The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will honor Hal David on Friday, Oct. 14, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. David’s star — the 2,451st on the Walk of Fame — will be located, appropriately enough, in front of The Musicians Institute at 6752 Hollywood Blvd. In conjunction with the star ceremony, David will also be honored with a musical tribute entitled “Love Sweet Love” in celebration of his 90th birthday (which he celebrated on May 25). The tribute will take place on Oct. 17 at the Mark Taper Forum benefitting The Blue Ribbon of the Music Center and The ASCAP Foundation.

Burt Bacharach, David’s longtime collaborator and friend, took out the attached ad in Daily Variety to congratulate Hal on the honor.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an internationally-recognized Hollywood icon.

With approximately 24 star ceremonies annually broadcast around the world, the constant reinforcement provided to the public has made the Walk of Fame a top visitor attraction. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce continues to administer the Walk of Fame as the representative of the City of Los Angeles. The Walk of Fame is a tribute to all of those who worked diligently to develop the concept and to maintain this world-class tourist attraction. For more information, visit www.WalkOfFame.com.

Burt Bacharach and Hal David have been selected as the fourth recipients of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  The awards celebrate the work of artists whose careers reflect lifetime achievements in promoting song as a vehicle of musical expression and cultural understanding. The selection, which was announced on Sept. 28, is made by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a board that is both credible and broad enough in scope to represent the full spectrum of popular song. Board mem bers may include but need not

be limited to scholars, producers, performers, music critics, songwriters, and subject specialists within and outside the Library of Congress.

In being named to receive the prize, Bacharach and David become the first songwriters to be so honored and join the ranks of performers Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, the three previous recipients of the award. The awards will be presented next spring at an all-star tribute in Washington D.C.

Click here to read the full text of the press release announcing the award.

The long awaited new musical Some Lovers, a musical retelling of “The Gift of the Magi” featuring music by Burt Bacharach and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, is scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 26 at the Old Globe in San Diego. Opening night is Dec.

1 and the musical will run through Dec. 31.

Fans may remember that British vocalist Rumer released a recording of the title song from the show late last year as part of a Christmas EP. The song, which sounds to me like Dusty Springfield singing an unreleased Painted From Memory-era track, is classic Bacharach, igniting hope that Some Lovers will be a very special musical.

Click here to see the video of Rumer’s recording of “Some Lovers.”

Burt Bacharach live courtesy of Grupo Tom Brasil.

Just received an updated list of upcoming Burt Bacharach concerts, and fans in Australia will no doubt be pleased to see eight Down Under shows in 2012, including three performances at Sydney Opera House, where Burt recorded his most recent album, 2008’s Live at the Sydney Opera House.

(UPDATED TOUR DATES AS OF NOVEMBER 17, 2011)
April 16, 2012  Adelaide, SA Australia (Adelaide Entertainment Centre)
April 19, 2012  Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia (Regent Theatre)
April 20, 2012  Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia (Regent Theatre)
April 23, 2012  Perth, Australia Perth (Convention Centre)
April 26, 2012 Sydney, Australia (Sydney Opera House)
April 27, 2012 Sydney, Australia (Sydney Opera House)
April 28, 2012  Sydney, Australia (Sydney Opera House)
May 1, 2012 Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (Jupiter Casino Theater)

For the complete list of Burt’s upcoming concerts, visit the Bacharach On Tour page.

Burt B ach

arach returns to Italy next months with a series of five dates in the country that boasts some of his most ardent fans. For the latest news about the tour, visit the Bacharach Discussion Forum or the Burt Bacharach Italian Fans Facebook group.

July 3                     Rome, Italy                               Cavea Auditorium
July 5                     Lucca, Italy                               Piazza Napoleone
July 6                     Milan, Italy                               Arena Civica
July 8                     Bard / Aosta, Italy                   Castel of Bard
July 12                   Taormina, Sicily                       Roman Amphitheate

For his latest release, Burt Bacharach has teamed up with Irish vocalist Ronan Keating for a newly recorded collection of his classic compositions. Burt and Ronan recorded the album live in the legendary Capitol Records studio with a 95-piece orchestra.

The CD was released in the U.K. on March 21 and will be released in the U.S. on March 29.

“To do these songs with a different slant and approach on them made it very interesting for me,” Bacharach said of the process. “And too be able to work with Ronan and expose these songs to maybe a younger audience as well as my fan base. Then to be able to record it in the legendary Capitol recording studio – full orchestra live. Quite a trip we were on, Ronan.”

Keating takes on 10 Bacharach classics on the album, including “The Look Of Love,” “Walk On By,” “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do),” “My Little Red Book,” “What The World Needs Now,” “Something Big,” “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” “This House Is Empty Now,” and “Make It Easy On Yourself.”

For more information about When Ronan Met Burt , visit RonanKeating.com.

The new Promises, Promises cast album featuring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth, which was released on June 22 on the Masterworks Broadway label, debuted at #60 this week on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart.

Paul Grein of Yahoo! Music points out that that chart position is actually higher than the original cast album, which peaked at #95 in 1969. Promises, Promises also currently ranks #23 in sales on Amazon.com.

And for the purists out there—the ones who can’t fathom the inclusion of “I Say A Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not A Home” on the new cast album—Kritzerland is readying for release a special two-disc reissue of the original Promises, Promises cast album.

The reissue will include a remaster of the original album in its original mix (which has not previously been released on CD) and a brand new mix of the album that fixes some of the technical glitches from the original recordings and puts the songs in their correct order from the show. There’s also a bonus track of Jill O’Hara singing the title song.

So whether you’re a Hayes-Chenoweth convert or an Orbach-O’Hara purist, there’s a lot for fans of Promises, Promises to be thankful for these days.

(Edited to add: As Bruce notes in his comment below, the two-disc version sold out quickly, but Kritzerland received permission to release an additional 1,000 copies of the remixed, pitch-corrected version, which was the main attraction  of the reissue. It’s likely to sell out as well, so the same advice applies: Get yours now if you want one.)