Publicist Noelle Hopper tipped me off late this week that the good people at Ameristar Casino and Hotel in East Chicago have released a new block of free tickets for country music favorite Reba McEntire's concert one week from today, at 6 p.m. Sept. 13.

Although this concert is free, just as with the casino's two previous free concerts earlier this summer featuring Lionel Richie and Smokey Robinson, a ticket is required for admission.

I'm told more tickets, beyond those previously distributed, were made available beginning at noon Thursday at Tickets.com while supplies last.

An important reminder, for identification purposes: Tickets.com requires a credit card to complete any transaction on its site, but no charge will be made for these tickets.

Each household will be limited to four tickets.

The free, general admission seating area will open at noon and seating is first-come, first-served.

The concert takes place in a specially created temporary amphitheater in the property's back valet beach parking lot. Guests should bring lawn chairs or beach towels to enjoy the show from the amphitheater or adjoining beach. Tents, large umbrellas and pets (except service dogs) are prohibited.

Ameristar Casino Hotel is located at 777 Ameristar Blvd., in East Chicago.

Remember (and you already know this if you've attended the previous two free concerts) on-property parking is limited. City-provided satellite parking lots with security and shuttle buses to and from the event will be available. Traffic congestion is expected, so concert attendees should plan accordingly.

A festival-style food court will be available with a variety of options for sale by local vendors, along with food from Ameristar Casino Hotel's four restaurants. Alcohol will not be sold. Outside food, coolers, large backpacks, glass containers and alcoholic beverages are prohibited.

Before and after the concert, guests can enjoy enhancements Ameristar has made to the East Chicago facility, including improved and expanded food and beverage offerings, remodeled restaurants and bars, plus a redesigned casino floor featuring an improved layout and enhanced mix of games.

It's been quite some time since McEntire, 53, has performed in our area.

I still recall the first time I saw her, when she was just emerging on the country music scene. It was August 1991, and McEntire was one of the top-billed headliners performing the grandstand stage at the Indiana State Fair that summer, along with Vince Gill and Garth Brooks, while a still-unknown Billy Ray Cyrus was performing in the "free entertainment" tent.

McEntire, who has done well not only with her recording career but also as the star of her own successful television sitcom "Reba," has had an interesting life.

Before you head online to grab your free tickets, consider some of the following roller-coaster moments of her personal life and career.

* Her first public performance was singing "Away in a Manger" for a first-grade Christmas production.

* She's famous for her Oklahoma accent and even attended school with Garth Brooks in Oklahoma long before either ever launched singing careers. She majored in elementary education and minored in music.

* Just as her career was about to really launch, she survived her 1987 divorce from first husband of 10 years Charles Battles and found happiness with second husband Narvel Blackstork, who she married in 1989, and with whom she had son Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstork.

* She ranks as the No. 1 best-selling female country singer of all time and ranks as the No. 2 best-selling female artist (for all genres) of all time, second only to Barbra Streisand.

* She performed on Broadway in 2001 in the lead of Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun."

* In 1991, all the members of her band died in a plane crash.

* She was director James Cameron's first choice to play "the unsinkable Molly Brown" in his blockbuster 1997 film "Titanic," but she had to decline because her touring schedule overlapped the filming date. The role was originated on the big screen in 1964 by Debbie Reynolds. Cameron ended up casting Kathy Bates in the role.

* In 1991, McEntire re-recorded Vicki Lawrence's 1973 hit "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Comedian JoAnne Worley (who hails from Lowell) is 71. Country singer David Allen Coe is 69. Country singer Mel McDaniel is 66. Singer-bassist Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 65. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 64. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 61. Country singer Buddy Miller is 56. Country drummer Joe Smyth of Sawyer Brown is 51. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy and actor-comedian Michael Winslow ("Police Academy") are 50. Guitarist Pal Waaktaar of A-ha is 47. News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 46. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 45. Actress Rosie Perez is 44. Singers CeCe Peniston and Darryl Anthony of Az Yet are 39. Singer Macy Gray is 38. Singer Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) is 37. Actor Dylan Bruno ("Numb3ers") and actress Anika Noni Rose ("Dreamgirls") are 36. Actor Justin Whalin ("Lois and Clark") and singer Nina

Persson of The Cardigans are 34. Actress Naomie Harris ("Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest") is 32. Rapper Noreaga is 31. Rapper Foxy Brown is 29.