OOPS THEY DID IT AGAIN: In an ongoing effort not to say, "hey, we lied," it looks like the Live By Request video is being pushed back further, to about a year after they said they'd release it the first time. If they prove trustworthy this time, it may be in time for the Christmas rush, and would show imaginative marketing skills on the part of Sony. In the meantime, I'm not going to hold my breath, and this will be the last mention of it until I actually have one in my hands.
BY ANY OTHER NAME: In the June 4th edition (see Back Issues), I mentioned a Sony Music compilation 3-Pak called Love Songs, released in April, featuring the music of Johnny Mathis, Englebert Humperdinck, and Andy Williams. I've learned these songs are available on CD, without Humperdinck or Williams if one so desires (why would one want to do that?), as a compilation package called Johnny Mathis Sings the Standards. A compilation by any other name is still a bunch of crap as far as I'm concerned. Give us the real deal, or let him sing the standards in his millennium-age voice.
For what it's worth, then, a 1980's compilation, This Heart of Mine, has been rereleased on June 26.
CATS: Mathis holding cats, and others doing same, for those who missed it on the "official site" and who are interested in such.
ON WITH THE SHOW: Johnny Mathis performs at the Westbury Music Fair on July 20th & 21st. Tickets are on sale NOW online via Ticketmaster for these new dates.
New England shows are great...I'm told the audience really LOVES him there! Tickets are still on sale for the shows in Hyannis, Massachusetts, at the Cape Cod Melody Tent on Saturday, August 4 and Sunday, August 5. New Englanders can still buy tickets for the North Shore Music Theatre concert in Beverly, Massachusetts, north and east of Boston near Salem, on Wednesday, August 15 and Thursday, August 16 If you see my good bud Jon-Daniel there, tell him hello for me.
Tickets for the concert in Saratoga, California (a suburb of San Jose) on Thursday, August 30th are on sale now. Since it's on a Thursday night, it's probably not a good gig for out-of-towners unless one no longer works for a living. There is a ticket limit (6) and prices are from $65-$100.
Three casino shows are set for the fall: Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut (about 50 miles SE of Providence, Rhode Island) on October 5th and 6th, at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 19th and 20th, and at Caesars Atlantic City November 9th and 10th. Tickets may not be available yet, call for details.
MORE NEW CONCERTS FOR 2002! In addition to the Thursday, Feb. 7th concert in waterlogged Houston, Texas at Jones Hall, Savannah, GA on February 9th at the Johnny Mercer Theatre, and Charlotte, North Carolina (watch out, Fab) at the Ovens Auditorium on May 4th, POLLSTAR shows a new date for Fort Meyers, Florida on February 22nd (Georg(e)'s birthday) at the Barbara B. Mann Hall. Obviously tickets are not on sale yet. Johnny Mathis is still very much in demand and 2002, the palindrome year, is looking very good so far!
Sorry, still no Canadian or other foreign dates that I can see. I'm not sure what's behind this apparent need to be well paid--out of character for someone who didn't used to care about money, but I think he's gotten the idea that the overseas gigs aren't going to be worth his while. I think I'd find some way to let Mathis know this is not the case, and that you'd like to hear him sing, too.
In the meantime, to those who have lived in the United States without having seen Johnny Mathis in concert, what's up with that? There is ample opportunity, so you don't have any excuse in the world. Mathis is one of a kind, and while he remains at the top of his class he's getting older, so if a date with Mathis isn't important enough, and you'd rather be home watching a TV sitcom, well, ultimately it's your loss.
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