And he caught me in the fog
He said, “I’ll fix your rack if you’ll take Jack my dog”
I said, “Wait a minute, Chester, you know I’m a peaceful man.”
He said, “That’s okay, boy, won’t you feed him when you can.”
–The Weight
Here’s Levon Helm, John Hiatt, Amy Helm, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Miller, Larry Campbell, Little Sammy Davis and others at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium last summer. I was in the audience that night, and it took me on down the line.
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”Sometimes beauty hides in the magic of a URL. The nearly indecipherable strings of letters and numbers that only make sense when fed into a machine.
Read MoreCopyright Dog Canyon. All Rights Reserved.
Just this evening, I had the pleasure of hearing Gillian Welch (and her longtime collaborator, David Rawlings) invite Old Crow Medicine Show and Emmylou Harris on stage to do a rendition of The Weight.
It was a windy, chilly, early evening performance at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. (http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/)
Sure wish I’d been there. Weighty times.
Levon Helm played a fine set at the ACL Fest Saturday evening, sharing the stage with so many performers that they might have been playing in shifts. He wasn’t able to sing but it was great to see him playing drums and mandolin (on “Deep Ellum Blues.” The weather even broke for his set. I got there about 10 minutes into his set, so I’m not sure if they didn’t do “The Weight,” but they did a great version of “Chest Fever.”
I was really sorry I couldn’t make that set. I’ve heard the band do Chest Fever. Larry Campbell, really the band leader, traveled for years with Bob Dylan, is an extraordinarily gifted musician and all ’round good guy. Thanks for the review here, Jim.
The Levon Helm band was definitely my ACL highlight this year. My only disappointment is that they didn’t do The Weight, but hearing this version makes up for it. My suspicion is that they don’t do it when Helm can’t sing. The set was a double highlight, as a I got to meet Bill Kreutzmann and he and Papa Mali worked their way through the crowd.