David Cassidy on the Web
We Think They Love You (a Bit Too Much)
August 31, 2009
By Don Troop
http://chronicle.com
JAG Entertainment: At 59, David Cassidy has a new TV show.
David Cassidy.
Just uttering the name of The Partridge Family star in the early 1970s was enough to elicit a dreamy sigh from your teenage sister or closeted cousin. Everywhere you looked, there he was-on television, posters, trading cards, and lunchboxes-with his feather-cut brown hair and those brilliant white teeth.
And then suddenly he was gone, chewed up and spat out like a wad of bubblegum that's lost its sweetness. The posters came down and the fans moved on.
So when tickets for "David Cassidy in Concert!" went on sale this summer at Queensborough Community College, no one was quite expecting the frenzy that resulted. Requests rolled in from England, Germany, and the Netherlands, and daily pleas for preferential seating have deluged the two-person staff of the Queensborough Performing Arts Center.
"The only way I can describe it is Beatles-esque," says Susan Agin, artistic director for the center, an 850-seat venue where Mr. Cassidy will perform on November 21. "We had a gal call up hysterical because her credit card would not go through" after ticket buyers had overwhelmed the computer server.
Another fan was furious that his seats were in the sixth row. "That won't do," he told Ms. Agin. "We must have seats in the front row because my wife must be able to touch him."
The ubiquitous images of David Cassidy faded away after the 1970's, but his devoted fans have not forgotten him.
Community colleges are in the limelight this year, and at Queensborough that is especially true. The college, part of the City University of New York, is marking its 50th anniversary this academic year, and QPAC, as the performing-arts center is known, is a focal point of Queensborough's celebration. Over the decades, such artists as Thelonious Monk, Judy Collins, Chita Rivera, Chubby Checker, and Alvin Ailey's dance company have taken the stage at QPAC. Ms. Agin booked David Cassidy as part of an entertainment retrospective there.
At 59 the musician is suddenly hot again, thanks to his role on a new ABC comedy, Ruby & the Rockits, in which he plays an aging former pop star who must confront the challenges of newfound parenthood after belatedly learning that he has a teenage daughter.
His publicist, Joanne Geffen, says the television show has been a godsend to Mr. Cassidy, who received a scant $15,000 of the riches that were generated from the sale of his image as a teen heartthrob. Now he raises thoroughbred racehorses in Florida and New York State, and makes money by performing occasional shows for aging fans hungry for some nostalgia.
"They just love him, which is terrific," says Ms. Geffen. But adoring fans can turn overzealous, a grave concern to Mr. Cassidy. Thirty-five years ago, a 14-year-old girl was crushed to death and scores were injured at one of his concerts in Britain, a tragedy that the musician has said is never far from his thoughts.
Mr. Cassidy faces safety risks of his own, says Ms. Geffen. "Sometimes people start getting competitive with each other and pushing each other in line. They reach out and grab him. . People get on him, and won't get off."
Ms. Agin, who admits her own heart will go aflutter when she finally meets Mr. Cassidy, says that Queensborough's security staff will be out in force for his concert there.
"I'm going to introduce the show," she says, "and I'll address some of the issues that might come up." In the end, she's confident that people will behave, including the fan who wants to present Mr. Cassidy with a denim jacket that he tossed into the audience at Madison Square Garden 40 years ago.
Ms. Geffen says the jacket might come in handy. He's "a little guy," she says, about 5 feet, 4 or 5 inches. "He still fits in the same clothes he wore then."
How many of his fans can say the same?
