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CNN Live Today

Gunmakers Say Expiration of Assault Weapons Ban Won't Have Huge Impact on Business; The Man in Black

Aired September 13, 2004 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Ohio fire marshal is due to release more details today on a suspicious fire that burned so fast and so intensely that it killed 10 people in suburban Columbus. Six weeks ago, three small fires had been set in the same building. Authorities say that 10 victims all lived in the same two-bedroom apartment. A relative says they were Mexican immigrants.
In Houston, Texas a pretrial hearing is scheduled today in the nation's deadliest immigrant smuggling case. Nineteen illegal immigrants died last May when they were abandoned inside of a sweltering trailer. Among today's defendant, a 26-year-old accused ringleader who could face life in prison.

John Kerry today at a live event, anti-crime event in Washington D.C., talking about the end of the assault guns ban. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... says through Tom DeLay, well, it isn't going to get sent to him, but if he asks for it, we'll send it to him. Well, why didn't you ask Mr. President? Why didn't you fight for it? Why didn't you push for it? Why didn't you stand up and bring all the police officers of America and ask them to go knock on the doors of those Congressmen and senators? Why didn't you lead America to a safer place when you had a chance?

Let me be very clear, I support the Second Amendment. I am a gun owner. I am a hunter. I've been a hunter since I was a kid. But I'm also forever a law enforcement officer, and I know this, as a gun owner, as a hunter, I've never thought about going hunting with a military assault weapon ever, never.

KAGAN: Listening in a bit to senator John Kerry talking about the end of the ban on assault weapons, a 10-year ban. President Clinton signed that one into law. It means that the likes of AK-47s, Uzis, will now be legally bought. There was a big push by gun control advocates to have that ban extended, but if nothing happens in Congress, that will end at midnight.

Meanwhile, gunmakers are saying that the expiration of this assault weapons ban won't have a huge impact on their business. That might be because the industry has been selling stripped down version of these same weapon.

Ceci Rodgers has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gun manufacturers have been gearing up for this day. Despite pleas from police agencies, politicians and gun control groups, Congress is letting a decade long ban on military style, semi-automatic weapons, expire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American public needs to know and understand that the assault weapons are coming -- AK-47s, Uzis and clips of up to 100 rounds back on our city streets.

RODGERS: But gunmakers like Mark Westrom, who's preparing to manufacture the so-called pre-banned rifles as early as Tuesday, say they're seeing a trickle, not a surge, in orders from their customers.

MARK WESTROM, PRESIDENT, ARMALITE INC.: The up tick of interest that we're seeing is not enough to bring us back to last year's sales level. So, it's, you know, the people who think that there's going to be a sudden rush and an outpouring of firearms onto the streets are absolutely incorrect. It's not happening.

RODGERS: Armalite expects to ship about 30 of the pre-banned rifles a day, beginning some time this week.

(on camera): One of the main reasons that Armalite is not seeing a huge surge in demand is that its semi-automatic rifles, like this one, were still on the market the past 10 years, in a stripped down version that met the letter of the law.

(voice-over): The law banned 19 specific models, large capacity ammunition magazines and other weapons with certain military features.

WESTROM: The pre-banned guns could have five features not allowed during the post-ban period -- a flash suppressor or a grenade launcher mounted up here, a bayonet lug, a pistol grip and a collapsing butt stock.

RODGERS: The National Rifle Association calls it a "cosmetic ban." It was easy to get around and Armalite did, producing more of the rifles than ever before in the past decade. Similar to a hunting rifle, collectors and serious target shooters bought them.

WESTROM: Ten years ago, misuse of rifles of any sort, especially of our type, was vanishingly small. It still is.

RODGERS: So, what happens next in the battle over guns? Both those for and against gun bans say it likely hinges on who wins the White House in November.

Ceci Rodgers, CNN Financial News, Geneseo, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: From assault weapons to nuclear weapons, there had been speculation over the weekend that a giant cloud appearing over North Korea may have been part of a nuclear explosion, but that blast, seen on satellite pictures, was actually a planned demolition of a mountain to make way for a hydroelectric plant, at least that's what a British official who met with North Korea's foreign minister was told.

