HOLLOW VICTORY INDEED: This story in the LA Times' website written by Steve Stajich offers the following quote,
The secondary headline on [LA Times Pop Music critic Robert] Hilburn's Jan. 4 piece referred to Eminem's four Grammy nominations as a "victory for the awards process." I believe Hilburn means: from the standpoint that the nominations didn't go to Johnny Mathis. But once you're past the longtime lameness and impotence of the Grammys, where is the victory?
What's up with this? I have to say I'm perplexed by what I'm to infer from his opinion. A victory for the awards process because Johnny Mathis was NOT nominated for a Grammy?? Dear Mr. Stajich, the unlikelihood of Mathis and Eminem being nominated for the same category notwithstanding, I dare say the one thing that WOULD lend some legitimacy to the awards process, especially that of the Grammy Awards, would be to nominate a quality recording by a quality artist, as opposed to nominating the people who sell the most records regardless of quality, which is the extent to which the prestige of the Grammy Awards has long since deteriorated. Where is the victory, indeed? If the nomination of a racist, sexist, homophobe such as Eminem represents victory for the Grammy Awards, I say let Mathis be dropped from consideration for any category from now on for the rest of his life and posthumously as well.
To my detriment at times, I tend to be an optimist, a dreamer, incredibly naïve. Although I won't completely rule out the certainty of being proven wrong, I would like to think that the teenagers and younger adults that the producers of the Grammy Awards telecast cater to really don't, as a whole, prefer the provocative tripe that rules the airwaves today. Instead, I'd like to believe that the younger people of today are a lot like the people who visit the Mathis Chronicles. I believe that the second generation Mathis fans are what they are because they've learned to appreciate a good singer of good songs.
Remember Mathis is a teacher! He lures his male and female students into class with his looks, and once in the room, he locks the door and commences to educate. And, being the good teacher that he is, it is through Mathis that these young people have learned what good songs are, what good singers are. Having diverse tastes, these "students of Mathis" in turn seek out and embrace other good singers of good songs, and by tucking in their children with this music in the background, so educate the next generation. Other good singers of good songs? They are not as difficult to find as one would believe. They exist in all genres; well, almost all. Rap music is beyond me, I'm afraid. In any case, I believe that all people, regardless of age, know and want quality and honesty in the songs they hear as well as in the people delivering the songwriter's message.
The Times writer is right, I believe, about the "impotence" of the Grammy Awards. He's also right about the nomination of Eminem being about the bottom line. It's not about "peer recognition of excellence" as opposed to a "people's-choice" type award as it used to be; it's about money. It's as if C. Michael Greene and the producers of the Grammy Awards feel that nominations for the older artists such as Mathis and Bennett and Clooney or even George Michael would not draw the ratings and the advertising bucks. They don't seem to want to be able to give young people and their parents credit for being able to appreciate good music. Worse, they don't seem to want to educate the next generation and help introduce them to quality music. I really hope I'm wrong about that. But if it has truly come to that, then I say it is time for the recording industry wash its hands of the Grammys for good.
MATHIS IN CONCERT: This Fri. Feb. 2nd and Sat. Feb. 3rd are the first general public Johnny Mathis concerts of 2001. Hooray! These shows start the 45th year of performances and recording for Johnny Mathis! I know Mathis will hold up, but here's hoping the electricity does!
When you get up past a certain milestone, as Mathis has, you get to be called "legendary". Here's an editorial by the SanDiego Union-Tribune, obviously written by a guy who can't seem to get out of the 50's. A pity he doesn't realize that Mathis has done a lot since he was a kid.
While in SanDiego, it might also be fun to catch a performance of Forever Plaid. These guys (don't know if it was these SAME guys) accompanied Johnny Mathis on his Mathis on Broadway CD (Life is Just A Bowl of Cherries).
Tickets are on sale online for the Valentine's Day show at Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, MI (somewhere near Flint). Considering that I once paid $75 for a marginal seat behind and above the stage at one of the Mathis shows I went to half a decade ago, I think that $49 and less is a good buy. On the other hand, I've never been to a casino concert. I'm sure you lack the intimacy of a concert hall, so maybe $49 is too much for that environment, who knows!
Housed in the Playhouse Square Center in Cleveland Ohio's performing arts district is the Palace Theatre. Johnny Mathis will perform there on February 16. Call the box office at 216-241-6000 to inquire for tickets, or use this link to tickets.com to buy online!
Also, a THIRD SHOW has been added to the Atlantic City date. Along with Friday and Saturday, there's now a date for Sunday, April 29th.
I see future dates in: Fort Wayne, Indiana; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Antioch, Tennessee; Cerritos and Palm Desert, California; Westbury and Buffalo, New York; Reno, Nevada; and Hyannis and Beverly, Massachussetts. Sorry, no Canadian or other foreign dates that I can see.
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