(click to enlarge)

Photo Courtesy Danny A. Gusme

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www.azcentral.com/ent/calendar/articles/1204mariachi04.html by Randy Cordova The Arizona Republic

rburr@express-news.net

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Stone's throw . . .

Funnyman Jackie Mason spotted ribbing as he chawed on ribs at Masck in Deerfield. . . . Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira the vamp, was in town having an aqua massage at Haven on Armitage. . . . Singer Vicki "It Must be Him" Carr chortlin' & chewin" at Alex Dana's Rosebud Steakhouse . . . Today's birthdays: Sam Elliott, 58; Melanie Griffith, 45; Whitney Houston, 39; Bill Daley, 54; Bob Sirott, 53; Gillian Anderson, 34, and David Steinberg, 60. Saturday's birthdays: Rosanna Arquette, 43; Eddie Fisher, 74; Antonio Banderas, 42, Ronnie Spector, 59; Jimmie Dean, 74, and Angie Harmon, 30.

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Vikki Carr, ballet, crafts fair plan quieter, genteel showcases

By Deborah Martin
San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 04/14/2002 12:00 AM

The most popular art at Fiesta time probably is the design work that goes into the medals, gowns and the parade floats.

But there are a few official Fiesta events where the fine arts flourish, including "Dance Kaleidoscope," Fiesta Arts Fair at the Southwest School of Art & Craft and the San Antonio Symphony's Fiesta Pops.

"Dance Kaleidoscope," the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet's spring performance, has been part of Fiesta since 1999. Susan Connally, the company's artistic director, decided to seek official Fiesta status partly as a defensive, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" move.

"We always did a spring performance, and we were trying to find the right time to do it. May is crazy with all the dance studio performances and graduations, and in April, you ran into Fiesta as an obstacle: People weren't going to come to your thing because they were going to Fiesta," she said.

The company gets a lot out of mileage from being an official event, including the extra burst of publicity that comes from being on the Fiesta calendar and the convenience of selling tickets at the Fiesta Store.

For this year's outing, Connally and company will present the one-act ballet "Rappaccini's Daughter," based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story about the ill-fated relationship between a smitten young man and a poisonous young woman; "A Bit of Joplin," an energetic short ballet; a modern piece by guest artists Georgina Morgan and Co.; "Bell Sonata," an uplifting new piece by S.A. Met instructor Shannon Winckel; and "Come Rain or Come Shine," another modern piece.

Fiesta elements are woven throughout the second half of the program, including the costumes for the Joplin piece, which have confettilike touches on the bodices, and the joyous moves and music of the final piece, which "has a nice Fiesta feel," Connally said.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. April 28 at McAllister Auditorium at San Antonio College. Tickets cost $8-$15 general admission at the Fiesta Store, 2611 Broadway, or by calling (210) 408-6970.

"Dance Kaleidoscope" is one of the last events in Fiesta. The Southwest School of Art & Craft's Fiesta Arts Fair is one of the first.

The fair has all the elements of most Fiesta events — food, live music and more food — in a quieter setting than most of the others. It also has lots of fine art, courtesy of the more than 130 artists from 22 states who were juried into this year's fair. They will show and sell ceramics, jewelry, photography, sculpture, paintings, textiles and virtually every other art form you can think of from booths all across the Ursuline campus. Children with an artistic bent (or just a lot of steam they need to blow off) can hit the kids' art area near the gazebo.

"It's a very relaxing, pleasant way to celebrate Fiesta and at the same time to support the school's art education," said Mike Pecen, the school's public relations coordinator. "The tuition you pay for a class only covers about half the cost of what it takes to bring that class to you. As a result, it's fund-raisers like these that make it possible for us to provide art education at all."

It's also a good way to expand the school's audience.

"It's a great way to introduce ourselves to people who never take a class or visit the galleries. It's also a way to introduce artists from across the region and all across the nation to the school," he said.

The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. April 21 on the campus, 300 Augusta St. Admission costs $6 at the gate.

The fair shares Fiesta's opening weekend with the symphony, whose contribution to the festivities this year is a Pops concert featuring Vikki Carr.

"I'm really happy about it," Carr said. "It has been a couple of years since I've sung at the Majestic, and it's always a joy."

