Farm Aid 2009 Lineup

Farm Aid 2009 Lineup

Farm Aid praised family farmers for their ingenuity and perseverance at its sold-out benefit concert held today at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Mo., just outside of St. Louis. Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, joined by artists performing at Farm Aid 2009 Presented by Horizon Organic, held up the innovation and commitment of family farmers in a call for food and agriculture policies that support their efforts to realize a new vision for agriculture. "Family farmers are the first rung of the economic ladder in this country," said Nelson, president and founder of Farm Aid. "Against all odds, they have persevered and found ways to stay on their land, growing good food for all of us and creating strong communities. It's time now for policy to rise to meet their needs with fair prices and support for their innovations."

Farm Aid's music and HOMEGROWN food festival celebrated the important contributions of family farmers, while raising funds to support Farm Aid's work throughout the year to strengthen family farm agriculture. The concert event again featured HOMEGROWN concessions, which included traditional festival fare like corn dogs, candy apples and cheeseburgers made from family-farm identified, local and organic ingredients. Farm Aid's HOMEGROWN Village featured hands-on activities that gave concertgoers a chance to meet farmers, get their hands dirty, and learn how family farmers are enriching our soil, protecting our water, and connecting us to our roots.

Farm Aid 2009 Presented by Horizon Organic featured board members Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, and Matthews, who performed with Tim Reynolds, along with Jason Mraz, Wilco, Jamey Johnson, Gretchen Wilson, Phosphorescent, Billy Joe Shaver, Will Dailey, Ernie Isley & the Jam Band, Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, The Blackwood Quartet, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. "The power of music brings people together. The Farm Aid concert, with its genre-busting lineup of talented, driven artists, reflects the diversity of family farming in America. Farm Aid prides itself on being a big tent. We invite all Americans to join us in pressing for food production that protects our environment, our health and our economy," said Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid. "We are encouraged by the opportunity the new administration in Washington offers us all for making the needed changes."

Paul Shaffer

Paul Shaffer

Paul Shaffer is the bandleader on the David Letterman TV show which airs in the U.S. on the CBS network. Letterman is in the news for his own reasons these days, but Shaffer has a memoir coming out next month called We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives. Vanity Fair magazine has published an excerpt that just happens to be all about Shaffer’s various encounters with Bob Dylan through the years. It reads as the precious memories of a fan excitedly meeting his idol, and indeed that’s what it is. One excerpt, regarding Dylan’s 1983 appearance on the Letterman show:

Shaffer also describes his discomfit at seeing Dylan wearing a cross in 1979, when he performed songs from Slow Train Coming on the Saturday Night Live TV show. Shaffer, being Jewish himself, had taken pride in the Jewishness of “the most important poet of our generation.” In later years Shaffer was gratified to see evidence that Dylan was apparently now practicing Judaism (but not so gratified when Dylan left a rehearsal early, apparently because of the Sabbath). All in all, amusing and nice stories from Paul, but the biggest revelation is surely that Bob Dylan was a big fan of Larry “Bud” Melman (real name: Calvert DeForest).

Powerball winner

Powerball winner

Powerball winners have made big money this year, and the Powerball winner last night took a tidy sum. The Powerball winning jackpot last night had gonePowerball Winner Hits $193M Jackpot in FloridaCostumes Party Ideas Kids and Safety Movies and Music Scary Stories More » up to $193, and was getting close to making big headlines again. But before it got bigger, a Powerball winner emerged from Florida to take the jackpot before it went over $200 million. It wasn't the biggest lottery grand prize of the year, but the Powerball winner got one of the biggest individual payouts of the season.

According to CBS 4 in South Florida, a winning ticket from Florida got all five Powerball numbers, as well as the Powerball itself. The winning numbers were 12, 24, 48, 50 and 57, with the Powerball at 22. Allegedly, one Florida player was the only big Powerball winner of the night. Therefore, the Powerball winner gets the full $193 million jackpot, either in a series of payments or a lump sum. It was the first successful draw in some time, as the lottery game was starting to near its jackpot heights from earlier this summer.

Powerball and Mega Millions each went up to over $300 million in their jackpots a few months ago, but had stayed relatively quiet since then. The Powerball jackpot was starting to inch closer to those big numbers, before the Powerball winner in Florida hit it big. Now the jackpot goes back to a mere $20 million for the next drawing on Wednesday. Only a few other players came close to the big payday, by hitting the first five Powerball numbers. Just two players will get the $200,000 second prize for that, as those tickets were sold in Indiana and Arizona.