WHAT'S OLD IS NEW AGAIN...AND AGAIN: It sure would be nice to hear a brand new studio album from Johnny Mathis this year. A quick trip to CDNow tells me there are yet two more compilations being re-released this year. Gad. How is it that people show so little imagination? Sure, it's been done before, time and time again. Only the medium has changed. Compilations have always been a handy way to fulfill contractual agreements without actually having to go back into the studio, since apparently there's nothing in the contract that specifically says, "artist must produce one album of NEW songs per year"! Take the album, What'll I Do, released in 1974, for example. It is song for song almost an exact replica of the Global recording This is Love, released on Mercury ten years earlier. (Trivia: the song "This is Love" does not appear on the album This Is Love, but on the album The Sweetheart Tree! For which other song, a much larger, earlier hit, did this phenomenon occur?) This was another label's recording, so of course Columbia had to make some changes! They took out a few songs: "Fantastic", "What Do You Feel in Your Heart", "Just Move Along, Meadowlark", and "You Love Me" (making the reworked compilation noticeably shorter). They added only one song, "What'll I Do", which they snagged from the Warmalbum from 1958. Never mind the fact that by the middle 70's, Mathis no longer sounded like either of these recordings! Which is the point; even back then, it seems these compilations were put together without a whole lot of thought.
Well, playing with my new tape deck has given me lots of ideas for compilations that can be intelligently done if they really wanted to do it. I mean, check it out. How many songs that have been done by Nat King Cole has Mathis recorded? "Too Young", "Autumn Leaves", "Orange Colored Sky", "To the Ends of the Earth", "Blue Gardenia", "Smile", "It's Only A Paper Moon", "Sweet Lorraine", probably many others. (Extra credit: which albums are these on?) How about a Mathis sings Nat King Cole compilation with one or two brand new made-to-order duets with his daughter Natalie (now that she's finally sober)? How hard can this be?
Or how about an even more obvious choice: Mathis sings Mancini? Is that a no-brainer or what? Lord knows he's been doing it all his career, with "Darling Lili", "Moment to Moment", "Charade", "Moon River", "Love theme from Romeo and Juliet"...talk about a compilation with style and class! And pick a couple of brand new songs, or at least seldom-heard ones, to sing with Mancini's legacy, Monica, for added interest.
I went through my Mathis collection and counted 26 movie songs before I gave up. Why not a Mathis at the Movies album? I mean, for pity's sake, if I, of all people, can think this stuff up, how hard is it?!
MATHIS ON THE RADIO: BBC Radio 2 station runs its last broadcast of a half-hour long, 6-week duration program simply called Johnny Mathis which has been airing every Friday since March 9th. It's a radio biography featuring comments by Mathis' brother Ralph and sister Elizabeth Mathis-Douds, singers Dionne Warwick and Deniece Williams, producer Thom Bell, George Avakian, Pat Boone, and more! Here's a link to a description of the show. The broadcast can be easily picked up on Real Audio/Real Player...click "Listen" on the BBC page referenced above, and you can hear it on the pop-up player. If you don't want to use their pop-up player, type the following into the Location bar of your RealPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/realmedia/fmg2.rpm. I'm not finding this archived as of yet, however I do see links to past shows. Maybe someday they'll include this one, too.
MATHIS IN CONCERT: Mathis plays Fort La-Dee-Dah on April 13 and 14th. Click here for more information. Fort Lauderdale is a city near Miami; it'd be a suburb if it weren't almost as big and in another county! I may make fun of the city's name, but the venue Mathis is playing at, The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, is an absolutely gorgeous piece of architecture. Beautiful venues make the Mathis concerts all the more magical, don't they?
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. The BPO has a cool lady conductor, and I'll bet they'll make Mathis sound fantastic!
Tickets are on sale NOW for the Nashville Symphony concert in Antioch (June 14). There is an 8-ticket limit with strict enforcement, which is good, as 8 should certainly be plenty for anyone!
Tickets are on sale for the shows at the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada. Prices are $50, $44, and $30; call (800) 687-8733 for details or use the online form.
The Westbury Music Fair has added two NEW dates for the summer: July 20th & 21st. Tickets are on sale NOW online via Ticketmaster for these new dates.
Tickets for the North Shore Music Theatre concert in Wednesday, August 15 and Thursday, August 16 in Beverly, MA are on sale online NOW!
Tickets for the concert in Saratoga, California (a suburb of San Jose) on August 30th go on sale to the public on April 13th. There is a ticket limit and prices are from $60-$100.
Don't know yet if tickets can be bought now for the Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut (don't ask where that is) on October 5th and 6th.
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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