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Good morning,
I have been thinking over these past several months since I last saw you in Cleveland, Ohio in April of this year,('07).
As I readied myself for your brief performance, I was in eager anticipation for what ever you would bring to the stage.
I had a special reason for being there, knowing that you went well out of your way to make a cd for my mother in the hospital as we were helplessly aiding her to stay alive. You have walked on water in her opinion, or at least made her feel like she could.
Again, I feel that "thank you" is not a sufficent means to let you know just how far your act of kindness has stretched.
One more thing beforeI sign off.
In listening to your demanor and the tunes you chose to perform when you were in Cleveland, you portrayed a different
Kenny Rankin than I have ever seen or heard.
Yes, you are allowed to be human. That's what we all are.
At the same time, were not all of those present their to honor "you" ....your long years of struggle to share your voice, your loves and your life through
music?
Within your brief performance, I heard you speak indifferently about your kids accomplishments, your back pain and the way you were burned through your ordeal with your back. You used the opportunity to vindicate your anger against your chiropractor by usine his name in bad advertisement against him.
What was the most amazing act of selfishness was that you complained about having to make good on your word to someone and to come back to play at a place where you can hear dishes and waiters make service noise in the background. You even suggested that a door be put up for that your music wouldn't be bothered. That's what our tickets bought us that gracious evening of 4-30-07.
All the while, I made excuses for your sour nature. I kept telling the friends I bought tickets for that you were just having a bad day.
Having had major back surgery and knowing how foul I treated others around me simply because I couldn't stand the pain that my body and mind was in prior to and after the event, I understood where you 'might' have been at that time. But then again, I don't really know you. Perhaps that is real man you have always been behind all of the music. It is a choice. You get to make it.
This email was not only to thank you for coming back to Cleveland and 'making good' on your original concert that you cancelled due to your voice problem that night way-way long ago, (the house was packed and the evening crowd was filled with your long time fans, some from other states,) but this is a 'heads-up' to
take a step away from your "performing stage" stuck in your mind.
It is not only what you bring to the fore that will make any experience great. The very people who have made a deliberate decision to keep you in their lives, their minds and their memories are the ones responsibile for even allowing your to come close to any of your musical goals all of these years.
In the future, if you are graced with the privilege of having two people, let alone thirty or more who are gathered to celebrate your beautiful voice.....come out of your head and your ego and remember how excited you were to have been given that chance for the very first time years ago in places like the "Back
Door" on the UCSD campus where we sat on the floor just to hear you in 1978. I was one of them.
Do it for you, Kenny Rankin. If you don't, then please step off the stage and sweeten your attitude with some other venture. Life is too short, buddy.
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From the heart, Bryan Kennedy
Bryan Kennedy
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