The Man in Black

Early in the morning of May 11, 1965, officers in Starkville, Miss. arrested Johnny Cash for public drunkenness. As he told it in the song "Starkville City Jail," he was just "pickin' flowers."
Organizers are planning for this weekend in and around Starkville the first-ever Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival in honor of the late country music legend.
Cash was tough enough to empathize with the hard-boiled characters in his songs and play for those in prison, human enough to struggle with addiction and connected to his faith and His Lord and Savior enough to live well his own story of redemption. He remains one of my favorite musicians.
Starkville is a little over halfway between Interstate 55 and the Alabama line along U.S. Highway 82 within a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham, Ala. and Jackson, Miss. It is also accessible by air at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport just east of Starkville.
Entry to the festival is free, though organizers suggest a $10 donation to support the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum and the Starkville/Oktibbeha Boys and Girls Club.
Information can be found at www.myspace.com/pardonjohnnycash
or www.pardonjohnnycash.com .