January 13 - I hear the Hammer blowing, its rollin' 'round the bend

January 13, 1968 – Jonny Cash performs at Folsom State Prison in California, recording the live album “At Folsom Prison”, backed with June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Since his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in performing at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, due to personnel changes at Columbia Records.

Despite little initial investment by Columbia, the album was a hit in the United States, reaching number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. The lead single from the album, a live version of "Folsom Prison Blues", was a top 40 hit, Cash's first since 1964. “At Folsom Prison” received good reviews upon its release and the ensuing popularity revitalized Cash's career.

 Walk the Line, an Academy Award-winning biopic about Cash's life starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as June was released in the United States on November 18, 2005 to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim.

Both Phoenix and Witherspoon have won various other awards for their roles, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film, and Phoenix learned to play guitar for his role as Cash. Phoenix received the Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the first child of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer on the film.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a 2007 comedy film starring John C. Reilly. The plot echoes the storyline of 2005's Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line; Walk Hard is also a parody of the biopic genre as a whole.

As Walk Hard heavily references the film Walk the Line, the Dewey Cox persona is mostly based on Johnny Cash; but the character also includes elements of the life and career of Glen Campbell, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Donovan, Brian Wilson and Jim Morrison. The film also directly lampoons artists Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Elvis Presley and The Beatles, in addition to some artists playing themselves, including Eddie Vedder and Ghostface Killa. In addition, the film parodies or pays tribute to the musical styles of Bob Dylan, David Bowie and the seventies punk rock movement.

Sources used for this Hammer of Thor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Folsom_Prison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_the_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_Hard:_The_Dewey_Cox_Story

January 6 - The Hammer is back... with a vengeance.

On January 6, 1994, Nancy Kerrigan gained considerable fame beyond the skating world when she was clubbed in the knee with a collapsible baton by Shane Stant at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, an assault planned by rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and bodyguard Shawn Eckardt.

Stant followed Kerrigan to Detroit after failing to find her at her training rink in Massachusetts, and struck her on the thigh a few inches above the knee with a collapsible police baton. Kerrigan's leg was only bruised, not broken, but the injury forced her to withdraw from the national championship. Harding won that event, and both Kerrigan and Harding were selected for the 1994 Olympic team. After Harding admitted to helping to cover up the attack, the USFSA and United States Olympic Committee initiated proceedings to remove her from the Olympic team, but Harding retained her place after threatening legal action.

Seven weeks after the attack, Kerrigan skated what she considered to be the best two performances of her life and won the silver medal in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, finishing second to Oksana Baiul. Kerrigan had won the short program, but lost the free skate to Baiul in a close and controversial 5-4 decision. CBS Television further played up the controversy by portraying it as a Cold War east/west split, particularly singling out German judge Jan Hoffmann for supposedly biased judging.  Harding finished in eighth.

Legal Battles

Harding avoided further prosecution and a possible jail sentence by pleading guilty on March 16 to conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers. She received three years probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. As part of the plea bargain, Harding was also forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and resign from the USFSA.

On June 30, 1994, after conducting its own investigation of the attack, the USFSA stripped Harding of her 1994 title and banned her for life from participating in USFSA-run events as either a skater or a coach. The USFSA concluded that Harding knew about the attack before it happened and displayed "a clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior". Although the USFSA has no control over professional skating events, Harding was also persona non grata on the pro circuit because few skaters and promoters would work with her. Consequently, Harding failed to benefit from the pro skating boom that ensued in the aftermath of the scandal.

Harding maintained her innocence of, and disgust at the attack, and got a tattoo of an angel on her back, allegedly as a symbol of her innocence. In her 2008 autobiography, The Tonya Tapes, Harding said that she wanted to call the FBI to reveal what she knew, but refused when Gillooly allegedly threatened her with death following a gunpoint gang rape by Gillooly and two other men she did not know. Gillooly, who subsequently changed his name to Jeff Stone, called the allegations "utterly ridiculous".

Since the attack, Tonya Harding has gone on to participate in less-than-foxy boxing, and is shown here in all her boxing glory weighing in at an astonishing 132 lbs, up an estimated 30lbs from her championship figure skating weight:

Sourcres used for this week's Hammer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding#The_Kerrigan_attack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Kerrigan#January_1994_attack

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