Carr has often popped up at Fiesta events in an official capacity. Right after she moved to San Antonio, she was grand marshal of the Battle of Flowers Parade, and she did a Fiesta Pops concert a few years ago with Mariachi Cobre.

"Everybody loved that show. People are always asking, 'When are you going to bring them back again'; now I want to do what I want to do," she said, laughing.

During the Fiesta Pops concerts, she will sing her hits, including the Spanish songs she sang on her PBS special a few years ago.

"Hopefully it will bring back some memories to my great diehard fans who have those LPs someplace," she said. "It's great to hear them whooping and hollering."

When she isn't performing for Fiesta, Carr tries to hit a few events with her family.

"What is wonderful is seeing everybody having such a good time," she said.

Carr and the symphony will perform at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Majestic Theater, 224 E. Houston St. Tickets range from $16-$58 at the symphony box office and all Ticketmaster outlets.

dlmartin@express-news.net

04/14/2002

Portions © 2001 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News. © 2001 MyWay. All rights reserved.

Vikki sang at Liza Minnelli and David Gest's wedding on March 16, 2002!

Click here to read more about the wedding! 

Congratulations and best wishes to Liza and David!

Vikki Hosted the Gabriel Awards in October of 2001.

Dear Vito and Fan Club Members,

Thank you so much for your beautiful thoughts and gifts.

I wish all of you a wonderful and beautiful St Valentine's Day and Feliz dia de la amistad, which
means Happy friendship Day.  Truly you have all been
wonderful supportive friends over the years, and I humbly thank you all.

God bless you all, especially you Vito and Dan for all your hard work and encouraging words.

I love you all
Vikki   2-13-02                  

Dear Friends,

I don't know about you, but I am still in a kind of daze over everything that has happened since September 11, 2001. What has made me snap out of it is doing my shows and hearing the comments from all of you.

Yes, God put me on this earth to sing, lift spirits and bring a message of love. Hearing you say "thanks for making us laugh, cry, and bring back so many memories," has shown me that the wonderful gift God has given me was and is to be shared. Thank you so much for your gift of love to me and your never tiring support.

Here is a special message to all of you -- Love one another and may the New Year bring us Peace.

God bless you all and your families.

Congratulations Vikki!

On November 30, 2001, The Mexican-American Correctional Association, Los Angeles Chapter hosted its annual Holiday Celebration  and awarded Vikki Carr the Community Humanitarian Award in recognition of her many years of service as a community pioneer, leader, humanitarian, and charitable service provider. And, for being a long loved artist in the field of music.

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Stephanie Perrigo giving her speech at the Mexican-American Correctional Association Award Ceremony in Los Angeles.

(The following is the text of Stephanie's speech.)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. 

On behalf of Vito Cifaldi, Dan Maglione, Vikki’s Special People, VIKKICARR.NET, Joyce Steele, and myself, I want to thank you all for attending this special celebration in honor of someone with a voice that has reached out and has stolen the hearts of countless.  ....I am proud to say that VIKKICARR.NET has grown immensely since it’s beginning existence in 1998.  Of course this being no surprise when you are aware of the wonderfully devoted, loyal, and talented individuals who are behind this creative masterpiece.  Vito Cifaldi and Dan Maglione are determined  to keep this website contemporary and fresh with new ideas and projects in which will continue to make the world aware of this sensational woman, singer, entertainer, and humanitarian - Vikki Carr.  ...Naturally...they have succeeded, are succeeding, and will continue to succeed. 

As the welcoming wagon for the site, as Vito would call me, I write a lot of letters, and read a lot, and with each one that I read, through those touching memories of certain shows, concerts, songs, and those thrilling backstage visits, the more I learn and realize how much of a positive and inspirational impact Vikki has been to so many around the world.  I am so thankful that Vito has allowed me to be a part of this amazing family.  And I thank all of you for allowing me to speak on behalf of VIKKICARR.NET and Vikki’s Special People.  Again, from all of us...we thank you Vikki for being just who you are. 

Vikki and Joseph Quintanar at the Awards Ceremony.

