You’ve Seen Him On Public TV, And Now You Can Catch Tesh Here
Get ready for a Tesh-O-Rama in the Spokane Opera House.
John Tesh, TV-host-turned-music-meister, has been booked into the Opera House for two hours of what the promoters call “Teshmusic” on June 27.
Whether this is your idea of heaven or of hell, you’ve got to admit this will be quite a spectacle. Tesh’s “Live at Red Rocks” televised concert is a staple of PBS fundraisers, and his newest televised concert, “John Tesh: The Avalon Concert,” will debut on KSPS-7 on March 18 at 7 p.m.
Tickets go on sale sale Monday at 10 a.m., at at all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets, or call 325-SEAT. Tickets are $35, $29 and $22, plus applicable service charges.
Say what you will about Tesh, you’ve got to like this: A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local school music education program.
Brothers Four connection
Did you know the Brothers Four are beloved in Japan?
Possibly the question has never come up in your coffee klatch. The fact is, the Brothers Four tour Japan at least once or twice every year. The Japanese love their early-‘60s folk hits such as “Greenfields” and “Frogg.”
Yet here, right in their own home state, they are practically forgotten.
Roy and Ruth Pearson of Spokane aim to do something about that. They are bringing the Brothers Four to The Met on March 29. They have a vested interest; their son, Mark, is one of the four Brothers.
Mark Pearson, a 1965 Lewis and Clark High School grad, has been a member of the Brothers Four since 1968, when he beat out a fresh-faced kid named John Denver in an audition.
Today, two of the original Brothers, John Paine and Bob Flick, remain with the group. Pearson was a member of the same University of Washington fraternity that all of the original Brothers came from, Phi Gamma Delta, but he was about 10 years behind.
Pearson, like the other current members, lives in Seattle now. He also has a solo singing career, which he pursues when not gallivanting off to Japan or Korea or China or to U.S. conventions with the Brothers Four. He is also a songwriter.
The first half of the show will feature Pearson’s solo act. The second half will feature the folk act of the Brothers Four.
Tickets are available through G&B Select-a-Seat.
A beautifully presented ‘Schindler’s List’
I was impressed by the NBC presentation of “Schindler’s List” last Sunday. Ford, the sponsor, showed amazing restraint, not just in presenting the show free of commercials, but in flashing only a small, discreet logo during the brief intermission. Some things in this world are immune from commercialism, thank heavens.
I did hear some complaints about KHQ-6 splashing its (relatively) large, garish logo on the screen at inopportune times. But a review of the tapes shows that these episodes were brief, and besides, stations are required to identify themselves at regular intervals. I didn’t even notice it during the original viewing.
Guardian of our morals
Still, there’s always one person too dense to get it.
Oklahoma Congressman Tom Coburn was quoted this week as saying that “‘Schindler’s List” took network TV “to an all-time low, with full frontal nudity, violence and profanity being shown in our homes.”
On the other hand, NBC reported that it had virtually no complaints from viewers, proving once again that the public has more sense than certain congressmen.
Final ‘Schindler’s‘ note
USA Today reports that 65 million people watched “Schindler’s List” on Sunday, more than double the number who ever saw it in a theater.
Douglas on PBS
Rick Douglas, KHQ’s morning-show anchor, is pursuing an promising part-time sideline.
He has been hired as a correspondent for “Imaging America,” a new PBS newsmagazine produced by WNET in New York. He is writing, producing and appearing in a segment about sustainable growth in Portland. It will appear April 1 on PBS stations.
This is not a permanent job; PBS is committed to only three pilot episodes of “Imaging America” so far. Douglas will be keeping his day (morning) job.
Traffic-stopping stunt
You may have noticed a giant crane with the KZZU-FM logo stationed alongside I-90 in the Valley.
On Wednesday, Mike Ellis, who calls himself the station’s “sleazy promotions guy,” had the bright idea to prop a mannequin up in the box at the top (it’s all part of a contest stunt). Unfortunately, the mannequin caused a gawkers’ jam on the freeway; passing motorists thought somebody was about to jump.
The Washington State Patrol asked Ellis to take the mannequin down, which he did, later that same day.
“I’ve spent thousands on billboards for years,” said Ellis. “Here, I spend a couple hundred bucks on a cheesy mannequin, and I get more attention than all the billboards put together.”
A canine drama
“Sylvia,” possibly the most successful dog comedy this side of “101 Dalmatians,” is coming to Interplayers.
This highly unusual A.R. Gurney play has been chosen to fill the season’s “to be announced” spot, from April 11 through May 3.
It’s about a married man who falls in love with Sylvia, a dog he meets in Central Park. The dog is played by a human actress.
The New York Times called it “a hysterical comedy for anyone who’s ever owned a dog, loved a dog, or wanted to wring a dog’s neck.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo