happy independence day!!!!!!!!!

it's a special day... a movie i recommend is "god grew tired of us." and "1776"!! songs? "man in black," "this land is your land," "american music." food? watermelon, of course!!!!
w/our smog & wildfire smoke, we really shouldn't have fireworks here in bakingfield, but we do, so enjoy safely. i LOVE LOVE fireworks, but increasingly worry about them...
hope everyone who reads has lots for which to be grateful. :) today i'm 13, & i have much. independence: what a concept, & how lucky we are to have it, relative to many on this planet. (some have more, i could complain, but why? not now.) focusing just on music: 7 new songs since home from texas; safari sam's sunday; fun friends to play music w/(read below); dusk devils just reached 3500 myspace friends!! to see, go to www.myspace.com/theduskdevils ... . not too smoothly worded, but i got buttloads of gratitude, in spades, & wish the same for you. :) :) :)

"i wear the black for the poor & beaten down..."

i thought our grandpa, a retired kern county sheriff's deputy, was johnny cash (& that muhammed ali & elvis were the same person). this seeming dumbness has puzzled me a little. then in today's paper, they announced a new dvd set from cash's tv show, which my family used to watch, & i realized that i was an infant & toddler when it was on!
our grandpa did look like j.c. i wish i had a picture. 6'4," large-framed, curled lip, weary, wary, but kind eyes, square jaw, solemnly handsome. grandpa just LOOKED like a 1950s detective, the "good cop" who'd bust up the bad guy in the last reel cause he had to, or a hero, or... johnny cash.
"man in black" & "sunday morning coming down" always make me cry. cash's dignified gravitas, gentle humor, bravery, & social conscience touched many (tho i guess with friends he was a real prankster!). he was a "unifier of opposites" more than any public figure before or since. reds & blues loved him equally. if more like him existed, people would realize that their separations are surfaces! an army of johnny cashes could bring the world together, tho "army" is the wrong metaphor, & there was & only ever will be one j.c.
i hope i can go out & get that box set.
man in black video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfI9B8e9tW4
man in black lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnycash/maninblack.html