National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice says that it wouldn't be wise for the North Koreans to conduct nuclear tests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: Again, this is not just the United States that has said that there needs to be a nuclear- free Korean peninsula; it is North Korea's neighbors, which they have a lot at stake, places like China, which they have a lot at stake, and so the North Koreans would only succeed in isolating themselves further, if they're somehow trying to gain negotiating leverage, or their own October surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: President Bush received intelligence reports recently indicating that North Korea may be preparing for its first nuclear test.

Well, the president is making a pitch for his health care plan, part of a bus tour through Michigan today.

Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has a preview from Muskegon County.

Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Muskegon is really a place that is predominantly Democratic. It's a Democratic stronghold. The president lost here by about 10 percentage points. This is, of course, where he hopes to make some inroads and is stressing his health care plan. It was just last week that Senator Kerry slammed the president on a number of issues, but President Bush expected to outline his domestic agenda, specifically talking about medical malpractice liability reform, also talking about creating a health saving account and increasing community health centers for poor neighborhoods.

Now Kerry has proposed that the federal government pick up about 75 percent of the health costs of Americans. This is something that the president is going to frame as the government -- the federal government controlling people's health care plans. This is something that the president did last week, when he talked about the economy, when he talked about tax cuts. This president is focusing on a society of ownership, and that is something that we expect to hear from him today -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Suzanne, let's talk about the ban ending on assault weapons. President Bush making a campaign promise that he -- back in 2000, that he would extend the ban, then it was, well, if Congress sends it to me, knowing full well that Congress wasn't really going to get anything working there. Is that the president working both sides of the issue? MALVEAUX: Well, certainly, Daryn, it's no secret that the NRA, the gun lobby, of course, supports the president. But, also, we have been told, and the Bush campaign points this out, they believe the president is striking the correct balance here, that it was just over the weekend he got the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. They believe, on the one hand, he said yes, if Congress presents this to me, I will go ahead and sign it.

But first, there are a couple of other things to note, first that there are conflicting studies over just how effective this has been in reducing crime, and secondly, that many of the Democrats have not pushed forward in making sure that this ban did not expire, because many people believe back in 2000, it was one of the reason that Democrats lost, because they were talking about gun control. So this is something where the Bush administration feels confident that they are really walking that fine line, that they have struck that balance.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux in Michigan, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: In business news, a major U.S. carrier declaring bankruptcy for the second time. A live report from the New York Stock Exchange is just ahead. We'll see what impact that news is having on the market. They've been open about an hour and five minutes.

And calling all Johnny Cash fans. We're going to profile the life of the legendary singer. A new biography reaches store shelves. I'll have a preview for you, with the author and the singer's son.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, let's explain these live pictures we're getting in from London. That apparently is a man who is protesting father's rights in London. OK, they pulled out just as we're trying to show you. He's on the balcony of the queen's private residence at Buckingham Palace. Of course this would be a security issue. The man apparently has been up there for about four hours, not happy, saying that Britain's courts are biased against father's in divorce case for child-access arrangements.

Let's see what else he has to say and what the police have to say about security at Buckingham Palace, but as the camera pans over, he's just to the right. We'll get a closer look at Batman just ahead.

Right now, another quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: Such a presence. Gone, certainly, certainly not forgotten. It has been, if you can believe this, a year since music legend Johnny Cash died, ending a career that spanned a half century. It was an amazing journey that took him from the Grand Old Opry to the Big House to the White House and beyond. Today, fans get an even deeper insight into the Man in Black. A revealing biography, it's a new biography entitled "The Man Called Cash."

Author Steve Turner joins us, along with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny and June Carter Cash. He's produced a new tribute CD, "The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family."

Gentlemen, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

JOHN CARTER CASH, SON OF JOHNNY & CASH: Good morning to you. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing great. John, let's start talking with you here. During your dad's lifetime there were a number of books already written on him. So why a year past his death is it time to write yet another biography?

