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Don't miss our Mother's Day auction that runs from April 25 - May 7th. 

Auction items include: a three day/ 2-night stay at the new Alladin Hotel in Las Vegas, jewelry items, NSync concert tickets, and celebrity meet and greets including tickets for 2 to see David Cassidy "Live At The Greek Theater" along with the meet and greet! 

Also... 

Watch Mom's face light up, when she receives a beautiful bouquet of flowers, autographed card and/or photo, signed by David Cassidy, Ricky Martin or Enrique Iglasias! Bidders can buy beautiful fresh flower arrangements, courtesy of Antique Rose of Las Vegas in association with FTD, accompanied by a signed Mother's Day card or autographed photo from one of these and other sought after celebrities to be delivered to their wife, mother, girlfriend, friend, or daughter on her special day. 

If mom perfers the chocolate kind of candy, we are auctioning off some of that too, the very best - Ethel M Chocolates has donated a magnificent basket full of candy and goodies valued at $300! We even have a box of candy from Lucy's Chocolate Factory, autographed by Desi Arnaz Jr.! 

To participate in the auction or learn more about KidsCharities.org, log on to www.kidscharities.org. 

To all of you who donated items and/or assisted us in our past auctions, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! All of us here at KidsCharities.org, wish you and yours a very Happy Mothers Day! 

Sincerely, 

Sue Shifrin-Cassidy
Founder 
KidsCharities.org 

DAVID CASSIDY 2001 TOUR
 
 

DON'T MISS DAVID CASSIDY AT THE FOLLOWING VENUES:

April 1 David and Sue honored by Special Olympics

SPECIAL OLYMPICS NEVADA
Presents
"Experience the Glory ­ Inspire Greatness" Inaugural Gala

Special Olympics Nevada cordially invites members of the community to attend the inaugural "Experience the Glory ­ Inspire Greatness" Gala to be held April 1, 2001 at the MGM Grand Conference Center.  Hosted by Mrs. Rose McKinney ­ James, the event will honor David Cassidy and his wife, Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, for their commitment to and support of Special Olympics Nevada. 
     The evening's festivities will begin at 6:00 pm with a hosted cocktail hour and entertainment provided by the singing trio, Outasight.  An art display will feature selected works from Special Olympics Nevada athlete Alisa Goldstein. 
     Dinner will begin at 7:00 pm. with a special musical performance by George Bugatti. 
     The evening will also feature an address by 1984 Olympic Gold Medallist Mitch Gaylord.  Mitch will inspire guests of the gala with his personal story regarding his achievements through participation in sports.
     The gala will also recognize the accomplishments of the six Special Olympics Nevada athletes selected as delegates to TEAM USA ­ Nevada for the Special Olympics, Inc. World Winter Games in Anchorage, Alaska.  The largest sporting event ever to be staged in Alaska, the World Winter Games will join over 2,300 Special Olympics athletes from over 80 nations in a spirit of friendship and athletic competition.  Show your support for these remarkable athletes by attending the "Experience the Glory ­ Inspire Greatness" Gala.

WHEN:    Sunday, April 1, 2001 MGM Grand Conference Center
Cocktails at 6 p.m.
Dinner Served at 7 p.m.
Formal Attire  - RSVP Required

Tickets are $150 per person and can be obtained by calling the Special Olympics Nevada office at 702-474-0690. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for all children and adults with mental retardation, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community. 

April 27-28 Showboat Atlantic City, NJ 

DAVID CASSIDY at SHOWBOAT CASINO in ATLANTIC CITY
Tickets on sale 3/7/01 at 10:00 AM
Event Date: 4/27/01
Ticket Price: $125.00 - $49.00

DAVID CASSIDY at SHOWBOAT CASINO in ATLANTIC CITY
Tickets on sale 3/12/01 at 10:00 AM
Event Date: 4/28/01
Ticket Price: $125.00 - $49.00

Ticket Link:
www.fantrax.com/i.cfm?DID=52453&UID=45399452&MID=136659 (link removed April 28, 2001)

Ticketmaster can hereby confirm that there will be two shows on Saturday April 28:

DAVID CASSIDY
Fri     04/27/01     9:00PM 
SHOWBOAT CASINO, ATLANTIC CITY NJ 
-----------------------------------------------------------
DAVID CASSIDY
Sat     04/28/01     8:00PM 
SHOWBOAT CASINO, ATLANTIC CITY NJ 
-----------------------------------------------------------
DAVID CASSIDY
Sat     04/28/01     10:30PM 
SHOWBOAT CASINO, ATLANTIC CITY NJ 

Dates are subject to change. More dates will be added.

News from DC.com:

CHAT WITH DAVID - COMING SOON!
     We are arranging an online Chat with David in early June so make sure you are on the invitation list. To sign up, go to DavidCassidy.com!

WHERE ELSE YOU CAN SEE DAVID
     Whenever he's not on the road, David will be dropping by to visit his pals at "The Rat Pack Is Back" playing the role of Bobby Darin. The show is scheduled to play the Sahara in Las Vegas for the next year.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (APRIL 27-28)

David singing to my baby, Joanne (9 years old)!! It felt like it was me! She was thrilled!!! (Photo by Lucy/Shababe)

Ok gals.....here it is...I live in NJ so I guess I am the near first to tell you....David was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!     I saw all 3 shows and each one got better!!!  I sat on stage and had center (right in front of the microphone seat) so I missed NOTHING!!!
    Friday nights show I took my husband and daughter. She is nine and likes the Partridge Family and she KNOWS  how much mommy likes David Cassidy!!Ya see 31 years ago when I was 12 my father took me to see my first concert who was...David...at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City (He wrote about it in his book!!) Well, I was there!!! I remember I was sooooooooo far in the back the stage looked like a hundred miles away!!! I couldnt see anything!!! I remember when the show started my dad put me on his shoulders for the whole show so I could see...I am not a tall person...5'0 1/2 today! Its one of my fondest memories of my dad...anyway...I took my daughter Joanne cause this was her first concert also and even though I didnt have to put her on my shoulders (we were close to the stage this time..31 years later!!!) David was her first concert also..She is 9.  She knows all the Partridge Family songs from me and I knew she would like seeing David in person. She sang them all!!! David held her hand and sang to her..I pushed her up there cause I know David likes kids...and he did... he saw her standing there with her hand up and he held it and sang to her....I CRIED!!! She got what I have been waiting for for 31 years...but ya know what...its like It had it happen to me!!! And I know it something she will remember for the rest of her life!!!! So it was worth it!!!!
     It's here I want to thank my husband....he wanted to go with us to the show cause he knows how he is my idol. I enjoy Davids singing so much. The poor guy stood in line since 3:00pm!! (Show started at 9) For a long time he was the only guy till wives showed up with their husbands later. (only for you lucy!!!!) We made our trip to ac a family outing with my kids and his kids from a previous marriage. Saturday he had the kids and I went to see Davids both shows...
     Sat night was awsome!!! I was memorized....He was just wonderful...I love to hear that man sing!!! Same seat..up front..same chair...same everything...(tip bit here...I went to the casino and won $160.00 on a dollar slot..just thought I'd throw that in there!!lol)  First show..David sang his heart out..( I heard he was sick but he still sounded good to me, I could tell his voice when he talked was a little hoarse though!) God that man show so emotion when he sings...I just melt...he makes me cry...anyway...Candice sang a song with David (she was a dancer at his show.."At the Copa" in Vegas, I remember her...she played Cookie...she is quite good...quite skinny...and quite the showgirl type...and my husband said quite good looking!!!....and I said...quite forget it!!! LOL....It's the 3rd show I remember the most.....
    You could tell...it was the last show and David was pretty wired and loved the attention. He loves the screams but I gotta say...honestly...It did get a little crazy there and I was embarrased and didnt really want to be a part of it...like I said before...I am not a tall person..5'0 1/2....when David started singing "Rock Me Baby"...the front went nuts and others crowded their way to the front to "touch" David. Alot of pushing and well...I started to like feel...I couldn't breathe...I gotta get outta here!!!People all around me and screaming at the top of their lungs...I had this one girl...scream right in my ear!!!!. I said to her...Jeas** Christ....how old are you! grow  up already!!! She was like    WACKO!!!! Thats when I went back to my seat while they all acted like barbarians!!! I was just standing there listing to David sing smiling I am sure...when David looked straight at me...and threw the towel he had around his neck to me!!!! I grabbed it like it was a MILLION DOLLARS!!!!! To me it was.....That was my sign from my mother that she was there and wanted me to have that!!! (she died 17 years ago, and I prayed to her that if I didn't meet David that he would at least see me...well he DID!!!!) When I grabbed it...it was all wet with his presperation and it still has the theractical makeup on it when he wiped his face!!! I want to get a glass case or something to put it in ...any suggestions???? I heard I should call a throphy place...I will call tomorrow and see. I met alot of nice people...Barbara....Gail.. Patti... Corrine tooooo many to name...but you know who you are...and seeing Leigh and Judi and Janie again...and Donna of course!!!! I had a WONDERFUL TIME...and we will all do it again in November....Last words David said on the Sat night 2nd show was....see you ALL in the fall!!!! I really got the impression...that he loved all of us...and he deticated the song Cherish...to his fans because this is how he felt about US!!! Oh yeah....The last song of his show was.... CRY... and I was so up close that when he sang it on the 3rd show....he was crying...I could see his eyes red and tears coming down his face...he was sooooooooooooooo happy and touched that his fans were there and STILL felt the same after all these years in his home state that he cried.... this is the impression I got...any others?? I could be wrong...but I doubt it!

