Southern Bookman

Asheville's devastation brings sorrow

Another city I love lies devastated by a hurricane.

Asheville, where I enjoyed many happy times in my youth, was devastated by Helene, still relentlessly destructive as a tropical storm when it blew through the idyllic city in the western North Carolina mountains.

Flood waters cover Asheville's downtown streets, where art, music, food and literature flourished before the storm's rampage. Helene's high winds and flooding destroyed the nearby Biltmore Village's charming shops and restaurants. Some of the area's resort towns disappeared altogether.

For years, I've mourned New Orleans, Houston and Lake Charles following hurricanes. I never thought I'd weep in the same way for Asheville.

Farewell, Kris Kristofferson and Pete Rose

Kris Kristofferson and Pete Rose gained fame as American outlaws.

In a fitting juxtaposition of fate, Kristofferson and Rose both died over the weekend.

Kristofferson, 88, one of the ground-breaking Nashville songwriters who transformed country music in the 1970s, died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii, surrounded by his family.

Rose, 83, who broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record and was the driving force for Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, was found dead at his home Monday, according to the medical examiner of Clark County, Nevada. He had appeared at an autograph show over the weekend. 

A former Army officer and Rhodes scholar, Kristofferson refused a post teaching English at West Point to move to Nashville, where he worked as a janitor before achieving major success as a songwriter, with the help of Johnny Cash. Kristofferson wrote some of the most memorable lines in American music, and with his rugged masculinity found stardom as a Hollywood sex symbol.

Rose, known to detractors and fans as Charlie Hustle, shook up baseball with his reckless, devil-may-care play. He seriously injured Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse, barrelling into him in an all-star game, which once meant something to participants.

After propelling the Reds to two World Series titles in the 1970s, Rose brought his harem-scarem style to the Philadelphia Phillies. He finished his career with 4,256 hits, a record that Major League baseball doesn't honor because of Rose's banishment from the sport in a gambling scandal.

The 17-time all-star was banned in 1989 by Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting on games while managing the Reds. As one social media wag noted, Rose's lifetime ban has now ended, possibly making him eligible for election to his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.

Kristofferson and Rose both exemplified a roguish, hyper-charged masculinity. Each of them were transformational stars who excelled in fields of entertainment that fascinate millions.

The rules-breaking songwriter and ballplayer sparked outpourings of acclaim and vilification, two outlaws who changed American culture.

 

 

Bernadette Peters thrills Atlanta audience with exploration of Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein songbooks

Bernadette Peters in an appearance with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Saturday night took an ecstatic audience on a rousing tour of Stephen Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. 

Sondheim considered the Broadway star the best interpreter of his music. Performing a deep selection from Sondheim's songbook, Peters displayed the acting and singing brilliance that Sondheim praised. She made each song a character portrait evoking its original musical.

At age 76, Peters possesses a strong voice and dynamic energy.

In a shimmering silver dress, she made one departure from the Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein menu with a dazzling, sexy performance of the Peggy Lee standard "Fever," in which she perilously climbed stairs in her high heels to recline on music director Tedd Firth's piano.

Swinging her gorgeous legs, Peters echoed Lee's resonant voice, ranging from seductive low notes to brash higher registers.

Firth's piano enhanced the emotional complexity of Peters' more intimate songs. He also conducted the ASO with flair. The orchestra's musicians seemed to enjoy the swinging freedom of playing jazzy songs while smoothly backing slower-paced ballads.

Drummer Cubby O'Brien of Mouseketeer fame and bass player Kevin Axt from Peters' band joined the ASO. Axt and O'Brien gave a pulsing beat to Peters' "Fever" performance, building its dramatic momentum.

Peters reached one of the evening's high points with her aching interpretation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring" from the movie "State Fair." Hitting the song's high notes with crystal clarity, Peters uncovered the poetic richness of Hammerstein's simple lyrics.

Remembering Elaine Stritch, her fellow accomplished Sondheimian, Peters said farewell to her ardent admirers with thrilling performances of "Send in the Clowns" and "Being Alive."

Peters with her soaring voice and emotional range turned Sondheim's anthems of remorse and despair into affirmations of the human spirit, night music for the soul.

 

 

Atlanta Opera's arias to ring out at Bobby Jones Golf Course clubhouse

Opera, theater and film will find a new home at a historic golf landmark in Buckhead. 

The Atlanta Opera this week announced a $45 million renovation and expansion of the Greek Revival showpiece that served for years as the Bobby Jones Golf Course clubhouse. Reminiscent of "Gone With the Wind's" Tara, the clubhouse was abandoned several years ago when the Bobby Jones course, dating back to the 1930s, was converted into a reversible nine-hole layout.

Located on Woodward Way near a wealthy neighborhood, the clubhouse site sits along the not yet fully developed Beltline, which might receive mass transit in the future. 

