BUCK'S BIRTHDAY BASH BUCK'S BIRTHDAY BASH
I joined Maureen, who drove down from Canada, in Bakersfield Sunday morning. Maureen and I met at the Las Vegas show of the Gone Tour by virtue of being seated next to one another and have been corresponding ever since. By her own description, she is a "70 year old lady who is crazy about Dwight". Karen H and her husband would join us at the Crystal Palace that evening.
The show got under way about 6:00 with a welcome from Buck and the announcement that they had about 28 performers for us to enjoy that night. The Buckaroos did a couple of numbers(sans Buck) and then they began introducing various local performers, including a couple of folks who work at the Crystal Palace. Several "name" performers had been mentioned as possible guests for the evening, inlcuding: Chely Wright, John Berry, Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard -- oh, and some tall, skinny guy with a hat! :) (Lynn and Haggard unfortunately did not appear.)
We were seated at a table downstairs, and after a little while we realized that Chely Wright along with John and Robin Berry were seated at the table to our left. Buck's wife, Jennifer, was seated kitty-corner to our right. A little later in the evening Lee Roy Parnell came in, and was seated about 4 tables to our left. He jammed with Albert Lee on a couple of songs and presented Buck with a beautiful guitar before leaving the stage. Other performers included the Haggar Twins (Hee Haw), Jim Lauderdale, Gary Allen, Shane Stockton and Danni Leigh. Interspersed between performances were phone calls from various artists (Joe Diffie, Bill Anderson, Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks, among others) wishing Buck a happy birthday. Buck couldn't resist getting up to sing with the Decca Records contingent (Allen, Stockton, Leigh), and John Berry.
Then Buck introduced his "little buddy" and out came Dwight (wearing an open beige/mocha paisley shirt over an undershirt, jeans and cream boots) carrying his guitar and a bull horn. He proceeded to tell Buck that he realized one of the first things to go with old age "WAS THE HEARING". He also suggested that Buck might want to use the bull horn when he wanted to get Dwight's attention. Dwight then presented Buck with a gift from actor friend Vince Vaughn, whose set (Psycho) he'd been visiting. The gift was a very sharp knife from the movie set. Buck apparently didn't realize how deadly the blade could be as he proceeded to chase Dwight around the stage with it with Dwight yelling "watch out Buck". Gift presentations out of the way, Dwight kicked into "Fast As You". Buck came back on stage with some really nice things to say about Dwight and their friendship, and intro'd the next song as one he had specially asked Dwight to sing because it is one of his favorites -- I Sang Dixie. As always, Dwight sang it beautifully. Once again Buck came back on stage and Dwight spoke about Buck's support over the years, how he'd brought Dwight the next song which became one of his No. 1s. Dwight said he hadn't been sure at the time if he should do the song or not. There were a few "technical" difficulties with Buck's guitar not being turned on, plugged in, turned up and Dwight stepped in to fix things. Buck of course had to tease him about being an electrician in his spare time. Dwight was standing behind Buck when Buck asked "Dwight, is that your flashlight or are you just glad to see me?" Dwight cracked back about all the abuse he had to take after all the help he'd just given, and then they sang Streets of Bakersfield. When it was over Dwight waved and left the stage. Buck thanked Dwight and all the performers who had come to celebrate with him as well as all of the guests who attended that evening. It was very special to be a part of this event.
We scooted outside, around the corner, hoping to catch Dwight in time for an autograph and sure enough there
he was. We waited our turn. This was Maureen's first time meeting Dwight and he was very sweet to her, signing her picture and talking about Canada for a moment. Karen and I also got autographs and we each had our picture taken with Dwight. Karen's hubby very patiently waited while we did all this. As always, Dwight was so nice and so patient in making sure that everyone got something signed, a picture taken, or a handshake before he said goodnight.