She was with her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter and some friends] and attended the Songwriter's Showcase on Friday night [6/11] and had great seats. She said that Randy, Teddy and Jeff were all there and performed individually, as well as together. They had guest artists as well, but she didn't say who they were. She did say that it was very enjoyable.
Somewhere along the line [not sure which day and where] a presentation was made to the 3 guys. An Alabama state senator had gotten legislation passed designating the roads around the guys' homes:
Randy Owen Parkway
Teddy Gentry Road
Jeff Cook Highway
At the event, Randy got up and made a comment about Mark Herndon [their drummer], graciously saying that "everybody knows that there would've been no ALABAMA without Mark Herndon" since he didn't get a road named for him because Ft. Payne is not his hometown. He's from Springfield, Massachusetts.
The fan club member only concert at Randy's ranch took place on Saturday [6/12]. She said that it was great, he played for about 2 1/2 hours and that Kelly came up on stage near the end of the concert and was rubbing Randy's back and that he was shedding some tears. He then made the announcement about his diagnosis of cancer and then sang Goodbye [Kelly's Song] and once he was done with the song, he just walked off stage; Kelly stayed up there and spoke to the fans for a minute or so. She and Randy both insisted it's treatable and he said very determinedly that he would see them there at the concert next year [2011].
Randy left and went to the house [the concert is held in the barn on the ranch] and cleaned up [I guess showered and changed] then came back down to the ranch offices and did a meet and greet with the fans in attendance. Steve Boland was there [Randy's bodyguard, remember] and he was putting out the word discreetly to all of the fans that it was one item, one picture and a short conversation with Randy per person. My friend said she asked why he didn't just cut the line off and Steve told her that Randy would have a fit if he did that. Janice said her conversations with Kelly, Randa and Steve just confirmed again how much Randy loves his fans!
Sunday [6/13] she said that Teddy had a Gospel singing somewhere and that they attended that. Jeff was in attendance. However, he didn't perform. Teddy had several "up and coming" artists he has signed to produce there. It was kind of like a showcase for them.
Then there was the signing at the Fan Club. They attended that and had a good visit with Randy and Teddy, Jeff was at the start of the line. She said they were limiting the number of items, picture taking and conversation. Well they have to or else the guys would be there for hours on hours signing and chatting. She stayed over and returned home on Monday.
When she called me last Saturday to tell me of Randy's cancer diagnosis, she asked me not to put it on FaceBook. Since then, Randy has put out a press release concerning his cancer diagnosis and it's on his FaceBook page, so I decided that since he has "gone public" with it, it was okay for me to use the "share" button and post it to my FaceBook page. I told her that I had held off making any comments about Randy's cancer diagnosis on FaceBook, but once he put out the press release, I decided it was okay for me to. She agreed - she told me last night that the word was put out at the concert asking the fans to hold off putting it out on the Internet. The reason given was that after his family, the next people to find out about it were the fans - Teddy, Jeff and Mark didn't yet know about it! Randy hadn't told them yet; he didn't want them finding out from the Internet.
In other news, she shared with me last night that Keith Fowler also passed away. She said that Friday night at the Songwriter's Showcase there were 2 tributes standing on the stage - one for Bruce Burnett [road man] and the other for Keith. If memory serves me, Keith was Greg Fowler's dad. She said that's what she was thinking - Greg's dad, but some at the SS were saying Keith was Greg's brother. She said she didn't want to argue with them and state unequivocally that Keith was Greg's dad and then turn out to be wrong about it.
She said that Randy's Fan Club membership cards [that had to be shown for admittance to the concert] were the same as the cards from last year. She said she asked Misty [one of the Fan Club assistants] how they knew if the membership was valid and Misty told her that they had a list [of members] and that if the person's name wasn't on the list, they could either pay the membership fee and join on the spot or else leave.
I'm looking forward to some pictures!
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