Althouse: "Can I touch your beard?"

September 30, 2024

"Can I touch your beard?"

21 comments:

Political Junkie said...: I think Alice is the only movie of his I saw. Did not realize he was a graduate of Army Ranger school. Bravo!; 9/30/24, 5:16 AM
Big Mike said...: Does anyone know whether he and his family ever reconciled? I know that his parents pushed him into a military career, and his family famously disowned him when he left the army to work as a songwriter — and janitor — in Nashville.

He left an estate supposedly worth $50 million, which is pretty good for a former janitor.; 9/30/24, 5:20 AM
Big Mike said...: And a helicopter pilot.; 9/30/24, 5:22 AM
Marcus Bressler said...: I enjoyed his vast array of work. Smart man. Rest in Peace; 9/30/24, 5:35 AM
Kit Carson said...: Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, with incredible music by Bob Dylan, was awesome, as was Convoy, Heaven's Gate, and that underrated gem Rollover, where the global financial system collapses and Jane Fonda compares being bedded by Kristofferson to the Sack Of Carthage.; 9/30/24, 5:39 AM
rehajm said...: I was young when semi-tough and that string of cornball movies came out. He. was making the talk show rounds. My mom crushed on him. Later did I discover the body of songwriting- wow.

The interesting ones are leaving and we’re stuck with the ones we cannot make leave…; 9/30/24, 5:54 AM
rehajm said...: Great for a janitor, yes but given the body of work seems a bit light when writers are entitled to mechanical, performance and sync royalties paid out for every time a song is used; 9/30/24, 6:03 AM
Jorg Jorgensen said...: Amazingly, Ellen Burstyn is still alive and well in NYC; 9/30/24, 6:03 AM
Eva Marie said...: Great songwriter RIP
This was also interesting:
“Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, known for writing the hit song “Me and Bobby McGee,” had been falsely diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Instead, the country star was actually suffering from a tick-borne illness known as lyme disease.
Speaking to the LymeTimes in the Fall of 2016, his wife Lisa Meyers explained, “About 12 years ago he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which looking back, should have been the first indication that a test for Lyme was warranted.
“But we suspect he's been infected with Lyme anywhere from fourteen to thirty years because he used to have these chronic muscle spasms, which is a common symptom. We were in LA at the time, in Malibu, and I just don't think doctors were looking for it or aware of it there then. But now we know it's everywhere. There are signs on my local playground that say beware of ticks.”; 9/30/24, 6:08 AM
wendybar said...: When I took a helicopter ride in Maui in 1990, our helicopter pilot was the spitting image of Kris. I sometimes wonder if it WERE him doing something he loved.; 9/30/24, 6:08 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "When I took a helicopter ride in Maui in 1990, our helicopter pilot was the spitting image of Kris. I sometimes wonder if it WERE him doing something he loved."

I encourage you to believe that it was.

I was once having dinner — back in the 1970s — with a guy who, I realized later, looked like Bruce Springsteen. The young woman who rushed up to hug him and tell him she loved all his music has gone through the rest of her life believing she encountered Bruce Springsteen. No one can take that away from her. For us, it was funny.

And here's where I always add that when people asked my father for his autograph, he signed "Frank Sinatra" for them.; 9/30/24, 6:20 AM
Temujin said...: Love that your father signed his autograph as Frank Sinatra. I'm guessing he had that look.

Kristofferson was one of those people who lived such a full life it's hard for me to get my head around it. There are these people out there who seem to do everything, and are good at all of it. Makes me feel downright lazy by comparison.
He was talented, smart, good looking, and curious. Sometimes you wonder how one person gets all of that while others get so little of it. Gene pools matter, I guess.; 9/30/24, 6:30 AM
wendybar said...: Heh!! Your Father had a keen sense of humor!!; 9/30/24, 6:41 AM
William said...: It's hard to picture him as being old, much less old and dead, but there it is......He was a genuine tier one movie star, but his songwriting was the stuff of legends and will endure. Very few people are given the choice of going on tour or starring in a movie, and, of that select few, none are qualified helicopter pilots. What a terrific life.; 9/30/24, 7:18 AM
Old and slow said...: "He was talented, smart, good looking, and curious."

Just imagine what it must be like to be Tom Jones...; 9/30/24, 7:18 AM
lonejustice said...: What an interesting life he lived:

"Kristofferson studied literature at California's Pomona College, where he became a Rhodes Scholar. He carried on his literature studies at Oxford's Merton College, where he continued boxing. Upon graduating from college, he joined the U.S. Army.

Joining the Army in 1960, Kristofferson earned his Ranger tab before becoming a helicopter pilot. Kristofferson was offered the prestigious position of teaching literature at West Point in 1965, but turned it down and left the Army. It was a move that caused his family, full of veterans, to disown him. His first wife divorced him four years later."

Not very many successful songwriters, musicians, and actors have such a varied background. He was one of a kind.; 9/30/24, 7:20 AM
rehajm said...: That’s great- haha; 9/30/24, 7:24 AM
Dave Begley said...: And a Rhodes Scholar.; 9/30/24, 7:37 AM
Dave Begley said...: Kris was living in Nashville and worked as a janitor at a record company. He rented a helicopter and landed it on Johnny Cash’s lawn. It was a Sunday, Johnny was home and Kris delivered some of his songs to him.; 9/30/24, 7:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Love that your father signed his autograph as Frank Sinatra. I'm guessing he had that look."

They looked most alike when they were both young, in the 1940s and 50s. As they aged, there was more difference. My father always had thick wavy hair.; 9/30/24, 7:42 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Both Toby and Kris have said that story is not true: https://savingcountrymusic.com/toby-keith-vs-keith-kristofferson-or-not/; 9/30/24, 7:57 AM