Twenty months ago Tony Orlando tipped the scales at 300-pounds and had a 50-inch waist. Entered NutriSystem. Now the veteran performer sports a 34-inch waist. He’s minus 105-pounds, too. Tony appeared on August 2-3 at Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theater. He put on an outstanding show which, if you had a chance to see him before, is no surprise.
After opening with several of his huge hits (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” “Candida,” “Knock Three Times”), Tony performed covers of hits by Jerry Butler, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Del Shannon, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Ben E. King, Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin, and Prince.
Highlights: Tony’s version of Ben E. King’s classic “Stand By Me” triggered memories of the superb 1986 film, which was adapted from the equally wonderful Stephen King novella, “The Body.” Tony performed the song, which illustrates how much we need each other, with authenticity and passion. The same for his rendition of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Tony’s excellent seven-piece band included singer and keyboardist Toni Wine – with him for 48-years, and the hugely talented guitarist and keyboardist Kerry Cole. They brought the house to its feet with their cover of Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind” …If you’re wondering about Toni Wine, she wrote and performed such hits as “Sugar, Sugar” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” and “You Really Got a Hold On Me.”
Julius Bussey: Following His Dream
“I’ll be auditioning for ‘American Idol’ in East Rutherford, NJ, on August 19,” said singer-guitarist Julius Bussey, 23. Of course, we wish Julius good music and good luck.
Julius, whose influences are Stevie Wonder, Baby Face, and Michael Jackson, hails from Corpus Christi, TX, and is currently stationed at the Naval Submarine Base New London. “I’m just an average American who didn’t know anybody in the industry, but I decided to follow my dream,” he said. “My music is mainly mid-nineties R&B.” Julius’s main goal is to satisfy his fans: “In Texas we say, ‘Keep it one hundred’ and that’s what I try to do. You know, some of the stuff coming out today is good but we need old school music that makes you want to dance.”
What does Julius find most rewarding about performing? Answer: The fans. “When you do a song you know the fans love, and they’re screaming and yelling, that’s a great feeling,” he said. What’s most difficult? Answer: “I’d say that at first, when you get up there on stage, you don’t know how the people will react. You get those little butterflies. But the show goes on.”
Julius is grateful to his wife for her support. Grateful to his manager, David Mann, for his, too. Without them, Julius knows, he wouldn’t be where he is today. “Julius is a genuinely talented young man,” said David, head of Majestic Management. “I believe he’ll be successful.” (David is always looking for new clients and can be reached at 203.641.4193.)
Time to Evaluate
The CT Sun won’t be home until August 31, when they’ll battle Sue Bird and Seattle. It’s the Olympic break and a good time to evaluate the 2008 team.
Quaker Hill’s Nick Checker said, “I give the team an A minus, and the experience of attending the games an A plus.” According to another Quaker Hill resident, longtime fan Jim LaTourette: “They are basically a new team this year – maybe not as talented as last year’s but definitely more vibrant.”
This from Waterford’s Bill Maynard: “The Sun are performing far better than expected, though they have experienced some growing pains. More rookies than veterans and still in first place. Go, Sandrine!” Uncasville’s Phil Carney, whose favorite players are Sandrine Gruda, Amber Holt, and Ketia Swanier, sees CT as an interesting “mix of young, old, and in-betweens. I don’t think they have what it takes to go all the way, but who knows what they will bring to the table when the season resumes?”
There are times when good players become stale. That’s what happened with last year’s team. So changes were made, and what we now have is an exciting and entertaining team that works well together and provides many positive surprises.
Amby Burfoot, Executive Editor of “Runner’s World” and a former Boston Marathon winner, called it “the best first-person marathon story ever published anywhere.” The work, Richard Harteis’ “Marathon,” is being made into a full-length feature film with Biju Viswanath, an Indian film maker, as director.
On one level, book and movie are about Richard’s training for and competing in the New York City Marathon. On a deeper level, book and movie deal with Richard’s life as caregiver for William Meredith, U.S. Poet Laureate.
“Well, my partner of thirty-six years, William Meredith, had a stroke in 1982,” Richard said. “For a couple of years he didn’t speak or move.” Gradually, William began to improve and Richard realized, “After about eight years into being a caregiver, I was a bit overweight and not feeling very good about life.” Richard, 41 at the time, knew he had to make some life changes: “I wanted to do something I’d never done before, something difficult, like running a marathon.”
