It's never a good night when deputies seize your private plane. Once upon a time, 1989 to be exact, Hank Williams, Jr. was supposed to get rowdy with 10,000 of his closest friends in Baton Rouge. He got rowdy all right but not in the way those 10,000 fans expected that May 6 night. Deseret News reported:
Hank Williams Jr. may have lost quite a few fans in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday night. Williams cursed the crowd of 6,500, failed to finish his songs, chucked his fiddle in the air and stumbled off after only 20 minutes on stage.
Not only did the people demand their money back, they burned their Hank Jr. T-shirts. Sheriff's deputies seized Williams' private plane at the airport until his agents agreed to pay $65,000 to reimburse people for tickets, pay expenses and pay the Centroplex arena a profit.Williams eventually went home to Nashville Sunday, and publicist Kent Arwood explained the incident by saying it was caused by "a personal problem with Hank. It has nothing whatsoever to do with alcoholism or anything else like that."
Councilman Doug Wellborn was at the disastrous show and said he will push for a motion forbidding Williams from playing Baton Rouge again unless he apologizes. Article
Junior eventually got his Citation back and treated the fans to a show. The AP reported on May 24, 1989:
Three-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Hank Williams Jr. returned for an ″apology concert″ and said ″some idiot″ drugged him before his aborted May 6 concert.
″When you’re a champion, they like to knock you down,″ Williams told the audience Tuesday night. Williams began his previous performance with rambling 20-minute speech, made a false start on several songs, cursed the crowd and stormed offstage. Williams, 39, who is known for his songs of hard drinking and rowdy living, agreed to pay concert organizers $65,000. He later offered to do Tuesday’s concert at his expense. ″I hate drugs,″ Williams told Teusday night’s sellout crowd of 10,000. ″I detest drugs. I’ll have me a beer, and I’ll have me a drink, (but) drugs have killed too many people. ... ″I’m mad for them (the fans) and I’m mad for me,″ Williams said. He told the crowd that ″some idiot″ had slipped ″a foreign substance in my drink″ before the May 6 show. A report released Monday by Kathy Gangwisch, a spokeswoman for Williams, said blood and urine tests taken four days after the concert were positive for Valium, ″a foreign substance available only by prescription and which Mr. Williams stated he did not take or possess.″ The city of Baton Rouge charged $5 a ticket for the concert. Proceeds will go to a fund for the families of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Williams’ father, the country singer-songwriter, Hank Williams Sr., died in 1953 at age 29 from the effects of alcohol abuse. Article.
8 comments:
Reminds me of the "But I WILL NOT freebase cocaine" skit.
Luckily Hank didn't have to deal with some greedy "personal injury" lawyers and their Karen class action representative.
All his rowdy friends done rowdied on down....
Love his songs but the absolute worst concert I ever attended was Hank William Jr in Jackson, MS in the early 1980’s. Drunk as Cooter Brown, the sound was horrible and over the top loud.
I duck hunted in an area where Hank allegedly hunted and had tried to drive his Winnebago through a soy bean field. Heard it stayed there for a while until it dried up enough to get a piece of large piece of equipment to drag it out.
Those outlaw country singers could tell a story like no other could, but with the exception of “Weed instead of Booze Willie,” those drunkard demons tended to get the best of them.
Obviously, there is something about “OLE MISS” he didn’t like after the afternoon concert. Surprise, Surprise,Surprise.
This reminds me of the country star that was arrested for DUI in the 80’s in Jackson. As his sentence, he was supposed to donate a concert. It never happened. He never went to jail.
I didn't know deputies had the authority to seize an airplane (without a court order) and require that someone refund money (or pronounce any other sort of sentence).
Must be a Red Stick sorta thang.
KF, can you dig up the story about George Jones getting arrested for possession of cocaine by Mississippi Highway Patrolman south of Jackson? I think he was supposed to play a free concert but never did. A retired state trooper was retelling the story to me a number of years ago.
Just spent the last 30 minutes rolling on the floor over the - " I will not freebase cocaine !" skit. Which then lead me to the " I will not poach turkeys! " skit. people are hilarious.
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