History Meme, AKA, the Lifeguard made me do it.

The Lifeguard tagged me so here is my response....


Gram Parsons
11/5/46 to 9/19/1973
The not so widely known founder of the Country Rock Genre

1. Despite having been born with the career handicapping moniker of Ingram Cecil Connor III, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Gram as #87 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone Issue 946.

2. He briefly attended Harvard University to study theology.

3. Gram Parsons was originally hired to play keyboards with Byrds. Eventually he moved to the guitar and was...instrumental...in pointing that band towards country music. The culmination was a February 15, 1968 performance at the Grand Ole Opry. Most notable, they were the first bunch of longhairs to perform on stage at the Opry.

4. On July 29, 1968, just before flying to South Africa to perform, Parsons separated from the Byrds, not because of their inability to spell their own name, but because he refused to play to a segregated audience.

5. After Parsons’ death, road manager, Phil Kaufman stole Parsons' body from the airport, where it was to be transported to Louisiana for burial and in a borrowed hearse, drove Parsons' body to Joshua Tree for a botched dessert cremation.

6. Since stealing a body was not a crime, Phil Kaufman was only fined 700 smackers for burning the coffin. Incidently, Johnny Knoxville starred as Phil Kaufman in Grand Theft Parsons, a dark comedy surrounding the events of the dessert cremation.
7. Ironically, just a few months prior, during the Summer of ‘73, Parsons’ home in Topanga Canyon met a similar fate having burned to the ground as the result of a stray cigarette. He lost nearly all his shit with the exception of guitar and a really cool Jaguar.

Strangely, almost exactly one year ago, Gram Parsons was inducted into the Shertastics.