by Steve Freedman, Irving, TX

I once owned a theater and wanted to make it into a music venue. At the beginning of the venture, I rented the hall to a group that would present its gospel music award show in February of 1995. The 2-night event was no big deal to us, except when the news came that Willie was coming to accept an award on the second night. We sold out the 600 seats, started to offer SRO. I thought we were going to make money on this venture, but I was only intoxicated by the moment.

Well, Honeysuckle Rose II parked behind the theater, my brother-in-law delivered food from a restaurant on the square, and eventually, Willie came in to accept and perform. In a hot theatre (we still didn’t know how to turn on the ancient air conditioner), he played for half an hour to close the award show, and then stood up on stage for over an hour in a black wool suit, signing autographs, schmoozing, and giving ANYONE a chance to take a picture, get an autograph, or shake his hand and chat.

I went on to clean the theater, and 30 minutes later, here came Willie from the theater office with my 11-year-old niece. He had just given her an interview for her school paper. He never received a dime for this night. I went over to him, introduced myself. “You really are a gentleman,” I said. Willie Nelson smiled and thanked me. Then he left. Eventually I sold the theater to a church youth group with way too much money, which was fine, since I had LOST way too much money.