Under the plan, the expanded complex will house a 200-seat recital hall for concerts and theater, a film studio, rehearsal and education space, a library and administrative offices.

However, the Atlanta Opera will continue performing at the Cobb County Galleria Center, with no future plans to build a major opera house. Several years ago, the company abandoned a lagging fund-raising campaign for an opera venue at Woodward Arts Center.

The Opera's renovated clubhouse will be another jewel for the area. Nearby are the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and museum, a lavish putting green, the renovated Bobby Jones golf complex, Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and the popular Boone's Restaurant.

A busy walking trail winds through Memorial Park, site of the bloody battles of Peachtree Creek and Tanyard Creek during the Civil War.

With the World Cup and other major sports competitions, the growth of Ga. Tech and other universities in starting and attracting high-tech businesses, and ambitious projects to revive downtown, Atlanta's cruising into a new era as an international city.

Yet, as columnist Maria Saporta recently pointed out in her Saporta Report, an essential source of Atlanta news, Georgia and Atlanta fall short in supporting the arts, for which Georgia ranks last in per capita spending.

Chastising Atlanta's futile campaign to attract the Sundance Film Festival, Saporta called for the city to increase arts funding and establish a department devoted to culture.

For years, Atlanta arts institutions have depended on wealthy private donors and the contributions of regular arts supporters to make up for insufficient public funding.

A revitalized commitment to the arts will raise Atlanta to new heights.

 

My September ritual: Playing "Try to Remember" on the piano

In September, I enjoy playing "Try to Remember" on my living room piano.

The song evokes the month's end-of-summer wistfulness and the changing of seasons with its nostalgic lyrics and melancholy melody.

Memorably performed by Jerry Orbach and the 1960s folk group the Brothers Four, "Try to Remember" was the show-stopping hit of the long-running Broadway musical "The Fantasticks."

Orbach starred in the original off-Broadway production of the play before portraying the grizzled New York City detective Lenny Briscoe on "Law and Order." Watching the show, I sometimes think Orbach's Lenny is going to start singing the song.

Opening with the lines "try to remember the kind of September/when life was slow and oh, so mellow," the song closes with a fading chord sequence imploring the listener to "follow, follow, follow."

Playing the song's chords and melody, I remember the time when I was "a callow fellow," as the song says, and hope to enjoy many more Septembers.

 

 

Farewell Maurice Williams, Zodiacs leader and author of R&B classic "Stay"

Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs dished out 90 seconds of R&B bliss with their 1960 hit "Stay."

Williams, the group's lead singer and author of the spell-binding song, died Aug. 6 at his North Carolina home. He was 86.

While Williams performed most of the vocals on "Stay," Henry Gaston's keening falsetto chorus "oh, won't you stay, just a little bit longer" soars with an operatic intensity rare for pop music, one of the era's most memorable moments.

At 90 seconds, "Stay" is one of the shortest songs to ever top the charts. The Zodiacs produced several other minor hits, but "Stay" was their only No. 1 recording.

Their small slice of rock ecstasy enjoyed  a long history, covered by the Hollies, the Four Seasons and other bands. The song is also part of  "The Dirty Dancing" soundtrack.

Jackson Browne adapted the song into the signature closing event of his concerts, honoring his road crew and fans. Browne's guitar player David Lindley performs the falsetto part, addressing Browne's audience with the promise to perform one more song.

Henry Gaston's voice makes us all want to stay just a little bit longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell John Mayall and Jerry Miller, 1960s blues pioneers

John Mayall and Jerry Miller shared a devotion to the blues.

Mayall and Miller, who played significant roles in boosting the popularity of the American black music in the 1960s, both died recently: Mayall Monday at age 90 at his home in California and Miller July 21 at age 81 at his home in Tacoma, Wash., according to Washington Post obituaries.

Both men excelled as blues guitarists, and evangelists of the music, one of the major influences on American and British rock in the 1960s.

Mayall was a leading progenitor of the British blues surge in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His Bluesbreakers launched the careers of blues prodigies Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and others who went on to greater stardom.

American blues masters like B.B. King credited Mayall with introducing the music to a new generation of fans. Mayall often accompanied bluesmen when they performed in Britain. Mayall went on to a solo recording and concert career.

Moby Grape's 1967 album "Moby Grape," with its driving psychedelic anthems and harmonic love ballads, is considered one of the classics of the San Francisco sound.

Along with Peter Lewis and Skip Spence, Miller wrote songs and laid the musical foundation for the group. After their first burst of fame, the group abruptly collapsed from management difficulties and dissension exacerbated by Spence's drug problems. Spence, a former member of the Jefferson Airplane, suffered a severe mental breakdown.