David was wonderful last night, didn't trip or anything. The show went perfect. I gave him a beanie baby, a horse with a breeders cup t-shirt, he took it and put it under his arm pit while he was singing but he threw it in the audience. I wanted him to give it to Beau, DAMN. It always amazes me how tiny he is. 
     The first show my seat was ok, but during the last couple of songs everyone was up against the stage acting like 16 year olds. LOL Thats the show David threw my beanie baby in the audience. The second show I was in line talking to this girl Lisa and her husband (I met Jayne) so there were 4 of us. Anyway this girl Lisa it was her first DC concert she was so excited when we got inside we had good seats but not perfect, but Lisa was so excited she was crying. The man that seated us (Rick) asked her what was wrong and she said she was just so excited so he left and came back with a "Old Trick New Dog" CD signed by David Cassidy and gave it to her. She gave him a hug and kiss and now was bawling. LOL Rick came back and moved the 4 of us right up front.We offered him a tip but he wouldn't take it.It was so cool of him. David was beautiful you just wanted to hug him to death. LOL Anyway there were chat people at the first table at the stage and DC sat on the stage with his legs hanging over while he was singing "I am a clown" I heard him say "your bad" and he moved his legs up on the stage, but was still sitting. Someone was staring at his crotch.LOL I saw Barbara P (Just David Fan Club) at the second show, and introduced her to some other people in the fan club, and Lisa asked her how to join so we have a new member. 
     The third show was the best DC was at his greatest he was so turned on. He was having a blast, you can tell he loves all the attention. LOL Forgot to tell you Jayne, Lisa and I got our pic taken with Robyn. Anyway I met this girl Pam who was also by herself and our seats were pretty good, but there were 2 empty seats all the way in front so we just sat in them and no one chased us LOL.Had great seats and didn't give any tip. COOL! David was just so great, he was eatting up all the attention.The security guards tryed to keep everyone back from the stage,but it was a losing battle.David told everyone to stand, so we all went up to the stage and security was ripping their hair out. LOL OMG He was soooo great, what a blast! The place was rocking! Some one from the chat caught his sweat towel.
     Someone wants to know what David was wearing. In the beginning of the shows he had on those satiny shirt that look different when you move around, different colors different shows. The second half of the show he wore the same shirt, I hope he has a couple of the same shirts Phew! LOL It was black with silver thread running through it.He had on a gold bracelet, not copper.His wedding ring it's just a plain platmium band.He was scratching his chest and made it red. LOL Maybe the silver in the shirt was making him itch.He has a long stratch above his left thumb.Black pants.When he knelt on the floor during Tenderness he got dirt on his pants, so the next show I looked for the dirt and it was still there. LOL Typical man. Black shoes. One of the security guards said he rode in the elevator with him and he didn't know how tiny he was. He said when he was a kid he thought David was tall.I got in the elevator and noticed it was all men and looked around they all had musical instruments with them, hey cool I was with his band.

