Monday, April 06, 2009

EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM THE DAVY JONES DAVID CASSIDY CONCERT


As many of you know I attended a Davy Jones and David Cassidy concert last week. Yes, let me pause here while you swoon at the mere idea of seeing these two former heart-throbs in person. I know, I know, we can't all be so lucky to live close enough to the kind of venue that attracts this kind of top-notch talent so in case you don't live anywhere near an airport Holiday Inn or the State Fairgrounds, I'll sum up the concert for you and it will be as if you were there with me.

If, by the way, you are asking yourself, "Davy who and David what?" then just never mind. But if you came of age in the late sixties and early seventies then you surely had posters of one or both of these boys on your bedroom wall. Maybe you were even a member of their fan clubs? Surely you read about them in Tiger Beat so no introduction/explanation is needed.

So here's how it went. Originally I had snatched up four tickets thinking there would be a bidding war among my friends to see this concert but what really happened was, umm, not so much. I ended up dragging my daughters and my friend Beth to this concert against ( in varying degrees) their will (Grace was horrified, Lilly intrigued, Beth slightly amused).

We milled about in the lobby admiring the crowd of middle-aged women and the handful of non-middle-aged women and men and children they had forced to accompany them. We saw just four other children. Actually, we saw just four other people under the age of 45.

We had decent seats and mercifully there was no warm-up band. Just a brief introduction to give it up for the "world's greatest tambourine player" and out came Davy Jones singing "Then I Saw Her Face" At first the sight of an old man jumping around and singing that song was disconcerting but within just moments you could tell this was Davy. This was really Davy! He walked like him, gestured like him, sang like him, sounded like him, and yes, even did the "Davy dance" in which he holds his hands up like a hitch-hiker and points his thumbs over his shoulders. It was great!

He made lots of self-deprecating jokes about his height ("We just got back from performing in DisneyWorld. I couldn't go on some of the rides.") and his age,("I used to be a heart-throb, now I'm a coronary.") He talked about being a Monkee and how much fun they had going all over the world. He told us he still saw Mickey, Mike, and Peter. He sang a few songs we did not know but that was okay because they were sandwiched in between the old familiar songs we'd all come to hear like "Last Train to Clarksville" and that goofy song he sang to Marcia Brady when he took her to prom. He laughed and said everyone thinks he and Marcia got married and moved to Ohio and have six kids (he did not deny this by the way so you can continue to believe that if it makes you happy.)

Then he finished up with the big guns, "Daydream Believer" and they brought up the houselights and all five hundred of us old broads got up and danced and sang and just for a moment we were all thirteen again and our biggest TV crush of all time was with us. Did I mention it was great? It was.

Then there was an intermission and out came David Cassidy. Now, this man, unlike Davy Jones, was fit and still looked pretty good. As Lilly (10) said, "Is it just because we're sitting so far away or is that old guy still hot?" No, it wasn't just because we were sitting so far away, he was kind of hot. He played his own guitar and played quite well. His first song, "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" was at first unfamiliar (a new arrangement) but then I could tell that's what it was and a chill went up my spine.

Now here, I have a confession. I had come to this concert for one reason and one reason only and that was to see David Cassidy. It was he who made my prepubescent heart race, not Davy Jones. I mean, I had loved the Monkees too, but I was a bit young for their heydey. No, David Cassidy, he was the one who pointed me in the direction of Albuquerque.

So it was with great disappointment that as the concert went on, I had to acknowledge that my heart-throb had turned into an ass. He made NO reference to the little TV show that launched his career, "The Partridge Family." Nor did he mention if he sees Susan Dey anymore. Come on! What did he think we came to hear? Apparently, he thought we came to hear him play new songs he's learned since the good old days--can you say "Garden Party"?(though he did play an excellent version of Clapton's "Crossroads" but hey that is NOT what we came to see!) When he did play the old songs he played them grudgingly ("I learned this for a friend. I say I learned it because it's been so long since I played it that I forgot it") and then he played "Doesn't Somebody Want to be Wanted", which was one of his biggest hits we all loved and he was dissing it!

