Page 128 - Been There… Done That!

Gary Graham
I pulled a pill bottle of gold nuggets from my pocket and pitched it to him and said, “Merle, how are you?” He replied, “Great man, me and Hank are looking forward to this.” We went to the fairgrounds and they got on Hank’s bus. Closer to show time, we started to get a little weather.
I called Whiteman AFB and was told we’d have light rain that could get heavy around 9:30 pm. I asked if there was any lightning in it and they said no. I went to Hank’s bus and told him if we didn’t put Merle on to open and could get twenty minutes of Hank, we would call it a show. They were agreeable and at showtime, 8:00 pm, a light rain was falling. The band started and I got Hank and we walkedtothestageramp.Hankaskedagainiftherewasanylightning and I told him they had said, no. Two minutes later lightning hit a transformer on a pole about two hundred yards away. Holy shit. I looked at Hank and he placed his hand on my neck and said, “if I go, motherfucker, you’re going with me.” The band played a little more and Merle brought Hank onstage. After about twenty minutes the weather cleared up and turned into a perfect evening. Hank came over to the side of the stage and told me, “a little Jim Beam, sir.” For five more years I managed the entertainment at the Missouri State Fair, producing eight to ten shows per fair.
I had no idea what the job would entail when I was contracted by Wrangler to manage talent events throughout the country. To say it was a challenge would be an understatement. Wrangler had no idea what it would take to produce shows at different venues in all of the states with rehearsals, coordination of contestants and
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