That was about ten hours of gnarly driving for a two-hour concert, but it was worth it. I'd seen Burt in concert in Saratoga a year and a half ago, but this performance was quite different. For one thing, there was less patter (though in what patter there was, he talked about his kids, which I don't think he did before), and four songs from the new album.
Josie James, John Pagano, and Donna Taylor were present and in fine form (as was violinist Eliza James), but Burt sang some or all of a bunch of songs, including The Look of Love (!!!). (He noted that he waited until towards the end of the concert, once the audience was on his side, to sing so much.)
After the end of the concert, a few of us hung around, chatting at first with Burt's son Oliver. Then the man himself came out, and patiently and engagingly signed CDs, posed for pictures, and schmoozed. He mentioned that he was playing San Francisco on March 9th (news to me--that's 1.5 miles from my home--guess I didn't have to face a snowstorm to see him, though I may go again).
I hadn't bought a CD, since I'd already downloaded the new album from iTunes. So I didn't have anything for him to sign. Or did I? I happened to have my iPod on me (by accident--I'd put it in my coat pocket and forgotten about it). Reasoning that it was full of Bacharach and is my principal tool for enjoying his music these days, I asked him to autograph it.
And he did, seeming amused and saying it was the first iPod he'd ever signed. The reflective, scratch-prone backside of an iPod is one of the hardest things on earth to photograph, so this picture looks kind of crummy--but trust me, it looks neat in real life, and the transparent case I keep my iPod in will show it off and keep it protected.
