Hate to say it, but some folks find the Salvation Army’s signature sound — that endlessly tinkling bell, as rung by some hopeful kettle maven — about as endearing as the 473rd chorus of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
On the other hand, a soulful saxophone can take a Christmas carol and invest it with real spunk.
Especially when it’s blown by Kennie Campbell. Campbell, 51, has hung out with tigers, eaten fire and clambered around on sky-high scaffolding, survived homelessness and addiction and led the way for others to do the same. Now he’s the sax man who’s spreading funky good spirits from his red kettle station in front of Walgreen’s downtown pharmacy at the corner of Main and Fourth Plain.
“People like it. They thank me for not ringing the bell,” he said. In fact it was some serious irritation with the constant ringing — and some pointedly non-Christmassy snarls that came his way — that had him substitute his beloved saxophone last year. That was just fine with him, he said.
“It’s an extension of the body. It’s the closest thing there is to the human voice,” Campbell said. “More people will stop and talk to me than if I’m just standing here ringing a bell.”
“Love it, man, you keep it up,” said one cowboy-hatted guy who dropped something in Campbell’s kettle while heading for his truck.
Campbell said he’s a native of the California desert. He took up the saxophone when he was 10, and started playing in his school band the following year. He’s been playing on and off ever since.
Much of that saxophone playing occurred during the 26 years Campbell said he spent working for Circus Gatti, a traveling circus that contracts with outfits like the Shriners.
But blowing the horn isn’t all he did for the circus. “I did everything except manage the whole thing,” he said. He designed and built tall lighting scaffolds (long before safety laws requiring harnesses, he said), fed and cleaned huge animals (and nearly lost his leg to a tiger on one occasion), ran around the ring in gorilla suits and witch doctor outfits, and generally contributed to the carefully controlled mayhem that is a circus.
Mayhem in performance wasn’t the half of it, Campbell added. Mayhem was the name of the game behind the scenes too, he said.
“It was pretty much a 24-hour, 26-year party,” Campbell said. So maybe it was a good thing, he said, about three years ago when his outfit was closing up shop at the Clark County Fairgrounds and he woke up one morning to discover his wallet and his passport stolen. That meant he couldn’t continue on to Canada with Circus Gatti, he said.
It was a blessing in disguise, he said. “It was time for a change,” he said. “I broke with the entertainment industry.” So he walked all the way back down to Vancouver, checked himself into detox and got completely clean, he said.
Then he went on one last bender. He downed so much beer and whiskey in one night that, to hear him tell it, it’s frankly astonishing that he woke up the next day. He breakfasted on half a beer — and poured the rest on the ground.
“I asked God to take away my craving. I have been walking God’s path ever since,” Campbell said. He moved into an addiction recovery house for men called The Rock, at the corner of St. Johns and 33rd Street, and eventually became the resident manager. He lives there now, he said. “I feel like I’m blessed,” he said.
Music and people
How does Campbell like the part of the world that became his home simply because he got stranded here? “I like it. I like four seasons instead of just one — summer,” he said of his early life in California. “I like the people.”
People seem to like him too — and his mellow saxophone sound, of course. Mostly Campbell offers up traditional carols, but he branches out too. Classic rock, blues, funk, jazz from the big band era — he digs it all, he said. When The Columbian showed up on a recent afternoon he was running through the somber, traditional English carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”; when we were on our way again, he started in on a secular and bouncy “Ain’t We Got Fun?”
That tune is nearly 100 years old and so is the modest, mottled horn Campbell plays these days. It’s stamped with the date Dec. 8, 1914, and it came to him earlier this season via a young widow who told him it belonged to her husband, who died of drink just months ago. Campbell bought it from her for $250, he said. It sounds great but won’t get stolen because it looks so beat, he said.
“I am getting paid to do what I love and to make people happy while they’re shopping,” he said. “And to raise money for people in need. People’s needs never take a day off.”
The Salvation Army, a nationwide Christian charity, uses donations to its annual Red Kettle Campaign to support its social service efforts — things like emergency food and cash for people trying to stave off homelessness. The local branch is looking to raise $350,000 through 60 kettle sites this year. Red Kettle season ends on Dec. 24.
Steve Rusk, the local Salvation Army spokesman, said Christmas-related music is always welcome at kettle sites — as long as that’s OK with the hosting business.
“We try to be sensitive to the stores. We are their guests and we try to be mindful of that. Some stores allow certain things and not others,” Rusk said. He said he’s aware of at least one dancer, one guitarist and “one guy who does a Christmas chipmunk dance” while tending kettles at local stores.
“I’ve gotten two calls about Kennie this week and we’re aware of what a delight he is,” Rusk said.
Rusk said he’s aware of people who don’t appreciate endless bell ringing. “We’ve had stores that insist we wave a virtual bell. It was not our preference but we did it. We didn’t do so well there,” he said.
Esther Short neighborhood resident Wanita Gray stopped by — again and again, she said — to enjoy the music and the player. “He really struck me. His talent is appreciated,” she said.
Gray said she has lots of sympathy for the plight of panhandlers, but she’s more likely to dig into her purse for people who are giving something of themselves — even if it’s only a smile or a song, she said. “What they’re saying is, hey, this is all I can give and I’m giving it,” Gray said.
“I’m into music and I’m into people,” she said. “How many wonderful people there are in this world.”
