Cash had many Canadian fans
TORONTO -- Johnny Cash's huge popularity in Canada was earned the hard way, by endless road trips that covered small communities from La Ronge, Sask., to Lucan, Ont.
Cash, who died Friday in Nashville, played the big venues, including Maple Leaf Gardens and the Canadian National Exhibition, repeatedly in his five-decade career.
But the Man in Black also brought his guitar to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., at least five times. He walked the line in Kamloops, B.C., and Grand Prairie, Alta.
He also helped promote performers who later became some of Canada's best-known artists.
"Cash introduced mainstream country music to a lot of music fans for the first time," Larry Leblanc, Canadian bureau chief for Billboard Magazine, said Friday.
Leblanc cited Cash's TV show, in the 1960s, for introducing two major Canadian musicians to the world. "Cash put Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in the spotlight, embraced their music and called the duo fine songwriters."
Saul Holiff, who managed Cash's career during the 1960s and 70s from an apartment in London, Ont., said Friday that Cash was a complex character.
"He was mercurial. He was enigmatic. He was a pussycat. He wasn't like he appeared to be. He was tough. He was miserable. He was a nice guy. He was a lot of different things."
Holiff, now retired in Nanaimo, B.C., said he underestimated his client several times.
"He didn't start out to be Johnny Cash. Sometimes he sang dreadfully, if he had too much to drink or too many pills. We were treated with casual indifference for much of the time for a long time.
"When I thought there was no future for him whatsoever, he came out with Ring of Fire. That started something and then out of the blue we played Folsom Prison and San Quentin and suddenly a cult started to develop."
"His material evolved, and then that television show came along, and suddenly he was another American hero."
Holiff left Cash in 1973, when he thought his career had peaked. "And for several years he went into a tailspin."
But then, Holiff said, Cash triumphed again this year, being nominated in six categories at the MTV Video Music Awards, winning for cinematography for Hurt.
"I was guilty for underestimating him repeatedly."
Cash had another connection to the city of London: he proposed to his wife and touring partner, June Carter, there in 1968. "It wasn't at a remote table in the corner by candlelight," Cash recalled in his autobiography years later. "It was onstage ... before 5,000 people."
Cash had many friends in Canada, including Ronnie Hawkins and Tommy Hunter.
"He used to come in and stay when he would do shows in town and I had him up in my gym three or four times," Hawkins said Friday in an interview from Peterborough, Ont.
Hunter recalled driving around Toronto once with Cash, who was a "dapper" guy then, looking in shoe stores for a special kind of black shoes with white inlays that Elvis Presley had and Cash wanted.
"I think he bought every shoe that was black with a white inlay."
Cash was a frequent visitor on Canadian television.
"The very first network show that he did was on Country Hoedown," says Hunter. "Folsom Prison Blues was just out. I remember him doing it on the show. I was familiar with the old Flatt and Scruggs version and I was amazed at what he had done with the song. Cash grabbed that song and changed it and put a whole different sound and a different beat to it.
"His songs were very simple. They were about as close to the soil as you could get. He shared a lot of the working man's grief and woes."
Sylvia Tyson said Cash influenced many people "and not just in country music. His writing style and his persona, his delivery, the whole thing, he's an original."
Cash recorded songs by several Canadians, including Ian Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Ian Tyson and Paul Brandt.
Cash toured Canada regularly up until 1996. When he played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on Nov. 10, 1969, he drew more than 18,000 people who paid a total of $93,000 -- a one-night record at the time both for Cash and the arena.
His last concert was at Massey Hall in Toronto in 1996. I can happily say that I was in the audience.
ABC Faces Tough Choice on Season After Ritter Death
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ABC was left with a major hole in its prime-time lineup on Friday after the sudden death of actor John Ritter, who had shown promise of bringing a larger audience back to the struggling network with the comedy "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."
Ritter, 54, collapsed on Thursday evening while filming the fourth episode of the show for the upcoming season in Burbank, California.
The main artery from his heart tore in an undiagnosed ailment often related to high blood pressure. He died at a hospital near the studio lot.
Shocked ABC executives expressed sympathy to the family of the former "Three's Company" star and had no immediate comment on their broadcast schedule.
Previously ABC had planned on Sept. 23 to start the second season of "8 Simple Rules," which at 8 p.m. leads off the Tuesday night prime-time lineup that was the highlight of ABC's 2002 season, when its steady audience numbers virtually stopped the network's overall ratings decline.
The program placed a respectable 43 among nearly 190 prime time shows in 2002, the best performance of an ABC comedy, according to Nielsen Media Research, drawing an average of 11 million viewers and helping ABC in its efforts to reestablish itself as the home of family-friendly comedies.