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A Celebration of the Music of Judy Garland.(Carnegie Hall, New York, NY) / (theater reviews) Author/s: Charles Isherwood Issue: June 22, 1998

(CARNEGIE HALL; 2,804 SEATS; $75 TOP)

NEW YORK Presented by Carnegie Hall. Orchestra conducted by Larry Blank. Hosted by Lorna Luft and Robert Stack. Reviewed June 16, 17, 1998.

With: Shana Alexander, Lionel Bart, Vikki Carr, Betty Comden, Lea DeLaria, Nancy Dussault, Robert Goulet, Gogi Grant, Adolph Green, Skitch Henderson, Jerry Herman, Dee Holy, Jack Jones, Alan King, Mort Lindsey, Jerry Maren, Robert Morse, Pamela Myers, Bebe Neuwirth, Elaine Stitch, Weslia Whitfield.

While the recent lounge-and-martini craze among the young and fashionable has brought the song styling of Tony Bennett and Dean Martin back into the spotlight, and made a virtual god of Frank Sinatra even before his death sealed his seat among the deities, the vocal art of Judy Garland has remained somewhat marginalized in American popular culture. There's a touch of homophobia in this -- an affection for Garland has long been considered male homosexuality's mark of Cain -- but the more salien reason for her legacy's neglect is less pernicious. Frank & Co. have been Ionized as the epitome of cool, the aesthetic avatars of the "whatever" generation's signature jadedness, and while Judy Garland was many things, cool was not among them. On the contrary, as the two-evening tribute of Carnegie Hall this week reminded to, she was about as cool as a volcano.

Hosted by Garland's daughter Lorna Luft and actor Robert Stack, who knew Judy back when she was Frances Gumm, one of the Gumm Sisters in on the last rails of vaudeville, the evenings paid homage to Garland's legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall stand, the culmination of a tour that marked the greatest of her many against-all-odds comebacks. (Less than two years previous hospitalized with hepatitis, she'd been told she could never work again.)

The evenings were a grab bag of reminiscences, performances of Garland standards (many were part of Garland's Carnegie Hall set) and video clips of Garland herself, and while the first night hand its longueurs and a more shapeless feeling, both contained a shake of illumination anecdotes and arresting vocalizing. Indeed, all who sang deserve a badge of courage for taking on Garland standards before an audiences largely composed of fans who had Garland's versions permanently enshrined in their aural memory banks.

While the influence of a talent as unique as Garland's is sometimes difficult to trace, it could be heard Tuesday night in Weslia Whitefield's exquisite phrasing on Rodgers & Hart's "You're Nearer," and in Vikki Carr's finely variegated belting and crooning on Garland signature songs "The Boy Next Door" and "After You've Gone," as well as the more obscure but nicely chosen Irving Berlin tune "How About Me." Carr, who appeared on both evenings, appropriately and simply described the hallmark of Garland's art: "She sang with her heart"

Garland's emotional investment in her songs was remarked upon by several contributors, none more eloquently than Elaine Stritch, whose performance included a series of extravagantly funny recollections of "lifting a few" with a jubilant Judy. In an age when the specter of recovery seems to have taken out of the martini, Stritch's affectionate remarks reminded that there was a joyful side to Garland's notorious imbibing that is often obscured by dark descriptions of the toil it took on her. Stritch then sang, in her glorious, heartfelt croak, a medley of Noel Coward's "If Love Were All" and the Gershwins' "But Not for Me."

(Thanks to Menda Stewart for the above article)

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Carr blends Latin and American with ease

Cultures, decades brought together in Bass Hall show

09/12/2000

By Mario Tarradell / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH – When she wasn't telling stories, sharing anecdotes about her varied career, Vikki Carr sang before 1,300 fans Monday night at the Bass Performance Hall. And when she sang, Ms. Carr gracefully glided from English to Spanish, pop to bolero, ballad to mariachi.

The show, like her music, spanned decades and styles. Backed by a six-musician band, she offered pivotal songs from all the artistic phases, all the way to last year's Memories, Memorias television special and accompanying compact disc. During that program, which she taped for PBS-TV, Ms. Carr interpreted Latin standards from the '40s and '50s that made their way across the border into the United States translated with English lyrics.

