Connie in San Francisco at Castro Theatre
October 13, 2007
Very good, Connie's presentation was strong at this show, orchestra very in tune with everything. Bobby Hammon (of Style Five Salon in Las Vegas), one of Connie's piasanos who follow her everywhere, summed up the show as, "She bowled them over!" (I asked to elaborate) "as in bowling, Connie knocked the audience down." And yes, everyone was definitely wowed at this performance. Singing Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose" seems that Connie's strongest singing strengths are in other languages but yet her standards are always great as she did with Frank Sinatra's song.
Unlike the recent Boston newspaper article saying Connie ran through her monologe like reading from a script, this performance Connie was relaxed and having fun with it like in a conversation. She talked about all the places she has been at with Bobby Grauso (this concert here, performance there, going to Vietnam, etc). and of course, "how long have we been together?" Bobby answered, "47 years!" Connie then said, "nobody say what my age is!"
Connie wore a pants suit outfit first part of show, and then a stunning black dress for second part of show. Her hair was nice and poofy and makeup very glamourous with sparkly stuff (for you makeover artist let me know the correct technical term). She should have done a professional photoshoot and would be able to make considerable profit selling the prints.
Sound system was pretty good, though this theatre by its inherent design from the 1920s makes poor acoustics for such a concert arrangement but Don Tittle must have done his magic because you can clearly her Connie's voice. Maybe some instruments were a little off but you have to be a professional audiophile to spot such. However, this is live, this is the real person, what you see and here is for real. No lipsyncing crap to some CD (recorded by another artist). You get the real Connie at her shows.
Michael Dardenelle stopped by where I was sitting so we swapped Connie stories, glad he tracked me down because I had no idea where to find him (not sure what he looked like). I did see many other fans there as well: Paulette, Cora, Eric, Fran, Nick, Bobby.... Michael talked about the shirt and the difficult logistics of putting it together. He and Mike Church emailed back and forth regarding the artwork and none of them saw the final product until it was finished. Shirts were a big sell at the concert. Earlier in the day, Connie thanked Michael for the work involved in making them. The colors on the shirt are brilliant.
I saw Connie briefly at the meet and greet (and yes I told her how much I enjoyed the show). It was a long line of fans but I had her autograph the Italian Favorites album for the
Italian American Heritage Foundation , I also gave her a hardcopy of the paragraph from Nick Clooney's article in Cincinnati Post of what he wrote regarding Connie and Madonna in music. I printed the page from
Jonathon's March concert countdown webpage (I told Connie to not feel too pressured to start on time).
Took lotsa photos, most photos were too blurry, ones that are reasonable have some blur but hopefully it gives the motions at the time. It is difficult to capture the moment, you have to be there to experience it. Many others took photos and most likely very good ones so send them! Someone asked me a list of all the songs she performed (I didn't tally these) but many others (and you know who you are) can write more definitive music analysis than I can so send it to me for my concert review page.
Photos shown in the background screen along with many video scenes from the fan magazines ("My Father Kept Me A Prisoner!" maybe the only true fan magazine story?). Of course Bobby Darin shown, including the duet they did on Ed Sullivan with Connie wearing the beautiful white dress.
One of the new photos shown in backdrop was one of Connie with Frank Sinatra. Fan club also mailed this photo to members in quarterly newsletter prior to this show.
Some other things on the concert: I spoke briefly with Scottie Haskell about her singing in commercials and movies. I asked what was the most interesting works, she said all of it was enjoyable. Scottie was able to do the solo performance at the opening of Paris Las Vegas which she spent considerable practice to sing well in French. She said singing for the movie, "Matrix Revisited" was particularly challenging as it meant reading a "sandscript." I wanted to find out more as I'm sure she has many interesting stories with all the work in many commercials and movies. Her father is Jimmie Haskell, a composer who worked with many performers including Bobby Darin, and he is still active. His webpage is
Jimmie Haskell. Another photo of Scottie at
terikoide I also talked to Nick who guided Connie from the back to the main stage. Castro theatre stage has a narrow segment for Connie to enter from left, it is only two feet wide with a 18 inch drop at the stairs (which is why she did not enter from the audience rear). Nick had to make sure Connie does not veer off and not trip on a number of cables with bright spotlight on her.
I heard there is not much room behind the stage curtains and behind the stage are cables everywhere with lots of opportunities to trip and fall.
About Connie's performance, between songs she said she wanted to move around the stage more but there is not much room. I think she wanted to be more expressive and dance around more if it wasn't for all the speakers and cables taking up what space was left on the stage floor.
Orchestra members, local hires, are always good at Connie's shows. She only brings Bobby Grauso, Doug Walters and Don Tittle. But then some concerts have orchestra members better than others. I think these guys were exceptional because Doug spent more time playing the piano instead of directing the orchestra. During the intermission, the orchestra members were relaxed with smiles and chit-chats.
Sheet music shows the overture written by Peter Matzo in Feb 1985.
As far as elouquet elaborate review with excellent prose on the concert, I rely on others to provide that. For me it is basically the usual "I enjoy her concerts, her singing, she's beautiful, I want to date her, etc, etc, etc...."
source:
Connie Francis International Fanclub
