LITTLE BOY LOST: I've never heard this song in concert, to my knowledge; if I have, the delivery is a far cry from what it used to be. A friend of mine had been raving about a song called Pieces of Dreams, which he heard on a TV show was produced by the BBC back in the early '70s. He tells me it was a Johnny Mathis concert in Munich, West Germany. We were discussing the existence of a videotape of this show. It would surprise me if there were, since I don't think videotape was around way back then! At any rate, I recently salvaged a concert tape that was made for me from a Paris venue in either 1977 or 1978. In this performance Johnny Mathis performs this song, which was written by Michel Legrand for the self-titled 1970 movie. I see why my friend rants and raves so...it's nothing like the straightforward performance heard on the 1970's "Close To You" album. Mathis embellishes this song for all it's worth. It's a marvelous, incredible lesson in breath control, as he sings "You go wandering, wandering, stumbling, tumbling round, round.....(--this last "round" held for 12 seconds by my watch (!) and seguës into..."when will you find...," after which he finally takes a breath. Gotta love it! Song proceeds as normal, but there's an instrumental break in the middle with Mathis punctuates quite loudly and magnificently, continues the song as normal until the end, "can you be far from home...", and this last note is held for a phenomenal 27 seconds!!) Obviously, this is a longer song in concert than it is on record...and it just has to be heard to be believed. But this is the year 2001, and Mathis can't hold those kind of notes anymore. But man, back in the mid-70's, back during the time of I'm Coming Home, Song Sung Blue, Mathis Is, and the Heart of a Woman, you can't tell me he wasn't simply the best there is.
Part of me wishes I could have been a witness to Mathis in his glory days. In all, the song choices from that time period are excellent...not like the same ten songs (even besides the greatest hits medley) heard every year like nowadays...Call me picky, but I just don't think a concert in the year 2001 needs to sound exactly like a concert from 1991 or even 1999. Hearing the 70's concert lineup is a refreshing change.
For instance, there's a song that goes, "It's a beautiful evening for falling in love, the moon winks its eye, stars gleam....," I have no idea what this song is, but it's gorgeously done, and Mathis sings it as the lead-in to "Misty". I also notice the European audience didn't have that "trained seal" response to the high note in "Misty" like they seem to have here, or at least they didn't back then, and they let him finish the job properly and applaud their approval afterwards. It really is hard to read this American audience; do they like the song, or just that one note?!
Anyway, I'd like some outside feedback on the alleged existence of the Munich concert videotape. This is where the Internet and European, Asian and African netsurfers can offer some much-appreciated insight. All I really know of it is that it supposedly was recorded by BBC, but apparently it was shown at least once on THIS side of the ocean. A young lady I'm going to introduce my readers to next week tells me that videotape existed as far back as 1968 or so! Nevertheless, I suspect that if the tape does exist at all, it'd be on something like Super8 or even celluloid rather than VHS or Beta tape. The sad fact of the matter is that older TV shows simply aren't in existence anymore because the material they were recorded on has disintegrated. One can only look at one's own VHS collection and notice the deterioration in the stuff they've taped 12-15 years ago to see why this is so. Unless properly archived, they are destroyed. The old films are flammable, too, so in many cases it was an insurance risk to keep them.
INTERESTING (TO ME) TRIVIA: The Oscar nominees for Best Original Song in 1970 were: For All We Know from Lovers and Other Strangers; Pieces of Dreams from Pieces of Dreams; Thank You Very Much from Scrooge; Till Love Touches Your Life from Madron; and Whistling Away the Dark from Darling Lili. Mathis has recorded four out of these five songs! Do you know which ones, and on which albums they appear?
MATHIS IN CONCERT: See Johnny Mathis this Friday and Saturday March 2nd and 3rd at the Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, New York, about 20 miles east of New York City. Good news: two NEW dates have been added for Westbury for the summer: July 20th & 21st. These tickets for the new dates ARE on sale NOW online via Ticketmaster. Call the venue or visit their main website for more information.
Tickets are now on sale through Ticketmaster for the Fort Wayne, Indiana show on March 29. It's on a Thursday, so obviously for locals or retirees only! Prices are what I'd call "moderate to high", considering it's being held in a sports arena! I guess the $75 is for the box seats, and the $33 ones are the bleachers. Click here for seating chart/more info.
Tickets have been on sale for the shows in Fort Lauderdale (April 13 and 14) since December, and the prices are reasonable. Click here for more information.
The late shows at Caesar's Atlantic City are on sale now. At $60, it's a fairly hefty price. The shows are set for April 27 and 28th.
I believe tickets are on sale now for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra shows on Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12. Looks like they're not selling online, though. Some folks insist on doing things the old-fashioned way! I would call 1-800-699-3168 and ask about tickets to that show. Here's an online ad for the show.
Tickets for the Nashville Symphony concert in Antioch (June 14) will be on sale online March 11!
I understand there'll be quite a few fan-clubbers at the shows at the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada. Have fun, guys and gals! Tickets are on sale, prices are $50, $44, and $30; call (800) 687-8733 for details or use the online form.
Tickets for the North Shore Music Theatre concert in Wednesday, August 15 and Thursday, August 16 in Beverly, MA are on sale online NOW!
Sorry, still no Canadian or other foreign dates that I can see. I think I'd find some way to let Mathis know you guys want to hear him sing, too.
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