The lifespan of a music celebrity can be bizarre, especially here in America. Now that we’ve reached a point where music celebrities have been around long enough for the phenomenon and possibilities to be examined and studied, the only thing we’ve learned is there’s only one rule. If a music celebrity is at it long enough, there will be ups and downs, and nothing lasts forever.

Bobble Tiki suggests you take for example Kenny Rogers, who will play the Emerald Queen Casino this Sunday, April 20. The career of Mr. Kenny Rogers is about as bizarre and American as they come. The path that has led Rogers to the Emerald Queen this weekend was winding and full of peaks and valleys — to say the least.

Kenny Rogers has been gracing stages around this great country since before Bobble Tiki was a sparkle in his daddy’s eye. Rogers came into this world in Houston in 1938, the only baby ever to be born with a thick white beard and gravelly voice. He was one of seven children born to Floyd and Lucille Rogers, and Bobble Tiki assumes his parents recognized early on that Kenny was special. Whether they realized Kenny would be “the Gambler” is another story.

Kenny Rogers is a country music icon, but he began his career preferring jazz and doo-wop, as evident by his work in the mid’50s with the Scholars and later the Bobby Doyle Trio. However, neither group managed to take advantage of Rogers’ potential. In 1967 Rogers formed the First Edition (later renamed Kenny Rogers and the First Edition). Though he had yet to harness the raspy vocal styling he’s become famous for, the First Edition helped Rogers reach a national audience.

Bobble Tiki better speed things up if he stands any shot of capturing the many turns of Kenny Rogers’ existence. After First Edition, Rogers embarked on a solo career that earned the bearded wonder success within the realms of both country and popular music. In the late ’70s Rogers had a string of four records reach number one on the country charts, including Kenny, and the five times platinum The Gambler.

Rogers had arrived.

He parlayed this arrival into a nearly 10-year stay on top of the game. Musical partnerships with the likes of Dottie West, the Bee Gees, Dolly Parton (of course), Lionel Richie, and even Sheena Easton turned Kenny Rogers’ Santa-esque mug into a universally recognized image. From the late ’70s to the late ’80s there wasn’t a bigger name in country music, and his mainstream popularity wasn’t far behind. Rogers lent his vocal talent to the aid of Africa by partaking in the recording “We are the World” during this career peak, and Bobble Tiki presumes Kenny Rogers started planning his next move.

Bobble Tiki figures Rogers, being the smart man he is,  knew he needed to diversify his portfolio, especially when names like Garth Brooks started to steal the country spotlight he’d owned for nearly a decade. After all, Bobble Tiki is talking about a man in Kenny Rogers who’s been married five times and has five children, including twins he fathered at the age of 65. Bobble Tiki knows accidents happen, but still considers it highly unlikely Rogers spread his gambler seed so wide and far without thinking about the financial obligations.

In the ’90s, while still recording and playing live, Rogers became a businessman. If there’s one thing Kenny Rogers knows it’s what people like, and Kenny Rogers knows, people like chicken. Though the chain has now been purchased by Nathan’s Famous Inc., Rogers created Kenny Rogers Roasters with the help of one of the original creators of KFC in 1991. Bobble Tiki remembers it best from the Seinfeld episode.

Kenny Rogers Roasters is just one of many shrewd business moves Rogers has pulled off during his celebrity existence. His Web site, kennyrogers.biz, is currently pimping thegamblermobile.com — a gambling site featuring Rogers’ likeness and devoted to offering “Everything for The Gambler in you.” (No word on whether that includes Viagra and rotisserie chicken.)

Bobble Tiki has talked a lot about the strange career of Kenny Rogers. But these have just been the highlights. Bobble Tiki hasn’t even mentioned MacShayne yet.

It’s funny how a long, highly successful, one-of-a kind career can lead a performer to the stage at the Emerald Queen Casino, but that’s exactly where the Gambler will find himself this weekend in Tacoma. Bobble Tiki doesn’t know what the next chapter in Kenny Rogers’ life will hold, but feels confident in saying the most exciting excerpts have probably already been written. In retrospect, Sunday’s performance at the Emerald Queen may be remembered as a low in the life of Kenny Rogers, but it’s still your only chance to see the Gambler in Tacoma this weekend.

Bobble Tiki thinks there’s a lot to be said for that.

Guess what? Bobble Tiki doesn’t care what you do this week because he doesn’t even know you. And if he does know you, there’s a good chance Bobble Tiki has already forgotten you, because constant intoxication will do that to one’s brain. Check out Breakfast with Bobble Tiki every Monday through Saturday on weeklyvolcano spew.com, and start thinking about other Weekly Volcano celebrities you’d like to share a beer with. Perhaps, Steve Dunkelberger? Maybe Jake DePaul? Bobble Tiki’s just sayin’.  

[Emerald Queen Casino, Kenny Rogers, Sunday, April 20, 7 p.m., $40-$85 at Ticketmaster, 2024 E. 29th St., Tacoma, 253.594.7777]