From The Vault: Kissing Tammy Wynette - The Kenner Star May, 1998

    “No Show Jones.” That’s what they called him. If country singer George Jones was scheduled to perform at a certain time and place, you could make good money by betting that he would not show up...at all.  That’s what happened in the early 1980's when the hard drinking Jones was booked into the old  3-D Lounge at Chateau Village in Kenner.
    Of course, I had no idea that he wouldn’t show. I was thrilled that I was going to get to meet and interview a country music legend: “He Stopped Loving Her Today”; “The Race Is On”; “We’re Gonna Hold On” (with his wife Tammy Wynette); “She Thinks I Still Care” and many more. Yes, I had been stiffed by Johnny Cash, but I was putting my money on old George. Even though he had set the all time show business record by missing 54 performances in a single year , he just couldn’t be a no-show in Kenner.
    But as the time for the show came and went it was clear that George Jones was not going to make it to the 3-D Lounge. (Rumor had it that he was passed out at a motel on Williams Blvd. on a drinking binge with his old friend Johnny Paycheck.)
    A few weeks later, George’s ex-wife Tammy Wynette was scheduled to appear at the 3-D. The “First Lady of Country Music” showed up looking fine and gave an unrivaled performance that included  her big hits “Stand By Your Man”and  “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”

    I had not anticipated that I would be as impressed with her close up as I was. You might say I was even a little bit smitten, in spite of the constant proximity of her latest husband, George Ritchie. She was extremely gracious, and as I say, looking good, as I interviewed her on camera for WVUE-TV  Channel 8.
    She was not a bit uneasy talking about her stormy marriage to “No Show Jones,” and when I mentioned that George had recently been booked at the 3-D, she asked, “Did he show  up?”
    “Well, no, actually.”
    “That’s my George!”
    When the interview was over I thanked her and said I was certainly glad that she showed up. With that Tammy Wynette leaned over, pointed her really great lips at my face and planted a big old kiss right on my mouth. I wasn’t just a little ol' peck either. It was a bona fide down home smacker.
    Was my face red, and not just from  her lipstick!
    It took me several moments to regain my composure, and she could see she had surprised me. She laughed and said she hoped to see me at the show. I had visions of what could have been if I hadn’t been married and she hadn’t been married...
    I snapped back to reality and we packed up to go back to Channel 8.
    George Jones had promised he really would come back to Kenner and appear at the 3-D Lounge, and he did just that. The place was packed to the rafters as the announcer said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, George Jones!” The audience erupted in a standing ovation. I guess it was because George was still standing. He sang for 30 minutes, said “Thank you,” and left.
    I didn’t bother with an interview, basically because I didn’t think George would be as good a kisser as Tammy. 
    Tammy went through all sorts of Hell in her life and almost died on us a few times before she actually did. 
    When Tammy Wynette died last month at the age of 55 I was more than a little sad as my mind went back to that time at the 3-D when she aroused my libido with a kiss. I don’t know if she kissed all the boys like that. All I know is that I didn’t tell my wife about it for two or three years. 
    Someday when my kids are old enough know who Tammy Wynette was and why she was so important to country music, I’ll tell them about “the kiss.” I’m hoping they’ll be more impressed with their old man than if he had been kissed by a Spice Girl.