The Case of The Missing Trigger

Willie Nelson performed at the 2004 Democratic Convention tonight WITHOUT TRIGGER! Since May, Willie has been battling carpul tunnel syndrome and has been sparingly doing shows post surgery. He recently performed at Ray Charles' memorial ceremony sans guitar. I had seen a photo in Rolling Stone doing "Georgia", but I had thought he was doing a guitarless arrangement. But tonight he had a Trigger proxy; a guy that looked like Lonnie Mack (but probably wasn't) doing signature Willie riffs on "Living In The Promised Land" while standing behind a Trigger-less Willie.

This is a national crisis of a gravity somewhere between missing plutonium and Austin Powers' missing Mojo. But ostensibly Willie's recuperation was suposed to have taken place in June. He started booking tour dates and had a big weekend for his annual July 4th picnic. There have been a smattering of cancelled and postponed dates since and now his tour with Dylan is iffy. Obviously, if he cannot perform one song at an appearance with Trigger, then a full concert appearance is going to be tough.

Can we imagine an America without the BRANG of Willie's nylon-string burping out in front of The Family Band? It is unconscionable. This is dire. Almost as dire as another Bush presidency.

John Kerry is building his speech to a rousing big finish. Good speech. U2's "Beautiful Day" springs forth into the hall. Kerry and Edwards are trying to deliver the goods. The 100% biodegradable balloons are drifting down. I remember the 2000 GOP Convention; an overestimation of confetti resulted in a near whiteout on TV. They were the party of confetti.

I hope that it may be firmly resolved to have Willie at the inaugrural ball with Trigger in hand doing Whiskey River. That is an American ideal as good as some and better than most.