PRESENTS

Welcome to the Grapevine News. This section of the Mathis Chronicles contains my views about anything I find or am sent about Johnny Mathis on the Internet and elsewhere, that had been overlooked by the "official" sites. Occasionally, I report on things not directly related to Mathis but have a connection, may even make up a question to ask myself and try to answer. Readers are welcome to share their experiences here also. So enjoy and thanks for coming.

VOL. 2 NO. 12 - JUNE 25, 2003

ONLY SIX MORE MONTHS: Christmas is not that far off, is it? Pre-orders are still being taken at Amazon.com, Tower Records America, and CD Universe for the Johnny Mathis classic Thom Bell-produced CD re-release of I'm Coming Home, which is due to be released on Tuesday, July 1.

I've been a tad disappointed at the sales so far, at first, but things are picking up. As of this writing, the sales rank at Amazon.com is a respectable 1,854. What's a sales ranking? That's not how many has sold, that's how many recordings are ahead of the artist in sales right now. Compare with the new Father's Day release of Luther Vandross' Dance With My Father, which has a sales rank at Amazon.com of 5. That means only 4 recordings are selling better than his right now. When you consider that Johnny Mathis sells what he does entirely by word of mouth, with absolutely no help from the people who are supposed to be doing PR for him, 1854 is not bad at all.

I would love to see renewed public interest in this "old school" recording. But, of course, the idiots in marketing are determined to do stuff the wrong way. They consider him yesterday's news anyway, so they wait so long to release this stuff the people who would have bought it have died off. On top of that, because of their lack of foresight, they don't package it in a way as to make it appealing to the more diverse SGMF who will be buying his material not only today, but long after he's gone. I'll ALWAYS say I'm Coming Home and Mathis Is should have been put together and called The Thom Bell Sessions. [OK, this title is not original; believe it or not, Sir Elton John had an album by that title in the late '70's. And as big an Elton John fan as I am, I have to say that, in my opinion, it wasn't very good. So, I say put the name on something infinitely better!]

SMOKIN' IN ATLANTA: Speaking of diversity, music historian Leslye Joy Allen is a HUGE Johnny Mathis fan, and she's sent me some encouraging news from the Peach State. Leslye has allowed me to share her impressions of Mathis' recent visit to her native Atlanta! Thanks!

I'm just giving you the run down of Johnny Mathis' performance this Saturday night (June 21) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

First, our brother was in fine form, vocally and physically. As the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra began its overture, he walked out dressed in a tan silk suit, cream shirt, red/gold/blue tie; he looked like he had been melted and poured into his clothes. He received an immediate five minute standing ovation just for appearing.

He briefly talked about how he had performed at Chastain Amphitheatre many times and commented on how great our weather was. And it was. After a week of nothing but continuous waterlogging rain, the sky cleared late Friday night and the temperature on Saturday never went past 75 degrees with low humidity and not a cloud in the sky.

Johnny opened with "Pure Imagination", then did three Henry Mancini songs ("Days of Wine and Roses", "Moon River", and "Two for the Road").

Another highlight was that he included Erroll Garner's "Dreamy" which he followed with "Misty".

He did a rather funky samba tune called "Hold Back" [Note: the song's English title is "Let Go" (See below)]. Soon after, an elderly woman came to present him flowers. So John got down on his knees to hug and kiss her.

Soon after he did 3 songs from the musical "Kismet" including "Once I Had a Secret Love". He also did "And Her Mother Came To". After singing it he told the audience that the song was "an old joke and thanks for laughing." He also did a thumping version of the Stylistics "You Make Me Feel Brand New."

With Gil Reigers he did "99 Miles from L.A." and "The Twelfth of Never". This was also the only time Johnny sat down. Reigers has been with Johnny for 33 years now. I was 13 years old the first time I saw Gil!

Several times audience members let a few shouts out and Mathis got genuinely tickled. I was one of the shouters.

Of course he did "It's Not for Me to Say", but he also included "Gina" and a new arrangement of "Chances Are" which he began with the chorus sung A cappella.

He mentioned to the audience that he always gets nervous, but a few evenings ago he was even more nervous because Gil Reigers told him that Ben Vereen was in the audience. Then he said that "Tonight in Atlanta it's my turn to make Gil nervous. Ladies and gentlemen we have a fantastic guitarist in the audience. Give a round of applause to Mr. Earl Klugh."

After he acknowledged Earl Klugh, Johnny performed "Laura" with the original Don Costa arrangement ("footsteps that you hear down the hall"). Then he told the audience that one of his favorite places was Brazil and "hopefully, when all the madness going on in the world stops I'll get to go back again." In Portuguese, he performed "Felicidade", "Serenata", "Bachianas Brasileiras" from the Olé LP. Then in English he did "Brazil" which got seriously funky. So funky that several audience members were up and dancing.

Before leaving the stage, he had another near 5 minute ovation and about 5 bouquets of flowers handed to him by audience members. Much to my relief (and yours), he was trim and healthy looking (still pretty). He sounded good, moved around like he did when he was still 40 years old, and had a vibrant Black, White, Mexican, Indian, young, middle aged, and old audience. In all, he sang continuously for nearly 90 minutes and performed roughly 45 songs.

I figured since we have had so many deaths and so much depressing news about the health of our favorite performers that you'd appreciate hearing some good news. I'll put it like this: I know Mathis can't live forever, but this was the first time in a long while that I stopped worrying about his health.

LET GO: I've had some interest in a particular song Johnny Mathis occasionally does in concert called Let Go, which, as you've just read, Johnny Mathis performed in Atlanta over the weekend. Now, I've never heard this song myself, because every time I've ever gone, he does the same tired old songs. It may depend on where you go to see him whether or not you get to hear this song! But, my good buddy Jon-Daniel tells me he's heard this kickin' little Latin number before, whenever Mathis performs in Boston. Johnny Mathis is notorious for performing wonderful songs in concert that he hasn't put on record yet. Although, I've been told that everything Mathis has ever sung in concert HAS been put on a recording somewhere, but not all of them find their way to market! And so it goes...

Here's what my research has turned up. According to the good people at Spaceage Pop, "Let Go" is an Anglicized version of the Bossa Nova hit "Canto do Ossanha". The melody was written around 1967 by the late bossa-nova legend Baden Powell. I've also found that the late Rosemary Clooney, a Mathis favorite, performed it with guitarist John Pizzarelli on her Rosemary Clooney Brazil! CD. I don't know, it could be that this song is an homage to his late friend!

The Brazilian-Portuguese lyrics to "Canto do Ossanha", written by Vinicius de Moraes, are easily found online, but the English lyrics to "Let Go", written by Norman Gimbel, are harder to come by. However, I'm sure that if you buy the sheet music for Let Go or a fake book such as this one containing the song at your favorite music store, you can easily find them.

UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME: My Luther gallantly continues to fight! Send him some love. NEVER underestimate the power of prayer! Keep on fighting, Luther! As Mathis' heir apparent, we need you still!

TOUR BUS: The bus stops next in Verona, New York and Waterford, Connecticut. Visit See Mathis Live! for details. New dates for 2004 added! Yay!

©2003 Iris Gross Georg. All rights reserved.

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