Jody Ewing

Iowa Author

Entertainment

Johnny Cash Rocks (My!) Website

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Okay, so I’ll admit that in the year and one month since I’ve had my official website up, I’m still learning when it comes to deciphering all those webpage stats such as Total Unique Sites, Total Unique Referrers, Total Unique User Agents and the like, but the one statistic I have gotten to know well is Total Hits per specific web page — and that’s not counting my own visits (which, with all due respect to the articles I’ve written, is something I don’t need to do. Hey, I wrote it. I don’t need to re-read my own articles or see if they’re still there).

So, in light of the fact I’m doing another Johnny Cash story (there’s the film, you know, the documentaries and the books and all that juicy chatter about The Oscars), I decided to check my website stats. (I differentiate here between my personal website and the Weekender website, where most of my articles have their first online run after print, thus stats to which I don’t have access.) I didn’t question interest in the Man in Black or how sexy Joaquin Phoenix would be saying “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” — of course there’s interest in that, what with “Walk the Line” and all — but to see if there’d been any interest showing up on my website for one of my recent articles on Cash. (Heck, isn’t every journalist writing about J.C. right now?) But did they visit my site? Did they read my article on Hugh’s book?

(With a big gulp here) — SURPRISE!! And a big Thank You to Hugh Waddell, author of “I Still Miss Someone,” Hugh’s brilliant, insightful, heart-tugging and fabulous tribute book to J.C. with more than 40 individual tribute chapters from some of “John’s” closest friends. (If you were a close friend, you’d know why it’s John and not Johnny. And if because I call him J.C. it gives away I wasn’t a close [sniffle] personal friend, so what?)

I mean, we’re talking tributes by Cash’s daughter Cindy Cash, his son John Carter Cash, Luther Fleaner, W.S. Holland, Merle Kilgore, Lou Robin, Bob Wootton, his #1 fan Dennis Devine (from Iowa, yeah!) and many more, and that’s not even counting the beautifully written forward by the Rev. Billy Graham and his wife Ruth.

Okay, so the big question: did they or didn’t they? Well, I may not be the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune, but for a year-old website still in its infancy, I didn’t think 941 hits to Hugh’s story — in October alone — was too shabby. And here it is, only Nov. 19, and already 1446 hits for November! And these were just to the story on Hugh’s book, not counting the hits to the J.C. images that accompanied the story. (Special thanks here to Michelle Brown at Cumberland Publishing.)

(Between you and me, I think I’m developing a close relationship with Cumberland — on Monday I’ll be interviewing Earl Hamner, Jr. [yes – The Waltons‘ Earl Hamner, Jr.] as well as James Person, author of the new bio, “Earl Hamner: From Walton’s Mountain to Tomorrow” — and yes, also published by Cumberland.)

Like I said, I’m not USA Today or People Magazine, but the highest number of hits I’d had before in any one month for one specific story were within the 300-mark, so to have over 1440 hits in less than a month just to read that one article is truly a big deal to me. And (in case you haven’t guessed) Hugh’s book is a big deal to me; it’s simply phenomenal, and Nope — I’m not receiving a dime for promoting it here. It’s just one of those must-have books if you’re a Johnny Cash fan. Or, if you’re not and know someone who is, I think you know your way to amazon.com and also know the number of days until Christmas…

Oh, and when you leave your review on amazon.com, make sure to include your shoe size and hometown. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

Parting thoughts (solicitations?): on Nov. 24, be sure to check back and read my article (under my Author Interviews) on Peggy Knight’s three books on Johnny and June and Mother Maybelle, as well as comments on the film. You Cash fans know who Peggy is. I’ll also have more JC photos and some “Devine” comments from Johnny’s #1 fan.

‘Gay cowboy movie’ shatters stereotypes

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I’m thrilled to see Pulitzer prize-winning novelist Larry McMurtry still has his fingers in the screenwriting business, and doubly pleased he’s doing so with writing partner Diana Ossana. The “Pretty Boy Floyd” authors teamed up once again to script “Brokeback Mountain,” a film about two cowboys involved in a homosexual relationship and based on a story by (Shipping News) author E. Annie Proulx.

The controversial film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival Saturday — that festival’s top award — and has earned acclaim at Toronto. According to cnn.com’s Paul Clinton, the ‘Gay Cowboy Movie’ shatters stereotypes. It’s slated for U.S. release December 9.

Directed by “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Oscar winner Ang Lee, the film stars “The Brothers Grimm” heartthrob Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and revolves around two young men, Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal), who are hired to tend sheep for a summer in Wyoming and find themselves attracted to each other. The story begins in the early ’60s and follows the men over the course of their lives as they continue to meet. The actors said they hope the film shows a gay relationship in a matter-of-fact, unsensational light and that it contributes to tolerance.

