My Celeb Encounters: Kenny Rogers And The First Version
In the summertime of 1968, my aunt got here from Connecticut to go to my household in southern California. Throughout the two weeks she was with us, on a regular basis was some type of great journey. We went to the seashore a number of occasions; we went to the Los Angeles Zoo. We visited every kind of museums and the La Brea Tar Pits. Disneyland, Common Studios, and Knott’s Berry Farm had been additionally on the exercise agenda.
Whereas we had been at Knott’s, the grownups had been speaking a couple of live performance that was taking place on the park that day. I used to be eleven years outdated, and had spent my life (up to now) in a musical family. Most of my household had been musically proficient folks and everyone in our home beloved music. There was a report participant or radio going twenty-four hours a day.
Though I beloved music, I had by no means seen a stay efficiency. Kenny Rogers and The First Version was the identify of the band performing, and I had by no means heard of them. On the time, I used to be strictly a fan of nation artists like Johnny Money and Patsy Cline, so I wasn’t very passionate about buying and selling the thrills of an amusement park for some “unknown”band. My thoughts was about to be blown…
As we walked into the live performance venue, my eyes had been instantly drawn to the large, stunning, glowing set of drums. Underneath the brilliant stage lights, it was an incredible sight. The row of amplifiers on both facet of the drums all had lights glowing on them, and there have been a number of stunning guitars on stage. I had grown up surrounded by musical devices, however to see them onstage beneath the lights was indescribable.
We sat within the massive theater for about thirty minutes, when unexpectedly the lights went out. I may see silhouettes shifting round at the hours of darkness onstage and this received my coronary heart pumping. Swiftly the lights got here on and the band was enjoying. It was like a spiritual expertise; I do not assume I blinked my eyes for your entire present for concern of lacking one thing. The sound contained in the corridor was one thing I had by no means skilled, both. It sounded nothing like my information at dwelling. It was bigger than life. I used to be enthralled by each music, and the finale was a canopy of The Seashore Boys music “Good Vibrations”.
This was a music I had heard many occasions, and after they started enjoying, it sounded wonderful. There have been flashing lights, smoke, and Rock and Roll. On the finish of the present, I used to be in a trance; I could not transfer. I sat there staring on the stage, and my household was getting impatient. Mother stated “we’re going outdoors to get some air and a drink; we’ll meet up in a couple of minutes”. As I sat there transfixed on the spectacle earlier than me, to my amazement, among the band members got here out into the viewers space.
I used to be one in all just a few folks lingering inside, and a man with lengthy hair and a beard and a lady (who I acknowledged because the lead singers) got here as much as me. They launched themselves and stated “how did you just like the present?” The one factor I may get out of my mouth was “I would like drums”. They laughed and stated drums took plenty of apply and perhaps I ought to begin out with a guitar… I simply nodded. My mother got here again in on the lookout for me and was launched to the band. She stated she was their latest, and largest fan.
All the best way dwelling, I begged and pleaded with my dad for drums, however to no avail. This went on for a number of weeks till my mother and sister received uninterested in listening to me, and went out and purchased me an electrical guitar and amplifier. I’ve been knowledgeable musician for many of my life, and if not for Kenny Rogers and The First Version, I’ll have chosen a special path in life.
