Peter Allen
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2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
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4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.
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In 1980, I had the pleasure of seeing Peter Allen perform live in his show, "Up In One" in Los Angeles. If you are not familiar with the term, "Up In One" refers to the star being forward in a single spotlight. That was where Allen always wanted to be and where he seemed most at home. It was an interesting evening given that a large percentage of the attendees were truly celebrating being Gay and taking the rest of us along for the ride. With Allen up on stage and that group of admirers, break out your maracas because flamboyant was an understatement. He kept perfect control of an unusually wild and appreciative audience, and throughout the show, my date kept leaning over and saying, "He wrote that?" .... "He wrote that?" ... "He wrote that?"
As hard as it is for me to believe, many people at the time simply didn't know the name of the creator of the music even though many of the songs had become huge hits sung by virtually every major vocalist of the late '70s simply because his career was so New York and International rather than on radio and TV. Thanks to the musical, The Boy From Oz, Allen may actually be better known now than he was alive. He was an amazing showman and we lost this huge talent to AIDS way too young, but fortunately we have the music.
The only real problem I had was that Playlist.com failed me completely, and You Tube had the popular songs of the period but few of the intensely personal and beautiful songs such as "Where The Sun Never Shines" or "5 O'Clock In LA", so you might want to visit ITunes to get a true feel of the breadth of his work.
I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love - Rita Coolidge
Don't Cry Out Loud - Melissa Manchester
One Step Over The Borderline - Peter Allen
I Go To Rio - Muppets
The autobiographical "Tenterfield Saddler" sung first by Hugh Jackman and then Peter Allen
Hugh Jackman as Peter Allen
Boy From Oz
5 comments:
My cousin was lucky enough to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, which she said was fantastic. And I once worked in the box office at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, where Peter Allen once headlined and I could hear the live performance over the intercom system while finishing my shift that night.
Thanks for the wonderful set - loved the Muppets one, too!
The song that ends "The Boy From Oz" is Once before I go. You can hear both the Peter Allen Version and see and hear the Hugh Jackman Version on You Tube.
It's worth the comparison.
"Don't Cry Out Loud" has always been one of my favorite songs and I honestly had NO idea that Peter Allen wrote it. What a wonderful talent taken way too soon.
Rita Coolidge and Melissa Manchester in the same post, singing songs by Peter Allen. Love it!
It was 30 years ago and I still remember the night as if it were yesterday. Now THAT is a showman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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