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By James Gardner

Clark County Public Library

As Kenny Rogers’s birthday is Aug. 22, I remember a recent and somewhat sad memory of the singer-songwriter that doesn’t actually involve the singer-songwriter. 

The memory in question involves a skit on the TV show “Mad TV,” a show that was like “Saturday Night Live” but it was on Fox and had skits based on the popular Mad Magazine. The skit I’m remembering doesn’t involve Mad Magazine but involves Kenny Rogers, who is played in the skit by actor Will Sasso. It was called Kenny Rogers Jackass and is basically Kenny Rogers on the show “Jackass” (found in DVD Series JACK and features many crazy stunts that exposes its actors to either body harm and/or various diseases). Will Sasso as Kenny Rogers would be treated just like any other actor of Jackass, from getting whiskey bottles broken over his head (presumably fake) to being hit repeatedly below the belt. It’s a funny skit for fans of the show Jackass, and presumably there’s some humor in making the normally sedate Rogers, known more for his country crooning during the 70s and 80s, acting foolish, but it also made me sad. Does Kenny Rogers deserve to be a punchline? 

I can see where it’s easy to make fun of him, largely because of the sincerity with which he sings his songs, a sincerity completely devoid of irony that has become so synonymous with youth. Rogers has even been known to poke fun at himself, starring in a Geico commercial where he played poker while quietly sang snippets of his song “The Gambler” (the one that starts out “You got to know when to hold ‘em,” and the same song that’s probably in your head right now). Like many singer-songwriters from a bygone era, his songs have become unhip, as embarrassing as parachute pants and pet rocks. 

However, I have distinct memories of Kenny Rogers’ song because my mom was a fan. Riding in her car, she’d have the country station on and I would listen to Kenny lament about being the third wheel in an adulterous relationship (“Lucille”) or begging Ruby not to leave him (“Ruby, don’t take your love to town”). I listened to Kenny as a father making his son promise not to do the things he had done (“Coward of the County”). I even remember him singing with national treasure Dolly Parton (“Islands in the Stream”). It is later in life that I read the lyrics of these songs and discovered some of their meanings, like how the man singing in “Ruby” had been paralyzed in the war and Ruby was drifting away from him. Kenny Rogers may have owned a chicken restaurant called Roasters, but he could also write a song that told a story

And Rogers-played-by-Sasso reminds me of an uncomfortable truth about creating art: once that art is created and is out in the public consciousness, the artist loses some control. The song they write or the picture they paint gets tied to everything from the time period in which it lands (there were a lot of country crooners in the 70s and 80s) to the memories of those who absorb it (listening to Kenny Rogers while riding with your mom). Kenny Rogers might not be as cool as whoever’s on Tiktok now, but his music is worth rediscovering. Check out “Through the Years: A Retrospective” (CD Music POP Roge) to rediscover his songs and to see Kenny the actor (and not Sasso playing Kenny), then check out his films like The Gambler Collection (DVD Drama Gamb). And remember, as Kenny the Gambler says, you never count your money when you’re sitting at the table. There’ll be time enough for these programs: 

• On Wednesday, Aug. 21, at 2 p.m., the Kentucky Picture Show presents a 2009 movie starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. In 1973, documentary filmmaking brothers Albert Maysles and David Maysles decide to change the focus of their latest project from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to her aunt and older cousin, mother and daughter Edith “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale (Lange) and Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale (Barrymore), who were found living in squalor and isolation in the longtime family mansion. Popcorn and snacks provided. 
• On Saturday, Aug. 24, at 2 p.m., the library presents How to Self-Publish. Do you have a story to share? If you missed the class last month, Sher Hudson will teach you everything you need to know about self-publishing on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Space is limited; please register.