The other weird thing was that in no way, shape, or form did this guy remind me of David Cassidy. Not the way he stood, or moved, or sang, or spoke. Nothing. It was as if he had deliberately recreated himself.

When he started telling stories about drinking too much one New Year's Eve with John Lennon I had seen enough. I mean really, you can't mention Danny Bonaduce but you want to tell us you knew one of the Beatles? At that point I'd seen enough of his D-bag behavior and we left the concert before he had a chance to defile my sacred memory of "I Think I Love You."

So there you have it. The one who still looks good and has a respectable amount of talent was totally upstaged by the dumpy guy with the tambourine. What the hell happened here? Well, let's take a look at the lessons we learned from this.

1. You can be old and dumpy but if you are still the essential "you" it will shine through. Like an old friend at a class reunion, Davy Jones is still Davy Jones. Though it was at first alarming to see how much he'd aged, within moments, you could see it was still him and he is still adorable. I'm not sure who that guy was on stage who said he was David Cassidy. There was not one familiar gesture, or movement, and his voice is even different.

2. Don't try to deny your past. Whether you were the clarinet player with braces or a teenaged heart-throb who toured the world it is never becoming to pretend it never happened. Why David Cassidy feels the need to escape his "painful" teen years when he was loved by millions and made a ton of money I do not know but it makes it that much more absurd to watch. He should be like Davy and acknowledge that it was silly, it was fun, and it is who he is.

3. Stop trying so hard. Here was Davy, just shaking his maracas, doing the Davy dance and letting his much younger, extremely talented band shine and shine and shine. There was David, telling us he used to play this song with John Lennon, showing off his Eric Clapton slow hand, and berating his tired old-man rock-and-roll band for not getting the sound right. You tell me who is more fun to watch?

4. Give the people what they want. When people pay upwards of $50 bucks to see an old crush play the old music from their old past then you better play the old music for them. It matters not that you have "evolved" into a much better musician, nor do we care that it was "beneath you" to play the music we fell in love with and fell in love to. We just want to hear the soundtrack of our youth one more time.

And so folks, that is what the concert was like. I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover my past by watching the delightful Davy Jones, painfully disappointed to learn that David Cassidy is still trying to distance himself from his own youth, and glad as always that I got up off the couch on a Saturday night for a change.

27 comments:

  1. I disagree with #4. Why should an artist be enslaved to his old repertoire?
    Then again, it serves those who became famous with thrashy music right. Madonna should be forced by federal law to sing 'Like a Virgin' until her grim death.

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  2. I read your blog about the David Cassidy concert you attended and would just like to add my views on this: When will people realise that the past is a place of reference not residence? I for one am so so glad David decided not to reside in the 70’s, he is a multi talented performer who has done many, many things besides the Partridge Family, and lets face it; he’s not and never was Keith Partridge, and the Partridge Family weren’t real. David Cassidy has had to reinvent himself and move on to stay relevant in the music business. If you went to see Paul McCartney would you just expect him to sing Beatles songs? If Madonna had not reinvented herself several times she would have disappeared in the eighties, and there are many more examples. David Cassidy is a true talent and has only been in the business this long because he’s moved on and I do wish people like you would allow him to do that. If anyone wants longevity in the showbusiness world they have to move with the times and cannot just be nostalgia artists, sure people can make a living from nostalgia but that’s not true talent, true talent spans all ages and all eras, David’s Rat pack work has proven that.
    David Cassidy could have made a living out of riding the partridge family bus but he didn’t, he stayed true to himself and moved on. He still does embrace the Partridge Family songs and does a variety of them at his concerts, sometimes as a true fan I would like to hear him sing more songs from his extensive catalogue but I understand that he has to play to the nostalgia crowd.
    No matter which artist you go to see in concert you will find that they play a selection from all of their work, whether they have been around a couple of years or a few decades but for some reason people don’t seem to like it when David strays out of the pf era. Why? Let him move on and try to appreciate his talent, who knows you may even find you enjoy it..
    Jan (UK