Shares of ABC-owner Walt Disney Co. dropped 44 cents, 2.1 percent, to close at $20.24 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
Syracuse University television professor Robert Thompson said that ABC had almost no option but to end the series, although he said the network could honor the actor's legacy by showing the three filmed episodes, which could draw a large audience.
Ritter was best known for his "Three's Company" role of Jack Tripper, a bachelor cook living with two single women and masquerading as a homosexual in order to mollify a landlord who did not want single men and women living together.
The sex farce was seen as pushing the limits of good taste by the standards of network television in the 1970s and Ritter uniquely important, using traditional slapstick and pratfalls to give the then-shocking series broad appeal, he said.
"8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" also depended on Ritter's comedic strength, and the title referred to a father-daughter dynamic that cannot exist without the father character, he said.
"As for ABC's options, I don't think they've got many," he said, predicting cancellation.
When actor Michael J. Fox left "Spin City," the comedy was able to gently usher out his character and welcome in another who took his job. That would not work in a show about a family, Thompson said.
Comedian Redd Foxx died a month after premiering "The Royal Family" in 1991, and CBS wrote in the death of his character, but the series did not catch on and was canceled.
Financial analyst Mike Gallant of brokerage CIBC said the loss of Ritter would hurt an ABC season from which he believed investors already expect too much. The network trails CBS, Fox and NBC in the ratings and is the key near-term driver for Disney stock, he said.
Reality shows, the quick fix of last season, have faded in popularity and offer less opportunity to fill schedule holes for ABC as well as its rivals, Gallant said.
The only silver lining is that the network, already working on shows to introduce midseason and with a number of returning series such as "Life with Bonnie," was in much better shape to weather such a loss than last year, he said.
Bachelor Talk Show Host Letterman to Become Father
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Late night talk show host David Letterman, who portrays himself on air as a cantankerous loner, says he is about to become a father.
The 56-year-old host of the CBS "Late Show" told the studio audience at Thursday's taping of Friday night's show that his girlfriend, Regina Lasko, is pregnant.
"I have an announcement to make and I'll be honest with you, I'm a little bit nervous. I have some trepidations about this. I feel a little silly because it's one of those things where I thought never in my life this would happen," Letterman said, according to a transcript issued by the show on Friday.
"And here I am, 56, and by all rights it shouldn't be happening. But, there's nothing we can do about it now. And I'm terribly excited about this. I'm scared silly about this. I'm going to be a father."
Letterman told his sidekick, bandleader Paul Shaffer, that "the wedding is still being discussed. We're still negotiating the wedding."
The talk show host quipped that there might be an advantage to siring an offspring at such a late age.
"By the time the child has trouble in life, you know, I'll be dead. I'll be long gone," said Letterman, who indicated that Lasko was about six months pregnant.
"By the time the kid's out stealing cars, you know, Dad will be dead a few years."
Sitcom Star John Ritter Collapses on Set, Dies
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy award-winning actor John Ritter, who gained fame playing bumbling and lovable characters in a pair of television comedies decades apart, has died suddenly due to a previously undetected arterial problem, his representatives said on Friday.
Ritter, who was 54, collapsed on Thursday evening while filming "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," the ABC television comedy which had reinvigorated his career and was a centerpiece of the network's upcoming fall season.
The former star of "Three's Company" was taken to Providence St. Joseph hospital in Burbank, California, across from the studio where he had been working.
Surgeons at the hospital were unable to save him, and he died from a "dissection of the aorta," which results from an unrecognized flaw in a main artery from the heart, his publicists, Wolf-Kasteler & Associates Public Relations, said.
Ritter was best known for his portrayal of Jack Tripper in the 1970s situation comedy "Three's Company," which won him Emmy, Golden Globe and People's Choice awards.
A prolific actor, Ritter recently reconnected with television audiences as the star of "8 Simple Rules."
Ritter played Paul Hennessy in the family comedy about a father dealing with his precocious daughters which was one of the Walt Disney Co.-owned network's hits in the 2002 season.
"All of us at ABC, Touchstone Television and The Walt Disney Company are shocked and heartbroken at the terrible news of John's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children at this very difficult time," ABC said in a statement.
Born into a Hollywood family, John Ritter was the son of country singer and actor Tex Ritter and graduated from Hollywood High School, where he was student body president.
He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in drama and went on to act in film, television and on the stage.
He is survived by his wife, Amy Yasbeck and their daughter, Stella and three children, Carly, Tyler and Jason, from his first marriage to Nancy Morgan.
Music Legend Johnny Cash Dies at 71
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" who became a towering figure in American music with such hits as "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "A Boy Named Sue," died Friday. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure," Cash's manager, Lou Robin, said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT.
"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time," Robin said.
Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV Music awards, where he had been nominated in seven categories.
Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.
Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the working man and downtrodden.
Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice, which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.
"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy Named Sue" was a comical story of a father who gives his son a girl's name to make him tough. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" told of the drunken death of an American Indian soldier who helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II, but returned to harsh racism in America.