Friday we were trying to pack up the car (yes I did find my pants that I had lost, which the cat had knocked off the stair railing).  You notice that my cat causes a lot of problems for being a lazy, stinky elderly furr-ball?
     I got home, after an English vocabulary test, in which I did even worse than usual, which is saying something.  I was hit in the head with a volleyball and nearly knocked out in gym class.  This was mostly due to the fact that my brain was screaming "DAVID!  DAVID! DAVID!" all day.  To balance that, though, I must say that I produced an outstanding 8x10 black and white print in Photography, and I aced a Spanish vocabulary quiz.
     Anyway, I got home, and Dad is on the phone with some idiot in Miami who can't firgure out HOW TO TIGHTEN A BOLT, for crying out loud.  The lawn is half cut, and Mom is in a frenzy.  So I got sent out to finish cutting the grass, and in the end I butchered it pretty good but got it done.  Dad is growling, he had to go in to work for an hour to get the idiot in Miami straightened out.  And then he was told that he might have to leave for Miami on Sunday morning and he should call Saturday night to find out if he had to go.
     So, since Mom and I didn't really like the idea of trying to drive home after the concert to get Dad home to find out if he had to go, we decided to take two cars.  So Dad and my brother piled into Dad's Subaru, and Mom and I went in her Jeep, which had all our suitcases and stuff in it. 
     We were supposed to be following Dad, but we got separated in heavy traffic on the Schulkill Expressway.  So I was stuck desperately trying to navigate for Mom from the BACKUP PLAN... a set of driving directions from Yahoo...
     Some redneck in a beat-up Winnebago from Ohio kept passing our car and dropping back, screaming obnoxious come-on lines at me every time he passed by, but Mom and I were having a fascinating discussion of the medical possibility of a virgin birth.  Which, I suspect, was started by Mom to get my mind off of the number-one subject of my current thought processes.  She was sick of hearing about DC.  But the redneck in the Winnebago got the picture after the fifth time he passed by and got ignored.
     We were in the Vine Street Expressway, which goes straight under Philadelphia to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to New Jersey, and the traffic was really tied up, it woud go in short quick spurts.  During one of the spurts of movement, we heard this loud screech and a collision directly behind us.  I looked back, thinking that we might've been hit, though I didn't feel a collision, but it was the two cars behind us.
     After we fought through Philly and made it to the Atlantic City Expressway, Dad finally passed us and probably hit 90 mph, fortunately no cops.  We made Ocean City, where we could get a cheap room in an old motel called the Tahiti Inn for $40 a night.
     We checked in and ditched our bags, and it was about 7:30.  Everyone was hungry, so we went to Caroline's By The Bay in Somers Point.  I had a good dinner, crab and cheese ravioli.  But we were seated at a window table, and I could see the lights of Atlantic City across the 
bay.  (Well, mostly Trump Tower and Caesars Palace, but STILL!)  I was figety all through supper, 'cuz I knew that DC WAS RIGHT ACROSS THE BAY!  I could see him in my mind's eye, putting on his makeup and costume and coming out onto the stage...
     After dinner, we all piled into the car and I was playing with a single-serving box that had had m&m's in it, and i got both my thumbs stuck in it, which says something for my mental state, and had to rip it off.  While we were going back to Ocean City across the Stainton Causeway, I kept staring at Atlantic City and wishing I was over there.  My brother claims that I was making whimpery noises.
     It took me a LOOONG time to go to sleep on Friday night.  My brother said that I was annoying b/c I kept squirming and muttering "DAVID!".
     Saturday seemed really long.  Spent the day on the boardwalk in Ocean City, looking at stuff in the shops for something to do.  Mom knew I was getting loopy when I started looking at ROMANCE NOVELS in the bookstore.  I usually avoid comercial romance novels like poison, I'm more of a sci-fi person. 
     I drove Mom nuts all morning by tring to catch glimpses of the buildings of Atlantic City whenever I could...
     I then made the bad mistake of eating a blue raspberry Polish ice, which stained half my face BLUE!
     Eventually, Mom went to get my Dad and brother off the beach, where bro dearest had fallen in the ice water that they use for an ocean.  I went back to the hotel room and watched Bob Vila on the Learning Channel.
     At three thirty I took a shower and got dressed in my outfit for the concert.  It took me 15 minutes to scrub the blue off my face passably, and my lips were permanent.  (Thank God for makeup!)
     It took me awhile to cover all the various problems on my face.  I had a severe forehead breakout on Thursday, and I had blue stains on my chin from the previously mentioned Polish Ice.  I'm gonna need another concealer stick now, from having to disguise all the blue stains on my face!  And I am very glad that I took my own makeup kit, rather than using the stuff that Mom brought along for her.  She only ever uses translucent lip gloss, and I NEEDED my solid, opaque pink lipstick to hide my blue lips!
     We went to The Clam Bar in Somers Point for dinner, but I was too nervous to eat much.  I had some fried flounder, I think, and Mom yelled at me a lot to quit squirming.  Someone's boat was parked and obscuring my view of Atlantic City, and DAVID WAS RIGHT OVER THERE!
     Dad decided that we should drive back into Ocean City and follow the coast up, cross the bridge into Margate and proceed to Atlantic City. Except, on Thursday night, when I asked Yahoo for directions to the Showboat, it kept spitting back this screwy zigzag course.  We found out why--a winter storm had taken out the bridge between Ocean City and the island that Margate and Atlantic City are on.  So we did a U-turn and had to come up the Garden State Parkway.  I was fidgeting madly inthe backseat with nothing but the Pinelands to look at.
     So we got onto the ACE again, and headed in, and right outside AC, there was a bilboard for the Showboat, advertising DAVID CASSIDY IN CONCERT!  The windows were down, and I let out a Rebel yell that scared the snot outta the old fart in the Mercedes next to us, and everyone else with the windows down stared at us.
     Then the traffic backed up, and by this time it was seven.  I'd wanted to be IN LINE by seven...took us 20 minutes to get to the Showboat and I'm getting antsier by the second in the backseat.  Dad was driving, and he just wanted to get back to the Tahiti so he could find out 
whether he had to go to Miami, and he dropped us off at the Showboat by 7:10... BUT...
     So Dad dropped us at what he thought was the main entrance.  Hah! Right.  It was the BUS TERMINAL ENTRANCE.  The bus terminal at the Showboat is huge!  We had to run through the bus terminal to get to the main lobby, where we we got lost again!  Mom and I eventually found a security guard who got us to the showroom.  By this time, it's 7:20 and the decent seats in the middle are all taken.  We got a seat about 1/3 of the way back, but all the way to the left as you face the stage.
     We got plunked next to two ladies from Miami who had flown in to see David.  And they wouldn't STOP TALKING!  I ran off to look for Gail and the others, but I didn't see them.  (I found out that Dawn had seen me and yelled, but I didn't hear her.)  I went back for a few 
more minutes of being yakked at by the two Miami ladies, who thought that it was just ADORABLE that I loved David at my age, before clearing out to go looking for everyone again.  That time, Dawn did catch me and bring me back to the table, with Janie and Gail and Jerilynn and everyone.
     We talked for a few minutes, I got the tapes that Gail and Janie promised me. (Wow was DC sexy as Sam Scudder!  Too bad they didn't make him a re-occuring villain!  Gotta love those gloves, and that leather jacket!)  I would have liked more time to talk, but now I know what they all look like.  We'd just gotten started when they dimmed the lights and I had to scat back to my seat.
     I would have much preferred being up with them instead of in my crummy seat.  Halfway through the show, I was ready to cry, that's how bad it was.  The two from Miami kept shreiking, at bad times, when I wanted to hear really bad.  (They yelled a lot during Rock Me Baby, which I really wanted to hear him do live!)  And the ass at the next table was constantly drinking, and the waitress' head was always right in front of David!   I had to stand up to see him during Lyin' To Myself and I Am A Clown.  Plus, my seat was right by the door that all the people kept coming and going through, and there was a bright light out there. Everytime the door opened, I'd get half blinded.
     But I didn't have the money for the expensive seats.  I hope that the show in November is cheaper and maybe we can all sit together.
     I did have my camera, but I don't know how any of the picures turned out.  I was awful far from the stage for taking pictures, and the autofocus was thrown by the stage lights.  So he'll probaby come out a blurry little blob in the distance.
     Anyway, I loved it, but I couldn't tell you exactly the song list or anything, just a few general impressions and specific memories.
     He started out in the purple iridescent shirt, which in my opinion he looked REALLY sexy in.  Just wish that the pants were a little tighter and maybe made of black leather...
     He talked a bit about how he liked coming back to New Jersey and about going to the Jersey beach as a kid.  Did a bad Jersey accent in part of it.  You could tell that he was enjoying himself a lot.  He did bounce around the stage, but as it has been said, he learned his lesson and LOOKED where he was going!
     And OH MAN I would have LOVED to have been Candace for River Deep!  He was GRINDING ON HER!  Oh man, I relived that about forty times in my dreams last night, taking Candace's place, and maybe taking it a bit farther!
     After River Deep, David changed into the black and silver shirt,  (HE DIDN'T CHANGE ON STAGE, YOU GUTTER BRAINS!) which I didn't like as much.  He looks better in colors.  He just looked so indescribably yummmy in the purple satiny one.  David could have left that one on and I would've been happy.
     One notable thing, and one of the few good points about being all the way to the left was the view.  Every time that he played the guitar, he had a tendency to ben toward the right more often than the left, so I got a really good view of his sexy little butt on several occasions!
     And when he's playing the guitar, he WIGGLES it!  Gotta love the hip motion on that man!  He made me all tingly!  He is SUCH a hottie, even at 51, and he does NOT look that old at all!  I could have jumped that fifty year old body right there!  I have never had a man affect me that way before!
     I was also totally mute.  I couldn't scream or even squeal for him like I planned.  Couldn't even sing along.  I was just in awe at being in HIS prescence, and suffering a bit from severe LUST!  I WANTED that man, SO MUCH!
     At one point, someone up in the way front reached up to him and he held her hand.  Not sure who it was, but it looked like the general vicinity of GAIL AND JANIE'S TABLE.  And he said to excuse his sweaty hand!  Such a gentleman.  Like any of us mind if he sweats on us!
    And he had some guy in the middle of the room spotlighted for not snapping his fingers on one song, Mack the Knife I think it was, when he was trying to get everyone doing it.  Then the guy must have started, and David made a joke about it.
     At the end, when they started the intro to I Think I Love You, people started charging the stage.  The two chatty ladies from Miami grabbed me and dragged me up, but we were too late, and didn't get to shake his hand, too many people were there before us.  I didn't bring him a flower or anything, and I would've been too shy to give it to him, but I would've liked to touch his hand, you know, just to have TOUCHED him...  There was a girl there younger than me, in a purple Partridge Family t-shirt, and he said something like "Oh, God!  How old is she, 16?!"  She had gotten there early and was right against the stage, though.  He never saw me, and the security people weren't happy so as soon as ITILY was over, I fled for my seat and I heard Cry from there.
     But he was SOOO handsome up close!  I have never seen a man so sexy!  And his hair still looks so good.  Maybe it was the lighting, but it was definitely shiny, and it looked thick and dark.
     In the end, it was back out through the bus terminal, Dad picked us up, and we made it back to the Tahiti without further incident.  I wanted SO bad to stay for the second show...
     On the way back, I was under a happy David haze, which I'm still sailing in.  Dreaming of a certain hazel-eyed honey deciding to scratch the second show and do a private one...seeing him there, warming up my bed in the dingy little motel room, with just the creamy skin of his bare shoulders showing above the covers...
     But reality dawns, and I spent the night in a cold bed by myself.  Dad had to drive into the airport at home for a flight that left at 8 AM today, and he left right after dropping mom and me at the motel.  We had to navigate home very carefully, trying to use the Yahoo directions in reverse, which didn't work that well.  Made a wrong turn and ended up on Vine Street instead of the Vine Street Expressway, but we made it home.

I am at work, totally exhausted, my hands are broken open from clapping so much, my hips are killing me from standing/sitting for so many hours in line, and my mailbox is almost full because I forgot to go on no mail, but I wouldn't change a thing about this past weekend.  I am in heaven!!  Friday I met up the girls around 4:30 (once I figured out that I was waiting for them at the wrong showroom--leave it to me to be that dumb)  and we sat and visited in line until the doors opened at 8:00pm.  When they first started seating us, they misread my ticket as a $25.00 ticket rather than a $125.00 ticket and tried to seat me in the back of the showroom!!  ARGHHHHH -- PANIC!!!  There were 2 others girls (from England) that they tried the same thing with so the three of us went to complain and than they finally seated us at the set of tables that I think would be considered the third set of tables back.  We were half way between the center of the stage and the right side of the stage.  The show started about 20 minutes late cause they weren't very organized about seating people and the line was still very long to get in at 8:50.  Anyway, the show finally started and there appeared David.  Oh my god, he was so wonderful and so beautiful, I had tears running down my face through most of the show (thank god I gave make-up years ago or I'd have looked liked some monster out of a horror flick).  He performed the same songs he has at the other concerts -- someone correct me here if I'm wrong.  Towards the end of the show several individuals went up to the stage, so I of course joined in.  Security tried to keep us away from the stage, but it didn't work very well.  I left the show feeling so happy it was amazing.  Several of us decided to get a bite to eat since the majority of us had not eaten all day and were starving by this point.
     Saturday I got the Showboat at about 12:15 and began the waiting in line all over again.  Within 45 minutes many others showed up and again we spent the day laughing, talking, and having the best time ever.  Besides the gals from the list, I also meet several other wonderful people.  One gal--Lisa will probably be joining the list soon.  The show was to start at 8:00 and this time they decided to open the doors at 6:30 to allow an extra 1/2 hour of seating time.  The waiting in line for all those hours paid off.  I got a seat at the tables right in front of the stage--OH My god I was in 7th heaven.  I was there for both of the shows and again by the end of the second show I had the tears streaming down my face again.  After the show several of us talked and visited for awhile, and than we said our goodbyes to each other.  That was so sad.  I never wanted to say goodbye I just wanted the night and the weekend to go on and on, but that of course is not possible. 
     To everyone I met I just wanted to say thank-you for a wonderful unforgettable weekend.  It was one of the best times I have ever had!!  I can't wait to do it again!!
     Well thats my story, and I have to go now cause I've been here at work since 6:00 and have gotten absolutely nothing done yet, but I just had to share my story of the weekend.