CASH: Well, actually, this book, you know, my father had signed off on it before he passed away. It was something that he looked forward to. It is a comprehensive journey through his whole life, starts when he was a child and goes through the period of his death, and it's an amazing journey. There is a lot here in this book that's not talked about anywhere else, and you know, in any of the other biographies.

KAGAN: Like what kind of things?

CASH: Well, you know, lots about my father's relationship with my mother. There's a lot about, you know, his growing up, his early childhood, more about his relationship with people like Elvis Presley, the guys that were his contemporaries when he was starting out in the music business. And of course there is the period after my mother's death until my father's death, all the period that's covered after my father wrote his autobiography.

KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about your mom and dad. They did appear to have one of the big love stories in music history.

CASH: A successful love story.

KAGAN: Yes, absolutely. Her death was, I imagine, not only difficult on the kids, but very difficult on your father, even more so than the public realized?

CASH: Yes, you know, my father -- when she passed away, a part of him was gone, also. You know, he was -- they were -- he told me, we were closer than we ever were when she passed away, and you know, he was very sad and he was alone, but he wasn't lonely. He had family with him. And you know, he had a great tenacity in his spirit, and he wouldn't stop. He kept on recording music, you know, after she passed away, and that was his medicine, you know, his heart and spirit just kept going. He didn't stop when he died. His spirit didn't stop; his body did.

KAGAN: A spirit so big there would be no way that that could happen.

Steve, let's bring you in here. You are a veteran rock journalist. You have covered some of the more fascinating characters and singers in the music world. What did you take away from writing about Johnny's cash.

STEVE TURNER, AUTHOR, "THE MAN CALLED CASH": I think his integrity and his honesty really. Even though he's classified as country music, I think he's much more out of the folk tradition of storyteller, and I think he prefigured people like Bob Dylan. That kind of surprised me in a way. You associate him with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, because he started at Sun Records in the '50s, but he kind of had the spirit of people like Dylan, people that came along in the '60s.

KAGAN: And, John, let me ask you about an auction that is supposed to take place I think starting tomorrow at Sotheby's. A lot of your dad's items, a lot of his possessions, will be auctioned off. Is that going to be difficult to let those go?

CASH: Yes, in lots of ways, I mean, of course it is. But it's also, there, again, it's something that my mother and father -- well, my father, especially, had planned on doing.

KAGAN: He wanted it handled this way?

CASH: Yes, he did. Well, actually, when my mother passed away, he was planning an auction while he was still alive. He had already put the wheels in motion, so to speak. You know, his heart and soul was with her, and when she passed away, there were so many of the things that were too close to her memories, or that were, you know, just things to him at that point. Things of the spirit mattered.

And so, yes, he planned on -- he planned on this auction. So, you know, it is sad in some ways, but a large part of who they were, and they felt, and as a family we feel, that that sort of belonged to people, you know, and so we're OK with it. We're moving forward.

KAGAN: And as you move forward, a year later, after your father and not that long after your mother's death, a big part of -- you feel your responsibility is sharing your parents with their fans?

CASH: Yes, yes. Definitely so. The fans -- the fans are what mean -- they were -- they are and were what made my parents a lot of who they were. You know, are the fans. And you know, it definitely is. My mother and father, I can hardly share with anyone other than family members, but people -- but Johnny Cash and June Carter, you know, part of them belong to the world.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Well, thanks for sharing a little part of your family with us.

CASH: Definitely.

KAGAN: Appreciate that. The book is called "The Man Called Cash," and there you see the writer Steve Turner, and the son, John Carter Cash.

CASH: I've got to say something about the "Unbroken Circle." KAGAN: OK, please, do.

CASH: Tell us about this CD. I'm just very excited. My dad, you know, passed away about a year ago, and this record is music of the Carter family, and it covers all their music. It's got people like Sheryl Crow, my dad's on it, and Willie Nelson, George Jones, just a lot of great folks. So we're thrilled that this CD is coming out, and it's about the Carter family music. You know, they had a lot to do with the formation of country music. Actually my father's very last recording is on this CD.

KAGAN: Excellent. Well, good luck with all that. Some good genes flowing through your family there, the Carter and the Cash family.

CASH: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank both of you for joining us today.