So she delivered bilingual renditions of "Solamente Una Vez," "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" and "Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado." As she switched from one idiom to the other, she never missed a beat. Her phrasing remained clear, her tone supple. She knows when to belt out a note and when to whisper the next. Ms. Carr has control, the kind of vocal control that years of singing and performing afford.

She's an entertainer from the old school. That meant she donned sequined dresses – the first one was almost blinding under the spotlight – and casually conversed with the audience between every song. Each tune prompted a story. At one point during the second half, she even stopped to answer questions from the crowd. Some were asked in English, others in Spanish. She responded in kind each time. When was the last time you saw a singer do that?

The personal touch, she would probably say. Still, she was there to sing, so she made sure her talking never overstayed its welcome. For the most part, Ms. Carr stuck to classy material. With her rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," she leaped into Vegas-style cheese. And "With Pen in Hand," one of her late-'60s pop hits, was affecting if a bit shlocky.

But, whoa, some of the Latin stuff was downright penetrating. An a capella mariachi number, "Paloma Negra," was a tour de force. Her take on Juan Gabriel's "Ya Lo Se Que Te Vas" was engulfing. She seemed totally overcome by the song's heavy emotions. And "Que Alegre Va Maria," a song about a pregnant woman speaking to her unborn child, was powerful.

As was "It Must Be Him," the bittersweet '60s pop tune that launched her career. Listening to her sing that put her influence in focus. Born Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona, she became Vikki Carr and conquered the Anglo pop world only to later rediscover her Mexican heritage and establish herself as a Latin artist.

A reverse crossover. But unlike today's Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, Ms. Carr did it without the fanfare. Back then, it was just her way of mining her own past.

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Recording history -- Vicki Carr accents origins of pop standards

By Dave Ferman
Star-Telegram

The 1940s and '50s were a time of great musical invention in the United States -- the days when the blues traveled to Chicago and got juiced with electricity, when swing music swung the hardest.

Not as well remembered is how much American pop music came up from Mexico and South America. Again and again, American bandleaders and songwriters, or songwriters born south of the border who resettled in the States, provided the melodies and/or lyrics of what are now considered pop standards -- songs such as `What a Difference a Day Made' and `You Belong to My Heart.'

But Vikki Carr remembers. How, after all, could she forget? The El Paso native, best known for her '60s pop hits `It Must Be Him, The Lesson' and `With Pen in Hand,' performs at Bass Hall on Monday. She says she easily recalls listening to her father sing Mexican ballads one minute and then play 78s by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

"That's what I was raised with," Carr says. "The big bands would take those songs from Mexico or Cuba and put a swing to them, like Artie Shaw. Some of the major songwriters from the U.S. had gone to war and heard those beautiful melodies and brought them back."

Thanks to a request from PBS, Carr fashioned her most recent CD, `Memories, Memorias,' from the musical confluence that occurred back then. The CD and companion video feature Carr (with cameos from Pepe Aguilar, Jack Jones and Arturo Sandoval) doing a given song in English -- and its antecedent. For example, she does both `You Belong to My Heart' and the song that inspired it, `Solamente Una Vez.'

"This was originally done to attract Hispanics to PBS, and I'm all for that," says Carr. "Most people in the U.S. don't realize many of these songs were originally in Spanish. I was very happy -- this was a dream of mine since I did my first all-Spanish album in 1972. My Anglo audience actually asked me to do that record. And that launched my career as a Latin artist in Mexico and Latin America.

"And when we did the pledge drive, the people calling in were French, Lebanese, Japanese. It just shows you beautiful music can be appreciated by everybody."

Carr says her next project is her first Christmas CD, due in October. The record includes standards, `Mary Did You Know?' (previously cut as a duet with Kenny Rogers and Wynonna) and a new song, `What Made the Baby Cry?'

"It's something my fans always wanted," she says. "I went to Mark Portmann, a young arranger, and he put some very nice feels and arrangements to the songs. There's a family feeling, some jazz, sort of a Gipsy Kings feel on some songs. It's like me at home with my family. And people can dance to it."

Vikki Carr
8 p.m. Monday
Bass Performance Hall
Fort Worth
$25-$55
(888) 597-7827

Reprinted with permission from the Forth Worth Star Telegram. 

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Thank you Joyce Steele for sending this article.

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