I miss everyone I shared the weekend with .......like fury!!  Hi Corinne and Barbara and Patty!  Hi Judi and Leigh and Lesley!!  Hi Donna and Gail and Lucy and Dawn and Nadine!! Everybody still wiped out!?!!  I know I am!  Like 12 hours sleep in 4 days.....hee...now 5 days!!! 
     I'm sure people have posted things.....I just got in at 3AM and haven't had time to read much of anything yet.  It was magnificent!  HE was magnificent!  We all know how he feeds off our energy and excitement and I'll tell you, baby that place was ENERGIZED!!!!!!!!  They could have lit Manhatten for a month with all the energy that was pumping at the Showboat this weekend! He was glorious, I swear.  From the first moment he ran out on Friday until the last moment he ran off on Saturday.... ......he had 1100 people in the palm of his hand.  He just grabbed us and whipped us into a frenzy over and over. 
     Being serious for a moment, it really is just extraordinary.  Besides his voice....which has never sounded better, by the way.  Just so rich and deep and filled with......I don't know.... everything...... filled with "I'm here"  "you're here"  "damn, this is exciting"  "I missed this" ......the energy was just.....palpable.  Amazing.  He always knows just what to do and when to do it, to reel the audience in.  Besides having all the obvious things...the voice, the dancing....he just knows how to 'play' the people to make it a blast.  A wonderful showman.
     On the first show, mostly everyone was mature and polite, LOL.  I mean, we screamed and cheered and went crazy but we didn't stampede or anything.  A few people ran up to the stage but until ITILY and Rock Me, Baby we were able to contain ourselves.  But during ITILY or Rock (LOL I can't remember which.....at the end of the show) he gestured for us to get up and dance and clap!  That was all we needed.....tons of people bombarded the stage.  Felt like I was 16 again!  During the second show, at those songs, the guards moved forward and crouched so people wouldn't be able to get by to the stage and we had been warned not to get up again. (But everyone did at Rock Me Baby anyway...LOL...4 measly guards against us?!  LOL  They didn't stand a chance in hell!  'Cept my table was still being sooo good and polite....we didn't get up until the guard barriers were already broken down and the people blocked us!)  So the second show was more mild than the first.  Heeee but our darlin' man would have none of that, baby!!  No sir!!!  This was HIS show, OUR show!!!  For the last show, the guards never came forward and before the show was half over, David yelled out "It's Saturday night!!!!   There ARE no rules tonight!!!!"  For the most part, everyone was in an almost controllable frenzy, LOL.  Some people were rude as always, pushing and not letting his hand go......David even had to yell once "Everybody, push back" ....but I saw lots of people do as I did; step back and let others get up front for a hand shake or whatever, if they'd already gotten theirs.  So there were some creeps, but lots of nice people too.

Now for the BEST story of all!!!!!

JUDI MAKES DAVID SQUIRM !!

Okay, this is one that will go down in our history books, ladies!  Now Judi didn't realize at the time what David was talking about so we had to give her a blow by blow!  OMG.....I can't even tell it without tears from laughing so hard.......it was just SO great! 
     The stage at Showboat is about a foot higher than the others many of us have been to.  The tables aren't against the stage because you would only be able to see stage and feet, LOL.  The tables are pushed back about 2 feet....heeeee...about 1.5 feet after we pulled our chairs up.  We were at the center front table right in front of the microphone.  When David does 'I Am A Clown', he sits on the stage.....I guess if you were lucky enough to get those seats at another concert, his feet would be resting on your table.  This is why he often does a joke about letting his leg go because he's going to need it later........I'm quite sure everyone gets a nice little pat in now and then. 
     Well, this time no one touched his leg because you would have to come out of your seat and approach him and God, we were just so polite...... I was quite proud of us many times this weekend, let me tell you!  We were just sooooooo mature! (LMAO..... well, in most ways that counted, anyway!)  He still made the joke though....... because it was funny, and the people behind the front row couldn't see that we DIDN'T touch him.  Okay, so he's sitting down at the front of the stage to talk for a minute and to sing I Am A Clown........ OMG it was so magnificent guys!  He was 1.5 feet in front of our table.......... just like having him in your living room (well....it is if your used to having 1100 people screaming behind you!! LOL) 
     So he is seated in front of us singing I Am A Clown and he begins to chuckle and glance down at the stage to his right and then he looks up again, all the time still singing.  He squirms a little and then he laughs and looks away again to compose himself but keeps singing and smiling.  I look over at Judi..... our Judi.... .and she is looking at his face and then her eyes all.... um.... well, let's just say her eyes go to where they shouldn't with him soooo close..... and then she looks back at his face and then her eyes go back down again.  Finally David laughs, gives her a wicked grin with the squinted eyes and the eyebrow, and says "YOU'RE  baa-ad. I'm getting outta here," and he lifts his legs up and over to one side and continues singing!!!!   After a few lines, he brought his legs back down and smiled at her.   OMG it was HILARIOUS.....and she's just smiling at him.... completely unaware that she made him laugh and squirm!  She thought he was laughing because he forgot the lyrics or something......which he didn't!!!!  It was sooooo funny.  Little Ms. Innocent was caught red-handed, so to speak!!  A definite highlight!  So then he kept laughing at her during the night and singing at her. 
     The next day, we are all sitting around in line waiting and doing our nails, when these women walk up and say "Oh please, you HAVE to tell me what you said to David to  make him laugh so much!  It was hilarious!"  And we all just burst out laughing. 
     Earlier that day, a bunch of us had gotten up to stretch our legs and we were walking around away from the line when all of a sudden a door opens and some big guys surrounding a gentleman with a baseball cap and dark glasses come walking quickly out.  Well, any one of US would recognize that walk......oh yeah, baby!  He walks quickly past us, head down heading for the backstage door........ and we all back up a step....... (I TOLD you we were mature!  LMAO Even I was surprised at myself!!!)  Judi says "Hi, David!, I said "Have a good show!" (duh... freakazoid!!) Some other people said "Good Luck tonight!" (much better!) and he stops turns back and lowers his glasses, and says "Are you waiting here for me?  Well, thank you!  Enjoy the show."  and then he went into the rehearsal.     Talk about a surprise!!!  Woah baby!!  That made my day for sure, as I know it did everyone's else's!!  It was a 'groovy' moment, LOL!
     Well, there are a couple of the many stories!  I can't wait to hear everyone elses versions!  I have a ton more to tell, but my eyes are beginning to close.  ( I have now been up for over 24 hours!!!  Eegads, I'm too old for this!!!! More to come, I promise!  I have his water bottle and a napkin he threw back at me ( he is sooo fresh!!! LMAO  I LOVE it!!!)  (and thank you, Leigh for thinking to pick it up when I didn't.....talk about brain-dead!!!!!) Okay....sleep or photo developing place.....hmmmmm.....decisions, decisions.........
     I'll let you know what I decided!!!!!!

Everyone has pretty much told the story already.  Aside from how absolutely deep and resonant his voice was, how incredibly handsome and SEXY he was, and how irresistably he moved , he is so quick mentally. His mind is so sharp!!  I really enjoyed the little clever come backs to the crowd.  At some point someone from the back yells out "Rock me Baby!".  He's reaching for his guitar..he hears her, turns around, walks back to the mike and with a straight face says "Are we talking in the biblical sense here?" About 900 girls yell"YES!!" and he cracks up.  He kept asking for it..he was very teasing and flirty.  When he sang I'll meet you halfway...he always sang "find a way to touch each other"..(more screaming!)  With "I Think I Love You" he sang "hugging and ......(blank)"  the first night and looked out at the audience for the reaction.  There was a collective moan.(he laughed!) ..later he did sing "humping"  all the while looking out with those gorgeous half closed eyes and raised eyebrows waiting for the reaction. He was definately feeding off the crowd.  All the little growl faces and grimaces made while playing guitar were priceless. Other little quippy things he said were.."I'll Rock you , but you have to rock me back"  The look on his face definately looked biblical there!  LOL! Yeah, right...like we would EVER refuse him???  Duh! I thought he was just too adorable for words!!!  When he does the Mountain High, River Deep song with Candice (she is drop dead beautiful and so, soooo talented!) he is just sooo sexy that he practically smokes. I definately needed a shower after that one!  Whoo, Baby!!!! The emotion he put into Cry made half of us teary-eyed.  It was so moving.  I thought he had kind of shiny eyes himself after that one.  In the last show on Sat night he did a cool  Hendrix number on the guitar...showed off his abilities very nicely!  Did anyone out there ever doubt that the man is good with his hands??  LOL!  All in all..he once again proved why he is still the man and why we are all still smitten after all these years!!  I wish you all could have been there...it was truly magical. 