We're going to get a break in here. A lot more news at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired September 13, 2004 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Ohio fire marshal is due to release more details today on a suspicious fire that burned so fast and so intensely that it killed 10 people in suburban Columbus. Six weeks ago, three small fires had been set in the same building. Authorities say that 10 victims all lived in the same two-bedroom apartment. A relative says they were Mexican immigrants.
In Houston, Texas a pretrial hearing is scheduled today in the nation's deadliest immigrant smuggling case. Nineteen illegal immigrants died last May when they were abandoned inside of a sweltering trailer. Among today's defendant, a 26-year-old accused ringleader who could face life in prison.

John Kerry today at a live event, anti-crime event in Washington D.C., talking about the end of the assault guns ban. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... says through Tom DeLay, well, it isn't going to get sent to him, but if he asks for it, we'll send it to him. Well, why didn't you ask Mr. President? Why didn't you fight for it? Why didn't you push for it? Why didn't you stand up and bring all the police officers of America and ask them to go knock on the doors of those Congressmen and senators? Why didn't you lead America to a safer place when you had a chance?

Let me be very clear, I support the Second Amendment. I am a gun owner. I am a hunter. I've been a hunter since I was a kid. But I'm also forever a law enforcement officer, and I know this, as a gun owner, as a hunter, I've never thought about going hunting with a military assault weapon ever, never.

KAGAN: Listening in a bit to senator John Kerry talking about the end of the ban on assault weapons, a 10-year ban. President Clinton signed that one into law. It means that the likes of AK-47s, Uzis, will now be legally bought. There was a big push by gun control advocates to have that ban extended, but if nothing happens in Congress, that will end at midnight.

Meanwhile, gunmakers are saying that the expiration of this assault weapons ban won't have a huge impact on their business. That might be because the industry has been selling stripped down version of these same weapon.

Ceci Rodgers has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gun manufacturers have been gearing up for this day. Despite pleas from police agencies, politicians and gun control groups, Congress is letting a decade long ban on military style, semi-automatic weapons, expire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American public needs to know and understand that the assault weapons are coming -- AK-47s, Uzis and clips of up to 100 rounds back on our city streets.

RODGERS: But gunmakers like Mark Westrom, who's preparing to manufacture the so-called pre-banned rifles as early as Tuesday, say they're seeing a trickle, not a surge, in orders from their customers.

MARK WESTROM, PRESIDENT, ARMALITE INC.: The up tick of interest that we're seeing is not enough to bring us back to last year's sales level. So, it's, you know, the people who think that there's going to be a sudden rush and an outpouring of firearms onto the streets are absolutely incorrect. It's not happening.

RODGERS: Armalite expects to ship about 30 of the pre-banned rifles a day, beginning some time this week.

(on camera): One of the main reasons that Armalite is not seeing a huge surge in demand is that its semi-automatic rifles, like this one, were still on the market the past 10 years, in a stripped down version that met the letter of the law.

(voice-over): The law banned 19 specific models, large capacity ammunition magazines and other weapons with certain military features.

WESTROM: The pre-banned guns could have five features not allowed during the post-ban period -- a flash suppressor or a grenade launcher mounted up here, a bayonet lug, a pistol grip and a collapsing butt stock.

RODGERS: The National Rifle Association calls it a "cosmetic ban." It was easy to get around and Armalite did, producing more of the rifles than ever before in the past decade. Similar to a hunting rifle, collectors and serious target shooters bought them.

WESTROM: Ten years ago, misuse of rifles of any sort, especially of our type, was vanishingly small. It still is.

RODGERS: So, what happens next in the battle over guns? Both those for and against gun bans say it likely hinges on who wins the White House in November.

Ceci Rodgers, CNN Financial News, Geneseo, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: From assault weapons to nuclear weapons, there had been speculation over the weekend that a giant cloud appearing over North Korea may have been part of a nuclear explosion, but that blast, seen on satellite pictures, was actually a planned demolition of a mountain to make way for a hydroelectric plant, at least that's what a British official who met with North Korea's foreign minister was told.

