Mister D: I just got to my room and am beat. The show was tight..Ms. M was in fine voice…the band rocked. There were a few changes, mostly technical; some fresh, updated jokes for the times…fresh material on Bush, Cheney, Laura, Anna Nicole, and Britney. I’ll get into more specifics tomorrow. The crowd was awesome…the place sounded uproarious from my perspective …. And Bette and the band were very pleased with the outcome…great show…Bette and company were shown a lot of love tonight….thanks Manchester for a fabu night!!!
Midler gets crowd moving, laughing
By MARK HAYWARD
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER —Bawdy and buxom, Bette Midler opened her “Kick My Brass” tour at the Verizon Wireless Arena last night, giving the audience a 70s television-like variety show of racy humor, soft ballads and horn blasting rhythm and blues.
Midler’s vocal talents ranged from breathless whispers in songs such as Rosemary Clooney’s “Tenderly” to full-throttle voice in the soul standard “When a Man Loves a Woman.”
In between Midler strode back and forth on stage with microphone in hand poking fun at Britney Spears, President Bush and locals.
It’s terrible, she said, about the Old Man of the Mountain. “Just think one little injection of Botox and he would have been saved.”
And on and on she went with the humor.
Early on Midler talked to the people in the front row, telling them they lied, cheated and slept with people they couldn’t stand to get their tickets.
“I’m proud of these people, my own little Bedford,” Midler said.
The arena did not sell out, but there were few empty seats available. The crowd was middle-aged and older. A few high heels and suits were evident, but mostly it was jeans, slacks, sweaters and sneakers.
Twenty-five-year old Timothy Gladden went to the concert with his mother and aunt. “I’m more of a Dave Matthews fan, but Bette’s got it going on,” he said.
Karen Haight, a nurse from Brookline, said she loves Midler.
“She’s sassy and flamboyant and just a lot of fun,” Haight said.
Midler’s choreographer rented Manchester studio
MANCHESTER — The choreographer for Bette Midler’s “Kiss My Brass” tour, herself a successful recording artist, rented out an Elm Street dance studio to prepare for Midler’s Manchester concert, the studio owner revealed yesterday.
Royal Palace Dance Studio owner Miah Trost, said that Toni Basil, whose hit song “Mickey” made it to No. 1 back in 1982, first contacted her about the arrangement on Saturday. The tour’s work began Sunday and lasted through the week, according to Trost. She said Basil and her assistants doing their work before and after the studio’s regular business hours.
“She thought that was perfect, and that’s what we did,” Trost said about the arrangement. “You can imagine these pros traveling — they can’t do a lot on their bus or in their hotel rooms . . . It was very exciting.”
At first, Trost said, he didn’t make the connection between Basil and her hit 1982 song, which also went to No. 2 in Britain.
“When I saw her — her appearance is very Manhattan or California-like. I knew she was somebody famous,” Trost said.
But when he mentioned her name to his brother living in Florida, his brother recognized Basil’s name and, thus, all the dots were connected. All in all, Trost described the experience as “very cool.”
In addition to working on Midler’s “Kiss My Brass” tour while at the 657 Elm St. studio, Trost said Basil worked on routines for a Midler fundraiser and a competitive cheer-leading dance team from New Jersey with which Basil is involved. The dance team uses the song “Mickey” in part of its routine, Trost said.
— Benjamin Kepple, Union Leader Staff Reporter
