About a year ago when I first begun the ZEIsSIT World blog, one of my first entries was regarding my opinion that the greatest singer ever is Johnny Mathis. Many months later I happened to receive an email from someone who happened to agree with me, so I know I'm correct about my greatest singer-ever assessment, and this person also included a link to an article written about her which I found amazing. Her name is Marcia, and although she was born blind, through specialized schooling for the blind and with help from a software called Dolphin Guide, she has managed to become an emailing guru. In addition, she has to be about the biggest Johnny Mathis fan in the world with having attending thousands (no exaggeration) of his concerts over the years as well as had the fortune of meeting him six times!!
Luckily she was able to come upon my blog entry and she was excited to find a fellow fan enough that she emailed me. We planned on meeting in person at a future concert and originally selected one scheduled in August at the Capital One Bank Theater in Westbury, but unfortunately Mathis had to cancel most of his concerts for hip surgery, which meant Marcia and I had to put off meeting until a later date. Months after his recovery, new dates were confirmed and we re-scheduled meeting at a show that was going to take place at the Mayo Performance Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey. Mathis was going to play two nights in a row, and of course as a super-fan Marcia was going to both, but I was just going to the first show. Also as a super-fan and since she purchased her tickets well in advance (her excitement never wanes) she was sitting up front by the stage while I would be many rows back. Once we were all set we shared a few more emails to make sure we would be able to meet up, and we were very excited to finally be able to attend a show together. Marcia was going with her friend Billie while I had to make the drive by myself all the way out to Jersey.
On the Google map Morristown was listed as only an hour away from the Bronx, but as usual Google takes no account of the Cross Bronx Expressway and one of the other highways I had to take, I-80 West, as both were crawling the whole way. In the end it took about a hour and forty minutes finally reach the area. I've been on a bad string of getting lost lately and this Morristown trip was having bad news written all over it. It seemed once I got off the highway, everything seemed dark and the street signs were difficult to read. As I started to worry, all of a sudden I found myself driving on South Street were there were lots of stores and I happened to pass by what looked like a theater with many people entering, so I figured that had to be the place. I turned around and passed by again and felt more confidant that I had finally found my destination. I was able to find parking three blocks away and walked up to the front of the theater to make sure there was some mention of the Mathis concert, and there was. Had I come earlier, Marcia, Billie, and I were going to get something to eat before the show, but since I was stuck in traffic for a while, we had to wait to meet at the theater. We arranged to meet the souvenir stand and the three of us chatting it up for a while before the show started. Marcia had a custom-made sweatshirt with photo imprint taken with her and one of her other friends, and standing in the middle was none other than Johnny Mathis. Billie didn't have a custom sweatshirt, but she was carrying a picture she had taken with Mathis a couple of years ago. I wished I had cool pictures like that to show them, but closest I got was shaking Mathis' hand in a concert last year, never had a chance to meet him.
About ten minutes before showtime we decided to head for our seats and the theater was nearly packed, except for a few rows towards the very back and a couple of random single seats here and there. This was going to be my sixth Mathis show, only nine hundred ninety-nine behind Marcia, and the format was similar to the previous five. He came out on stage a few minutes after 8pm to a big applause, which was a little longer than usual because this was one of his first shows back since the hip surgery, and then went into his first song. Most performers at concerts like to be chatty in between songs and tell stories, not Mathis. Except for a couple sentences after his first song, he basically likes to crank out the songs one after another with very minimum interruption. He breaks up his shows in two acts. The first part is usually his signature hits such as "Chances Are", "Twelve of Never", "Misty", "It's Not for Me to Say", "A Certain Smile", plus selected musical pieces from Henry Mancini such as "Moon River". After that a stand-up comedian, usually Gary Mule Deer, comes out for a twenty-minute bit, then there's a fifteen minute intermission. I went back out to the souvenir stand to see if I could meet up with Marcia and Billie again for a few minutes, but for some reason they didn't show up, so I was hoping we would be able to catch each other after the show.
