In Concert
John Davidson
Wed, Oct 21, 7pm
(opening night w/reception)
250 pesos
Thurs- Sat Oct 22-24, 7pm
Matinee, Sun, Oct 25, 5pm
150 pesos
Teatro Santa Ana
Reloj 50-A
Life in the musical fast lane
excerpt from Kennedy Poyser (July 24)
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He’s on Billboard’s “Hot 100” (Pop) chart and has placed singles on their “Adult Contemporary” survey. Music has always been his first passion. Jack Benny introduced him to Las Vegas audiences in 1966, and he has headlined at the MGM Grand, Caesar’s Palace, the Golden Nugget and Harrah’s. |
He was a regular player on Ed Sullivan, Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Spenser for Hire. In 1974, he guest-starred on Streets of San Francisco as a cross-dressing lounge singer who murders fans. Davidson impersonates Carol Channing singing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
His Broadway debut was Foxy in 1964, and he has starred in national tours and stock productions of Man of La Mancha, Chicago, Camelot and Carousel. Two favorite roles are Harold Hill in The Music Man and Curly in Oklahoma!, for which he won a Theater World Award in 1965. He appeared in the off-Broadway comedy High Infidelity opposite Morgan Fairchild. John loves to mingle with a show’s cast and socialize with them.
After playing Theodore Roosevelt in the musical Teddy and Alice, his admiration for the president led to a successful national tour for his one-man show Bully.
His movies include The Happiest Millionaire, Airport ‘79 and Edward Scissorhands, plus the sitcom The Girl with Something Extra with Sally Field.
He is perhaps best known for That’s Incredible, a human interest/stunt-themed series he hosted with Cathy Lee Crosby, 1980–84. The show’s format fit John’s buoyant nature. He made 100 appearances on the original Hollywood Squares during its 1966–1981 run and hosted The John Davidson Show 1980–1982. He hosted a revival of Hollywood Squares 1986–1989, and a 170-episode revival of The $100,000 Pyramid in 1991.
His ability to think on his feet and maintain control of the unexpected led to his hosting The Golden Globes and numerous variety specials.
John Davidson was born in 1941 to a Baptist minister and a homemaker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father married Dick Clark and his wife Kari. John graduated from high school in White Plains, New York, and earned a BA in theater arts from Denison University.
His good looks, smile and charm gained him entry to game shows, sitcoms, variety shows and talk shows. He co-starred as Matt in a Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast of the classic musical The Fantasticks in 1964. He made great strides as a full-fledged television presence in the seventies.
John and his wife Rhonda ride their moto around San Miguel, where they studied Spanish with daughter Ashleigh, off and on, during a 20-year travel-fest that included cruising aboard their diesel trawler Principia for three years, and daughter joining father on the national tour of State Fair. She was in Shenandoah in 2005, and is now a student in musical theater. Of the older children, John Jr. is a business consultant living with his family in California. Jennifer is a professional ice skater who lives in Florida with her family. Rhonda Rivera was the lead member of Blush, the back-up singing trio on John’s daytime talk show.
This is your last chance to see Davidson in San Miguel before he returns to the US in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Check out his website www.johndavidson.com for tour dates.
A review of the concert at Patsy’s Place
John Davidson’s theme for his guitar and banjo concert at Patsy’s Pavilion is deceptive. “Laugh Lines and Love Songs” seems a pleasant complement to a renowned buffet, and it certainly is, but don’t assume you can kick back for some easy listening.
He knows more San Miguel jokes than anyone I’ve met and many of them are scandalous. Not smutty or especially shocking, but very funny. He does love songs, and for the sake of diversity, is willing to push the genre with a breakthrough love song for Pedro in the Jardín.
The audience at his July 26 concert did more laughing, applauding and yelling than is seemly for a gentle concert of love songs. We couldn’t be sure what came next. An early piece was his and Rhonda’s witty “Mañana,” followed a bit later by a moving introduction to “Country Home” and toward the end a satirical exposé of the perils of turning 60.
He even made his mistakes amusing. The fast thinking which served him well hosting The Golden Globes and the Tonight Show was apparent in how he dealt with glitches in his first solo appearance (he normally plays in a band).
He has starred in so many Broadway plays and hosted so many television shows, his agent has probably advised him to shorten his résumé: “John, no one will read a 10-page list of credits. Put down ‘nearly everything’ and be done with it.”
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Concert
Vudu Chile
Fri, Oct 16, 8pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
Tickets 150 pesos
The classic question
David Garza
With the fall season coming up, the members of Vudu Chile decided to do a tribute to the classic either/or question: The Beatles or The Stones? Lynx Maple, Vudu Chile’s singer likes both of these groups, but leans toward the Beatles more.
How about you? You don’t have to choose without a little listen first, because the guys from Vudu Chile will be doing their own favorites of both groups, a battle of the bands per say, and you can come and judge for yourselves.
Hear renditions of The Beatles with their sonic landscapes or the Stones with their balls out rockin’ tunes, the Beatles painting with sound, the Stones letting it all hang out and sometimes each group switching places, with the Stones creating great imagery and the Beatles pushing rock to its limits. The Stones and The Beatles have so many good songs that it’s going to be hard to narrow down the number of numbers.
Be assured, the tunes chosen will take you back to a good warm place and make you dance in the aisles of the Teatro Santa Ana. At the group’s Stevie Wonder/Marvin Gaye tribute, a lady left her seat and was dancing in the back of the theater throughout the whole concert. So don’t be embarrassed to move, that’s what the guys in Vudu Chile love the most, getting people to loosen up and shake it!
Lynx will talk a little about the Stones and the Beatles in between songs to add a little fuel to the fire and a little heat to the controversy. If you’ve ever been to one of Vudu Chile’s other tributes to such artists as Ray Charles, The Beatles, Muddy Waters, Elton John, Billy Joel, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and the afore mentioned Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, then you know it’s an event not to be missed. And if you’re too shy to dance at the theater, you can catch Vudu Chile every Sunday night at 9pm doing their full repertoire of jazz standards and classics in blues, rock, reggae, funk and disco at La Fragua right around the corner from the Parroquia on Cuna de Allende.
If you’re up for a good rocking time and ready to hear splendid interpretations of these classic tunes by a group who always puts its definitive touch on every song, then come hear Vudu Chile rock the house. You can enjoy a good night out on the town and still be home early, or have time to go out and paint what’s left of the town red! Besides how often do you get the chance to make a lot of noise and carrying on in a library?
This is your chance to break all the rules with full permission from Vudu Chile to misbehave! Let’s rock that library all the way down from its stone and concrete foundations and up to the highest little books on the tallest shelves. Maybe the next day there’ll be a little extra dust on the floors as a testimony to a good night of dancin’, rockin’ and music lovin’. We hope to see you there!
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