December 12, 2002
Happy Birthday to Dionne Warwick, who turns 62 today.
And Vincent Cole sent in (a long time ago) this photo of Burt displaying a sweatshirt with musical notes on it Vincent had given him. Vincent gave him the sweatshirt following Burt's performance in Morristown, N.J., on Oct. 19, 2002. Thanks, Vincent!
October 11, 2002
British "Pop Idol" winner Will Young's debut CD, From Now On, was released in the U.K. on Oct. 7. It features Will's vocal on the new Bacharach-Cathy Dennis song "What's In Goodbye." Closer to home, the American Idol Greatest Moments CD features Idol contestant Tamyra Gray's rendition of "A House Is Not A Home."
August 27, 2002
I've scanned a few more albums and CDs with the ultimate plan of creating a comprehensive gallery. It's far from complete, but you can have a look at what I've done so far.
August 26, 2002
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been traveling recently. Musical director, composer and arranger Peter Matz died on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles. He was 73. Matz worked with both Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick in his long, distinguished career, as well Carol Burnett, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, k.d. lang, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughn and others. He won an Emmy Award for the 1970 TV special The Sound of Burt Bacharach. I've updated the media section with a few recent articles and reviews from the Liverpool Echo, Toronto Star, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
August 25, 2002
Happy Birthday to Elvis Costello, who turns 48 today.
August 2, 2002
Burt is scheduled to appear on the Aug. 13 installment of American Idol. "Burt will come in and help the finalists choose their next song, and then they'll stand up there and sing some of his," co-executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told the New York Daily News. Lythgoe was a producer of American Idol's British forerunner, Pop Idol.
August 1, 2002
Burt and lyricist Cathy Dennis recently collaborated on "What's In Goodbye," a song for vocalist Will Young, winner of the U.K.'s phenomenally popular "Pop Idol" television series/contest. Young joined Burt onstage in London and Liverpool last week to sing the song, a live recording of which is available here: http://www.wbvm.co.uk/goodbye.mp3
July 31, 2002
The Guardian U.K. published this review of Burt's performance at London's Hammersmith Apollo on July 27.
July 26, 2002
Happy birthday to Mick Jagger, who turns 59 (!) today. I updated the media section with a trio of articles first brought to my attention by contributors to the Bacharach forum. Songs and Lovers, a feature on the Australian Bacharach-David musical What the World Needs Now, an interview with Burt from the U.K.'s The Independent on Sunday, and an interview with Dionne from This Is London. Thanks for the tips.
July 22, 2002
I finally got around to scanning some images from a 1971 Burt Bacharach souvenir program. Some of the originals were larger than the bed of my scanner, so you'll just have to use your imagination to fill them out.
July 16, 2002
The Observer (UK) published this interview with Dionne Warwick, in which she discusses her love of Brazil, her fondness for soccer and her recent legal troubles, on July 14, 2002.
July 12, 2002
Rob Pingel sent in a few scans from his voluminous collection of Bacharach sheet music.
July 11, 2002
Australian Burt fans should keep an eye out for What the World Needs Now. The new musical, built around the songs of Bacharach and David, opens at Sydney's Theatre Royal on August 6, 2002.
July 10, 2002
Dave submitted these photos from the June 28, 2002, Bacharach/Warwick concert in Detroit. Thanks, Dave.
June 26, 2002
I updated the media section with Pop Music's Dynamic Duo, an article from the Detroit News previewing the June 28 Bacharach-Warwick concert at the Music Hall in Detroit. Thanks to Tom S. for the link.
June 24, 2002
Austin Powers in Goldmember opens nationally on July 27. The third installment in Mike Myers' time-traveling "International Man of Mystery" series, it's also the third to feature a cameo by Burt as well as a Bacharach song on the soundtrack. Goldmember features Susanna Hoffs singing "Alfie (What's It All About Austin)."
June 6, 2002
Good news: Drug charges against Dionne Warwick were dropped by authorities in Miami-Dade Country. "To this day, I am puzzled about exactly what happened at the Miami International Airport," Warwick said in a statement. "But through the grace of God, I can now put this unpleasant chapter behind me."
June 4, 2002
Bill Minnick writes that a concert date has just been announced for Burt at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pa., outside Philadelphia, on Oct. 18. For a complete list of Burt's upcoming concert appearances, visit the On Tour page.
May 30, 2002
Vincent Cole submitted three new photos from Burt's performance with the Rochester Pops Orchestra in Rochester, N.Y., on May 25, 2002. One features Burt's vocalists, Donna, Josie and John. Another features Vincent's friends Lisa and Mike with Burt, and the third features Vincent, his wife and Burt. Thanks, Vincent.
May 28, 2002
Davide Bonori, discographer nonpareil, just sent me his latest, most up-to-date discographies. One is a categorical discography and the other is a chronological discography.
May 25, 2002
Happy birthday, Hal! Hal David turns 81 today.
May 24, 2002
Alvina sent in two photos from 1998 of Burt autographing her very first album, Reach Out. Thanks, Alvina.
May 17, 2002
I updated the audio section with Jim O'Rourke's rendition of Something Big.
May 14, 2002
Dionne Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport on Sunday and charged with possession of marijuana. I for one feel safer knowing this grave threat to airline security was discovered. (Last week, at New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport, a man carried two loaded handguns through an X-ray security checkpoint undetected before a random check prior to boarding led to the discovery of the guns.)
I updated the audio section with two new MP3s, Mel TormŽ's My Little Red Book and Babs Tino's Forgive Me (For Giving You Such a Bad Time).
