Here's Jimmy Dean singing one of his most famous hits: "Big John."

May he rest in peace.

And Peace Through Music
How Producer Mark Johnson put it all together.

Morning Edition, May 4, 2009 - Until a video of "Stand by Me" had gone viral on YouTube, Roger Ridley had sung and played guitar anonymously on the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., for years. The video begins with Ridley and then mixes in 40 other musicians from around the world. It's part of a 10-song collection called Playing for Change: Songs Around the World.
Producer Mark Johnson got the idea a few years ago when he heard Ridley's voice on a street in Santa Monica.
"I approached him after the performance and said, 'Hey, if I come back in an hour with some recording equipment and cameras, I'd love to record you, film you, add musicians around the world to it,' " Johnson says. "And he looked at me really funny, sort of thought I was crazy. But he said, 'OK, if you come back, we'll do it.' "..................Rest Here with Video Links to a Couple of the Songs
Brings up the NPR Player to Listen to Discussion

From the Washington Post, this rather discouraging tidbit:

A federal judge yesterday rejected the claim by a coalition of historians and nonprofit groups that Vice President Cheney intended to illegally discard some of his official records, and instead accepted the pledge of a senior White House aide that key Cheney documents and other materials will be transferred as required to the National Archives.

Emphasis mine.

Can you hear them laughing yet? Cheney even threw his back out, he was laughing so hard, and he's attending the inauguration in a wheelchair -- probably something else he'll be chuckling over, thinking that years later historians and citizens will see the poor bastard in a wheelchair and say "Oh, how can the people of the time be so mean to a decrepit old invalid?"

Well, they'll probably leave out the "decrepit" bit.

The winds of change are blowing; are we numb to them?

Just thought I'd ask.

Happy Friday.