At 77, Kenny Rogers slowing down but still singing

Sometime ago I decided if there were any entertainers I wanted to see who were in the Perry area, I would go and see them. When I was growing up in Vinton, we rarely went to see anyone famous because it cost too much money.

In the early 1980s, Red Skelton came to the Cattle Congress in Waterloo, and I really wanted to see him, but this was not to be. We had a family vacation in Missouri planned.

Since moving to Perry 20 years ago, I have seen several famous people who came to Des Moines or Ames as long as the cost was reasonable. The only concerts I saw before that was when my aunt and cousins took me to the Cattle Congress in the later 1980s, and we saw the Statler Brothers along with their opening act, Suzy Bogguss.

I didn’t even have to pay for the ticket. The older I get, the more I like the Statler Brothers. I did not appreciate them then as much as I do now. I also saw Bill Cosby around this same time with my cousin in Iowa City. He had a hilarious story about the first time using tri-focals. I remember coming home later that day in a blizzard.

In the past 20 years, I can remember seeing Paul Harvey, Tim Conway, Bob Newhart, Glenn Campbell, Barry Manilow, Red Green (twice, really Steve Smith), Bill Cosby (at least two more times) and Carol Burnett.

Of course we had the different entertainers who came to Lake Robbins Ballroom with the Sentimental Journey Celebrations, such as Les Brown, Pat Boone, Johnny Rivers, America, Asleep at the Wheel and Bobby Vee.

I saw all of them.

Let us not forget the entertainers who came to Perry in 1997 during the grand re-opening of the Hotel Pattee. All these shows were free and held on the Perry High School football field. My mom, four of her sisters and some of my cousins came to see the Anne Murray concert in Perry. From her comments during the show, Murray sounds like a patriotic Canadian.

Abraham Laboriel performed during the Hotel Pattee celebrations. Laboriel also came to the Lutheran Home to visit Roy Whyte, which was a big deal for Roy. The Christian band Jars of Clay also played. During their show I worked in the Coca-Cola wagon for the Perry-Area Chamber of Commerce and was so busy that I do not think that I looked up for more than an hour.

LeRoy Van Dyke and his Country Gold show come to the Iowa State Fair each year, and I have seen a lot of entertainers who once were very famous but now are more or less forgotten. Two who stand out are Jim Ed Brown and Lynn Anderson, who both just recently passed away. That is also where I saw the Quebe Sisters Band. They were great!

A few years ago I heard that Kenny Rogers was coming to Des Moines. When I checked into tickets, they were somewhere around $150 each. There is no way that I would pay that much to see anyone, so I passed.

Then I heard Kenny Rogers would perform at the grand opening of the Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson on Aug. 7. I heard that the tickets were $41.50, a price that I could live with. Unfortunately, his concert sold out in 27 hours, before I had obtained a ticket.

When I found out Rogers was asked to perform a second show on Aug. 8, I bought my ticket before he sold out.

I asked others if they wanted to go, but they could not make up their minds. By the time they did, the second show was also sold out.

I told some other people about my plans to see Kenny Rogers. Most just listened politely, but I was surprised at comments from people who were critical of my decision. It is akin to telling people about your trip to another country and their telling you they would never think of traveling to another country because there was so much to see in the good old USA.

It is also as if you are going in for an operation and they feel the need to tell you horror stories about the procedure you are about to have.

Aug. 8 soon came. I invited myself along with some friends and rode to Jefferson with them, chipping in for gas money. We were a little afraid there would not be enough parking, but we arrived about 6:40 p.m. and had no trouble at all parking.

My friends and I soon parted for the next few hours. I was going to see Kenny Rogers, and they were heading to other tainted parts of the casino complex.

I entered a very large room full of straight-backed chairs linked together. Behind them were nearly 160 folding chairs brought in because of the large attendance. There was seating for nearly 1,000 people.

Next to me sat a very nice couple from Jamaica, Iowa, who told me about different performers they had seen while ushering in Mesa, Ariz. Apparently, Jay Leno is great, and Tanya Tucker is not a nice person.

I also saw some people I knew from Perry and also Jefferson. About 90 percent of the people attending were in their mid-70s or older.

The concert was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. At about 7:40 p.m., a man from the casino came out and introduced Rogers, and shortly after Rogers limped onto the stage.

He sang two high energy songs while standing. Then he told the audience he had just had a knee replaced and would sometimes need to sit down. Throughout the show he stood most of the time and then would sit on occasion.

I had not seen Rogers for many years except recently on a Geico commercial. He looked older than I remembered, but I was remembering the Kenney Rogers of 30 years ago.
Rogers sang several songs and kidded with the audience. He picked out a man named Eric who was wearing a Gambler T-shirt, and he teased Eric all night long. We finally found out that Eric and his wife had bought their Kenny Rogers T-shirts from Amazon.

Rogers told Eric he would give him $10 for every hit song that he knew Rogers had done. Eric did not do too well, but Rogers threw out a bill for wearing the Gambler shirt.

He then told Eric that if he would raise his hand during the show whenever Rogers sang a song he remembered, then another $10 would be forth coming. All during the show, Rogers would throw out this money. I do not know if it was really money or not. At the end of the show, Rogers gave Eric a signed T-shirt.

He sang a tribute to Dolly Parton, but most of the show consisted of his many hit songs, from “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” and “I Just Dropped in to See What Condition my Condition Was In” to “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Lady,” “Daytime Friends,” “Coward of the County” and more.

Rogers also sang more recent songs and a song dedicated to his wife and twin 11-year-old boys.

I looked up his age, and he is pushing the age of 77, which explains the age of the audience.

The last song was “Islands in the Stream,” which had been a hit duet with Dolly Parton. During this song, he threw out six tambourines to the audience and finally exited the stage about 9:05 p.m.

All in all, it was a great concert for the price. Rogers did a fine job of singing, and his voice still holds up after all these years.

After the concert, I decided to find my friends in the other parts of the casino. While looking for them, I grabbed some free Pepsi and walked around, meeting several people I knew, all of whom were shocked to see me wading through the packed casino.

I never did see my friends. After about half an hour, I grabbed another Pepsi and went out front. I soon received a text, and one of my friends came to get me. I spent the next couple of hours watching them play on the slot machines. It is interesting the ways people react while playing.

I had not been to a casino in a long time. The last time, you still used nickels, quarter tokens or dollar tokens. Now everything is done with cash or a paper voucher. You can play on this voucher or cash out at a money machine.

The bets were a lot lower than I had seen previously. In Jefferson it is around 14 or 19 cents per bet, and you can go up from there. My friends claimed that they lost only $15 and $5, respectively. I knew someone else that was happy to win $98 while paying $300 to do it.

As for me, I lost nothing. I just ended up having four free Pepsis while watching.

The Oak Ridge Boys are coming to the Wild Rose Nov. 7 and will cost $32.50. I think I will try it. I hope someday they can have Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Quebe Sisters Band, Yakov Smirnoff and Jay Leno.