Ursus Theatrum - Theatre Bear

(Editor's Note: A different version of this interview can be found on the San Francisco Bay Times site: http://www.sfbaytimes.com)

If everything old is new again, then this New Year’s Eve at the Castro Theatre will have a nostalgic glow to set hundreds dancing into the New Year.  Disco and dance artists extraordinaire, Thelma Houston and Taylor Dayne shake and groove the night away in this New Year’s Eve celebration to remember, produced by The Rrazz Room.  Tickets for the 10:30pm party are still available at The Castro Theatre, ranging from $35 to $85 through the Castro Theatre Box office (www.thecastrotheatre.com) or www.CityBoxOffice.com.

Anywhere in the world, from a cruise ship on the Caribbean to the hottest night spots in NYC, London, Rome or Tokyo, Thelma Houston’s all-time legendary dance hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way” gets people up onto the dance floor with the same energy and vibrancy it did in 1977.  Unknown to most is that “Don’t Leave Me This Way” was a cover, recorded two years earlier by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. But Houston brought her own style to the song, and she connected to the tune in a way that cast a wide net to a larger market yet, particularly the burgeoning disco scene.  And most people think that “I Got the Music in Me” was Kikki Dee’s hit: it wasn’t.  Houston brings a greater, truer funk groove to her original recording and it begs to have a top dj do a contemporary remix to highlight her style and bring her artistry to dance club denizens of this decade.  Recently she recorded an album of songs most famously recorded by male R&B artists.  Check out her take on “Love & Happiness” for a rendition that is seductive, bluesy and oh-so-right.

Though her roots are in gospel – and she has recorded a number of gospel songs in her career - her musical influences are apparent: Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson, and Nancy Wilson.  At the same time, the voice and styling is singularly hers and somewhat shape-shifting, suiting the needs of the tune with the fine fit of a couture gown. She addresses this quality specifically: “When I do my live shows, I don't just do all material that I've recorded, I try to mix it up and do different kinds of music.  I find that if I'm singing something that I'm enjoying and having a good time singing, then the audience feels that and has a great time also.”

Some artists have publically eschewed the hits that set them in the firmament of the recording heavens (most recently and notably Madonna), but Houston shows great pride and tenderness towards hers.  A while back she was asked if she ever tired of the mega-hit, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”: “You can make it fresh because it's always for a new audience.  I don't get tired of it, because I feel very fortunate that at this point in time in my life and in my careert hat I had a song that was big enough that people expect to hear that.” She went on to say about a concert date: “I did "Don't Leave Me This Way," and there were thirteen thousand people singing "aaaaah baby." It was amazing and I never get tired of hearing it.”

A voice of honeyed Armagnac and raw silk, her music career spans four decades and over 22 albums.  I’m always interested in who a singer would align themselves with in a dream project and when I asked her if she could create an album of duets with any artists, she said “This is an interesting question, because recording a duet project is not something I've given a lot of thought to.  I think it would be interesting to do that type of project with singer-songwriters, now depending on whether I could fantasize or not I'd choose Laura Nyro, Jimmy Webb, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington (not a songwriter) Marvin Gaye, Patsy Cline, Amy Winehouse, Jay Z,  Scott Joplin…wouldn’t that make for an interesting album!”  Interesting as well as hit-and-history-making.

Though she primarily was raised in Long Beach, California, this Leland, Mississippi native has more than singing in her creative cache: she had an active acting career before, during and after her riding the charts.  As a regular on “The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine” (1971) she was given ample room to give a go at a variety of characters and personas. Other acting gigs she enjoyed included “Cagney & Lacey” and “Simon & Simon” as well as feature films “Death Scream”,“Game Show Models”, “Beloved” and the 1998 film about the disco in NYC, “54” (in which she was the only disco-diva of that era to portray herself in the film).  And for those who follow the mega-hit reality-tv contest “American Idol,” Houston was a featured artist during Disco Week.

The theatrical stage is another medium she’s tackled: her most challenging musical theatre assignement to-date was in the Australian stage version of the hit movie-musical Fame. “I played the role of Miss Sherman.  Though I have always loved the Australian audiences and still do, doing eight performances a week is hardwork,” she shared.  “Let me add that of course, that work load isn't just in Australia, that's theatre.”  For someone who works as hard as Houston, there has to be a way to wind down, and she shared with me her favorite way to do so: reading.  “I love reading and I find anything inspiring that is written by Toni Morrison or J. California Cooper.”

Growing up near the beach affected her deeply, as she shared that the sounds of “Waterfalls, fountains, rolling surf, anything aquatic” bring the most joy to her heart. The City by the Bay calls to her.  In addition to being near this much water, Houston shared that “San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.  I love the food, and Saturday morning shopping at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market.  Yum!”