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  3. Sorry, but I think David Cassidy has lost it big time! I saw him in concert recently in the UK and his patronising attitude towards his fans made me see how arrogant he has become.
    From what I heard, he made no special effort to fans who had paid ridiculous amounts of money for auctioned M&G's either.
    Yes, he still has the voice, but charisma he has not.
    Would I go to see him live again? Not if he paid me!

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  4. You make many good points. I know more people who would enjoy his current formidable talent than his old Partridge persona but unfortunately, none of them was at the concert. His promoters need to do a better job of getting the right message out. By the way, are you related to David?

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  5. What happened to the 10 song requests the UK fans were looking forward to on the last tour?
    He sang only a couple at each venue, and they were unrehearsed.
    Maybe, he's so confident that all his fans go to every venue and therefore would get to hear them all, but then why does he repeat the same banter every night about his association with John Lennon etc. if he thinks he's performing to the same 'bored' crowd?
    He obviously has the notion his fans will make allowances for anything he churns out - maybe he's right!

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  6. Too much talking and not enough singing is the problem!
    Concerts are not meant to be a platform for political preferences and complaining about how much the artiste has been ripped off over the years by bootleggers.
    David Cassidy has a priviliged life and career and the sooner he wakes up to the fact, the better.
    What a shame there's been no new material now for decades.

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  7. So you left the concert before (to use your terms) could defile I Think I love you because he mentioned he got drunk on NYE in 1974 at the age of 24? I bit puritanical of you don't you think? A Self Righteous House Wife you certainly are. What else can't your Idol do. LMAO PIMP I won't type that long list here. I don't understand your comments regarding David not wanting to play his PF hits. Most of the songs he played were PF songs!

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  8. I don't care if he told me he gave John Lennon a BJ. I didn't like the name-dropping--its pretentious. He did play the old songs but in nearly unrecognizable arrangements and I suppose it was the attitude more than anything. It was clear he resents his past so it takes a lot of joy of out his performance.

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  9. The reason he sang the "unrecongizable arrangements" is because of the new recordings he is doing with Craig J who was there on the keyboards. Wether you liked them or not is certainly your choice. And why would he want to talk about Susan Dey and or Danny Bonaduce? It wasn't the Patridge Family show but David Cassidy's name that was on my ticket.

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  10. That is all true. I am glad you enjoyed the concert.

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  11. Judy, don't bother. The Cassidy fans are known to be pathetic in constantly defending his obnoxious ways. They are in a trance to it.

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  12. There's a lot of anonymous people here, by the way.

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  13. Like, loathe or be indifferent to David Cassidy, he brings a lot of pleasure to his loyal fans who spend mega bucks on following him. It's a great pity he takes himself so seriously. I do think he is of the opinion that his fans will forgive any of his shortcomings eg sound probs, forgetting lyrics etc. etc.
    In recent years I've read about many of his fans walking out of concerts before the end, so he must realise he's upsetting people for whatever reason, but doubt very much if he cares one iota.

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  14. Tis likely that David didn't mention Susan Dey 'cos she stopped speaking to him in or about 1994 (to better understand why, read his original "C'Mon Get Happy" & note his ungentlemanly tale as it concerns her).

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  15. If you don't have an email id on google or aol or are not a blogger, the only other way to post on here is anon. from profile drop box.

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  16. Then why does he mention John Lennon, 11:15?? It's not a Beatles concert either. It would make sense for him to acknowledge his former actual TV show cast mates since they worked together for 4 years and the majority of the audience know his association with them. It's natural curiosity. Who the heck in the audience would care that he knew John Lennon. So many other musicians did as well. So what?