Interestingly, the journal Richard kept turned into more than a record of his marathon training. “It became a reflection on American society, what aging was all about, what my life was about, what William’s was about,” Richard explained. Also, it contained poems because Richard, like William, is a poet: “I would think about one of the poems William wrote and write one in response. In any case, as I trained and lost weight and achieved self-confidence again, so did he. The story ends with William winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. It’s an uplifting, true story.” (And Richard’s marathon training paid off: He ran the New York City Marathon and six more after that.)
While Richard was in Ireland last summer, he met Biju, who read “Marathon” and believed it would make an excellent film. He and Richard began working on the script.
“In principal, August 15th the film is finished,” Richard said. “Then it goes to post-production in India and will be finished by about October 1. [There will be] a world pre-premiere at the Garde Arts Center, in New London, on Halloween night.”
The William Meredith Foundation and the Norwich Arts Council, in partnership, formed the William Meredith Center for the Arts. “The main thing is that our home, in Uncasville, on the Thames River – it’s called Riverrun – was put on the registry of Historic Landmarks for the State of CT on December 5, 2007,” Richard noted. “That was a wonderful thing because it recognized that was where William lived and worked, and it will keep his legacy alive.”
Riverrun will serve as a retreat for artists, poets, and film people. They’ll spend time there and “do their work, maybe publish some poetry,” Richard said. “Perhaps teach. It’s small scale. That’s the goal. It’ll keep me happy and engaged, too. It’s a new phase in my life as I move into semi-retirement. Part of the profits from this film with be used to endow the Center.”
Recommended Reading
Clearly, Alan Alda’s “Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself” (Random House) isn’t your typical celebrity memoir. Written conversationally, sometimes lyrically, always perceptively, it contains a graceful mix of wisdom and humor.
Alan writes about his family, friends, likes and dislikes, philosophy, and fears. Most importantly, he digs into his life and what he learned after seventy years. The question he keeps returning to is, “We live. We die. What’s in between?” It’s a subject he began thinking about after nearly dying in Chile, several years ago, from an intestinal obstruction.
As for his family, here’s what Alan came to realize about his actor father, Robert: “He might have been vain, but he was far less of a show-off about his curiosity than I was about mine… I mistook his gentleness for passivity. How could he urge me to find my own way if he insisted on the road I take? He gave me the freedom to discover it myself. He gently urged me to explore… gave me the nerve to go places that scare me, but where I find excitement and adventure.”
Check out the book’s last and most important chapter, “Bosco’s Belly,” for what Alan says about getting the most out of life. I’m not going to give too much away, but it has something to do with what he calls “some mysterious mix” and it’s sage advice.
My love affair with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (BBVD), the nation’s best swing-big band, began in the summer of 2001 – and it’s still going strong. It wasn’t a surprise when the band’s Mohegan Sun Casino Wolf Den concert (July 28) was a tribute to its biggest influence, the great Cab Calloway.
In addition to paying homage to Cab with songs from their tribute CD, due for February release, BBVD played several of its familiar hits: “Save My Soul,” the infectious “Zig Zaggity Woop Woop” (what a title!), “Simple Songs,” and a cover of Cab’s “Minnie the Moocher.” And let’s not forget the song Scotty Morris, the band’s founder, wrote about Cab, “Mr. Pinstripe Suit,” clearly one of the evening’s highlights.
Notes: Before the band performed “You & Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight,” Scotty noted it was “the tune that began it for us nineteen years ago”…Members of BBVD are Alex “Crazy Legs” Henderson (trombone), Tony Bonsera (trumpet), Kurt Sodergren (drums), Karl Hunter (sax and clarinet), Dirk Shumaker (strong bass), Andy Rowley (sax), Glen “the Kid” Marhevka (trumpet), and Scotty (guitar and vocals and walking stick) …BBVD hails from CA and began in 1989… In a review of a recent BBVD concert, Jaan Uhelzski described the band as having “more gusto than ever [and] infusing their old school jive with a New Orleans sensibility and panache.” Perfect!
Two Thrilling CT Wins
A total team effort! And those rookies – especially those rookies: Amber Holt (19 points), Kerri Gardin (14 points), and Sandrine Gruda (7 points).
An 87-68 victory over the Detroit Shock, the CT Sun’s arch rival, to the delight of 7,501 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena. The June 24 win ended for the Sun a nine game losing streak against the Shock.
“…Amber and Kerri stepped up,” said Sun Head Coach Mike Thibault. “Perseverance is starting to pay off for some of these kids because every day the two of them have stayed with Coach Maddox working on their jump shot and …their range.”
