Fair St. Louis / VP

[Cajanek-Spielmacher]

So this is not happening this year?

[abuxb]

So this is not happening this year?

It's happening.
https://www.celebratesaintlouis.org/

[Pink Freud]

Do they still book huge headliners to perform on the Arch grounds around July 4? I saw Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Huey Lewis & the News (in a hellacious downpour), and Bill Cosby (before all that).

Does the Muny Opera stage still host pop/rock acts? I was there for Steve Winwood; Don Henley; Jefferson Starship; Bruce Hornsby; Stevie Nicks; The Outfield, and Robert Plant. Also, hard to believe, The Carpenters in 1972, my first-ever concert.

Jerry Berger once reported Anheuser-Busch, after selling so much beer at pop/rock shows there, wanted to buy the Muny site and build a second deck.

[abuxb]

Do they still book huge headliners to perform on the Arch grounds around July 4? I saw Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Huey Lewis & the News (in a hellacious downpour), and Bill Cosby (before all that).

Does the Muny Opera stage still host pop/rock acts? I was there for Steve Winwood; Don Henley; Jefferson Starship; Bruce Hornsby; Stevie Nicks; The Outfield, and Robert Plant. Also, hard to believe, The Carpenters in 1972, my first-ever concert.

Jerry Berger once reported Anheuser-Busch, after selling so much beer at pop/rock shows there, wanted to buy the Muny site and build a second deck.

The Muny hasn't hosted concerts in many years, but funny you should ask, they are going to once again.
https://muny.org/concerts-return-to-the ... with-slso/

The first time I ever heard of the Carpenters was when I saw them at the Muny as an opening act for Burt Bacharach. When I heard their name, I thought they were a Christian band.

[Pink Freud]

The first time I ever heard of the Carpenters was when I saw them at the Muny as an opening act for Burt Bacharach. When I heard their name, I thought they were a Christian band.

Wow...Burt Bacharach. What a memory that stirs:

My wife lived in Phoenix for four decades, and for her last several years in AZ she attended Community of Faith Church in Peoria, headed by Pastor Tim Wright, a great guy who many years ago befriended B. J. Thomas. Thomas, a huge pop success who also won Dove Awards for his Christian songs, found himself being booed by all those Good People when he'd dare to do his big radio hits amid his Christian stuff at concerts. He ended up quitting Christian act tours.

He and Pastor Jay and Jay's wife became good friends after B. J. was invited to perform in Peoria and he was encouraged to sing anything he wanted. B. J. brought his full band --- most of whom had been with him for more than 30 years --- and performed fantastic live shows for the 900-seat church. He was so happy doing that, with the ticket proceeds funding Save My Children, that he returned almost every year, and my wife and I together attended three or them, with my wife shelling out the extra bucks for front row seats....always worth it.

The last time we saw B. J. live at Community of Grace, he spoke at length of how he got the gig to sing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", written by Bacharach and Hal David, for the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Bacharach had seen B. J. open for Jackie Wilson and other soul acts, and thought he'd be a good choice, so he invited B. J. to record it, but only on a strict recording date they couldn't change....and that's when B. J. came down with a nasty sore throat. He talked of being at Bacharach's home, being served drinks by Angie Dickinson.

Even into his 70s, B. J. Thomas was still very good-looking and his voice was amazing.

That's why, when you watch that great movie but hear the song sung just a bit "off", it's B. J.'s sore throat from that day.

Burt Bacharach was such an interesting showbiz character: Devastatingly handsome; married to Angie Dickinson and Carole Bayer Sager and composing with Hal David; but with quite possibly the worst singing voice in the country. Yet he appeared on every 1960s/70s TV variety show......trying to sing.

There likely would not be a Dionne Warwick career had it not been for Bacharach/David. She was practically their house singer, and for a good reason, according to this NY Times obit for Burt: "Hearing Ms. Warwick, a backup singer, Mr. Bacharach realized he had found the rare vocalist with the technical prowess to negotiate his rangy, fiercely difficult melodies, with their tricky time signatures and extended asymmetrical phrases."

Bacharach also wrote "Close To You" for The Carpenters, whom Herb Alpert signed for his A&M Records, and Herb's always gotten emotional when asked about Karen Carpenter.

