Willie Nelson unveils statue of himself on 4/20

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By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press

Friday, April 20, 2012
(04-20) 16:35 PDT Austin, Texas (AP) --

Country music legend Willie Nelson helped unveil a statue honoring him in downtown Austin by singing his new song "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" on Friday, a date long reserved to celebrate marijuana use.

The faint smell of marijuana smoke wafted through a crowd of about 2,000 people as Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell accepted on the privately funded statue as a gift from a private arts group. Organizers said they didn't intentionally choose April 20 for the event, but once they found out, they scheduled the unveiling at 4:20 p.m. as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Nelson's openness about his marijuana use and advocacy for its legalization.

The statute stands in front of the Moody Theater, where the Austin City Limits Studio is now located. Nelson, a 10-time Grammy Award winner who has sold more than 40 million copies of his 150 albums, appeared on the first episode of the public television show in 1974.

"He is the man who more than other made Austin the live music capital of the world," Leffingwell said.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/04/20/national/a000253D93.DTL

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20120420-austin-to-unveil-willie-nelson-statue-today.ece

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1. Willie Nelson is pretty damn cool.

In my area a few weeks ago, there were a few horses found to be very malnourished, in pretty bad shape. Somehow he heard about it and adopted them - they'll be going to live at his ranch, if they're not there already.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/17275520/country-music-legend-to-adopt-abused-horses



"Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" - rofl.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Yes, he is pretty damn cool.

I've been lucky enough to have seen him in concert 3 times. He really puts on a good show, not to mention the different causes he has called attention to using his talent.