An away loss to Detroit, on June 26, and then a return home and a thrilling OT victory over the Atlanta Dream, three days later. Maybe the season’s most entertaining battle. The expansion Dream didn’t play like a team that didn’t win a game all season. Player of the Game was Atlanta’s Betty Lennox who scored 44 points. Of course, there was stellar work by the Sun’s Asjha Jones (30 points), Tamika Whitmore (28), and Lindsay Whalen (20).
The June 29 tussle against the Phoenix Mercury wasn’t a game the Sun deserved to win – and they didn’t. Phoenix was the better team that afternoon, winning 87-80. “Basically you are not going to win when you shoot 35% from the floor and 21% from the three point line,” said Mike. “[Diana] Taurasi made some good shots in the first half. Tangela Smith made big shots in the third quarter.”
Speaking of the hugely talented Diana, she made her presence felt on the scoreboard (25 points) and physically (oh those forearms). Verbally, too: she was given a technical foul in the final quarter for uttering something unprintable to either referee Scott Twardowski, Sun point guard Jamie Carey, or Sun guard Barbara Turner. Diana’s response? She blew a kiss to the partisan CT crowd. Got to love her!
July 1: In a home game almost as exciting as the battle of Atlanta, the Sun trailed the Houston Comets at halftime, 38-30. But they roared back, despite technicals to Lindsay Whalen, Tamika Whitmore, and Asjha Jones, to defeat the Comets, 78-68, before close to 7,000 fans.
Of the technicals, Mike said, “The officials…have to learn to walk away too.” According to fan favorite Barbara Turner, the technicals “lit a fire under us.” Sun rookie Sandrine Gruda continued to impress, scoring a season-high 14 points.
How quickly things change, though… As of July 9, the Sun dropped four of its six last games and were 13-7. So, to the faithful I say, have faith – because this is a talented, entertaining team that gives its all.
It was the best encore I ever saw. Dave Koz, the great saxophonist, and his incredibly talented band – Bill Sharpe, Randy Jacobs, Brian Simpson, Steveo Faye, and Ronnie Gutierez – began playing “You Make Me Smile” and then went into the audience for what can be called a up close and personal final touch. It doesn’t get any better!
Highlights of Dave’s June 20 show, at the Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theater, included his Grammy nominated “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” from his “At the Movies” CD. “The song is seventy years old, and I know you’ll recognize it,” Dave said: “It was a fun album to record because the songs were so [integral] to the films.”
Other highlights were several tracks from “The Dance” CD: the title cut, the arresting “Surrender,” and “Can’t Let You Go (The Sha la Song).” (He fired up everyone with “The Sha la Song” by dividing the crowd into three sections and having them compete vocally against each other.)
Dave Koz is an enormously talented musician. Accessible, energetic, and personable, he’s athletic, too – he moves around the stage as if he owns it and, while he’s performing, he does.
Janet Evanovich at MGM Grand
“I always hated reading, until I read Janet Evanovich,” said Chris of East Granby. “I’ve read all the Stephanie Plum series and most of what’s come in between.” Chris was in the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods, June 17, to listen to the best-selling author read from and sign her latest novel, “Fearless Fourteen.” (St. Martin’s Press).
With Janet, though, you get not only a reading and signing, but also a live band (Doublefisted), videos, and Mooner imitations. (William “Mooner” Dunphy is, of course, a recurring character in the Stephanie Plum series.)
Before Janet began her reading, she told the audience: “If it gets boring, just talk among yourselves.” Then she read from Chapter One of “Fearless Fourteen”: “…my kitchen is filled with crackers and cheese, roast chicken leftovers…Truth is, I would clearly love to be a domestic goddess, but the birthday cake keeps getting eaten…My name is Stephanie Plum… and I don’t have any communicable diseases.” Not to worry: Janet’s reading wasn’t boring. After all, what’s more interesting than listening to an author read passages from his/her work?
Janet said she started writing as a romance novelist: “But because I liked the chase and the adventure, I reinvented myself.” She did “a lot of reading in the crime genre” and began writing crime fiction.” Janet noted that 1988’s “Midnight Run,” with Robert De Niro as bounty hunter Jack Walsh, influenced her. (Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter.)
Asked why she writes her Plum novels in the first person, as opposed to the third, Janet said, “It’s more intimate. Of course, it’s limited to what only Stephanie sees and hears.” Janet admitted that with the first person narrative, she doesn’t have to write much narrative – which, she added, “I suck at.”
Will any of her books be made into movies? Tri-Star Pictures is interested in her Stephanie Plum novels, Janet said: “But by the time they get around to it, I’ll be on oxygen.” As for who she’d like play Stephanie, Janet favors Sandra Bullock.
