Independence, Missouri

Fraternal Order Of Police

Presentation Of

Vern Gosdin

And

The Down Yonder Band

 

The Independence, Missouri Fraternal Order Of Police Fourteenth Annual Country Music Benefit was the fifth show that I did for Jessie Janes Productions.  The proceeds of the show benefited the widows and children of police officers killed or injured in the line of duty.  The show took place in the R.L.D.S. Auditorium.  The headline act was Vern Gosdin.  Most people know Vern Gosdin for his Country Music, but in hanging out with him backstage, I learned that he began with The Birds, the 60's Rock group.  I was now impressed, as I loved The Birds' music!  Vern and his band were great guys, and lots of fun to hang out with.  They all had a great sense of humor, so the backstage area was a great place to be.  Vern made the rounds around the auditorium, and every place he encountered a early arriving fan, he stopped and chatted with them like he had all the time in the world.  He made each one feel like only they mattered, and always freely signed autographs.  Vern Gosdin was a genuinely nice guy.

 

The Down Yonder Band was especially good this night!  By now, they'd really been honing their skills at performing live, and put on a fabulous show themselves!

 

This show was particularly exciting for me.  Besides working with a big name like Vern Gosdin, I had an unexpected surprise in store for me!  61 Country Radio had been helping us promote the show, and had sent out one of their deejay's, Phil Young to MC the show.  Phil wanted to get someone from the audience to come up on stage and announce Vern Gosdin when he came out on stage.  So, Phil looked around the audience, and picked the cutest little girl he could find, and asked her to come up and introduce Vern Gosdin.  I was unaware of all this, and came out from backstage to find none other than my own four-year-old Daughter, Brandie up on the stage with Phil Young talking to her, coaching her on what to say.  The audience was laughing, cheering and obviously enjoying it.  I searched out my wife and gave her one of those terrified father looks, and silently mouthing, "Do you see where our daughter is??"

 

I thought that our dear precocious daughter had wondered up onto the stage on her own, from lack of supervision by my wife in the audience.  Katy indicated that this was all Phil Young's idea.  Phil had no idea that Brandie was my daughter, and just picked her because she was cute, and a little bit of a ham.  I certainly had no idea of Phil's plans to pick an audience member.  Brandie was great!  She didn't get her lines quite right, and the audience roared with laughter.  The sound of the huge crowd laughing kind of stunned her for a second, but she quickly recovered and took the mic from Phil's hand and said her line perfectly.  By now, Vern Gosdin was coming out on stage behind her, so the crowd was on it's feet cheering.  Brandie was quietly escorted off the stage by Phil Young and returned to Katy.  That is when I found out the details of what Phil had done, and he found out that he'd picked my daughter from the crowd.  Afterwards, Brandie wanted to be in show business when she grew up.  We let her think that all that cheering was just for her!  Truth is, much of it was!

 

The Down Yonder Band gave their best performance ever!

 

 

 

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