National Security adviser Condoleezza Rice says that it wouldn't be wise for the North Koreans to conduct nuclear tests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: Again, this is not just the United States that has said that there needs to be a nuclear- free Korean peninsula; it is North Korea's neighbors, which they have a lot at stake, places like China, which they have a lot at stake, and so the North Koreans would only succeed in isolating themselves further, if they're somehow trying to gain negotiating leverage, or their own October surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: President Bush received intelligence reports recently indicating that North Korea may be preparing for its first nuclear test.

Well, the president is making a pitch for his health care plan, part of a bus tour through Michigan today.

Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has a preview from Muskegon County.

Good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Muskegon is really a place that is predominantly Democratic. It's a Democratic stronghold. The president lost here by about 10 percentage points. This is, of course, where he hopes to make some inroads and is stressing his health care plan. It was just last week that Senator Kerry slammed the president on a number of issues, but President Bush expected to outline his domestic agenda, specifically talking about medical malpractice liability reform, also talking about creating a health saving account and increasing community health centers for poor neighborhoods.

Now Kerry has proposed that the federal government pick up about 75 percent of the health costs of Americans. This is something that the president is going to frame as the government -- the federal government controlling people's health care plans. This is something that the president did last week, when he talked about the economy, when he talked about tax cuts. This president is focusing on a society of ownership, and that is something that we expect to hear from him today -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Suzanne, let's talk about the ban ending on assault weapons. President Bush making a campaign promise that he -- back in 2000, that he would extend the ban, then it was, well, if Congress sends it to me, knowing full well that Congress wasn't really going to get anything working there. Is that the president working both sides of the issue? MALVEAUX: Well, certainly, Daryn, it's no secret that the NRA, the gun lobby, of course, supports the president. But, also, we have been told, and the Bush campaign points this out, they believe the president is striking the correct balance here, that it was just over the weekend he got the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police. They believe, on the one hand, he said yes, if Congress presents this to me, I will go ahead and sign it.

But first, there are a couple of other things to note, first that there are conflicting studies over just how effective this has been in reducing crime, and secondly, that many of the Democrats have not pushed forward in making sure that this ban did not expire, because many people believe back in 2000, it was one of the reason that Democrats lost, because they were talking about gun control. So this is something where the Bush administration feels confident that they are really walking that fine line, that they have struck that balance.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux in Michigan, thank you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: In business news, a major U.S. carrier declaring bankruptcy for the second time. A live report from the New York Stock Exchange is just ahead. We'll see what impact that news is having on the market. They've been open about an hour and five minutes.

And calling all Johnny Cash fans. We're going to profile the life of the legendary singer. A new biography reaches store shelves. I'll have a preview for you, with the author and the singer's son.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right, let's explain these live pictures we're getting in from London. That apparently is a man who is protesting father's rights in London. OK, they pulled out just as we're trying to show you. He's on the balcony of the queen's private residence at Buckingham Palace. Of course this would be a security issue. The man apparently has been up there for about four hours, not happy, saying that Britain's courts are biased against father's in divorce case for child-access arrangements.

Let's see what else he has to say and what the police have to say about security at Buckingham Palace, but as the camera pans over, he's just to the right. We'll get a closer look at Batman just ahead.

Right now, another quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: Such a presence. Gone, certainly, certainly not forgotten. It has been, if you can believe this, a year since music legend Johnny Cash died, ending a career that spanned a half century. It was an amazing journey that took him from the Grand Old Opry to the Big House to the White House and beyond. Today, fans get an even deeper insight into the Man in Black. A revealing biography, it's a new biography entitled "The Man Called Cash."

Author Steve Turner joins us, along with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny and June Carter Cash. He's produced a new tribute CD, "The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family."

Gentlemen, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

JOHN CARTER CASH, SON OF JOHNNY & CASH: Good morning to you. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing great. John, let's start talking with you here. During your dad's lifetime there were a number of books already written on him. So why a year past his death is it time to write yet another biography?

CASH: Well, actually, this book, you know, my father had signed off on it before he passed away. It was something that he looked forward to. It is a comprehensive journey through his whole life, starts when he was a child and goes through the period of his death, and it's an amazing journey. There is a lot here in this book that's not talked about anywhere else, and you know, in any of the other biographies.

