Feb 23, 2021
When Rush Came To Raleigh
Rush’s “RUSH TO EXCELLENCE” Tour was in full swing in the early 90s. Can’t recall how many he did – over 75+ – but he piled up the frequent flier miles every weekend … visiting affiliate cities across The Fruited Plain for his LIVE One-Little Fuzzball Stage Show. Everyone SOLD-OUT – SRO.
I booked him into Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium around 1992. It SOLD OUT in 36 hours. Both “Kid” and The Rush Limbaugh Show were four years old. WPTF was the local affiliate at that time.
Blondie was beside herself. Her long time Cape Girardeau friend – and our Best Man in 1984 – was coming to visit us. She got “Kid” all dressed up to meet Mommy & Daddy’s Good Friend Mr Limbaugh.
I picked Rush up at the airport … flying commercial in those pre-EIB-1 days.
We walked up to our front door … Rush rang the doorbell … our version of Shirley Temple opened the door.
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INSERT: Rush – thru much of his adult life – had a bit of a w-e-i-g-h-t issue. He yo-yo-ed with limited success with every diet plan ever imagined. 1992 was one of his UP years weight-wise … A LOT UP!
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Where was I? … So sweet little Kid opens the door … and there stands The Largest Man She Had Ever Seen in Her Four Years!
A phrase to be oft-repeated in the annals of our family …
“Gee, Mr Limbaugh … You Sure Are Fat!”
A pregnant pause as three adults and one precocious little girl just stare at one another …
“Well … Yes, I am. You must be Emily. I’m Rush.”
Over the years as Rush met Margaret Thatcher and Melania and Joey and Ann-Margret and … and … and would there ever be a more memorable first meeting?
The next few minutes are a blur for Blondie … as you might expect. Again, we had known Rush long before he was “RUSH” so it wasn’t mortifying in that respect … just not quite how Blondie had micro-managed the moment.
Fifteen minutes later Rush and “Kid” were sitting side-by-side on the sofa with him reading her a story … something to do with animals having people qualities and ending “happily ever after”.
The Show was BOFFO. I had borrowed a HUGE American flag from a very patriotic local hotel. We had it hung vertically from the ceiling in the middle of the stage. … Cue the Bumper music …
Rush steps out back-lit in profile behind the flag. Think Alfred Hitchcock Show opening. 2800 North Carolina dittoheads Go BERZERK!
RL said later it was the most amazing show opening he ever had on-tour.
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“Kid” and her family currently live in Madison WI … a very “left-leaning hell-hole” of very radical anarchist nut jobs that bills itself as Berkeley With Really Bad Winters. Not a place one tells about “the time I met my Mom & Dad’s good friend Rush Limbaugh”.
She tells her Madison friends that “My Dad plays piano in a whorehouse” and “My Mom is an acrobat with Cirque du Soleil”. They think both sound very cool!
Of her three Awesome Children – ReRe, YaYa and “LD” (Little Danny) – I can see YaYa repeating her Mother’s Most Memorable Moment some day. I haven’t told them about “that day” yet. … But I Will!
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More of BobLee’s The Rush Chronicles – HERE!
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