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  17. Good point Tricia. When you get down to it, David was disrespectful of someone we were all fond of--the young David. It was his self-loathing that took all the fun out of it.

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  18. David Cassidy's self-conceit and egotism outshine his natural talent. He rarely finds time for his fans, the people who pay his wages. For somebody who was once bigger than The Beatles, he has a lot to learn about every day life and treating people with respect.

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  19. HI Judy,
    I really enjoyed your post. I am a huge David Cassidy fan and have been to several of his concerts over the past years. And while I always enjoyed hearing him sing old songs like "Summer Days", I spent most of the time during his performance wondering what happened to "my David", the guy I used to love. Sometimes he is still recognizable in the face of the man standing on stage. For instance if he smiles, which unfortunately is not that often. I've heard the John Lennon story so many times that when he starts telling it again, I just want to shout "shut up and sing". I never did, but others who were at the concerts certainly did. I do not think that David should only play his old songs. But I can't understand why he does not even play his more recent songs or new material. Instead he plays other people's songs like "Crossroads" or "Hush" or has his drummer sing while he plays the drums. Even as a big fan that is something I did not come to hear. And if he has to play other artists songs, then the least he could do is replace them after a while with other songs and not sing them for years and years.
    There is just one thing you are wrong about, Judy - I can guarantee that none of the posters on here is David. You can check out any website with a negative post on David - if anyone dares criticize him, hordes of fans spring to his defense immediately. Actually I am surprised the tone on here is still so civil. Usually if you dare to say anything negative about David, you get a real bashing from his fans. Even if he read the phone book they would scream and if he picked his nose on stage they would still find him wonderful and say "well, that's our David". Happy Easter and best wishes from Germany, Anja

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  20. Chatting to fans intermittantly between songs adds a personal touch and strays from the robotic performances some artistes deliver.
    Sadly, I feel David Cassidy's little chats have progressed into ramblings and neither he or his attentive audience know what the heck he's talking about most of the time. I've heard many a fan shout 'shut up and sing'! His reply is usually on the lines, 'it's my show and I'll do what I like'. He seems to have no regard for the people who put him where he is. My rose coloured specs came off years ago!

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  21. It's always good to take a trip down memory lane and back to your youth, but even the die-hard fans must have to admit David Cassidy's concerts have become so predictable. There's such a back catalogue he could tap into and the fact he's married to a songwriter puzzles me as to why there's been no new recordings since the 80's?
    As for John Lennon, I just think DC is trying to emulate him with his world peace and political rants.

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  22. I found Davy Jones to be very entertaining and David Cassidy to be a giant tool.

    I was there that night in Chicago and a lot of the problem was the 20 minute sound-check (during his set) where David let the audience know how annoyed he was with the situation. He just went on and on about how terrible it was. After the very entertaining set by Mr. Jones, Mr. Cassidy was just a big letdown. Super Dreamy only goes so far...the music was lacking.

    I wonder what the blogosphere will be saying about the Jonas Brothers in 30 years - will anyone care? Will they still be performing? Will they have any hair? Will they still be virgins? None of that will matter because people will still go see them and enjoy thinking about what they used to represent. If they're smart they'll give the people what they want and embrace their own cheezy selves (and laugh all the way to the bank).

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  23. I'm sure other performers have similar problems with soundchecks but probably don't make a song and dance about it like Mr Cassidy. The fans may not have even noticed if it hadn't been brought to their attention. It must be a nightmare working for him!
    I can't help feeling that DC is only performing now to fund his racehorses and doesnt get the pleasure he once did.
    His fans deserve better.

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  24. Such an unworthy and disrespecftful person.

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  25. His 'abuse' of fans is dreadful, fans are walking away.

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  26. Such a shame that David Cassidy treats his fans so shabbily only the hard-core are left now and they are welcome to his tantrums and antics on stage. I hear he gets his kicks after a show, maybe thats why he can't wait to leave the venue and refuses to acknowledge fans wanting autographs and pictures only.

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