Legendary performer and country superstar Willie Nelson canceled a performance in Charlotte, Michigan. Nelson’s performance was set for Aug. 22, but a scheduling conflict apparently came up despite the date being only six weeks away. The concert was planned to benefit a senior center in the area. The Eaton Area Senior Center worked diligently to promote the show and will have a difficult time recovering the expenditures for its efforts–estimated by the Battle Creek Enquirer to be $25,000. That doesn’t include efforts like creating documentation and outreach like this carefully prepared letter made for a 2013 Willie Nelson performance–a show that also had to be canceled because the musician sustained an injury and couldn’t play.
Willie Nelson is himself a senior, of course. At 81, he’s been one for decades. As goes the scheduling conflict, Nelson has forgotten things before–a problem many seniors can relate to. Nelson once forgot, for example, to pay his taxes for the better part of a decade–a situation he resolved by performing and singing to pay back the IRS. In Nelson’s case, a lifelong devotion to marijuana puts him doubly at risk for forgetfulness, so the cancellation can’t come as a complete surprise. Nelson is also well known for his widespread generosity: it’s likely that the Eaton Area Senior Center will get another Willie Nelson concert on its schedule. And it will send him daily reminders that it’s coming up.
