americana

allison and I went to see "Walk the line" tonight. The evening had to be planned to the hilt, because our evenings are chaos, and we're operating with one vehicle. She wouldn't let me ride my bike to work in the below freezing morning, so I ended up driving her truck to work. I got home just in time for her to take Molly to dance, so I grabbed a change of clothes and rode with her to the gym. They picked me up on the way back and Al and I did a quick turn and headed back out to catch the 8:50 movie.
When we got there, the movie was sold out - in 3 theatres - and the Harry Potter line was backed down the street. Everyone in town seemed to have come to see one of these two movies. So we went next door for some joe and a bowl of soup while waiting for the 10:20 showing.
The movie was worth the wait and the late night. I was leery of Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, despite the good reviews I'd heard. But an hour into the movie, I was convinced he WAS Johnny Cash. Most of you know that I'm a life-long fan, and it was magic remembering these songs during the movie. Very nostalgic as I heard songs that I used to spin on 45s in the living room on a tiny monaural phonograph, and the live songs from San Quentin and Folsom Prison that I used to play on my Grandmother's console stereo.
I cut my guitar teeth on Johnny Cash songs, but I've blogged all this before.
The movie left off only about 3 years before I experienced the "Johnny Cash Show". We drove home with me singing snippets of so many songs, and I think Allison got a glimpse of some more of me that she'd only guessed at before. She said that she'd never heard most of the songs in the movie, but I was amazed at how many of the lyrics I still remembered.
Every kid has a favorite color, a favorite texture, a favorite something, but my favorite was a sound. From the first time I ever heard that nasal twangy telecaster trying to sound like a train, I knew I had to play guitar. Since whenever that was in my formative years, I've forever been in love with sounds.