Though she’s often at the center of memorable moments for others, she revealed that her most memorable New Year’s Eve was just before her 20’s “…when the plans and preparations all came together and my expectations were met.  I had the perfect dress, the band was fantastic, I could sneak a little champagne, everybody was dressed up.  I was in my hometown of Long Beach.  Since then for me the best New Year's Eve party is the one I'm working.”  And the best is what party-goers at the Castro Theatre will get from this remarkable artist on this New Year’s Eve.

It should come as no surprise that a woman of such great soul and heart would hold this wish for the New Year:  “My hope for the coming year is one of better understanding andrespect of all our brothers and sisters in this, OUR universe, which I believe will ultimately lead to world peace.”

Houston welcomes her fans to visit her web site at: www.thelmahouston.com

Ten years after Thelma’s hit song, Taylor Dayne burst on the scene with the first of a number of hot personas she has morphed into over her career.  The first that most remember was the vinyl-vixen with luscious lips, wild hair and soul-and-booty-shaking groove for her chart-topper and video, “Tell It To My Heart.”  In quick succession she danced and vocalized through into the 1990’s with a string of hits that were the soundtrack to more than one person’s love-life during that time (including thebeginning and ending of one of mine as well as the start of the one after that).  Along with “Tell It To My Heart” were  “Prove Your Love”, “I’ll Always Love You”, “With Every Beat of My Heart”, and “Love Will Lead You Back.”

Music has always been the most evocative force in her life, and she has an extraordinarily varied collection of songs that have created the soundtrack to her own life.  “Music will always be my first love.  As a child the music I was exposed to by my parents, music teachers in school and privately, as well as the radio, made a landscape for me that stays in my heart and memory.  It tells my own personal journey. Wherever I am when a particular song comes on the radio, Ipod , even at Ralph's… if it was part of my musical landscape, I know exactly where I was when I heard it first and the feelings I had,” she reminisced.

“My job as an artist is to make sure that I make the material I choose mine, by interpreting it my way” she offers.  She took this principle to heart when she covered RuPaul’s “Supermodel” with a distinctly Dayne-ish twist.  Her eclectic choices are borne out in her selection of collaborators with whom she would do a dream-duet album: “Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, Mary J., Dr Dre, Snoop, Justin Timberlake, Marvin Gaye, Freddy Mercury.  Anything Joni Mitchell, Motown,”she articulates.

Latin Freestyle, Hi-NRG and House were some of the styles she fused with an amalgam of other influences to create a sound that influenced and defined the dance sound of the period.  However, the sounds her heart aligns and resonates with are worlds apart from her chart-topping reverberations: “Chanting, including American Indian chanting, Japanese flutes, tones that resonate, deep within the heart, Pipe Organ in churches” are what she most connects with. What brings her soul the most satisfaction and warmth, she shared, is “a fire…feeling surrounded by good friends and family… and Good work completed.”

Few know about the project that would have set her further aloft, but it came crashing down with the untimely death of one of its creators: legendary Broadway composer Jule Style pegged Dayne as the next Fanny Brice for a revival of Funny Girl, the musical that catapulted Barbra Streisand’s career.  In 1993 Styne was set to go into preproduction with Dayne in this first-ever full-revival of the hit-making musical, but his unexpected passing in1994 put the project on the shelf.  If her irrepressible spirit and powerful instrument is any indication, Dayne would have been a priceless-Brice.

Dayne made it to Broadway in 2001 when she debuted in the Elton John-Tim Rice tuner Aida as the Princessof Egypt, Amneris.  She was involved in the earlier development of the work, though Sherri Rene Scott took the bow in the role on opening at the Palace Theatre in 2000.  Dayne moved into the role with flair when Scott bowed out, and her Broadway debut was a success.

Thinking ahead to her SF visit she excitedly shared “I love San Francisco. I will be coming into town with friends and family a little earlier this time to enjoy the City and friends so I will have a special and memorable New Year’s as well.”  When I asked her what her favorite New Year’s memory was she said “I’ve had a few good ones in Las Vegas!” with a laugh that says there are some tales to last a lifetime.  But, always the private person – and the mother of twins – she didn’t elaborate on it.

In wrapping up the interview, Dayne lovingly says “God Bless to all my fans.  Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday!” 

Taylor Dayne and Thelma Houston in Rrazz Entertainment’s Dancethe Night Away and Welcome in 2010!  December 31 (Thursday at 10:30pm)at The Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco.  Tickets ($35,$65, $85) call (415) 392-4400 or at www.CityBoxOffice.com or www.TheCastroTheatre.com.  Info at www.therrazzroom.com.

Copyright 2009 - Ursus Theatrum - Mike Ward

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