Kris keeps rollin' on Songwriter, singer actor Kris Kristofferson's on the road, pickin' and talking politics

He yawns hugely and stretches like a big ol' bear unexpectedly awakened. Hugely. Then eases his deep-voiced self into the conversation because Kris Kristofferson's got a lot on his mind. Not the least of which is the upcoming presidential election and the shape of the American political landscape.
A history of political involvement going back to the '60s makes the Songwriters Hall Of Famer's views very credible. The touring that takes him back and forth across America qualifies him as something of an expert in landscapes, physical and social.
In previous election campaigns, Kristofferson's been very active on behalf of the Democrats. He'll likely support them again this year but not with the solid commitment of times past. This year he's choosing to concentrate on tours, the current one bringing him to Mississauga's Stage West Theatre next Sunday and Monday.
"It would have been a hell of a lot more interesting if Ross Perot had stayed in it. He was the best thing to happen to American politics in a long time," asserts Kristofferson.
As a Rhodes Scholar who taught history in the army when he wasn't flying combat helicopters, Kristofferson is well acquainted with the long term, historical view.
"The political system hasn't been called to account by the people since the founding of America. By comparison, what happened in the '60s was a narrow-based movement which wasn't all that populist.
"Ross Perot hit a nerve which is raw all across America. He appealed to the disaffected of both the right and left, people who might stick to the party line but privately have a lot of questions.
"Perot brought all of those out because he's questioning the entire system, not this party or that individual. I don't know what it looked like up here, but it was definitely a people's movement.
"I think he is genuine and if he'd won it, he would have brought the right people, regardless of party, together for the job. He was raising the same questions a lot of us have but to the establishment, it was like the barbarians were at the gates of Washington.
"I mean all of the establishment, including the media. All the people feeding off the Washington trough. They were s--t scared, so you had people like (columnist and TV analyst) George Will using scare tactics in talking about Perot and obscuring the issues."
There's a touch of the personal hurt to all this. Kristofferson's best bud and mentor Willie Nelson's been laid low and stripped bare by what some consider a personal vendetta on the part of the IRS. They point to the timing, Nelson's troubles coming down shortly after he staged the first Farm Aid and dumped a ripe load of embarrassment on the government.
"Willie had a whole lot of bad advice and mismanagement. Willie was also supporting a lot of people because he's that kind of guy. You don't just work for Willie, you become part of a family.
"Right now he's the walking embodiment of 'freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.' But it hasn't embittered Willie.
"I remember one time, just after they'd stripped him of the ranch, the studio, all the equipment, the homes where his people lived, we were picking together.
"I said, 'Willie, this is so f------g sad, man.'
"He said, 'You know what would be sadder, Kris?' I said, 'What?'
"If they were doing it to someone who gives a s--t."
We broke up laughing and I said, 'Willie, you're hopeless.'
"It's like way back when the IRS stripped Joe Louis of everything he had. As long as he was being the Brown Bomber and minding his mouth, everything was cool. But when Louis began speaking up, they went after him with what amounted to vindictiveness.
"And you have to ask, what did this man do for America? In both cases, a helluva lot more than the little men who tore them down.
"Willie's in Texas rehearsing for a little Highwaymen tour we're doing in August."
That would be your country supergroup in which Kristofferson and Nelson are joined by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. And yes, it's highly unlikely The Highwaymen'll make it up here this year but there will be a new album early in the new year.
"We're all going to be a lot more involved with this one. That first Highwaymen album was mostly other people's ideas. Everything about it, from the song selection to the production, came from other people and we just sailed through it. That's not going to happen this time.
"I'm also writing songs for another solo album. Love songs, lots of love songs although I can't see myself not slipping in a couple that have to do with the American condition. Got to watch that, though.
"The last album, Third World Warrior, was solid, it was political, it was committed and it got me kicked off the label.
"I'm looking forward to this one, working with Don Was producing and my boys, The Borderlords, who I'm kind of missing right now."
That's because on this jaunt, Kristofferson's accompanied only by one other player, on guitar and keyboards. He figures the balance between doing acoustic and full-band electric shows keeps the performing and songwriting skills sharp.
Remarkably, for a guy who's tunes have been covered by 380 artists, he remains as passionately involved with the mechanics of writing as ever.
"I never trust anything that comes too easy. I really do like working at it, editing, fine tuning, sometimes dropping in little things nobody'll notice but me.
"I'd have to say I get more kick out of writing and performing than I do out of movies. I like doing them; I've got one coming on the TV in the fall. But movies are about being someone else.
"Songwriting, I'll be doing that and enjoying it until they're throwing dirt on my box."
Meanwhile in America, Bush slips on Iraq and slides down the polls, the Perot posse wanders lost and leaderless and Clinton resurects JFK and tries on his suit. But it doesn't quite fit because the Democratic party of '92 isn't what it was for Kennedy. Kristofferson finds this worrisome and saddening.
"I'll probably end up supporting the Democrats but only because they're preferable to Bush. I'm not going to make any big supportive statements on their behalf because I'm seeing things in this ticket I don't like.
"Rightly or wrongly, Clinton feels he has to appeal to the centerist vote and he's trying to distance the party from its traditional following and ideals.
"Since I personally spent a lot of time and energy supporting those ideals, it's sad that this election's going to come down to supporting the lesser of two evils."
Or freedom's just another word for nobody left to vote for.

-Lenny Stoute, The Toronto Star, 1992