Do You Wanna Know A Secret? (Thanks Mark M.)

Don, I dunno, I have to let you and your readers in on the best secret of this year, so ….. Here we go, folks.

I am astounded at the 2008 shows of Bette Midler’s I have attended….The seasonal variant (didn’t realize that was the correct way to mention the show I saw on 12.02.08) was superb…and I attended concerts of hers which were indescribably and memorably great way back in the seventies….so maybe I would have some background with which to know the difference!

The show 12.02.08 went by without a word about her Dec. 1 birthday, but that’s okay, sometimes I don’t mention my own b-day as well! So, it’s December 2 at the Colloseum and I’m all jacked up to see this show, and it was nothing like the 08.08.08 Hammond Venue opening night performance I saw (that was like a high school reunion show) Go figure out what that means! I think it means it’s like having a great entertainer appear in a gymnasium after knowing the big buck staging which is available but not utilized for time or money’s sake…but 08.08.08 was GREAT, a good memorable show, nonetheless, and having not seen TSMGO at that time I had nothing from the past year or two to compare The Venue show to…)

Last Tuesday night, Bette sang COOL YULE, which was awesome, all that dancing a la Rockettes style and such high kicking from her dance troupe including a costumed Santa Claus. And when the song FROM A DISTANCE emblazoned itself at the beginning strains of music onstage, well, it looked like Midler herself had festooned a green mosquito army surplus netting outfit (green concept fully understood, Miss M!) decked with humongous red BALLS all over the shoulder like a scarf (what was she THINKING???) and yes, I have listened to the whole COOL YULE CD, and yes the song appears with special lyrics for the holidays so yes, it made sense that the holiday theme was in full force or enforced in full for TSMGO.

I would have thought the two songs alone made nice holiday bookends in a show so full of energy that if all she decided to do after that was simply sit down under the piano cross legged, and read out loud the phone book, it would have been just fine with me! (She used to take her heels off and sit at Barry Manilow’s feet way back when he was her show accompanist, hey, its not so far fetched!)

(Maybe I was just in Vegas just a day too many by this time? I wonder…)

Songs which evoke strong personal memories from the vaults were also performed such as “HELLO IN THERE” , which, admittedly, dammit, I bawled my eyes out, maybe a bit too much, so it was catharsis at its epic Greek Colloseum saga finest, (but when in Rome…) contrasted with the bawdy Soph jokes which were an experience in contrasts one must live through at least once in your life….right?!…all the way to the closing encore of “I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS” in Las Vegas NV, instead of Beverly Hills EL LAY….well, not even the Tony Bennett show last Saturday I witnessed at the Hilton could match the height and depth and breadth of a showgirl of such proportions as Miss M, a truly living, breathing, artistic musical phenomenon DIVINE ‘EM talent that just keeps amazing me, myself and I ( and the few close personal friends/fans of Miss M’s who I share) all the way up and down from the depths of my toes to the top of my high hatted head….

Well, if I was alive to have seen the great live performances of say Billie Holiday or Judy Garland, just maybe I could compare and contrast even more, but after several standing ovations for Bette, and memorable song and show choices, I have nothing to complain about except that I don’t work for the Midler entourage. Just to have the chance to see this performer go through the arc of such an amazing show, whereas the singers of today have to learn how to breathe and dress and talk and walk in such a way which Bette Midler makes look like is as simple as breathing and walking and talking itself!

Long live the Divine Miss M! GO SEE THIS SHOW IN VEGAS!