R. I. P. Kris Kristofferson, dead at 88

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwd69n7xxgo

I particularly admired this guy. He was a Rhodes scholar who was invited to become a lecturer at West Point but instead decided to follow his dream of being a songwriter, so he went to Nashville, rather than West Point. He got a job as a janitor/gofer at a songwriting studio and his mother disowned him for dishonoring the family tradition of military service. He went on to become close friends with Johnny Cash and others (see The HIghwaymen), and wrote some of the best ever country songs.

On weekends away from his janitorial duties, he was a helicopter pilot ferrying men out to off-short oil rigs. He "borrowed" a helicopter one weekend and landed it in Johnny Cash's back yard and insisted that Cash listen to one of his songs. The rest is history.
 
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