Fan Barry Fisher and Linda

I am always fascinated where people disclose the ten CDs they would bring with them if they were stranded on a desert island. As the owner of approximately 2,000 CDs, encompassing a wide variety of music, the task of dwindling them down to a mere 10 would be daunting to say the least. However, there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty… a Linda Eder CD or two would be included among them.

My love of music did not begin with Linda. Rather, it began sitting on the piano bench next to my mother listening to her play. Ever since those very early days, I always wanted to be a piano player and have total admiration for those who have mastered the artistry of the instrument. As for live musical performances, that love affair has grown and cultivated over several decades with the assistance of many different artists. For me, however, there was one defining moment in time. A moment from which all of my adult musical tastes have evolved. A moment which changed my life forever. That moment took place in June, 1975 when I stepped inside the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway and saw Bette Midler's Clams on the Half Shell Revue with Special Guest Star Lionel Hampton.

Never before had I seen an artist who affected me in the way Bette Midler did that evening. I was a very young and very impressionable high school senior. Although I liked a few of Bette's recordings, I had no idea as to the evening that awaited me. As many of you who have seen Bette perform know, she is bawdy, tasteless, vulgar, trashy and flashy… often at the same time! And at all times, she is brilliant. That night was no exception. I had never seen an artist connect with her audience the way Bette connected with hers. I was literally blown away as Bette lifted the roof of the Minskoff Theatre and took me to a high I had never before experienced. I instantly became one of Bette's hard-core fans and, to this day, I always acknowledge this evening as being the beginning of my true musical education.

At the start of the second act, Bette was joined on stage by the legendary jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. I have to admit that on that particular evening, I did not know who Lionel was, but his ear-to-ear grin along with the speed with which the mallets flew across the vibes gave me a hint that I was witnessing a true musical genius perform. I had no idea that Lionel had been part of the legendary Benny Goodman Quartet and the musical history they had made on the stage of Carnegie Hall back in January, 1938. It was the first time that jazz was ever performed in Carnegie Hall and it was the very first time that black and white musicians played on the Carnegie stage together. Without them doing so first, Linda Eder and all the jazz and pop stars who followed might never have set foot upon the Carnegie Hall stage.

A photo Barry took of Bette Midler at the Copacabana engagement in New York in January 1978

A few years later, in about 1977 or 1978, Earl Wilson, who used to write the Broadway column each evening for the New York Post, made mention of an Australian singer-songwriter named Peter Allen. He described Peter Allen as the "male Bette Midler." That was all I needed to hear to go out and purchase a Peter Allen record. Because of Bette, I was already enjoying the works of Barry Manilow (her former musical director) and Melissa Manchester (who was one of her original back-up singers), and now I was about to become a fan of an Australian born cabaret performer who had been discovered in Hong Kong by Judy Garland and was later married to Liza Minnelli.

Peter had just released a live double album titled It Is Time For Peter Allen, and indeed it was. Peter was within a few years of making musical history upon the New York Stage when he became the first male to dance with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes upon its great stage. Over the next 13 years, until his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Peter became the toast of New York and his performances were always sold out. Like Bette, he remembered his roots and the smaller rooms he played. In the late 70's, Bette did an engagement at The Copa and Peter also did one in the mid 80's. These huge stars who could, and did, sell out much larger venues, returned to smaller rooms to give their fans the intimacy that is missing from a large venue. For us Linda Eder fans, this means Linda playing Feinstein's instead of Carnegie Hall or Radio City Music Hall.

Long before there ever was a Feinstein's, Michael Feinstein first came to my attention in large part because of Peter Allen. Michael was a relatively new performer who was hitting the New York cabaret scene in the 80's. Like Peter Allen before him, Michael lured me further into the world of New York cabaret with his very first album recorded live at the Algonquin Hotel. The first time I saw Michael Feinstein perform live was when he made his Broadway debut in his own one-man show at the Booth Theatre in 1988. He was nothing short of sensational. I was fascinated by his connection to Ira Gershwin and particularly loved to hear him perform the music of the Gershwin brothers. I had been raised listening to the music of Gershwin along with Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart and all the other artists who composed the phenomenal Great American Songbook. Although I always loved the Great American Songbook, it was definitely not a hip thing to do when I was in my 20's. However, like that old tie at the bottom of the drawer that you particularly love, if you hold onto to it long enough, it will come back in style. I, for one, am thrilled that the Great American Songbook is back in style and being introduced to a whole new generation of audiences.

