Luck or Something Like It by Kenny Rogers Page B

him, I have tried to get involved with other things, like photography and sports, that could motivate me. Boredom is a huge factor in the lives of most musicians. The onstage show gives you such a high that the rest of the day can’t compete with it. So, feeling down, you start experimenting with things that you hope can match the feeling you have onstage, but you just can’t. Performing is a high like no other.
    Kirby was also the first person who was adamant about me seeing the business side of music. I think it was at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas that he first broached the subject.
    “You’ve got to look at music as a profession,” he told me, “not as a path to fame or instant wealth. See it from a business standpoint and treat it like business.
    “Remember this,” he went on. “You pass the same people on the way up that you pass on the way down—and people don’t forget.”
    It was an important lesson. After all these years, I am still amazed how much some people will do for a person they like and how little they will do for a person they don’t. Kirby’s attitude was, you’ll be able to work longer in this business simply because you treated people fairly. And you’ll hang on to more of the money you make if you approach it with the right attitude.
    My mother’s advice about finding a job that I loved helped me choose music as my career, and Kirby Stone explained in one short sentence that I was entering into a business, not a lifelong party. In his immortal words: “It’s not all wet towels and naked women.”
    There’s no question that a lot of guys start out playing in bands to party and attract women. I understand it all too well, because that’s exactly what I did all through school and when I played with the Scholars. I was always a sucker for a pretty face, and playing at parties every night seemed like a smart way both to make a living and to pursue my passion. The passion was intense from a very early age and only got stronger over time, especially when my focus shifted to earning the respect of fellow musicians. At some point, though, if you want to survive and grow as a musician, you need to get serious about the business side of the music industry.
    Kirby was as much an entertainer as a musician. The Kirby Stone Four included a lot of humor in their stage shows, and Kirby explained to me early on the showbiz etiquette that you never tell a joke or make a gesture that excludes your audience. No inside jokes. But go for the laughs, he said, even if they are at your own expense. If people are laughing, you can pretty much assume they’re having a good time, and having a good time is really all they ask when they pay their money. It took me back to the Ray Charles concert I had gone to with my sister when I was twelve and the way the audience had loved both his music and his jokes.
    Despite the solid performances alongside Kirby, things at this point were not looking great for the Bobby Doyle Three. Little by little, the group was falling apart. Bobby was depressed and dealing with a lot of personal issues. He was drinking a lot . There were times that I was afraid he might fall off the stage. His alcohol consumption was at a level that made me increasingly uneasy. At his worst, though, he was still better than anyone I had ever heard. The three of us, feeling the constant tension, thought that if we opened our own club in Houston, it would create a more comfortable atmosphere where we wouldn’t be constantly traveling yet could continue to build a following. That kind of a work situation would still allow us to work out on our own, away from the Kirby Stone group. If we needed to hook up with Kirby to generate extra income, that was always an option.
    The Act Three Club, as we called it, was our own after-hours place. Unfortunately it didn’t last long. The waiters got rich, and we made nothing. When you’re onstage, you can’t watch everyone who works for you and they knew it.