When I arrived back at my seat I saw a lady in front of me had a photo album of Johnny Mathis pictures that it looked like she had been collecting over the past forty years. In fact, on the inside cover, it too looked like she had the chance to meet and have a picture taken with him. With Marcia, Billie, and now this other lady, I was really behind. I scanned my eyes around other fans in their seats and I noticed some more had photos albums, some brought in old vinyl records, people were holding these items in their hands like they were gold. A different lady in the row ahead of me was telling stories how her and her husband used to dance to alot of these Mathis songs (it seemed like the husband isn't alive anymore). I was trying to figure out why has everyone followed this singer and these songs for close to sixty years? Plus, how was I able to get drawn in and become a fan? For whatever contemporary musical acts that are being produced today, are fans going to flock to see them even twenty years from now? Most likely not, and certainly not fifty years down the road. Much like the feeling of attending an antique toy show; it seems toys used to be made out of die-cast metal so they would last for decades, now toys are made out of plastic and snap into pieces after fifteen minutes. Whatever the reasons are, groups like the Rolling Stones or single-acts like Johnny Mathis are limited natural resources and should be appreciated while they're around. Instead of long-lasting music, people these days are more concerned with having an electrical socket nearby to charge up their overpriced gadgets.
The lights dimmed again for the second half of the show and I realized Mathis had changed into a pair of white shoes. As usual with his second-half openers these days, he started things off with "Pure Imagination", then went into his cover of "You Make Me Feel Brand New". From his latest album, and the first time I ever heard him perform it, he surprised the audience by singing "Shenandoah", which turned out to delight Marcia very much. Towards the end of a Mathis show he usually takes out a couple of stools and sits next to his long-time guitarist Gil Rogers for a few tunes. They covered the Beatles classic "Yesterday", then went into Mathis standards "99 Miles to L.A." and "Brazil" to wrap up the show. Mathis came out for one more song as an encore, and then accepted a few bouquets of flowers among the standing ovation as he left the stage for good for the night. I caught up with Marcia and Billie on the way out and Marcia was completely blown away as if it was her first Mathis show. With everyone shuffling out of the theater we couldn't stay much to talk there, so we decided to look for a place to have a cup of coffee and talk more Mathis. Just down the block there was a Strawberry Fields Frozen Yogurt shop that has tables inside we would be able to sit at. With a Beatles them inside of pictures and photos from the 60's, Strawberry Fields has a dozen of different yogurt flavors you pump yourself and they charge you by the weight of your cup. I tried pomegranate and had a cup of coffee with that, Marcia just had a cup of coffee, Billie didn't feel like having anything.
We discussed the show we all just attended, and of course nobody had any complains. Then Marcia peeled off some of the many Mathis-related stories she had in her vault, and Billie chimed in as well with her experiences. Marcia is a walking-encyclopedia of musical acts, although Mathis is her #1, she's been to Elvis concerts, she met Smokey Robinson, I think she has about everyone from the Golden Era of music covered. We were talking and talking and time seemed to fly by fast to the point the store workers had to tell us we needed to go because they were about to close up. We asked the cashier to take a group picture of us so we would have something to remember from that night, with hopes of all meeting again at another Johnny Mathis concert in the future. Once Marcia and Billie were safely off into a cab, I headed back to my car for the drive back to the Bronx. Once I turned on the car I saw my gas tank only had one bar left until it was going to be empty. I was in the main part of town and probably would've found a gas station, but I didn't feel like going on a wild goose chase and possibly getting lost late at night in the dark, so I stuck with the directions and took the highway. I remember on I-80 seeing a few gas stations on the side of the highway, so I figured if I get into an emergency, I'll just gas up over there. I kept the speed to about 50 mph so I wouldn't burn up my gas too quickly, and eventually did see the gas station on the side of the highway, but I didn't exit. The thing with Jersey is you can't pump your own gas, plus I really didn't have cash on me. So if I did use a New Jersey gas station, I would have to hand some unknown attendant my card, plus give them a cash tip (which actually makes the gas price is higher than advertised). I decided to keep on driving with the gas tank signal pointing to Empty with hopes I could at least make it into the Bronx.
As I crossed over the George Washington Bridge I had visions of the car just dying out, so I kept in the right lane in case such as thing would happen. The first exit I came upon which looked like a good chance I would get gas was Jerome Avenue. As soon as I got off the exit it was a madhouse with two police vans flashing their lights for absolutely no reason. Cabs were flying all over, cars were honking horns, all I wanted was a little gas to get me home. There was a Sunoco gas station to the left of the exit I got off of, so I needed to make a U-turn and head left. Due the lateness of the hour, the location near a highway exit, and the dense street traffic, by the time I reached this gas station, filled up, and was on my way back on the Cross Bronx Expressway, at least thirty minutes went by. Since I had traffic going to the concert and didn't have an opportunity to eat, plus can't really consider frozen yogurt a meal, my stomach was finally growling for dinner. Before going home, I decided to stop off at a diner that's usually open all night. It was extremely too early for breakfast, but I wasn't looking for anything heavy or overly greasy, so I went with a belgian waffle with beef sausage. I was so hungry I think I crammed it all down in less than eight minutes. The anxiety of driving home on one cup of gasoline really tired me out and I was ready for bed. It was some night!!