God knows, we could use a little tolerance right now, particularly in a day and age when we have Governators who haven’t yet overcome fear and prejudice and stand ready and willing to strike down an historic “marriage equality” bill enacted by the California Legislature.

(No word on whether that played any role in Ledger’s decision to sell his Los Feliz home and move to Brooklyn, NY).

At any rate, I applaud Ledger for his courage to go beyond the confines of sexuality toward the more difficult topic of love and tolerance.

That’s what I call a Patriot.

Meet NYT Bestselling author J.A. Jance in Des Moines

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Dear Readers,

I’m passing along some information received from author J.A. Jance, who will sign copies of her latest suspense novel “Long Time Gone,” during a ticketed luncheon event at the Des Moines Public Library on Friday, Aug. 19, from noon to 1 p.m.

Tickets are $15.00 and may be ordered by calling 515-288-5066. All proceeds will benefit the Des Moines Public Library Foundation, and books will be sold by The Bookstore.

The story behind Long Time Gone is as remarkable as any suspense writer ever could dream up: At a signing in Sierra Vista (Arizona) years ago, a fan asked for Jance’s address, saying she wanted to send her something. Weeks later, Jance received a brown Manila envelope. Inside, police reports detailed a case in which forgotten memories provided the impetus to clear a 50-year-old murder case. Who better to solve the crime than J.P. Beaumont!

Make plans to meet and visit with J.P.’s creator and contribute to a worthy cause.

For more information contact Jan Kaiser at 515-283-4103 or by e-mail at jdkaiser@pldminfo.org.

Read Jody’s July ’03 interview with J.A. Jance here.

McMurtry’s ‘Booked Up’ Comes to Close

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Though I try to stay on top all things McMurtry, I discovered just today that my all-time favorite novelist – Larry McMurtry – will close his last Booked Up bookstore (in Archer City, Texas) at this year’s end. According to a March 8 article in the Albuquerque Journal, McMurtry first announced the closing Feb. 1 by posting a letter on his store windows. He says he wants to travel and work on other books, and, of course, there’s nothing I’d love more than to have him write more books.

Still, in all honesty, I am devastated. You know how we all have our list of “things to do” — eventually? Visiting Booked Up in Archer City has been on my list for quite some time, and I’ve suddenly realized I’ve got to move it up — and fast. No more putting off getting new tires for the Durango. You see, like McMurtry, I like to drive, and it won’t be the first time I took a long trip that had McMurtry waiting at the other end.

On Sept. 29, 1994, my daughter and I made a 7-hour trip from my Iowa hometown to Minnetonka, Minnesota. Larry and his longtime companion, Diana Ossana, were signing copies there of the just-released “Pretty Boy Floyd,” which they had co-written. In addition to dragging my daughter along, I hauled two large book bags full of all my McMurtry books (no duplicate copies) that I hoped he’d sign. (Which he graciously did.)

I’ll never forget sitting in the front row, directly facing my favorite Pulitzer prize-winning author, and asking him questions about his very first book signing and his rancher uncles. He had a much softer voice than I anticipated, and an easy smile as he recalled that first signing and an uncle’s unexpected appearance.

I still have the photos I took at the signing, including one of me with Larry that hangs on my wall above my writing desk. Over the years, I’ve interviewed many authors, some of whom have become good friends. Yet nothing has quite ever compared to the day I met Larry McMurtry. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call remain my two favorite characters from fiction, though Emma Horton and Aurora Greenway run a close second.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading a McMurtry novel, it’s time to get started. Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, Somebody’s Darling, and All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers are just to name a few. Then, book on up or down to Archer City’s Booked Up before it’s too late. I hope to see you there.

Goodbye, Johnny

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I join the rest of the world today in mourning the loss of the beloved Johnny Carson. And yes, I was one of those 50 million who watched his last episode and hated to say goodbye, even then. There never will be another Johnny Carson. That look. Those eyes. That stare that said it all. He made us laugh for decades, but today he makes us cry.

I always felt proud to consider Johnny a “neighbor.” In Iowa one can get away with that sort of reasoning. After all, he was born just southeast of me, only a two-hour drive from my Onawa birthplace to his in Corning. And he grew up even closer, just across the river in Norfolk, Nebraska. I couldn’t attend a Norfolk trapshoot without thinking of Johnny.

When he established the Carson Regional Cancer Center there in 1988, I’d just begun working as a correspondent for the Sioux City Journal. Though he dedicated the treatment center in memory of his parents, Siouxlander’s in this tri-state region also were reminded how much he loved his native boyhood home. The facility – the first of its kind in the surrounding area – made it possible for patients to get treatment close to home at a time when it most mattered.

But, that was Johnny. It was the neighborly thing to do.

We’ll miss you here, Johnny. Some will thank you for all the laughs. Others will thank you for their careers. And many will thank you for their lives. You were the best kind of neighbor.

Jody