Tuesday, December 26, 2017

I Know a Place — Namely the Petula Clark Show


Hard to put into words how much I adore Petula Clark. I remember hearing “Downtown” with my mom in the car after Christmas shopping at Fiesta Mall in 1979 and thinking how I too wanted to live where the “lights were much brighter.” (I did it!) This legendary octogenarian put on quite a show at B.B. King's tonight, captivating her fans with most of the hits ("Don't Sleep in the Subway," "My Love," "Colour My World," "This Is My Song," "I Know a Place," "Sign of the Times," "Downtown," but no "Happy Heart" or "Call Me") and some excellent newer material ("From Now On," recent covers of "Blackbird," "While You See a Chance" and "Fever"). Her joyous stage presence and wonderful stories from her eight decades in show business (more on that tomorrow) were perhaps rivaled only by the eccentric group of fans who came to adore her. This included Michael Musto, Randy Jones and NY1's Frank DiLella -- not to mention the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" family with whom we shared a table, whose grandson(?) initially tried to rudely tell me I "wasn't allowed" to sit there because they were "expecting two more" even though the hostess had placed Damian and me there and the joint has a no "seat saving" policy. (I couldn't believe how much of a New Yorker I turned into with these gumbas: "If you have a problem, take it up with management." The older couple ended up being sweethearts and toasting with us later in the night!)







My first Petula purchase

1 comment:

mike/ said...

So glad you got to go, but I'm jealous! If I were in NYC, I would have been there also. Thanks for sharing.... m/