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Traveling from 'Pooh Corner' to the 'Danger Zone' in one night

Lucette Moramarco

Associate Editor

Kenny Loggins knows how to put on a show. Playing to a full room at the Pala Events Center, Nov. 11, his concert started off with a montage of film clips on two large screens (one on each side of the stage) accompanied by soundtracks featuring Loggins, of course. The movies were "Caddyshack," "Footloose" and "Top Gun." Those clips got the crowd ready for the live performance.

The first song Loggins sang live was "Whenever I Call You Friend," followed by "Danny's Song." These slower, softer songs are the ones I love, as opposed to the louder electric guitar blaring ones. It seemed like he played a different guitar for each song in the first half hour of the show, both acoustic and electric, while his band played several other instruments.

The only other concert I have been to in my life was a Neil Diamond concert over 30 years ago, so going to this concert means I really like Kenny Loggins' music.

"House at Pooh Corner" is one of my favorite songs by Loggins, as is "Return to Pooh Corner." I didn't know the former was one of the first songs he wrote. He told the story during the concert; the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band wanted to record "House at Pooh Corner," but lawyers from the Disney Company sent them letters telling them to cease and desist as Pooh was copyrighted.

Loggins was upset and mentioned the whole thing to his girlfriend who told him she would talk to her father about it. Turns out her father was president of Disney at the time. He had his daughter bring Loggins to him and asked him to play the song. The father liked the song and said he would talk to the lawyers.

Loggins thanked Marnie and her father, Cord Walker, for their part in the recording of the song. When his fourth child was born, Loggins wrote "Return to Pooh Corner."

Other popular songs performed that night include "What a Fool Believes," "Heart to Heart," "This is It," and "Celebrate Me Home." Then he moved on to the movie soundtrack songs, "Meet Me Halfway" from "Over the Top;" "Footloose," "I'm Alright" from "Caddyshack," and "Highway to the Danger Zone" from "Top Gun."

The aisles were full of older women dancing to the music; the ladies outnumbered the men, but all enjoyed the music.

Loggins saved the best for last, in my opinion, as he sang my very favorite song of his last of all, "Forever." I have since found out that he frequently sings that one last and I'm glad he did. It's been playing in my head ever since.

By the way, the Friday night concerts at Pala all start at 8 p.m. which allows plenty of time to have dinner first at one of the resort's many restaurants. My sister and I ate at the Pala Café before the concert; the Beyond Burger with fig jam was good and the fries were fantastic.

To see what concerts are coming up, visit https://www.palacasino.com/entertainment/overview.

 

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