After learning that Michael had worked for Ira Gershwin, I happened to take note of Michael's relationship with Rosemary Clooney, Ira's next-door neighbor who lived in the very house that had been owned by George Gershwin. Years earlier, I had seen Rosemary at Westbury on the same bill as Tony Bennett and Count Basie. However, back then, I was not a Rosemary Clooney fan and didn't appreciate her artistry. However, I do recall thinking that her selection of songs was excellent… something that was a hallmark of any Rosemary Clooney performance. It wasn't until a number of years later when I saw Michael and Rosemary perform together at Westbury Music Fair that I became a true Rosemary Clooney fan and realized just how brilliant an artist Rosemary was.

Barry chats with John Oddo after Linda's show at Feinstein's in May

In the 1980's, as my musical tastes began to develop, I began to appreciate many of America's great vocalists. Included among them were the great Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbara Cook, and, indeed, Rosemary Clooney. Watching and listening to Rosemary perform in her later years was totally captivating. She had an uncanny ability to read a lyric. She felt it, she lived it, and she poured her heart and soul into it.

The very last time I saw Rosemary perform live was in October, 2001. All of America was still in shock over 9/11 and particularly those of us in the New York area. I recall that Rosemary took the stage and said she was thrilled to be back among us and to see first hand that we were alright. In closing her show that night, she announced that she was going to sing an Irving Berlin song. Most audience members assumed she meant "White Christmas." Instead, she sang "God Bless America." The entire audience stood up and joined Rosie for a very emotional and heartfelt rendition. It was one of the last performances she ever gave and I was grateful to be there. One of my musical regrets is that I never got to see Rosemary at Feinstein's, the room that she opened.

Irving Berlin said it best when he wrote "I Love A Piano," for indeed I do. Every time I saw Rosemary perform, I took note of the fantastic pianist on stage with her. I loved watching John Oddo perform and I loved to listen to his work on Rosemary's recordings. I am thrilled that John and Linda have joined forces, and it is wonderful that Linda never fails to mention his many years with Rosemary when she introduces him.

As the years have passed, my musical life has come full circle. My six degrees of separation have gone from Bette Midler to Peter Allen to Michael Feinstein to Rosemary Clooney to John Oddo to Linda Eder. Bette Midler has recorded the Rosemary Clooney songbook, John Oddo is working with Linda Eder, Linda is recording the songs of Judy Garland, and in one of the best moments of all, Michael and Linda are performing on stage together and closing their show with Peter Allen's "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love."

I have to admit that I first fell in love with a photograph of Linda Eder, not her magnificent voice. It was the photo on the cover of IT'S TIME… that orange dress and enticing smile. At the same time I was purchasing the album of another female vocalist, Christine Andreas, because it contained a cover of a Peter Allen song, I also purchased IT'S TIME. Little did I know these two artists were "musically related" since Christine had starred in Frank Wildhorn's THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. Two very different, but wonderfully gifted singers.

Linda Eder and Michael Feinstein's Two For The Road Show

Like Bette Midler had done so many years before, my first listening of IT'S TIME put me into orbit and sent me bouncing among the stars. WOW! Where did that voice come from? Long before Linda released BY MYSELF, I had been a fan of Judy Garland's and I loved the strong voice that Judy had… a "belter" as she was known in the business. Now I had found Linda and I knew that although she was not as well known as Judy, she was an equally gifted vocalist, if not better. Linda's ability to sustain a note is amazing. I'm still blown away by the final notes of recordings such as "I Am What I Am" and "By Myself," despite having listened to them hundreds of times.

I have now had the privilege of seeing Linda perform approximately 16 times, and in August I will see her again when she does her annual summer turn at Westbury Music Fair. My record to date is seeing Peter Allen perform approximately 25 times, and I am hopeful that Linda and I will break that record in the coming years. Even though they have their own music tastes, I have taken my daughters, now 21 and 18 years of age, to see Linda perform at Carnegie Hall and her Christmas show at the Gershwin. I think it is important to expose the next generation to great music so that when the so called "hits" of today are long forgotten, they will hopefully recall some of the music that they were introduced to by their father. To paraphrase a classic, "In time the Rockies may crumble… but Gershwin is here to stay." In fact, last Christmas when I couldn't find Linda's Christmas CD, much to my surprise, my older daughter had it in her room. When I asked her what it was doing there, she replied that it was her favorite Christmas CD. I knew there and then that by exposing them to Linda, I had done something right.