May 12, 2002
Happy Birthday, Burt Bacharach
May 9, 2002
Congratulations to Dionne Warwick, who on May 6 was honored as the 2002 recipient of the Aaron Davis Hall Harlem Renaissance Award. The award recognizes Warwick's 40-year career and longstanding commitment to the global community. Past recipients of the award have included Harry Belefonte, Max Roach, Nancy Wilson and Maya Angelou.
May 7, 2002
Burt is scheduled to be interviewed by VH1 for special devoted to Austin Powers in Goldmember. Look for it to air around July 4.
There are two new directories of images in the Bacharach_Pix folder. One is a collection of scans of sheet music that I hope to expand as I scan more of what I have. The other is a series of images from 40 Golden Songs of Bacharach and David, a vocal/piano music anthology.
May 2, 2002
I updated the Media section with Coming of Age: Mr. Burt Bacharach, a transcript of the Feb. 10, 2002, profile of Burt on CBS News Sunday Morning.
May 1, 2002
Keep an eye out this summer and fall for two new books about Burt. Serene Dominic's The Little Red Book of Burt Bacharach: An Illustrated Discography of Burt Bacharach (Omnibus/Schirmer Trade Books) traces Bacharach recordings from the earliest through today, including commentary from Burt and many of the artists who performed his songs. The Little Red Book of Burt Bacharach is scheduled for publication in August 2002. Robin Platts' Burt Bacharach & Hal David (Collector's Guide Publishing) includes interviews with Burt and Hal as well as Gene Pitney, B.J. Thomas, Steve Tyrell and others. Look for it in September 2002.
April 30, 2002
Burt performed a mind-blowingly brilliant show at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Miss., on April 25, and after the show I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet Burt for the first time. I'll eventually post a full recap of the show in the discussion forum, but in the meantime, here's a photo. Please excuse the idiotic grin. For what it's worth, Burt said he is familiar with the Web site and expressed his interest in and appreciation for it. We only spent a few minutes with him, but Burt was charming and gracious beyond the call of duty, and I sincerely appreciate his taking the time to greet four wide-eyed, star-struck fans.
April 29, 2002
Vocalist Alan Dale died in New York on April 25 after a lengthy illness. Dale's "I Cry More," from the film Don't Knock the Rock (1957), has the distinction of being among the earliest Burt Bacharach compositions to be recorded. Dale was 73.
April 24, 2002
I added two articles to the media page. Hits, which appeared in the New Yorker, Sept. 14, 1968, and Composer in Tartan Cap, which appeared in the New Yorker, Dec. 21, 1968. The first is a profile of Burt as he returns to New York to begin rehearsals for Promises, Promises; the second is a follow-up visit with Burt as he prepares to go on the Tonight Show to promote Promises, which by then was a major Broadway hit. The articles were transcribed from a fax of copies made from a large, tightly bound volume. When the text was illegible, I either made an educated guess based on the context or used ????s. Thanks to Mark Rozzo for sending me these articles.
April 23, 2002
The audio link has been non-functioning for quite a while. I had been hosting the audio files on my office PC, and the strain was just too much. So I'm going to try hosting a few mp3s here. The space allocation is fairly small, so I'll rotate songs on a semi-regular basis. Today, we have three relatively obscure Bacharach tracks: Alan Dale's "I Cry More," the Isley Brothers' "Make It Easy on Yourself (Are You Lonely By Yourself)" and Chuck Jackson's "The Breaking Point." "I Cry More" is taken from the 1997 MCA Japan compilation Burt Bacharach Songbook. "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Breaking Point" are from the 2001 West Side compilation The Sound of Bacharach. Enjoy!
April 22, 2002
Vincent Cole submitted this photo of he, his wife and Burt.Thanks, Vincent.
April 19, 2002
The images page is in desperate need of an update. I was browsing through the images directory and I realized there were quite a few images there that weren't linked on the images page. So I got rid of the images page. Now, if you go to images, you get a raw index of everything there. It's not pretty and you don't get thumbnail views, but at least you get to see all the pics I've scanned, downloaded or had mailed to me.
April 3, 2002
Motown Salutes Bacharach--a new CD featuring Bacharach covers from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross--is scheduled for release in the U.K. on May 6, according to www.amazon.co.uk. No word yet on a domestic release date.
April 2, 2002
Just for fun, I added the following poll. Because it's a readymade, I was only able to include 50 songs to choose from, which I'm sure is going to infuriate many of you. I tried to pick the best-known songs with a few highly regarded obscurities. If your favorites are missing, write me and I'll update the poll to include them.
April 2, 2002
Burt's updated concert tour itinerary is now available. Also updated from his publicity agency is Burt's official media bio.
March 27, 2002
Burt will be appearing at the Grand Casino Biloxi (Miss.) on April 25. Tickets are available through--surprise, surprise--Ticketmaster.
January 11, 2002 Burt's publicity agency recently faxed me the list of Burt's appearances for the first half of this year. Nothing we didn't know before, but you can find the now reconfirmed dates on the On Tour page.
January 10, 2002 Bibliophiles take note...
"Interviews with both Burt Bacharach and Hal David are featured in the new book "Behind The Muse: Pop and Rock's Greatest Songwriters Talk About Their Work and Inspiration" by Bill DeMain. (Bill contributed to the liner notes for "The Look Of Love" box set.) In addition to the interviews with Burt and Hal, conducted in 1996 and 1998, the book features interviews with over 40 successful and respected songwriters (including Jimmy Webb, Brian Wilson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Billy Joel, Sherly Crow and many others). More details on the book, and ordering information, can be found at the website of the publisher, Tiny Ripple Books. The book can also be ordered through the amazon.com and Barnes & Noble websites.