Correspondent Dennis Webb deserves credit for originally posting this to the Discussion Forum, but I thought it would be interesting to re-post here as well.

Apple’s iTunes Music Store has a feature called Celebrity Playlist in which celebrities list and offer comments on the 10 recordings that constitute their ultimate iTunes playlist. Burt was featured in January and listed the following recordings:

“Yesterday” by Shirley Horn
“Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton
“Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton
“Is That All There Is” by Peggy Lee
“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross
“Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye
“Just Once” by James Ingram
“Baby Come to Me” by James Ingram & Patti Austin
“After the Love is Gone” by Earth, Wind, & Fire

To read Burt’s comments on each recording, visit the iTunes Music Store and click on Celebrity Playlists.

I updated the media section with an excellent 1995 Melody Maker article that may have been contributed by Martin Edwards back in 1997.

Oops.

This just in … new tour dates announced. Burt will be performing three concerts in Italy this summer as well several other newly scheduled dates. For Burt’s full upcoming performance schedule, visit the on tour section.

At long last, we have a new Discussion Forum. This phpBB forum replaces the old server.com forum. The old forum will remain online to direct people to the new forum but eventually it will be deleted. The new forum offers many enhancements over the old forum, not the least of which is an absence of advertisements.

I want to encourage the regular posters to the forum to register with a user name, which enables you to take advantage of the forum’s full range of options.

I added two transcriptions to the lyrics and chords section. Hakan Bremberg sent in the lyrics to “(There Goes) The Forgotten Man” and Paul Rossen sent the lyrics and chords to “I Took My Strength From You.” Thanks to both of you for the contributions.

Burt’s updated concert schedule for next six months.

Happy Birthday, Dionne Warwick! Dionne turns 63 today.

Burt’s new holiday special, McCormick Presents Burt Bacharach Tribute on Ice, airs at 3 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 20, on NBC. The special, which was taped earlier this year in San Jose, Calif., combines the musical talents of Bacharach, Aretha Franklin, James Ingram and Michael McDonald with the ice skating artistry of Brian Boitano, Ilia Kulik and Nicole Bobek. For more info, see the official press release announcing the show and this gallery of photos from the taping.

I can’t recall another holiday season with as many new potential gifts for Bacharach fans.

In addition to Burt’s new CD, Here I Am: Isley Meets Bacharach, Rhino Handmade has reissued two of Dionne’s finest collaborations with Bacharach-David, Promises, Promises and I’ll Never Fall in Love Again. This deluxe remastered set, which combines the two albums along with bonus tracks on a single disc, was released in an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000, so order now or you’ll be left wanting things. Readers also have three excellent, unique books about Burt and his music to choose from: Robin Platts’ Burt Bacharach & Hal David: What the World Needs Now, Serene Dominic’s Burt Bacharach: Song By Song, and, now, the most recent entry in the Bacharach book bonanza, Michael Brocken’s Bacharach: Maestro! The Life of a Pop Genius. And if you do buy one of the CDs or books, feel free to post your review in the Bacharach discussion forum.

I’ve finally added Alvina’s pics from Burt’s performance at the Saratoga Mountain Winery in August 2002.

Thanks, Alvina.

I added a great interview with Burt from the Nov.

26 Onion A.V. Club to the media page. An excerpt: “I’m making an album for Sony in England which will be more cutting-edge than anything I’ve ever done. It’s mostly instrumental. That’s what they want for this particular project. Not 10 hits. Or 10 attempts at hits.”