PRESENTS

Welcome to my op-ed page, The Grapevine News & Views. I started this section in 2002 so that I'd have a place to air my views on my own website. (Go figure.) Who knew blogging would become such a phenomenon! If you've sought this page out, here you will find 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. I also find Mathis connections, people, places, and events that have been touched by the influence of Johnny Mathis, and oftentimes I simply ramble. So thanks for reading what I have to say, and thanks for coming by.

VOL. 5 NO. 3 - AUGUST 13, 2006

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Time's short. It's been 25 years since the album I call "The Silver Album" came out, commemorating Johnny Mathis' 25 year anniversary. Now, obviously, it's time for what I might call "The Gold Album". Sony, Legacy, Columbia, whoever it is, needs to pull all the stops, because there won't be a "Diamond Album". You know what I mean? In light of the piss-poor publicity that Isn't It Romantic, I'm not too awful optimistic about it. Nevertheless, I truly believe it's as good a time as any for a true retrospective of a really phenomenal career. I mean, the packaging possibilities are limitless, and they could put together a true collector's item if they wanted to.

I know that when I create mixes, I package my CDs in slim DVD cases and insert booklets, photos, the nine yards. I once found a concert tour book that has a centerfold of Mathis that I wish that I could find in a 24x36 poster size. It's a beautiful ocean view with Mathis on a rather ornate balcony looking at a vase of flowers, just beautifully composed. Speaking as a graphic artist, there is room, even in the digital age, to re-incorporate posters, lyric sheets, and the like into tastefully-done packaging that will give honor to the artist, be profitable for the record company, and be unique enough to be meaningful for those fans around the world who are still alive (and we are many). They have to do it right. They can't be stupid about it, or else we get another deal like the Home for Christmas video project. We want to avoid THAT at all costs. It's got to be something with class.

MY VISION I envision a limited-edition LP-sized box wrapped in pale satin. In the middle of the box there could be a gold-framed picture window, and inside that window is one of those double photos that you tilt one way, and it'll show the older Mathis, and tilt it another way the older one. Open the box and inside to the left is a 10x10 folio of portraits and concert photographs spanning 50 years. Also included in the booklet will be at least 5 pages for tributes: from songwriters, from producers, from peers, from family, and from anybody else who was influenced by Mathis. On the right are four CDs: one for the 50s and early 60s, one for the Mercury years and the 70s, one for the 80s, 90s, and this decade, and one disc consisting entirely of previously unreleased material, CD or otherwise.

But that's not all! In between the folio and the discs would be a binder page, on one side of which is a DVD, perhaps a dual disc, of TV appearances on one side and radio interviews on the CD side. On the other side of the binder page, facing the CD collection is a booklet of the lyrics to every song featured on the CD. And embedded into the literature could be a link to a location in which one could download a special-edition 50th Anniversary screensaver onto your computer!

And to do something of this scale, they needed to have started about three years ago.

This would be my ideal. It would not be a cheap project, and I'm betting good money that if Sony or Legacy does something at all, it will be decidedly less grand than anything I could come up with. When they do, I'm going to try to be happy with what they do come up with, in fact I should try to be happy they're even doing something at all. Johnny Mathis one of the last of a kind of performer this century will never see again. For whatever reason, he refuses to leave Columbia Records in favor of creative freedom as opposed to endless greatest hits compilations. THIS writer believes that a proper tribute would be the absolute least they could do in exchange for Mathis' inexplicable loyalty. Columbia may not have been the house that Mathis built, but, as one article I read did well to point out, he certainly paid the light bill for a lot of years.

I'll be interested to see whether not they do right by him or not.

CANCELLATION For some reason Mathis' Irish concert date at Dublin's The Point on September 25 has been cancelled, and there's no word of rescheduling. Aiken Promotions, which is handling the event, gives this explanation: "Due to unforeseen circumstances the JOHNNY MATHIS Concert scheduled to take place at the Point on 25th September '06 has been cancelled. Due to prior commitments it is not possible to reschedule the concert. Tickets for this concert can be refunded from point of purchase. On behalf of the artist, Aiken Promotions wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused."

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