DAVID WAS AWESOME !!!  I never enjoyed myself so much at a concert as I did Saturday night at Harrah's Showboat.  I saw David twice last year in Vegas in At The Copa, but both times I was far back from the stage and stuck near a bunch of old people with long faces who wouldn't even applaud the songs, never mind scream and dance for them. David's concert Saturday night was finally one I could let loose at and join in with the other screaming fans! It was great!
     David looked amazing! I think not doing such a hectic schedule of 8 shows a week anymore really agrees with him, he looked rested, and refreshed with those totally gorgeous Cassidy looks beaming away, you would think the man was in his late 20's up close instead of his early 50's. WOW!
     He started the show in a brightly colored shirt (purple I think) and black pants that still accentuate that awesome butt he is so famous for!  *LOL*  He sang "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" just as though it was 1972 again and created some great energy for the audience, really got everyone bopping along. He then shouted out "What were you doing the summer of '72?" and quickly went into "Summer Days".  (My sister shouted back to him after his question "I was at the CNE Grandstand in Toronto seeing YOU!" We both laughed and I reminded her that I am still mad I wasn't allowed to go with her that time. She reminded me I was only 6 then. Oh yeah that's right, oh well. She took me there 6 years later to see Shaun at the same place so she said she made it up to me. And how!)
     David then went into "I'll Meet You Halfway" and really razzed up the screaming girls by changing the lyrics to "will there come a time/when we can find the time/to reach out and TOUCH each other"  *LOL*   You never heard so many 30 and 40somethings screams so loud! David just responded with an ear to ear smile flashing those pearly Cassidy whites, damn those men have charm!
     He then sang "No Bridge" and thanked everyone for making his Old Trick New Dog album so successfull. He paused to sip some water after this, and sat on a stool to chat with the audience, reminding them that he was born and raised in New Jersey and thanked them for welcoming him "home".  One girl screamed out "ANYTIME DAVID !!!"  and he just smiled at her and did his best Joey Tribianni impersonation from "Friends" and say in a low voice "How YOU doing?" *LOL*   It was great. He then talked about his parents Jack and Evelyn being thesbians who took him to AC as a young boy to watch them in Summer Stock productions and mentioned other south Jersey cities they also performed in while people who lived nearby these cities clapped. (sorry  I can't remember the names off hand)
     David then started talking about Tony Romeo writing most of these songs in the Partridge Days and said when he looked at the songs years later he realized how good they are and was so glad to sing them again. He mentioned that Tony was no longer with us, so he looked up above him and said "Tony this one is for you"  then went into "Echo Valley 26809". The part where David has to say in a talking voice "operator? Get me Echo Valley 26809"  Candace from the backup singers said in a nazel voice "Sorry - you've reached a disconnected DECADE"  *LOL*
     After this he went into "I am a Clown" and explained how he faught Tony Romeo when he first gave him the lyrics saying "I'm not singing THIS, I'm a cool guy, this is going to make me sound like a fool!". Apparantly Tony told him the fans will love it and someday David would see the significance of the lyrics. David said now he realizes what Tony was trying to say about him in the lyric and thanked him for being so profectic and knowing him better then he knew himself at the time. (almost like the woman in New York that Shaun wrote "She's Right" for huh? :)
     David then introduced Candace and they sang "River Deep Moutain High" together, and in my opinion, Candace sang it SO much better then Sheena Easton, so much energy and they had much better chemistry. Very well done.  David gave her this cute little hug after the song resting his head on her shoulder (she was taller than him, I then realized how short David must really be <G> He slipped off stage after this to change and Candace performed a song solo. The only man at our table perked up in his chair and said "FINALLY something for me to scream at" pointing at her legs and short skirt. *LOL*   (Another reason why I left my husband at home I guess)
     David came back onstage in a black and silver shirt, (still with the same great cute-butt pants on mind you *LOL*) and talked about his recent Vegas career and said he would bring a little Vegas to Jersey for those who missed him there, and had us snapping our fingers saying "just imagine you are at Hayte Ashbury and its the late 60's" and broke into "Try A Little Tenderness" (amazing performance, better then he did it in Vegas even) then also sang "Mack the Knife", "Rock Me Baby" and finally "Lyin to Myself" crediting his "wife and best friend" Sue for helping to write that one with him.
     He then thanked everyone for being such loyal fans to him throughout the years and was glad he could be part of our lives for so long. He said his website "davidcassidy.com" was doing great and thanked us for our support there.  He said he went on there recently to see what songs fans were requesting him to sing in concert and said the next song was by far the most requested so he dedicated it to all of us - "Cherish". David sounded so great, adlibbing the lyrics again saying "and I do/STILL cherish you". He sang with such sincerity that it almost brought tears to my eyes, so sweet!
     After a rousing ovation, David said "lets pick up the pace a little bit" and picked up his guitar and waled into "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" with so much energy that it had everyone dancing in the aisles and clapping along. After this he talked about his musical influences growing up and that guitars fascinated him so much so as a boy he just had to learn to play one. He did this amazing guitar solo ala Jimi Hendrix then over the cheers when he was done looked up at the ceiling again and said "ah Jimi, I luv ya man".
     It was then time to introduce the band, so each of them had a solo and David stood in front of each instrument and danced, jumped and air guitared along with them. You can tell this is a man who LOVES music and performing, it was so evident. He ended the big solos with an almost rap/funk version of "Cmon Get Happy". David explained to everyone how he recorded the theme song so fast during a break doing the Partridge Family that he hadn't actually heard it for years. He never saw the show as there were no VCR's back then and he was touring every Friday night when it aired. He joked that he used to think fans were out of their minds when they would come up to him years later and just start singing it in his face!
     David then broke into the grand finally and belted out accopella "you know I've been sleeping... " then the band geered up into "I Think I Love You". Fans started rushing the stage like crazy, so I grabbed my sister's sleeve and shouted "LET'S GO" and we ran as fast as we could to the left side of the stage where we had this amazing view of David on it. He was so strikingly goodlooking up close, my sister joked "my god, he almost looks fake he's so beautiful!!" *LOL*  David started shaking hands and high fiving the girls (and some guys) who reached up to him. He took bouquets of roses and handkerchiefs from them, grinning from ear to ear along the way. Those Cassidy whites look even better up close! He then came to our side of the stage and since my hand was the first up he shook mine first, I thought I was gonna faint! *LOL*  He continued along to get everyone's hand then double tracked his way back high fiving my hand this time, then shook my sister's hand then came back to mine and HELD it this time, even squeezed my two fingers slightly! HURT ME (in the words of Sharry) was all I kept thinking! <LOL>  He looked right into my eyes and smiled when he was holding my fingers, I swear I was a puddle on the floor! A moment frozen in time for sure!  He then went back to center stage to finish the song and when he sang "i think i love you/isn't that what life was made of?"  I shouted out at the top of my lungs   "ISN"T IT??" copying what he used to say in Vegas.  David obviously heard this (hard to miss LOL) because he turned his head around quickly and looked right at me again and winked and smiled at me almost chuckling, it was so cute!!
     He then left the stage with his flowers and towels and everyone screamed for an encore. After a couple minutes he slowed walked back on stage with a new towel around his neck and sang "Cry". Everybody started flashing pictures so I joined in too running to center stage and got some great shots of David! Can't wait to show them to everyone when I get them scanned.  (I took some pictures earlier from the side stage too and I'm still surprised the security guards didn't throw me out for this, but oh well David was worth it!) After this song he threw the towel into the audience and it landed RIGHT in front of me! I was in such shock I just stood there instead of bending down to pick it up <DOH> so a huge influx of girls grabbed it instead. The girl in front of me said she got his towel from the Foxwood's performance last month so she didn't want to be greedy. *L*  David then waved at everyone, blowing us kisses and left the stage.
     We ran to the stage door after the lights came back on, following a few other fans clutching their Partridge records, games, puzzles, CD's, books and Rolling Stone magazines. Security stopped us pretty fast as we said we just wanted a quick autograph. A lady named Robyn came out and told us David had to do a Meet and Greet with some VIP's first (high rollers with comp tickets I guess) and that he had family to see backstage (realitives of Evelyn's I think, they sorta looked like her as they passed us, and some younger cousins with small babies in their arms) but if we waited for her, she would be back and let us into the backstage hallway after the meet and greet was over for our autographs.
     We waited and waited and waited. Finally Robyn came back after 30 minutes or so with this sad look on her face. I knew the news couldn't be good. She said David was just zonked after doing two shows and it was already almost 1 am so he went up to his room already. She said he had to get up at 4 am to fly back to the coast  so he just couldn't sign anything more tonight. There was this big "AWWWWWW???????" sigh of disappointment from everyone. Some girls just left storming away while others bravely told her they had flown miles just to see David's show tonight (one girl from England, one from St. Louis, one from somewhere else) and were really disappointed. Robyn apologized and said she appreciated the distance and dedication everyone had so she gave us her e-mail address and said if we write her with our mailing addresses she would have David autograph a picture and mail it back to us.  I piped up with a smile "I came from Canada, can I write you too?"  She kinda smiled and said "of course, Canada counts too"  *LOL*  And at that, we left and I went to sleep in my hotel room dreaming sweet David-hand-holding-dreams that night!
     So there's the scoop everyone. Sorry this e-mail is so long, I didn't realize it would take so much typing to explain it! *LOL*  The good news is that I finally got to see David close up and got to shake (and hold!) his hand, even if  I struck out with the autograph (and the slots later) it was still a great trip and I can't wait to do it all over again with Sharry in July!! WOOHOO!!  I'm packed already girlfriend!!

