RIP Kenny Rogers (the singer, not the pitcher)

During which time there was a reported fling with Price Is Right honey Dian Parkinson.

 

All about the making of "Islands in the Stream," and a good read.

Forever No. 1: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands in the Stream’

 

Kenny and Dolly. Good times.

That was during my "Mark in the Dark" (midnight to 6 a.m.) disk jockey period at KKIS in a strip mall in Pittsburg, California. All Night Long. Islands in the Stream. Total Eclipse of the Heart. The Captain of Her Heart. Smooth Operator. The very definition of adult contemporary, 36 hours a week. Over and over and over and over.

All the music was on four reel-to-reel players, with the reels provided by the Drake-Chenault radio consulting agency. You were supposed to alternate between reels based on a song clock. But if you disengaged the "automatic stop tone," the player would just continue to the next song without stopping.

I could put up one reel and set an alarm to get one hour worth of a nap before needing to switch reels. I had no commercials and didn't really care to break in for mindless chatter, so I gave the station ID at the top of the hour and away it went again. I could even get to the McDonald's drive-thru before it closed if I wanted a late-night snack.

Of course there had to be tens of people listening at the time, and certainly not the programming director, so I was in no danger of losing out on my $5/hour gig!

 

“Ruby” was a very dark song if you listen to the lyrics. A pretty stark contrast to his other pop hits. What I call his story songs, “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County,” were my favorites of his.

 

Nobody has mentioned Kenny Rogers Roasters (Deliciously Healthy) yet? This place is slipping.

 

But without the gong and Peaches & Herb.

 

1983 in all its porn star mustache glory:

 

I saw a Kenny Rogers Roasters in a mall in the Philippines in 2016.

 

Before it was KLOS in L.A., it was KABC-FM. They taped the music and played it over and over. The DJ was "Brother John." If you listened enough, you realized that all the music was played in the same order and what he said between songs was the same thing. Later, this guy also used to end his show with "In A Gadda Da Vida" every night ... 17 minutes. He put it on and hit the bricks. He got off work 15 minutes early every night and was probably at the bar before his shift even ended.

 

Yep, looks like a future felon to me.

 

I KNOW! Too bad this photo wasn't hung in the local post office: Wanted for beating up old people over a motorhome!

"You gotta know when to walk away, and know when to run."