

I couldn't help posting another Jimi Hendrix performance after showing him playing back-up to Buddy and Stacey in 1965. Here is Hendrix just two years later, when he burst on the scene at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. That's the Summer of Love, right? Jimi was always a big Dylan fan (you remember his version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," right?) and here he's giving the treatment to "Like a Rolling Stone." A classic moment from an historic concert. Can you dig it?

ROLLING STONE'S 100 GREATEST GUITARS

Rolling Stone magazine came out with it's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of all time. You might disagree with some of the placings, but it's a good conversation starter for all your list-making, "High Fidelity" friends. We've played some of these on the blog already, and just hit the Kinks a couple days ago, but I figured we'd play a few more.

As you would expect, the list is weighted to the past. Guitars are a rarity in much contemprary music, dance and hip hop. Alternative and indie-rock, with it's Pro-Tooled textures and deliberately naive playing, places low priority on musical virtuosity, so riffage is kept at a minimum. For maximum riffage, we turn to classic rock, and as you can see there is an abundance of rock dinosaurs crowding the list. Among dinosaurs, Eric Clapton is Rex. Even though he only placed as high as #3, I had to play this clip of "Layla." This is not the clean-cut and questionable acoustic version, what you might call "Layla for Lawyers," but the fiery Jurassic jam of heartbreak and hot molten lava. The original, if you recall, had twin guitar leads between Clapton and the late, great Duane Allman.



THE TOP 25 FROM ROLLING STONE
25 The Rolling Stones - "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
24 Rage Against the Machine- "Killing in the Name"
23 The Yardbirds - "Over Under Sideways Down"
22 The Beatles - "A Hard Day's Night"
21 The White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army"
20 The Impressions - "People Get Ready"
19 Prince and the Revolution - "Purple Rain"
18 Ramones - "Blitzkrieg Bop"
17 Black Sabbath - "Black Sabbath"
16 Neil Young with Crazy Horse - "Cowgirl in the Sand"
15 The Who - "My Generation"
14 Bruce Springsteen - "Born to Run"
13 Derek and the Dominos - "Layla"
12 The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
11 Led Zeppelin - "Whole Lotta Love"
10 Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
09 The Allman Brothers Band - "Statesboro Blues"
08 Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"
07 The Beatles - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
06 Van Halen - "Eruption"
05 Rolling Stones - "Brown Sugar"
04 The Kinks - "You Really Got Me"
03 Cream - "Crossroads"
02 Jimi Hendrix - "Purple Haze"
01 Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode

LIKE A ROLLING STONE

Backed by the Hawks (later known as "The Band"), an electric and electrifying Bob Dylan tore through England in 1966 and was greeted with screams and boos. They were creating a new sound, what Dylan dubbed "thin, wild mercury music." "Judas!" some folkie famously yelled at Manchester. "I don't believe you!" Dylan snarled, and ordered the band to play it loud. Definitely a rollin' stone.

LIKE A ROLLING STONE #2

Hank Williams (1933-1953) was a soul singer, a blues singer, a country singer who sang from the heart. Even his silly love songs came from somewhere deep. He was a rebel who got kicked off the Grand Ol' Opry by the squares, had a penchant for booze and pills, and died alone in the back of a Cadillac limo on New Year's Eve. "I'm a rollin' stone," he sang, and he meant it.