Grand Opening
Former welterweight contender and 2006 CT Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Gaspar Ortega was there, and so was former welterweight champion Marlon Starling, a 2005 inductee. Other inductees present were Manny Liebert, Lou Bogash, and Joe Rossi. (Apologies to any inductee I missed.) The event was the Grand Opening of the CT Boxing Hall of Fame, which is now housed in the concourse of the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena.
Gaspar, who’s in his seventies and was a top welterweight from 1956-64, had his first pro fight at seventeen. His overall record stands at 131-39-6 (69 knockouts). Of his 176 bouts, 44 were on national television. Incredible! Back then, Gaspar told Stu Rosen of South Windsor, fighters didn’t take a vacation after a bout. “I fought on a Friday night and was back in the gym training on Saturday.”
So, the night was a success. “All the feedback about the grand opening that I got,” said Mike Murtha, Vice-president of the CT Boxing Hall of Fame, “has been positive. We wanted to memorialize these CT fighters, and with the help of Mohegan Sun, our commission, and a lot of other folks involved, we saw it through.”
After the Indiana Fever embarrassed the Sun, May 27, CT’s Barbara Turner said, “It’s something that we watch and correct…Our response to this is on Friday [May 30].” So, what happened Friday against the New York Liberty? A nail-biting 89-85 victory, that’s what.
At the end of the first quarter, CT was up, 27-15, but then came the turnovers, nineteen in all. Make no mistake, New York capitalized. After the game, Sun Head Coach Mike Thibault, said: “We were good for a long stretch, then all of a sudden… I don’t have an answer [for those turnovers].” Point guard Lindsay Whalen added, “[We have] to take care of the ball…There are some really disappointing things to take away from the night. We need to work on those things.”
Sun point guard Jamie Carey sank three clutch three-pointers and scored a season-high 11 points. One reason for her strong offensive showing was that Coach T. told her to shoot more often. “…he told me [that] right before the ball went up,” Jamie said. “When I came here, I was very liberated by how free you are as a shooter. If you can shoot the ball, shoot the ball…”
Fast forward to June 1. An away game against the Chicago Sky. A 75-73 CT win. Tamika Whitmore and Lindsay Whalen each had 19 points, while rookie Amber Holt scored 11 and snagged 5 rebounds. Key was the Sun’s 16 for 20 foul shooting.
The Austalian Bee Gees
June 1 was a busy day for Mike Weltman of North Hampton, MA. First, there was baseball: An Eastern League/Double A game in New Britain between the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees’ affiliate, and the New Britain Rock Cats, the Minnesota Twins’ farm club. Trenton’s Austin Jackson belted in seven runs, in a 9-3 victory. Then Mike traveled to the Mohegan Sun Casino for the Australian Bee Gees: Stayin’ Alive concert.
If you’re wondering about the Australian Bee Gees, they’re Michael Clift (as Barry Gibb), David Scott (as Robin Gibb), and Wayne Hosking (as Maurice Gibb). On bass guitar is Tony Richards; on drums and vocals, Mike Mitchell. What a show they put on! In Mike’s words, “No frills. Just that great Bee Gees’ harmony and all their hits. And on the big screen, the videos of the guys in concert worldwide and, near the end, clips of Barry, Robin, and Maurice. Tribute bands don’t get any better.”
Highlights: A medley – which included “Heartbreak,” “Run to Me,” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” – with vocals from Michael (on guitar, too), Wayne, and David. (Drummer Tony and bass guitarist Mike took a break)…My favorite Bee Gees’ tunes are “Massachusetts” and “I Started a Joke,” performed by the guys from Australia. Check the latter’s lyrics: “I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes/ I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I said./ Till I finally died, which started the whole world living,/ Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was on me.” (On one hand, maybe Mel Brooks wrote them; on the other, Albert Camus.)
A few facts about the “English Bee Gees”: 974 top forty hits in worldwide charts. Twenty U.S. number one hits. 13 U.K. number one hits. Two hundred number one chart positions worldwide. Enough said!
Susan Jones
Susan Jones, author of the poignant “Until We Meet Again,” is one of the three finalists for the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in the Children’s Picture Book category. The ceremony took place at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, May 29. Susan, a Norwich resident, was interviewed in these pages several months ago.
Twenty months ago Tony Orlando tipped the scales at 300-pounds and had a 50-inch waist. Entered NutriSystem. Now the veteran performer sports a 34-inch waist. He’s minus 105-pounds, too. Tony appeared on August 2-3 at Mohegan Sun Cabaret Theater. He put on an outstanding show which, if you had a chance to see him before, is no surprise.
