The Day I Met My Hero Kenny Rogers ~ For God's Sake Don't Turn Around

I’d like to take this moment to indulge myself in sharing one of the best and worst moments of my life. It’s a story, and more importantly an experience, that I know many of my friends are overly familiar with and I’m sure they are surprised I have waited till three o’clock in the day to tell it, AGAIN.

A long time ago I was a seasoned music booker in television and had loaded countess bands and stars in and out of TV studios. Mostly they were grubby little perverts or big angry arseholes, so I’d turned off my feelings and cranked myself up to full ‘Teflon to 11’ by then and was steadfastly professional without making eye contact. It was just get em in and get em out, day in day out.

Anyway, I was once working on a TV show that was aimed at housewives, but staffed by Lad types, so the only excitement that went around the office was talk of Oasis, X-files and footballers. No one shared who their guests were or had any appreciation of anything other than the Gallaghers.

One ordinary day, not my show day, I needed to speak to someone who was in the transmission studio, so I opened the weighty outer sound door, which auto-hydraulically closed behind me, and found myself sealed in the cubicle between the outer and inner sound doors with Kenny Rogers.

Now, I can’t stress how efficient and professional I was in my job, until I was very occasionally caught off guard by one of my life long heroes.

I am sorry about what happened, and I know it was wrong, but it was a primal reaction. I’m 5.1 and He’s about 6.2, and his beautiful 6.5 supermodel wife was also trapped in the vacuum with us. I froze in his bright blue megastar gaze and I shot out an arm and touched his million dollar beard, while whispering “Kenny Rogers”, panicked and pushed passed them out the door they’d come through.

Neither of them said a word. They didn’t complain, didn’t demand my termination, he didn’t even blink them beautiful, kind, twinkling, talented, country legend gentleman’s eyes that were looking directly into mine. Eyes that had seen Dolly, Elvis, Johnny, the Golden Nugget in 70’s Vegas. The eyes that were a portal to my fantasy world.

Even though I spent the rest of the day hiding in the cupboard in the wardrobe department, consumed with horror, I’ve dined out, lived off and privately delighted in the day I touched Kenny Roger’s beard. What a hunk of quality dude.

Thank you for a life time of emotional bass riffs, tummy tightening melodies, divine vocals, exquisite phrasing (I’ve spent hours trying to learn), white suits, humour and a moment I’ve treasured for ever. You smelt like heaven too.