That's what happens when you declare someone the greatest singer ever........
Luckily she was able to come upon my blog entry and she was excited to find a fellow fan enough that she emailed me. We planned on meeting in person at a future concert and originally selected one scheduled in August at the Capital One Bank Theater in Westbury, but unfortunately Mathis had to cancel most of his concerts for hip surgery, which meant Marcia and I had to put off meeting until a later date. Months after his recovery, new dates were confirmed and we re-scheduled meeting at a show that was going to take place at the Mayo Performance Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey. Mathis was going to play two nights in a row, and of course as a super-fan Marcia was going to both, but I was just going to the first show. Also as a super-fan and since she purchased her tickets well in advance (her excitement never wanes) she was sitting up front by the stage while I would be many rows back. Once we were all set we shared a few more emails to make sure we would be able to meet up, and we were very excited to finally be able to attend a show together. Marcia was going with her friend Billie while I had to make the drive by myself all the way out to Jersey.
On the Google map Morristown was listed as only an hour away from the Bronx, but as usual Google takes no account of the Cross Bronx Expressway and one of the other highways I had to take, I-80 West, as both were crawling the whole way. In the end it took about a hour and forty minutes finally reach the area. I've been on a bad string of getting lost lately and this Morristown trip was having bad news written all over it. It seemed once I got off the highway, everything seemed dark and the street signs were difficult to read. As I started to worry, all of a sudden I found myself driving on South Street were there were lots of stores and I happened to pass by what looked like a theater with many people entering, so I figured that had to be the place. I turned around and passed by again and felt more confidant that I had finally found my destination. I was able to find parking three blocks away and walked up to the front of the theater to make sure there was some mention of the Mathis concert, and there was. Had I come earlier, Marcia, Billie, and I were going to get something to eat before the show, but since I was stuck in traffic for a while, we had to wait to meet at the theater. We arranged to meet the souvenir stand and the three of us chatting it up for a while before the show started. Marcia had a custom-made sweatshirt with photo imprint taken with her and one of her other friends, and standing in the middle was none other than Johnny Mathis. Billie didn't have a custom sweatshirt, but she was carrying a picture she had taken with Mathis a couple of years ago. I wished I had cool pictures like that to show them, but closest I got was shaking Mathis' hand in a concert last year, never had a chance to meet him.
About ten minutes before showtime we decided to head for our seats and the theater was nearly packed, except for a few rows towards the very back and a couple of random single seats here and there. This was going to be my sixth Mathis show, only nine hundred ninety-nine behind Marcia, and the format was similar to the previous five. He came out on stage a few minutes after 8pm to a big applause, which was a little longer than usual because this was one of his first shows back since the hip surgery, and then went into his first song. Most performers at concerts like to be chatty in between songs and tell stories, not Mathis. Except for a couple sentences after his first song, he basically likes to crank out the songs one after another with very minimum interruption. He breaks up his shows in two acts. The first part is usually his signature hits such as "Chances Are", "Twelve of Never", "Misty", "It's Not for Me to Say", "A Certain Smile", plus selected musical pieces from Henry Mancini such as "Moon River". After that a stand-up comedian, usually Gary Mule Deer, comes out for a twenty-minute bit, then there's a fifteen minute intermission. I went back out to the souvenir stand to see if I could meet up with Marcia and Billie again for a few minutes, but for some reason they didn't show up, so I was hoping we would be able to catch each other after the show.
When I arrived back at my seat I saw a lady in front of me had a photo album of Johnny Mathis pictures that it looked like she had been collecting over the past forty years. In fact, on the inside cover, it too looked like she had the chance to meet and have a picture taken with him. With Marcia, Billie, and now this other lady, I was really behind. I scanned my eyes around other fans in their seats and I noticed some more had photos albums, some brought in old vinyl records, people were holding these items in their hands like they were gold. A different lady in the row ahead of me was telling stories how her and her husband used to dance to alot of these Mathis songs (it seemed like the husband isn't alive anymore). I was trying to figure out why has everyone followed this singer and these songs for close to sixty years? Plus, how was I able to get drawn in and become a fan? For whatever contemporary musical acts that are being produced today, are fans going to flock to see them even twenty years from now? Most likely not, and certainly not fifty years down the road. Much like the feeling of attending an antique toy show; it seems toys used to be made out of die-cast metal so they would last for decades, now toys are made out of plastic and snap into pieces after fifteen minutes. Whatever the reasons are, groups like the Rolling Stones or single-acts like Johnny Mathis are limited natural resources and should be appreciated while they're around. Instead of long-lasting music, people these days are more concerned with having an electrical socket nearby to charge up their overpriced gadgets.