Like all Linda Eder fans, I am drawn to the voice, the songs, the beauty, and the person. I love Linda's genuineness, and I had the opportunity to discover that first hand this past May when I met and spent several minutes with her outside Feinstein's after one of her performances. She was gracious and charming, just the way all of her fans have described her to be when she greets them at the various stage doors after a performance. For me, it was a special moment with a special lady and one that I will not soon forget.

In these days of star after star making headlines for behaving badly, it is refreshing to see someone like Linda with down to earth values whose main priority in life is not being a celebrity but a mother to her young son. If her stage banter is any indication, Linda realizes that in ten years her concert fans will still be filling the halls to see her perform, but her son's tender years will be gone and he'll be heading off to college.

As I write this, I am finding it hard to put into words what makes Linda Eder special to me. Why am I a fan? It is not easy to describe feelings, and the feelings that I experience each time I hear Linda sing is what makes her special. Her act is not flashy, it is not bawdy, and she doesn't dance. Linda simply does what she does best… she sings. As her audience, we sit spellbound as we are drawn to that voice. It is that voice that sends shivers down my spine as I sit there mesmerized. Each venue has its own special character, but when we get to hear Linda sing in a small venue such as Feinstein's, it is extra special. To be so close. To be so intimate. To be so expensive! It was wonderful to hear Linda sing some special songs that she doesn't often perform (such as "Storybook" and "Bring On The Men") and some that she has not yet recorded (such as "Blue Skies"). It was a most special evening reminiscent of a small dinner party where the host gets up and performs a few numbers for her close friends as they sit around the piano, having a few drinks and a few laughs.

A photo Barry took of Linda during her This Time Around Show at Feinstein's

Since seeing Linda in May, my new/old favorite song of hers has been the title of her most recent show, This Time Around. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful arrangements, and Linda's gorgeous vocals, soft at first building to that full throttle finish. I love to rediscover a song that I've heard before and connect with it in a way that I previously hadn't. I am writing this article while sitting poolside in Phuket, Thailand, where my stepson will be married later today. No, he is not Thai, nor is his bride. They are actually both from Melbourne, Australia, and simply decided to have a destination wedding. And what a destination this is! Having their wedding on my mind this week made me appreciate the lyrics of "This Time Around" even more. Whether it's a fist love, a second love, or a fifth love, its lyrics speak of what everyone wants in their life… a true and permanent love. Hopefully, my stepson and his bride have found that.

One of the great things about music is that you can listen to a recording over and over again and still enjoy it as much the one hundredth time as the first time. As a matrimonial lawyer, my days are full of conflict and stress. For me, music is what relieves me of daily stress and causes me to relax. If I were an addict, music would be my drug. Music has also become my hobby. I love finding new artists to listen to and to find the inter-connection that often exists between artists

Over the years, it has given me great pleasure to introduce friends and colleagues to the artists whom I love. Linda is currently at the top of the list, and I anticipate that she will stay there for some time to come. Linda is one of my favorite topics of conversation at cocktail parties, and I love introducing people to her recordings and performances. In fact, my wife is Australian and Linda is not known in Australia. However, upon moving here and listening to Linda sing, she has become a huge fan. Linda personifies all of the qualities of a great artist and a great person. It is to her credit that she has continued the musical traditions of such great artists as Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland while cutting her own musical path. So, as I continue to listen to all of Linda's past recordings, I eagerly await her new CD and her future performances.

Linda is true to the words of "I Am What I Am." She is her own extraordinarily talented performer with her own unique style, voice and persona. I love who and what Linda is and thank her for the many wonderful musical moments she has given me and those I have yet to experience. As Linda sang at Feinstein's, "The Best Is Yet To Come" and I can't wait. I just can't wait!

Barry Fisher is a Linda Eder fan and music aficionado from New York. He can be reached at bjli22@aol.com.

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