Cash said in his 1997 autobiography "Cash" that he tried to speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in the entertainment media, not to mention the political and educational establishments."
Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding something of value in his simple records, many of which used his trademark rockabilly rhythm.
Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry! Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship and recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major influence.
He won 11 Grammys — most recently in 2003, when "Give My Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal performance — and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her husband in hits such as "Jackson," died in May.
The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years, and he was host of his own ABC variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson.
In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American Recordings. And he was back on the charts in with the 2002 album "American IV: the Man Comes Around."
Most recently, Cash was recognized for his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" with seven nominations at last month's MTV Video Music Awards. He had hoped to attend the event but couldn't because of his hospital stay. The video won for best cinematography.
He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and acted in films and television shows.
In his 1971 hit "Man in Black," Cash said his black clothing symbolized the downtrodden people in the world. Cash had been "The Man in Black" since he joined the Grand Ole Opry at age 25.
"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since."
John R. Cash was born Feb. 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Ark., one of seven children. When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother and hero, Jack, died after an accident while sawing oak trees into fence posts. The tragedy had a lasting impact on Cash, and he later pointed to it as a possible reason his music was frequently melancholy.
He worked as a custodian and enlisted in the Air Force, learning guitar while stationed in Germany, before launching his music career after his 1954 discharge.
"All through the Air Force, I was so lonely for those three years," Cash told The Associated Press during a 1996 interview. "If I couldn't have sung all those old country songs, I don't think I could have made it."
Cash launched his career in Memphis, performing on radio station KWEM. He auditioned with Sun Records, ultimately recording the single "Hey Porter," which became a hit.
Sun Records also launched the careers of Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.
"Folsom Prison Blues," went to No. 4 on the country charts in 1956, and featured Cash's most famous couplet: "I shot a man in Reno/ just to watch him die."
Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live at prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music hits.
Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and his rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life.
He blamed fame for his vulnerability to drug addiction.
"When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio someday. I never thought about fame until it started happening to me," he said in 1988. "Then it was hard to handle. That's why I turned to pills."
He credited June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968, with helping him stay off drugs, though he had several relapses over the years and was treated at the Betty Ford Center in California in 1984.
June Carter Cash was the daughter of country music great Mother Maybelle Carter, and the mother of singer Carlene Carter, whose father was country singer Carl Smith. Together, June Carter and Cash had one child, John Carter Cash. He is a musician and producer.
Singer Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter from his first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Their other three children were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. They divorced in 1966.
In March 1998, Cash made headlines when his California-based record company, American Recordings, took out an advertisement in the music trade magazine Billboard. The full-page ad celebrated Cash's 1998 Grammy award for best country album for "Unchained." The ad showed an enraged-looking Cash in his younger years making an obscene gesture to sarcastically illustrate his thanks to country radio stations and "the country music establishment in Nashville," which he felt had unfairly cast him aside.
Jennings, a close friend, once said of Cash: "He's been like a brother to me. He's one of the greatest people in the world."
Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with encouraging him to pursue a singing career.
"My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on you. You'll be singing for the world someday."
Cash lived in Hendersonville, Tenn., just outside of Nashville. He also had a home in Jamaica.
DOGGONE IT
A U.S. federal judge ruling on Thursday that Taco Bell must pony up an extra $11.8 million in interest to two men who claim the chain swpied their idea for an ad campaign featuring a talking Chihuahua. The total amount awarded the men now stands at $41.9 million.
HIGH TIMES
Comedian Tommy Chong, one half of pot-happy duo Cheech and Chong, sentenced to nine months in federal prison and fined $20,000 Thursday for selling bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Web.
Christian Bale to Play Next 'Batman'
LOS ANGELES - Holy casting news! An "American Psycho" has been picked to star as Bruce Wayne in a new "Batman" movie.
Christian Bale will don the cape and mask in a film that will chronicle the early career of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. Pictures announced Thursday.
"Memento" filmmaker Christopher Nolan will direct the movie, which is set to begin filming in early 2004.
"What I see in Christian is the ultimate embodiment of Bruce Wayne. He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for," Nolan said in a statement.
Bale, 29, made his breakthrough in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987, playing a boy trying to survive in a Japanese-run POW camp in China.
His other credits include "Swing Kids" (1993), "Velvet Goldmine" (1998) and "Shaft" (2000). Bale's most infamous role was as the yuppie serial-killer in 2000's "American Psycho."
Warner Bros. is trying to resurrect the "Batman" franchise. The character became a top box office draw after director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton made two hit movies "Batman" (1989) and "Batman Returns" (1992).
The films got a little campier when Joel Schumacher took over for 1995's "Batman Forever," with Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader. The next installment, 1997's "Batman & Robin," was a critical disaster that alienated many fans. It starred George Clooney.