The lights dimmed again for the second half of the show and I realized Mathis had changed into a pair of white shoes. As usual with his second-half openers these days, he started things off with "Pure Imagination", then went into his cover of "You Make Me Feel Brand New". From his latest album, and the first time I ever heard him perform it, he surprised the audience by singing "Shenandoah", which turned out to delight Marcia very much. Towards the end of a Mathis show he usually takes out a couple of stools and sits next to his long-time guitarist Gil Rogers for a few tunes. They covered the Beatles classic "Yesterday", then went into Mathis standards "99 Miles to L.A." and "Brazil" to wrap up the show. Mathis came out for one more song as an encore, and then accepted a few bouquets of flowers among the standing ovation as he left the stage for good for the night. I caught up with Marcia and Billie on the way out and Marcia was completely blown away as if it was her first Mathis show. With everyone shuffling out of the theater we couldn't stay much to talk there, so we decided to look for a place to have a cup of coffee and talk more Mathis. Just down the block there was a Strawberry Fields Frozen Yogurt shop that has tables inside we would be able to sit at. With a Beatles them inside of pictures and photos from the 60's, Strawberry Fields has a dozen of different yogurt flavors you pump yourself and they charge you by the weight of your cup. I tried pomegranate and had a cup of coffee with that, Marcia just had a cup of coffee, Billie didn't feel like having anything.
We discussed the show we all just attended, and of course nobody had any complains. Then Marcia peeled off some of the many Mathis-related stories she had in her vault, and Billie chimed in as well with her experiences. Marcia is a walking-encyclopedia of musical acts, although Mathis is her #1, she's been to Elvis concerts, she met Smokey Robinson, I think she has about everyone from the Golden Era of music covered. We were talking and talking and time seemed to fly by fast to the point the store workers had to tell us we needed to go because they were about to close up. We asked the cashier to take a group picture of us so we would have something to remember from that night, with hopes of all meeting again at another Johnny Mathis concert in the future. Once Marcia and Billie were safely off into a cab, I headed back to my car for the drive back to the Bronx. Once I turned on the car I saw my gas tank only had one bar left until it was going to be empty. I was in the main part of town and probably would've found a gas station, but I didn't feel like going on a wild goose chase and possibly getting lost late at night in the dark, so I stuck with the directions and took the highway. I remember on I-80 seeing a few gas stations on the side of the highway, so I figured if I get into an emergency, I'll just gas up over there. I kept the speed to about 50 mph so I wouldn't burn up my gas too quickly, and eventually did see the gas station on the side of the highway, but I didn't exit. The thing with Jersey is you can't pump your own gas, plus I really didn't have cash on me. So if I did use a New Jersey gas station, I would have to hand some unknown attendant my card, plus give them a cash tip (which actually makes the gas price is higher than advertised). I decided to keep on driving with the gas tank signal pointing to Empty with hopes I could at least make it into the Bronx.
As I crossed over the George Washington Bridge I had visions of the car just dying out, so I kept in the right lane in case such as thing would happen. The first exit I came upon which looked like a good chance I would get gas was Jerome Avenue. As soon as I got off the exit it was a madhouse with two police vans flashing their lights for absolutely no reason. Cabs were flying all over, cars were honking horns, all I wanted was a little gas to get me home. There was a Sunoco gas station to the left of the exit I got off of, so I needed to make a U-turn and head left. Due the lateness of the hour, the location near a highway exit, and the dense street traffic, by the time I reached this gas station, filled up, and was on my way back on the Cross Bronx Expressway, at least thirty minutes went by. Since I had traffic going to the concert and didn't have an opportunity to eat, plus can't really consider frozen yogurt a meal, my stomach was finally growling for dinner. Before going home, I decided to stop off at a diner that's usually open all night. It was extremely too early for breakfast, but I wasn't looking for anything heavy or overly greasy, so I went with a belgian waffle with beef sausage. I was so hungry I think I crammed it all down in less than eight minutes. The anxiety of driving home on one cup of gasoline really tired me out and I was ready for bed. It was some night!!
That's what happens when you declare someone the greatest singer ever........
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