Hi all,

We were waiting in line for the Friday show, and just chillin' in the Hallway of the Showboat...when this side door opened back behind the elevators and some security guards came out...and who do you think was walking right in the middle of them?  A disguised David with a baseball cap and sunglasses on. We all took a step back, believe it or not, because we wanted to give him room. One brave soul said, "Hi David," and he was almost to the door that said, 'Employees only'. He took off his sunglasses, turned around and said, 'Are you ladies waiting for me?' We all said "yes" in unison. He looked at us, and said, "That's nice, enjoy the show!" We all wished him luck in one way or another and he disappeared through the door. He was dressed in black and had that cute little sway in his hips!!! I couldn't believe our luck!!! 
     We listened to him rehearse through the doors, he sounded unbelievably good, which made the anticipation great to see him and hear him. I had never seen David do a live concert before..the Copa yes, but this is so much different. 
     Oh, we did have a fabulous time!!!  I will tell you that David was fabulous!!! I did get to sit down in front for all three shows,  David looked wonderful, he gave the singing and dancing 350 percent!! He was all over the place. He sang River Deep with Candace Davis Martin and Tenderness and 
Mack the Knife from the Copa Show!! Those were my favorite numbers. And I saw them 3 times a piece!!! And we were so close, I could see the spit when he sang, the veins in his neck, and the color of his eyes. They looked blue, I wonder if he was wearing blue contacts. I found out David is far sighted and he can see the back of the room very well, but the front is kind of subtle. Isn't that interesting, they we were in the very front, and he could see much better in the back! I thought it was ironic. BUT, since we were so close, I did get to hold his hand for about 2 seconds when he was singing I think I Love you. He was just all over the place. The first night, during I Think I love you, so many people were at the stage, and he was shaking hands with them, and one group of fans almost pulled him into the audience. That was scary. I think it is stupid to hold onto him for that long, they just wouldn't let go!
     So at the first Saturday night show, the security guards wouldn't let anyone go up to the stage until he started singing, I think I love you. That was the night I did get to sit up front. I wanted to go up to the stage soooo bad when he was singing Cherish, but I think I would have looked pretty stupid since I was in the first row to begin with. Anyway, he called us up to the stage when he got to "I think I love you"! That is when he held my hand, coz I was right in the front. It was cool! His voice was the best I have ever heard him sound on Friday night and the Saturday night late show. He was sooo on!!! You could tell David was tired the first show on Saturday. He looked tired, but the audience did energize him. Anyway, we fans did behave ourselves and the show was subdued. But then he came out for the 10:30 PM show, and I want to tell you, he was reenergized~!~ The last show was the best. He really gave 400 percent and he just sounded so wonderful and sang with so much feeling. The show has definitely improved since November! He sounds better and is more together with the band.  David loves to make his audience laugh, and he did have us laughing. He is so cute with his facial expressions! Everytime he would say I love you, or anything similar, we would scream! He loved it and ate it up, and the more we screamed the happier he got. Saturday's last show was wild!! I am so glad I got to see all three shows. His face just lit up and he would raise his eyebrows and smile when we would scream. He was gyrating those slim hips and doing pelvic thrusts during Tenderness! He sang that one with sooo much feeling. He is just a wonderful performer to watch as he puts sooo much energy into his music. He and Candace danced together during River Deep and you could see his face when he looked at her. He looked at her you know with THAT LOOK that just sends you over the edge. They did a bump and grind kind of thing during the dance that had us all screaming. 
     Here is a run down of the songs as best I can remember them:
     He came out first and did Heartbeat...David just bounds on the stage. He definitely knows how to make an entrance! He had on a shiny maroon shirt and black pants for Friday night's show and the last Show on Saturday. He wore a shiny purple shirt for the first show on Sat. He really got the audience going.... pounding his chest and looking sooo hot!!! The audience was screaming and whooping...he can still whip us into a frenzy!!
     He went right into Summer Days... the band was awesome and the horns were blowing away.... and David was dancing and singing and really bringing that song to life. He was skipping and hopping and smiling and loving the audience. I appreciate that so much about him..that he reacts to us so much!
     Then I think he welcomed the crowd...and sat on a stool and started singing I'll Meet You Halfway...it was a sight to behold! The lights were twirling and going into the audience! He played the guitar on this number and it was so beautiful... he sang, "Will there come a time, we can find the time, to reach out and TOUCH one another?" and the audience would scream when he got to the word TOUCH and he would raise those eyebrows and smile and laugh and giggle. I love it when he giggles!~!! This was a very cool song.
     No Bridge was next, I think.  Anyway, he would turn on the amp on his guitar and play some Hendrix before he started the song. THAT was so cool... his face was just set in concentration and you could see he really wanted to play that kind of music. Then the audience went crazy and he started NO BRIDGE... what a fabulous song... another classic for him. One show, he said, "That doesn't sound right" and continued to play a while longer on the Hendrix part. At the last show, he skipped the song all together and played an entire Hendrix Solo! I loved it, he was just in his element and flying so high. It was terrific.
     After that, he needed to rest, so he sat on the edge of the stage and sang, I Am A Clown... let me tell you that first night was unforgettable!!! One gal from our group, who shall remain nameless, (she knows who she is, LOL!), was right in front of David while he sat on the stage with his legs hanging over. She was kind of staring right at David's unmentionable, and he caught her!!! I guess he could see that OK!! He looked right at her and said, "You're baaaaddddd!!!!!" Then he put his legs back up on the stage!!! Her face was a million shades of red. Another gal from our group had drawn the initials DC on our hands and someone showed him... he wanted her to stand up and show the audience, but she wouldn't do it. He said something like, "You stopped the show, but you won't get up and show them?" She just said "no!" Anyway, before he started singing I am A Clown, he was talking to the audience... I love it when he does that! And he was telling us that the song was written by Tony Romeo and he wrote it just for David. David said he didn't want to sing it because he didn't think it would make him look 'COOOOLLLLL'. And he said that "Hollywood young bucks have to be cool." He also said he didn't understand the song, but now he gets it because he is older. And he sang it with such feeling. He is truly awesome to watch up close.
     Next came Sing Me, he got up and strolled the edge of the stage for that one. When he got to the phrase, 'Rock me to sleep in your arms', he used that sexy, throaty voice of his. He would wrap his arms around himself and just close his eyes and rock. We would all like to rock him to sleep, that is for sure!!! The crowd would yell when he would do that. His voice was so clear and he hit the notes perfectly, making it a beautiful ballad! 
     Next, he asked the audience if we would like to hear some songs from the Copa. Of course, the roar went up and he began to sing Tenderness, after introducing the song as an Otis Redding song!  He started with that, "OH, she may be weary," and the crowd went crazy. David was a sensual pleasure to watch! He was down on his knees, demonstrating the lyrics, 'hold her, squeeze her, never leave her,' again in that sexy, throaty voice! The sight of David gyrating and thrusting his body drove the women in the audience mad! At least it did me. Every so often during the show, he would place his hands on his backside and thrust! He must be turned on and every fiber of his being is alive when he is on that stage. It is truly amazing what 'The Man' does to himself and to the audience. We are all worn out after a DC concert! I was dancing in my seat, and wanted to get up and move!!!!
     Next came River Deep, Mountain High, and Candace sang it with him. She had on a black halter top that had a see through mesh net under the halter part and fringe at the bottom. It tied in the back in two places, and tight black pants that had sequins on them. She is a beautiful blonde with a deep throaty voice. David introduced her as one of the most talented singers and dancers he has ever had the pleasure to work with! They were dynamite together, David would look at her with that LOOK and the crowd would scream! They would  put their arms around each other when they sang, "Do I love you, my oh my?...." and just hold those notes!!! He changed the words every night when he sang, 'I love you baby just like Johnny loves to sing, yeah!" Then it was 'Just like I love to sing, yeah"! I can't decide which song I loved better, River or Tenderness. Tough choice! Definitely one of the high points of the show!!!! He turned her around at the end of the dance and put his body right next to hers, and did like a snake charmer dance! I think we all melted right about then. That song gives me goose bumps every time I hear it!
     Then David went off the stage and Candace did Rescue Me. She can really belt out a tune. She is quite good!!
     Then David came back and he had changed into a black long sleeved shirt that had sparkles in it and picked up different colors. It wasn't tucked in, I think he wanted to be comfortable for.... Mack the Knife! He starts out by the drummer and says, "Jakooba, give me a little something like this..", just like in At The Copa!  He asked the audience to all snap their fingers, and if he saw a guy not snapping, he would put the spotlight on them and embarrass them.  He really conducts that horn section when he sings this one. I love to watch David do this number!!! He gives it his all and really dances all over the stage. He loves to demonstrate the lyrics... it is so cute the way he does it too!!! He has Bobby Darin's movements down to a science. Such an upbeat number!!!
     I think Echo Valley was next. He introduced this song, but I can't remember what he said, something about all of us taking a trip to a valley. He loved singing this song, he did say something about people asking him to sing it. Of course, he changed the words again to "you have reached a disconnected decade". He was grinning all through this song.
     Then came Lyin' To Myself! He has never sounded better on this one! At the Saturday night show, the guards were nowhere in sight and right before he started this number, he told the audience to 'Come on, get up' and "No Rules tonight!" He obviously wanted to change the pace of the show from wild to frantic!! A lot of fans went up to the stage. It was fine at first, but as more women began to come down, it looked like the 70's all over again. At one point during I Think I LoveYou or maybe sooner, David told the crowd, "no, push back". I can just imagine he must have been thinking about Bernadette Whelan at that point. I was getting crushed and I got out of there before I got hurt. It was only about 4 or 5 lines deep, but still dangerous enough! It was a little scary. It made me realize  how easily Bernadette did get crushed. It happened really fast. Anyway, the best version of this song came on Saturday night's last show, he just sounded so awesome, letting the back up singers do the high parts again. Wonderful!!!
     Then came Rock Me Baby, and since we were all on our feet, everyone was dancing! He was all over the stage, jumping and rockin'!!
     After that he introduced the next song as the way he felt about all of us... he talked about the Internet and how it kept him in touch with his fans. He said this was the most requested song.... Cherish.  Of course, he sang that so beautifully and he sang to one lucky girl Friday night, caressing her face. We all wanted to be her! That is why I wanted to go up to the stage!
     Next came, I Woke Up In Love... I loved it! It has so much energy... and he had us all screaming again. He sang, "This is you, this pillow that I'm hmmming and I'm kissin'" Of course, he would raise his eyebrows and give us that impish smile when he said 'hmming'! He was all over the stage again!!!
     The next number was too much fun. He started by saying how much he appreciated us and how happy we made him. Also that he learned the words to this song in like 10 minutes, sang it once and never heard it again. He said people would come up to him and start singing it on the street, and he didn't know it. He said he never saw the show, he was always on the road when it was on. No VCRs back then!! Then he sang, "I wanna tell you a story from a long time ago, bout this here boy on a TV show!" He started introducing the band one at a time with this rap/jazz song. I think he made it up as he went along... it was different each night of the show! He would say something like, 'Now this here drummer is the best in the land, and introduce, Jacooba Griffin, and then he would rock with each member and let them play a minute or two! Then he would throw his hand up and circle it in the air for them to stop. He got sooo wound up. Then, when he was introducing the singers, he messed up Candace's name during the first Saturday show. He laughed and then when he got back to the microphone, said, 'They are neevver going to let me live that one down!" However on the second show, he got it right, and said, "I got that right, coz I'm smart." Everyone was laughing, David can be so goofy. But that is OK, coz I am goofy too! He was having as much fun as we were, probably more. Everyone was hamming it up. Then, he finally starting singing, C'mon Get Happy. He did it rap/jazz style... Lon arranged it... I love it like that... so different from the original version. Lots of hand clapping on that one! 
     Then he did, I Think I Love You. Which of course brought the house down. He started by saying this is how he feels about all of us, but of course we all ready knew that by this time. He truly appreciates his fans and it shows!!! He went along the stage, high fiving people's hands and singing his heart out.
     Then he said goodnight, but we knew there was one more song!!! It was his beautiful ballad Cry. He would step up to the microphone, close his eyes, and sing, 'If your sweetheart sends you a letter of goodbye....it's no secret, you'll feel better if you cryyyyy...." I can still hear him singing it...it was totally incredible. He had a towel around his neck Saturday night, which he threw into the audience. One gal from our group caught it! He had tears running down his cheeks, not sweat, on the last show Saturday night. I think they were tears of joy. The audience went nuts when it was over, chanting, 
'we want David, we want David' on Friday night. I saw him at the side of the stage, he looked like he wanted to come back out, but he didn't.
     It was truly an amazing show!!! I can't wait until Thursday!!! (in St. Louis)
     Thanks for listening... I hope you all get to see David real soon... he is unbelievable in concert!!!

