It was the spring of 1996 when Johnny Cash rolled through Boston
on a tour that would bring him to the 1200 seat Avalon Ballroom. Never
having seen him, I was excited to witness this music legend live in
concert. His career had just been revived with a jump-start from
brilliant producer Rick Rubin, and as unlikely as it was, Johnny Cash
was back on the radio with the help of Rick and the cred he brings to
the table.   The experience would take a dramatic turn toward cool when we
found out Johnny would be doing a brief meet-n-greet with us before the
show. As I recall, it was a very small group of us, including Oedipus,
Steve Strick, Carter Alan, Mark Parenteau, record rep Karen Durkot.   About 6pm, we went to the venue, and then were placed in an
upstairs, empty room. The florescent lights were on, and the room
looked barren as we stood waiting for the legend to appear in this big
space that usually held hundreds of people. I forget the name of that
upstairs room... But right there next to Avalon, on Landsdowne Street.   Johnny came into the room with his handler or two... hard to
remember the exact details. You can see what he was wearing and my own
foolish attire in the enclosed photo. I do recall everyone in our small
group was given a shot at saying hi, speaking for a moment, and having
our picture taken with him. When he arrived, he was friendly, laid
back, coherent, gentle, and in every way wonderful. He courteously took
time for us and now, all these years later, I realize what an intimate
moment with him it really was. Mark Parenteau spoke the most; everyone
else seemed shy or nervous to actually engage him. Mark immediately,
like there was no hesitation at all, started talking to him about
meeting him years ago on some TV... Johnny remembered, and lit up with
the bond of mutual experience Mark refreshed him they shared.   I said little to him aside from hello, thanks for taking the
picture with me, blah blah blah. Not realizing just how huge he was at
the moment, I was stoked to meet him, but it was years later that I
realized the significance of it. Not that I didn't know he was a
legend, but as the years go by, I look at my picture and am
increasingly proud of the time I spent with him. What a great guy. I'm a media personality and radio broadcaster in Honolulu, Hawaii who
does a lot of interviews with artists. Listen for me as part of the news anchor team on Hawaii Public Radio, the prestigious two-channel, statewide home of NPR in the islands with six operating frequencies, and FM towers on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island reaching six islands and over one million residents in the signal path. http://hawaiipublicradio.org is their site and recent interviews for HPR have included director David Lynch, The Beach Boys, Bon Jovi, the Rev. Al Green, and legendary UK Elton John percussionist Ray Cooper. See more at my homepage http://davelawrenceonline.com as well as Facebook http://facebook.com/davelawrence and Twitter http://twitter.com/davelawrence -