Apologies as usual for the long delay in updates, but as many of you know, Burt has a new series of shows scheduled for Australia next year, including a return visit to the Sydney Opera House, where he recorded his 2008 CD Live At the Sydney Opera House.

Burt and his band in Australia, courtesy of DavidCrigger.com.

As always, please visit the Burt Bacharach Forum for the latest news.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately (where have I heard that before?), but hopefully you’ve all been checking out the discussion forum for the latest news.

Just a few years ago, Bacharach’s early and/or rare recordings were prized collector’s items. Fans used to trade cassette tapes of scratchy 45s they’d find at garage sales or used record stores. While Rhino’s The Look of Love collection from 1998 included a few relative obscurities, it wasn’t until the last few years that the floodgates have really opened on Bacharach’s early recordings.

One of the first Bacharach rarities collections on CD was 2003’s The Rare Bacharach, a two-disc collection on the Australian label Raven Records that included recordings from everyone from Andy Williams to Sylvester.

Last summer, Ace released Always Something There: A Burt Bacharach Collectors’ Anthology 1952-1969, an excellent single-disc collection that included Nat “King” Cole’s “Once in a Blue Moon,” one of the earliest recordings of a Bacharach song.

Most recently, forum participant robbieindart notes that a new Bacharach rarities collection, Rare Bacharach – The Early Years 1958 – 1965, will be released on July 31 on Rare Rockin’ Records. It looks like another good collection to fill in the gaps for the Burt completeists out there.

I  just received confirmation of a new U.S. tour date for next year.

Burt will appear at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 29, 2010.

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

Burt Bacharach will be performing at Wrightegaar den in Langesund, Norway, on July 13 and at Casa

de Campo de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, on July 29. The Langesund show’s location was previously listed as TBA and the Madrid venue is a different one than previously announced.

You can see all of Burt’s current tour dates by visiting the On Tour page.

Happy birthday to Burt Bacharach, who turns 81 today.

Sorry about the downtime, but the forum is back online.

Until I get around to installing a modification to prevent bot registrations, I’ve set it so that all new registrations on the discussion forum have to be activated by me. If you’re a new registrant and you want to start posting, send me an email at the address webmaster at bacharachonline dot com (you know what I mean) with your user name and put something in the header to let me know that you’re a real person and you’re awaiting activation.

The Bacharach Discussion Forum is temporarily down due to a security issue. I hope to have it back online very soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Burt’s publicity folks have officially announced the dates for his European tour this summer.

July 9th        Antwerp, Belgium        Queen Elizabeth Hall
July 11th       Rotterdam, Holland      North Sea Jazz Festival
July 13th        Oslo, Norway            Venue TBA

July 16th        Perugia, Italy            Arena S. Giuliana
July 18th        Lucca, Italy             Piazza Napoleone
July 20th        Taormina, Sicily        Teatro Greco
July 22nd        Brescia, Italy            Piazza Loggia
July 24th        Rome, Italy               Cavea Auditorium Parco Della Musica

July 26th        Malaga, Spain            Malaga Teatro Cervantes
July 29th        Madrid, Spain            Madrid Conque Duque Theatre

In addition to the European dates, Burt will also perform on March 6, 2010, at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall. To see Burt’s complete upcoming concert schedule, visit the On Tour page.

Quite a few people have been asking about a Burt Bacharach page on Facebook. Well, fan Zachary Kappel has answered that call by creating a Facebook group dedicated to Burt Bacharach. If you’re a member of Facebook, join the group to post comments about Burt, discuss his music and share your thoughts with fans from around the world.

Burt Bacharach will be the special celebrity guest on Saturday’s edition of National Public Radio’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, the NPR news quiz.

Each week, the show invites a celebrity guest to play its “Not My Job” segment, in which host Peter Sagal asks the celebrity questions on a topic far removed from his or her area of expertise.

It’s usually a lot of fun.

Wait Wait airs at various times on the many NPR affiliates, so check your local listings for the time in your area, but if you happen to miss it this week, you can catch Burt’s segment via Wait Wait’s website or its podcast.