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PATSY CLINE CLASSIC
Country music star Kenny Rogers set to headline Handley show
By ONOFRIO CASTIGLIA
Posted: December 19, 2014
The Winchester Star
THE WINCHESTER STAR— Nashville legend and 2013 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee
Kenny Rogers will headline the sixth annual Patsy Cline Classic at Handley High School’s Patsy
Cline Theatre on March 7.
The concert series, presented by Bonnie Blue Concerts and
Zolivia LLC, in coordination with the Winchester Education
Foundation, dedicates one show per year to the legacy of
the country music legend and Winchester native, who
died in a plane crash in 1963.
The series has previously featured such artists as Willie
Nelson, The Beach Boys and LeAnn Rimes.
Tickets will be available for $39.50, $59.50 and $79.50,
and will be sold exclusively through Ticket-Fly.com.
Tickets go on sale at 6 a.m. today.
Former state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr.,
executive director of the Winchester
Education Foundation, announces
Thursday that Kenny Rogers will
headline the Patsy Cline Classic on
March 7 in the Patsy Cline Theatre at
Handley High School.
Former state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., who is the executive
director of the education foundation, said at a press
conference on Thursday that the foundation has been
blessed to have some of the biggest names in American
entertainment play in the same intimate setting where
Patsy Cline herself performed in her early career.
He said that Rogers will make for an excellent addition to
the roster of artists who have performed on the stage.
“We couldn’t have a nicer Christmas present for the community,” Potts said. “This falls right in
line with the quality of the artists we’ve had perform here in the past.”
Christian Schweiger, promoter of the concert series and a member of Bonnie Blue Concerts,
said at the press conference that Rogers agreeing to play at Handley highlights the honor and
intrigue surrounding the venue.
“If you look up Kenny Rogers’ net worth, he doesn’t need to be playing shows at the Patsy Cline
Theatre,” Schweiger said.
Chris Mitchell of WUSQF M’s (102.5) morning show agreed with Schweiger.
“A star of this caliber, playing right here in our own backyard . . . there’s no award that means
anything that he hasn’t won,” Mitchell said. “He wanted to come here, as they all do, because
they want to play where Patsy Cline started.”
The foundation expects to sell out the auditorium’s 1,327 seats, with all proceeds going to
education foundation projects, including scholarships and the Career and Technical Education
Program.
The concert series is put on as a result of efforts by Bonnie Blue Concerts and Zolivia, both
Winchester-based companies that provide concert services and logistics management,
respectively.
According to education foundation President Randy Bryant, the two companies “assume all the
risk” of putting on the series, but “all of the proceeds go to the foundation.”
Kenny Rogers has charted more than 120 hit singles across multiple genres in a career spanning
six decades. He was awarded the Country Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
The concert will begin at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m.
— Contact Onofrio Castiglia at [email protected]