A teenage friend of Jimi Hendrix, Miller returned to Washington, playing in several bands and joining Moby Grape reunion tours over the years.

Clapton, who first gained renown with the Yardbirds, left the Bluesbreakers to form the supergroup Cream with Bruce and Ginger Baker, rising to new heights. Taylor joined the Rolling Stones, whose blues pedigree was inspired by Mayall.

Green, who some place alongside Clapton as a guitar master, formed Fleetwood Mac along with McVie and Fleetwood. He left the group after suffering a drug-induced mental collapse, which hampered his career. 

During my college days, I loved the Moby Grape songs "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" and "Can't Be So Bad," which the popular Baton Rouge band The Greek Fountains performed in clubs around town.

While never achieving major stardom, Mayall and Miller played essential roles in pushing the blues to the center of popular music.

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Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" and Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" still touch the heart

I was transmitted for a happy few moments Tuesday afternoon to a time when American singers dominated the radio, before the arrival of the Beatles.

Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" and Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" played one after the other on satellite radio as I drove down Roswell Road through Sandy Springs during a raging rainstorm. 

As their timeless voices touched my heart, I imagined myself in a fantasy movie in which I returned to my youth.

Telling similar stories of romance gone wrong, the Nashville Sound classics were both produced by Owen Bradley for Decca Records. Each features the soulful background voices of the Jordanaires and the same set of Nashville house musicians.  

Lee was only 15 when she warbled her lament of longing and regret. The record company delayed its 1960 release of the song written by Dub Albritton and Ronnie Self, fearing reprisals from the era's morality police for having such a young child express adult themes.

Released at last, "I'm Sorry," with Lee's spell-binding vocal recitation, rose to No. 1 on the pop charts, although it appeared on the flip side of the more uptempo "That's All You Gotta Do," which reached No. 6 on the Hot 100.

Cline was  28 and a rising Nashville star when she recorded "I Fall to Pieces," a belated crossover hit on the country and pop charts.  The song written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard was at first ignored after its release in 1961, but began receiving airplay and slowly rose on the charts thanks to a successful sales campaign by the record label to country and pop DJs.  

While the 30-year-old Cline was killed in a 1963 plane crash, Lee's still going strong at age 79. She recently starred in a video of her classic "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree,"  a You Tube holiday hit last year.

Cline and Lee's operatic voices transform ordinary love songs into dramatic stories of passion and desire.

 

 

Broadway buzzing over Audra McDonald's autumn appearance in "Gypsy"

Broadway will receive a boost this fall when six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald stars in Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's "Gypsy."

McDonald will bring her star power to one of the musical theater's greatest roles, following other stage legends. She'll perform some of Sondheim's most memorable songs in her portrayal of the mesmerizing Rose, the stage mother who pushed the career of her daughter, the exotic dancer Gypsy Rose Lee.

Previews begin Nov. 21 at the renovated Majestic Theater. The production, directed by George C. Wolfe, opens on Dec. 19, drawing huge holiday ticket sales.

Camille A. Brown, who's received four Tony nominations, will choreograph the production. Ticket sales opened last week.

Wolfe, the winner of five Tony awards, collaborated with McDonald on the 2016 Tony nominated production of "Shuffle Along or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All that Followed."

"Gypsy," with a book by Tony winner Arthur Laurents and Styne's music and Sondheim's lyrics, premiered on Broadway in 1959 starring Ethel Merman as Rose, the stage mother who steered her daughter's career while secretly desiring fame for herself. The role has also been performed by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daiy, Bernadette Peters and Patti Lupone.

The "Gypsy" revival will continue Sondheim's posthumous presence on Broadway. Staring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, the revival of his "Merrily We Roll Along" has received seven Tony nominations. The musical, which portrays the characters' lives in reverse order, was a flop when it first appeared on Broadway in 1981.

McDonald's dazzling talent, and the enduring brilliance of Stern and Sondheim's songs, will take "Gypsy" to new heights.

 

 

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra reach Rachmaninoff fusion

Piano concertos can turn unbalanced, with the master musician's showy runs overwhelming the orchestra.

Avoiding that discord, master pianist Garrick Ohlsson and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra achieved a stirring symmetry Saturday night in a well-calibrated performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's demanding Piano Concerto No. 3.

As Ohlsson thrilled the nearly full audience with rousing power chords contrasting with delicate melodic reveries, the ASO met the challenge of the Russian composer's protean score.

Spurred by the return of conductor Robert Spano, the ASO rose to the heights of Ohlsson's majestic stylings, a blending of voices that transplanted jazz's call and response harmonies to classical themes.

After the thunder and lightning of Rachmaninoff, Ohlsson gave the crowd the perfect nightcap: a solo performance of a Chopin etude.

Ohlsson, one of the world's leading interpreters of Chopin, brought Paris' springtime to Atlanta.