David Cassidy on the Web
Jim Brickman salutes '70s influences at Oakdale
February 26, 2013
By Sean Spillane
www.ctpost.com
Jim Brickman has sold millions of records in the adult contemporary, piano instrumental and Christian music genres, while also touring successfully and taping five specials for PBS.
But when Comcast asked him to do a concert special for its Xfinity On Demand service, Brickman decided to take the focus off of his music and put it on the songs and artists he grew up listening to in the 1970s.
"Jim Brickman's Celebration of the '70s" will take place at the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on Saturday night, March 2, and will be recorded for free broadcast in the spring.
"It's really an incredible thing," Brickman said during a recent phone interview while taking a stroll in New York. "They basically said to me, `Whatever you think would be a wonderful experience for our audience, do it.' "
Joining Brickman for his "Celebration of the '70s" will be David Cassidy, Rita Coolidge, Stephen Bishop, Thelma Houston, David Pack of Ambrosia, Yvonne Elliman and Firefall. (Olivia Newton-John will be involved in the special, but her contribution will be filmed at a different time and place.)
"Every one of these people has a reason for being involved," Brickman, 51, said. "It's not, `Let's do a '70s special; who can we get?' They have a purpose. They all have a tie to my musical point of view.
"As a songwriter, after having some success of your own, you tend to reflect a little bit on how this came to be -- why you write these songs; what were the inspirations that became trademarks of your own songwriting.
"When I think about that, I think of the '70s. That's when I was listening to the most music; that's when I went to the most concerts; that's when I listened to the radio the most. It is my formative time, and I feel that as a songwriter, my craft came from a lot of those key influences."
Brickman said that one of his guests popularized a song that had a special meaning to him during his younger days.
"Rita Coolidge will be doing a song called `We're All Alone,' which is a Boz Scaggs song that she made famous," he said. "It's also the song I won a battle of the bands with in Cleveland, Ohio, when I was in high school.
"There is a theme for this show. A lot of these songs, the hits, these are all songs that inspired me. I was really taken with the emotional connection of a lot of these songs, mostly the singer-songwriter songs."
"You'll notice that in the show, there's really no nod to the rock music of the generation. It's really just the pop-centric (music) that reflects what my style is right now.
"The reason my songs ended up being this way is from the exposure to these singer-songwriters. The theme is how this music relates to my songwriting, which is melodic, inspirational, romantic, straight-ahead pop."
In addition to performing their own songs, Brickman and his friends also will pay tribute to the music of other such '70s superstars as the Carpenters, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer.
So with all of the guests and the various tributes, how will Brickman find the time to squeeze some of his songs into the special?
"That's an excellent question," he said, with a laugh. "It'll be a combination of all of these things. My songs will be in there, but only as they relate to their reason for being. There will be a chunk of my music, but the concept is that I'm coming at it from a master of ceremonies point of view."
As for his choice of venue, Brickman said the Oakdale was the perfect spot for several reasons, not the least of which has been his reception at previous tour stops in the state.
"I've had a long-standing love affair with Connecticut," he said. "I've always had a wonderful relationship with the audiences in Connecticut.
"And because we are shooting it for Comcast New England, they wanted to have it at a New England venue. We wanted a place that was large enough to accommodate what we think is going to be a very wonderful-selling event and that could accommodate our filming.
"All of the boxes were ticked on the Oakdale."
Toyota Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford. Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m. VIP tickets $158, $83.50-$38.50. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com, www.ticketmaster.com.