KAGAN: Like what kind of things?

CASH: Well, you know, lots about my father's relationship with my mother. There's a lot about, you know, his growing up, his early childhood, more about his relationship with people like Elvis Presley, the guys that were his contemporaries when he was starting out in the music business. And of course there is the period after my mother's death until my father's death, all the period that's covered after my father wrote his autobiography.

KAGAN: Let's talk a little bit about your mom and dad. They did appear to have one of the big love stories in music history.

CASH: A successful love story.

KAGAN: Yes, absolutely. Her death was, I imagine, not only difficult on the kids, but very difficult on your father, even more so than the public realized?

CASH: Yes, you know, my father -- when she passed away, a part of him was gone, also. You know, he was -- they were -- he told me, we were closer than we ever were when she passed away, and you know, he was very sad and he was alone, but he wasn't lonely. He had family with him. And you know, he had a great tenacity in his spirit, and he wouldn't stop. He kept on recording music, you know, after she passed away, and that was his medicine, you know, his heart and spirit just kept going. He didn't stop when he died. His spirit didn't stop; his body did.

KAGAN: A spirit so big there would be no way that that could happen.

Steve, let's bring you in here. You are a veteran rock journalist. You have covered some of the more fascinating characters and singers in the music world. What did you take away from writing about Johnny's cash.

STEVE TURNER, AUTHOR, "THE MAN CALLED CASH": I think his integrity and his honesty really. Even though he's classified as country music, I think he's much more out of the folk tradition of storyteller, and I think he prefigured people like Bob Dylan. That kind of surprised me in a way. You associate him with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, because he started at Sun Records in the '50s, but he kind of had the spirit of people like Dylan, people that came along in the '60s.

KAGAN: And, John, let me ask you about an auction that is supposed to take place I think starting tomorrow at Sotheby's. A lot of your dad's items, a lot of his possessions, will be auctioned off. Is that going to be difficult to let those go?

CASH: Yes, in lots of ways, I mean, of course it is. But it's also, there, again, it's something that my mother and father -- well, my father, especially, had planned on doing.

KAGAN: He wanted it handled this way?

CASH: Yes, he did. Well, actually, when my mother passed away, he was planning an auction while he was still alive. He had already put the wheels in motion, so to speak. You know, his heart and soul was with her, and when she passed away, there were so many of the things that were too close to her memories, or that were, you know, just things to him at that point. Things of the spirit mattered.

And so, yes, he planned on -- he planned on this auction. So, you know, it is sad in some ways, but a large part of who they were, and they felt, and as a family we feel, that that sort of belonged to people, you know, and so we're OK with it. We're moving forward.

KAGAN: And as you move forward, a year later, after your father and not that long after your mother's death, a big part of -- you feel your responsibility is sharing your parents with their fans?

CASH: Yes, yes. Definitely so. The fans -- the fans are what mean -- they were -- they are and were what made my parents a lot of who they were. You know, are the fans. And you know, it definitely is. My mother and father, I can hardly share with anyone other than family members, but people -- but Johnny Cash and June Carter, you know, part of them belong to the world.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Well, thanks for sharing a little part of your family with us.

CASH: Definitely.

KAGAN: Appreciate that. The book is called "The Man Called Cash," and there you see the writer Steve Turner, and the son, John Carter Cash.

CASH: I've got to say something about the "Unbroken Circle." KAGAN: OK, please, do.

CASH: Tell us about this CD. I'm just very excited. My dad, you know, passed away about a year ago, and this record is music of the Carter family, and it covers all their music. It's got people like Sheryl Crow, my dad's on it, and Willie Nelson, George Jones, just a lot of great folks. So we're thrilled that this CD is coming out, and it's about the Carter family music. You know, they had a lot to do with the formation of country music. Actually my father's very last recording is on this CD.

KAGAN: Excellent. Well, good luck with all that. Some good genes flowing through your family there, the Carter and the Cash family.

CASH: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank both of you for joining us today.

We're going to get a break in here. A lot more news at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com