Picture it….Summer 2011. We’re getting ready for the big Orange Peel benefit for Give to the Music: Volunteers, check; Raffle Items, check; Photographer, check; Video, nope! We gave it our best shot but couldn’t find anyone who would volunteer their services. As a matter of fact, the best offer we got was for a $1000 fee. So, it looked like we’d have to do without the movie version. Well, the Orange Peel show was a huge success even if we didn’t have a video to prove it. Enter Kenny Hensley.
He walks into my office and announces that he was at the Peel a few days ago and really enjoyed the show, oh, and he happened to record a video of the entire performance, oh, and would we like copies, 20 copies, for all the kids who performed. “Sorry, we couldn’t possible afford that, Kenny”. “I’m not selling them; I’m giving them to you and the kids”. Now he has my undivided attention. “Really? Yeah, really! It’s a hobby of mine”. “Okay, I’ll take em”! (nice of me, right?) The rest is Rock Academy history. Since then, Kenny has been at most of the kids’ events. He has taped them as a band, and individually and out of the enthusiasm of his hobby and the goodness of his heart he has gifted these DVD’s to us at Give to the Music as well as our students and their parents. Steven Spielberg… Eat your heart out… Kenny rules!