April 3, 2001: The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote: It looks like two shows up for contract renewal this month will stick around. The cast of "The Rat Pack Is Back" went to work on Sunday on a verbal contract, still awaiting a formal extension between the Sahara and co-producer David Cassidy. By all indications, however, it's just a formality.
     If the show continues, so will Steve Lippia in the "Frank" role, joined by newcomer Doug Starks, who recently took over as "Sammy." (Mike Weatherford's entertainment column)

April 6, 2001: The Las Vegas Sun wrote: Playing catch-up with some of the entertainment rumors floating around town these days has been tricky business. Here's the rundown: 
     In a shocker of a move, it appears as though Sheena Easton is giving Vegas one more chance, or Vegas is giving one to her -- whichever. Easton is reportedly on the verge of making a deal to play the NightClub at the Las Vegas Hilton beginning this summer. A hotel insider says her stay will be "on a trial basis," but one well-placed talker insists Easton's seeking headliner status and "she's looking to be the next 'Scintas'." 
     Whatever the case may be, Easton probably wants a fair (read: solo) shake this time around, after playing a nasty round of who's-really-the-star-here? with David Cassidy in "At the Copa" at the Rio. A spokesperson for Easton could not be reached for comment. The Hilton stayed mum. (Kate Maddox's column)

April 8, 2001: The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote: A lot of guys would kill to be Frank Sinatra, but Steve Lippia had a bigger struggle to be himself. 
     Las Vegas first heard of Lippia in November 1998, when he headlined a cabaret-sized venue at the Rio. Plucked from the obscurity of singing with dance bands in south Florida country clubs, Lippia suddenly found himself working with a former Sinatra manager (Tino Barzie), musical director (Vince Falcone) and publicist (Lee Solters).
     Lippia's voice had a sometimes uncanny resemblance to Sinatra's, but his act had a lot of catching up to do. Billed under his own name instead of calling himself an impersonator -- "I would never demean myself," he says -- figuring out his own stage persona was a lot harder than anyone expected. 
     "It's hard to say I walk like a duck and quack like a duck but I'm really a goose," Lippia says. 
     But now he's the Father Goose. Barring a snag in contract formalities, Lippia has agreed to stay for a year as "Frank" -- no last names, thanks to litigation with the Sinatra family -- in "The Rat Pack is Back" at the Sahara. 
     David Cassidy, the show's co-producer, talked Lippia into giving the show a try last Thanksgiving. Lippia has since overcome his early concerns and says it's a good fit. 
     "It's a great piece of nostalgic, golden-years Vegas," he says of a show so well-crafted it rises above an impersonator revue. It's also "a bit of a stretch for me, an acting as well as a singing role." 
     Walking onstage with a cigarette, a shot of bourbon and a swagger does have its advantages. 
     "It's a good cover," Lippia admits with a laugh. "But I have to nudge myself into it a little bit because I'm not an attitude kind of person." 
     Here the attitude is scripted, reconstructing the Rat Pack showroom antics of the early '60s. 
     When he opened at the Rio, "I didn't even know how to bow properly. The most I would ever say onstage (in Florida) was, `Would the person with the license plate such-and-such please turn their lights off.' ... All of a sudden I'm onstage with a 20-piece band in Las Vegas." 
     Now the challenges are a little more subtle. "Trying to replicate spontaneity has a very fragmented feel to it," he says. 
     The Rat Pack would likely back that up, if its members were still around. If the real Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop didn't rehearse every ad lib, "they had a very good outline at the least." 
     But there were times the real legends genuinely cracked each other up, and now there are nights when Lippia and his comrades -- Doug Starks as Sammy, Rick Michel as Dean and Mark Cohen as Joey -- derail one another and "capitalize on our silliness and mistakes." 
     "We've developed a rapport and chemistry," he adds. "I trust them and rely on them." 
     As Frank might have told him, it's a lot less lonely in the spotlight when you've got your pals around. (Mike Weatherford's entertainment column)

April 17, 2001: The Las Vegas Sun wrote: A new and improved Sheena Easton is this close to signing a deal to take over the NightClub at the Las Vegas Hilton. Easton, who has been shopping hard for a Vegas deal since leaving "At the Copa," could be up and running in the 320-seat room by June.
     Buzz on the deal has her staying through the end of the summer, with an option to extend if ticket sales are strong.
     This is all good news for Easton, whose reported tempestuous relationship with former co-star David Cassidy was the source of much gossip throughout the one-year run of the Rio's "At the Copa." Rumored battles over everything from spotlight-stealing to chemistry between the stars to Easton's weight gain allegedly plagued the singer's relationship with Cassidy.
     Cassidy has publicly denied he had any personal problems with Easton, and he attributed closing "At the Copa" to his desire to spend more time with his family. Cassidy is currently on tour.
     Family is what inspired Easton to give Las Vegas a second chance. Close friends say Easton's two children love Las Vegas and are looking forward to spending the summer here. And this time around, her show will be a one-woman gig.
     "(The rumored Hilton deal) won't be a production show," said one source. "It's just going to be her and her hits ... and she sounds great." Insiders insist Easton is strong and in good enough shape to carry a show on her own, with just the help of a backup band.