Herb Alpert --- whom I interviewed for a half hour in 2019 (Bucket List!!) --- told me of how Burt thought Herb's gentle tenor --- Herb had previously sung under the name Dore Alpert --- would be perfect for "This Guy's In Love With You", which was never released as a single until AFTER Herb sang the song on one of his two Tijuana Brass network TV specials, and the switchboard lit up with requests for the record. It then appeared on Herb/TJB's album "Sounds Like". The single went to #1, making it a first for an artist both as a singer and instrumentalist (with the Tijuana Brass and with Herb solo on "Rise", composed by his nephew Randy "Badazz" Alpert.

Oddly, late in the Bacharach/David partnership things got bitter and they ended up suing each other. Burt died at 94; Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall are still touring, and he's 89.

[abuxb]

The first time I ever heard of the Carpenters was when I saw them at the Muny as an opening act for Burt Bacharach. When I heard their name, I thought they were a Christian band.

Wow...Burt Bacharach. What a memory that stirs:

My wife lived in Phoenix for four decades, and for her last several years in AZ she attended Community of Faith Church in Peoria, headed by Pastor Tim Wright, a great guy who many years ago befriended B. J. Thomas. Thomas, a huge pop success who also won Dove Awards for his Christian songs, found himself being booed by all those Good People when he'd dare to do his big radio hits amid his Christian stuff at concerts. He ended up quitting Christian act tours.

He and Pastor Jay and Jay's wife became good friends after B. J. was invited to perform in Peoria and he was encouraged to sing anything he wanted. B. J. brought his full band --- most of whom had been with him for more than 30 years --- and performed fantastic live shows for the 900-seat church. He was so happy doing that, with the ticket proceeds funding Save My Children, that he returned almost every year, and my wife and I together attended three or them, with my wife shelling out the extra bucks for front row seats....always worth it.

The last time we saw B. J. live at Community of Grace, he spoke at length of how he got the gig to sing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", written by Bacharach and Hal David, for the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Bacharach had seen B. J. open for Jackie Wilson and other soul acts, and thought he'd be a good choice, so he invited B. J. to record it, but only on a strict recording date they couldn't change....and that's when B. J. came down with a nasty sore throat. He talked of being at Bacharach's home, being served drinks by Angie Dickinson.

Even into his 70s, B. J. Thomas was still very good-looking and his voice was amazing.

That's why, when you watch that great movie but hear the song sung just a bit "off", it's B. J.'s sore throat from that day.

Burt Bacharach was such an interesting showbiz character: Devastatingly handsome; married to Angie Dickinson and Carole Bayer Sager and composing with Hal David; but with quite possibly the worst singing voice in the country. Yet he appeared on every 1960s/70s TV variety show......trying to sing.

There likely would not be a Dionne Warwick career had it not been for Bacharach/David. She was practically their house singer, and for a good reason, according to this NY Times obit for Burt: "Hearing Ms. Warwick, a backup singer, Mr. Bacharach realized he had found the rare vocalist with the technical prowess to negotiate his rangy, fiercely difficult melodies, with their tricky time signatures and extended asymmetrical phrases."

Bacharach also wrote "Close To You" for The Carpenters, whom Herb Alpert signed for his A&M Records, and Herb's always gotten emotional when asked about Karen Carpenter.

Herb Alpert --- whom I interviewed for a half hour in 2019 (Bucket List!!) --- told me of how Burt thought Herb's gentle tenor --- Herb had previously sung under the name Dore Alpert --- would be perfect for "This Guy's In Love With You", which was never released as a single until AFTER Herb sang the song on one of his two Tijuana Brass network TV specials, and the switchboard lit up with requests for the record. It then appeared on Herb/TJB's album "Sounds Like". The single went to #1, making it a first for an artist both as a singer and instrumentalist (with the Tijuana Brass and with Herb solo on "Rise", composed by his nephew Randy "Badazz" Alpert.

Oddly, late in the Bacharach/David partnership things got bitter and they ended up suing each other. Burt died at 94; Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall are still touring, and he's 89.

Thanks for all of that.

[Pink Freud]

CORRECTION: It's Community of Grace Church in Peoria AZ, not Community of Faith.