Ethan Hawke ponders Kris Kristofferson in 'Rolling Stone'

[a1aara]

PETER COOPER • April 3, 2009



The new issue of Rolling Stone hit newsstands Friday, and it includes a terrific piece on Country Music Hall of Famer Kris Kristofferson. Actor/director Ethan Hawke, a lifelong Kristofferson fan, wrote the piece, which opens with details of a backstage skirmish at Willie Nelson’s 2003 birthday concert at Madison Square Garden.

“Up from the basement came one of country music’s brightest stars (who shall remain nameless),” writes Hawke, who reports that the unnamed star told Kristofferson not to perform “any of that lefty (stuff) out there tonight.”


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090 ... 864/TUNEIN

[popcornjack]

well, I like moby teeth, but I don't sing about what I don't know...

[bravedave]

well, I like moby teeth, but I don't sing about what I don't know...

Me too

[jbsux]

Toby Keith says a Rolling Stone magazine report about a heated encounter with Kris Kristofferson at Willie Nelson's 70th birthday concert in New York City in 2003 is "100 percent fiction." The account begins an extensive feature story about Kristofferson written by actor Ethan Hawke for the magazine's April 16 issue which hit newsstands Friday (April 3).

Keith's denial of the story came Friday during an interview with CMT Insider's Allison DeMarcus during rehearsals for the Academy of Country Music Awards show in Las Vegas.

Although Hawke does not mention Keith by name, the story refers to "one of country music's brightest stars" who "at that moment in time ... had a monster radio hit about bombing America's enemies back into the Stone Age." It describes an exchange at the Beacon Theater in a room filled with an array of musicians including Elvis Costello, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Shelby Lynne and Paul Simon.

According to the Rolling Stone article, the star in question emerged from the theater's basement to wish Nelson a happy birthday before telling Kristofferson, "None of that lefty s*** out there tonight, Kris." The report goes on to say that Kristofferson replied, "What the f**k did you just say to me?" and that Kristofferson followed it up by asking, "You ever worn your country's uniform?" Kristofferson reportedly then told the star, "You heard the question. You just don't like the answer," and asked again, "Have you ever served your country?' The answer is, no, you have not. Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man's life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not. So shut the f**k up!"

The story claims that Ray Charles was standing nearby while the exchange took place.

Keith was not aware of Hawke's feature story until asked about it during the CMT Insider interview. After reading it, he said he never had such an encounter with Kristofferson.

"Kris and I are good friends and have come close to working on a couple of projects," Keith said. "I don't have to defend myself on this. This is 100 percent fiction. And I'd bet a million dollars on a lie detector test that this didn't happen."

Referring to the Rolling Stone story, Keith said, "So whoever he's talking about that he left nameless, there was a reason he left them nameless. He was insinuating me, which means he left it nameless because he doesn't want to deal with that."

As for Hawke, Keith said, "I don't care who he is. I don't know who he is. But you don't want to be sitting in a restaurant and have somebody come up and tap you on the shoulder and ask you a bunch of questions, and you can always say, 'I didn't say it was you.'

"You know, when I call somebody out, I say their name. So, you can talk to Kris and you can talk to Willie. ... They'll all laugh and say it didn't happen. ... Somebody's trying to get fiction in whatever magazine to make themselves a story. But if anybody does have anything to take this any further, I'm available. ... They can find out the truth."

Keith recalls rehearsing his song "I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again" at the Beacon Theater for Nelson's birthday concert.

"And as soon as I was done, they said somebody's gonna speak -- and I don't remember if it was Robert DeNiro or Bill Clinton -- and they said, I think, Ray Charles is on his way to the venue. Well, I had never seen Ray, so we went out and stood in the empty chairs, and [one of the members of Aerosmith] said, 'I ain't gonna miss this.' ... ZZ Top may have come out and watched that, too. ... They led Ray on from the right side and Leon Russell was on the left and Willie was in the middle. I stood and watched Willie cry. Of course Ray, couldn't see him, but Willie cried the whole time, and Ray played and they sang. The whole thing got quiet in there, and it was really mysterious and touching, like nothing you ever saw."

Connecting his recollections of the evening to the Rolling Stone story, Keith said, "For somebody to use their star power to get in and then create some s*** like this is just unfortunate for everybody. But, you know what? When you climb the flagpole the highest, the more people can see your butt."

[Dezdmona]

Interesting that Keith has had to defend his position/comments once again.

Being a fan of Kristofferson since the 70's, the quoted reference sounds 100% authentic.
Kris is the real deal.

[RinglingRingling]

Interesting that Keith has had to defend his position/comments once again.

Being a fan of Kristofferson since the 70's, the quoted reference sounds 100% authentic.
Kris is the real deal.

I think Toby was riding high, and forgot that there are folks in the music business that have been up, and down, and up and back again. Being a jerk on the first time thru that, lessens your chances of getting a second cycle.

[a1aara]

FUTK! Toby Keith should stick to picking on girls.

[Spider Johnson]

There were other people there. Including Kris K. Kris can easily vouch if the situation involved Toby Keith or not.

I am not passing judgement on this until it is proven. I have my doubts about the situation that alledgedly went down between Keith and Kristofferson. They are doubts and remain just that, until proven otherwise.

Toby has done quite bit for our troops, though he has never served in the military, he has served the military. I happen to like both them.

It is quite clear someone is not telling the truth here, be it Toby Keith or Ethan Hawke.
Someone, and probablly more than just one, will "have more than egg on their faces".

We know who can clear this up don't we? Why not wait, and pass judgement after all the facts are in, and not before?
What would the accusers say, if Kris says it was not Toby? or the situation did not happen as stated?

[a1aara]

From Peter Cooper:


Saturday evening, update on Kristofferson Rolling Stone piece
In Friday's Tennessean, we ran a celebrity column item about a Kris Kristofferson profile that is running in the current issue of Rolling Stone.
In that story, as we reported, author Ethan Hawke (yep, the famed actor) described a backstage confrontation between Kristofferson and an unnamed country star who sounded an awful lot like Toby Keith. Hawke was at the 2003 Willie Nelson birthday concert at Madison Square Garden, and he wrote of seeing Kristofferson and the unnamed star having a near-violent altercation.
The Rolling Stone article also included comments from a college classmate about Kristofferson's scholarly career.
Saturday, Kristofferson responded with a note to Rolling Stone that he copied to The Tennessean. Here is the note, in its entirety.
"I'm deeply grateful and was profoundly moved by Ethan Hawke's generous and respectful story about me. I have to say, though, I have no memory of talking so tough to anyone at Willie's birthday party - least of all to Toby Keith, (if that's who the nameless star is), for whom I have nothing but admiration and respect. And contrary to what the college classmate said, I never was President of any class in college, or on the debating team, writing club, or played baseball. I hated politics and never ran for anything."
So, that means that in his young life all Kristofferson really achieved was being a Golden Gloves boxer, a college football player, a Rhodes scholar, a military officer with a West Point commission and a published short story author (in Atlantic Monthly). And then he moved to Nashville and became one of American music's greatest songwriters. Oh, and then there's the acting thing.
Toby Keith, by the way, will perform on the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards show Sunday night.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090 ... N/90404010