April 20, 2001: The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote: Moving is such a hassle, even if it's just across town. But you're not likely to hear any complaints from either The Scintas or Rita Rudner.
     Having proved their staying power in the Strip corridor, both acts are settling into new contracts that will make them long-term residents in their new venues.
     The Scintas opened their new show in the Rio's Copacabana Showroom late last week, following David Cassidy into the 720-seat room after spending nearly a year in the Las Vegas Hilton's 325-seat NightClub.
     Rudner opens today in a brand new room at New York-New York. The 425-seat Cabaret Theatre occupies a former race and sports book near the defunct Motown Cafe, soon to reopen as the ESPN Zone.
     The Scintas -- a Buffalo, N.Y., sibling act -- are no strangers to larger supper  clubs in Detroit and Akron, Ohio. So it took them awhile to warm to the Rio's suggestion that they team up with Blair Farrington, producer of the hotel's "Masquerade Show in the Sky." 
     The family act had never worked with an outside partner.
     "At first we said, `Wait a minute. A producer?' " says Frank Scinta. "But after the first meeting with Blair we were comfortable. The first thing he said was, `I do not want to change what The Scintas are and what you do.' "
     The essence of the act is still Frank Scinta and his brother, Joe, bantering with deadpan drummer Peter O'Donnell in crossfire music and comedy, which lands somewhere between the Smothers Brothers and Wayne Newton.
     In the old show, singing sister Chrissi Scinta came on midway through as a surprise, noncomic relief. Chief among the subtle changes is bringing her onstage in the opening number. The old chestnut "We Are Family," establishes the  show's theme.
     "They've got that homespun, family values kind of feeling," says Farrington, who  thought it was important to bring that out and emphasize "the overall family feeling a little better."
     "I give them credit for getting this far without any (outside) direction," he adds. "My role is to support, embellish and enhance."
     The Scintas hit the stage running in the old show, but now the audience sees a video montage of family photos that "makes people understand from the beginning a little more about who they are," Farrington says.
     "They're watching us grow up before their eyes," Frank Scinta adds. "That's one of my favorite parts, hearing the reactions of the crowd from behind the curtain."
     While The Scintas remain the essence of an old-school nightclub/lounge act, Farrington did make adjustments for the larger room.
     Chrissi Scinta now changes costumes five times.
     "Her wardrobe fits the material now," Frank Scinta says.
     And two utility musicians now free Frank Scinta to move around the stage, instead of being rooted to his keyboards for the entire show.
     When he imitates Dean Martin or Tony Bennett now, "I can concentrate on not only  sounding like the voice, but moving like the voice," he says. "That opened up a  whole new world for me."
     Farrington was in on the design stages of the $8 million showroom, which opened in 1994 with his interactive dinner revue called "Conga!"
     Neither Danny Gans nor Cassidy made use of the video walls or center-of-the-room  pod stage that were part of the original design, so Farrington is happy to surprise audiences with them.
     The room "fits like a glove," Frank Scinta says. "It's big but still intimate and allows us to get right into the center of the audience. ... I never liked a theater-style showroom. I like the old Vegas, the cabaret feel."
     Stand-up comedian Rudner had been working on the Strip as an occasional headliner for 10 years, but a long-term run at the MGM Grand last year convinced  both Rudner and hotel officials that she could become a resident headliner.
     Being extended from late July to almost the end of last year "made us realize that instead of me traveling around the world, I can stay in one place and the audience can travel," she says.
     Rudner adds that she "always found I had very good word of mouth, and the longer I stayed in one place the better my audience was."
     The MGM ended up creating a new room for her at sister property New York-New York because of a conflicting commitment to the yet-to-arrive Crazy Horse de Paris topless show.
     "We always knew the naked ladies were coming," Rudner says. But hotel officials "really worked hard to find another room. They found a space that really suited me and the location couldn't be better."
     Rudner said by phone last week that she won't even see the room until today -- assuming its finished. "They're working around the clock."
     The comedian and her writer-filmmaker husband, Martin Bergman, are moving here but may not sell their house in California.
     "It's a schedule that appeals to us," she says of the open-ended agreement. "I get to write new material every day and try it and Martin can do his writing every day. ... You can just tell when something feels right."
     Rudner has a British publishing deal for her comic novel, "Tickled Pink," and she and her husband taped a pilot for a talk-variety show, "Ask Rita," they hope  to base in Las Vegas.
     One big change for the new venue is that instead of a late show on Saturday, Rudner will test the market for a 4 p.m. matinee. (Mike Weatherford's entertainment column)

April 24, 2001: The Las Vegas Sun wrote:

A special love of the Rat Pack might have been why Jon Bon Jovi didn't get to the church on time.
     The 75 couples who waited anxiously for Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora to show at the Graceland Wedding Chapel on Saturday night had to hang on until almost one o'clock in the morning before tying the knot, so the singer could get a Rat Pack fix.
     Immediately following the Bon Jovi concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the band, along with an intimate group of VIPs, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver and Heather Locklear, were greeted by Las Vegas' current version of Frank Sinatra and Co., the cast of "The Rat Pack Is Back."
     As Bon Jovi pumped his fists in the air and jumped excitedly around the room, Rick Michel, Steve Lippia and Doug Starks performed four songs for the group in a private MGM Grand hospitality suite. Bon Jovi is such a fan of the Rat Pack that he reportedly bought the rights to the famous photo of the gang posing in front of the old Sands hotel, which is why a version of the pic was featured on Bon Jovi t-shirts and VIP passes.
     After the mini "Rat Pack Is Back" concert, it was time for Bon Jovi and Sambora to head over to the chapel and serenade the couples/contest winners, who were originally scheduled to get hitched at an 11:30 p.m. ceremony in the tented parking lot. The duo made up for being tardy by performing acoustic versions of "Thank You for Loving Me" and "Can't Help Falling in Love."
     And speaking of "The Rat Pack Is Back," the show is currently performing under a verbal contract extension with the Sahara.
     The David Cassidy/Don Reo-produced tribute show was supposed to re-up for another year at the beginning of April, but as of now, everyone is still waiting for signatures. Sources at the hotel insist Cassidy will commit to the extension in writing any day now. (Kate Maddox's column)

April 26, 2001: The Las Vegas Sun wrote: Lon Bronson has an outstanding group of musicians, playing just after midnight Saturdays in the Riviera Lounge ... At one point Bronson's groups were backing David Cassidy and Sheena Easton at the Rio and "The Rat Pack Is Back" at the Sahara ... The latter show should continue through the end of the year at least, and the band alone would be worth the cost of the show ticket. (Joe Delaney's column)

April 26, 2001: The Whoot Weekly (Atlantic City, NJ) wrote:

David Cassidy knows what it is like to be shadowed by one's own success. He also knows what it is like to take advantage of that success and use it to launch yourself into different career directions.
     While many people still think of Cassidy as the teen idol from the TV series The Partridge Family, the 51-year-old singer/actor has reinvented himself as a star in Las vegas. First he earned acclaim in an already established Vegas hit, EFX. Then, with partner Don Reo, he conceived, co-wrote, and provided songs for the show David Cassidy at the Copa last year. He also co-wrote and produced the ongoing Vegas hit show, The Rat Pack is Back, at the Sahara. When his schedule permits, he guest stars in the show as Bobby Darin.
     Before his impressive foray into Las Vegas stardom, Cassidy had a career as a respected Broadway singer/actor, starring in Blood Brothers, and before that in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In between these varied activities, he has continued his recording career, most recently with the 1998 release Old Trick New Dog. He is currently working on a CD that will incorporate new material and some audience favorites.
     But for his devoted fans, the really big news is that Cassidy will be spending the spring and summer on tour. His itinerary includes stops in St. Louis, Vegas, Los Angeles and this weekend at the Showboat's Mississippi Pavilion.
     In an interview in Las Vegas Weekly, he talked about his current life and career. Noted Cassidy, "I can honestly say that this is the best time of my life and career because now I'm doing more stuff that I've always wanted to do, and throughout, my fans have proven loyal over the decades. They pay to see me, buy my records, see my shows..."
     Cassidy's fan base is amazing. In doing research, this writer found an incredible number of David Cassidy and Partridge Family web sites. The volume of fan sites is as varied and passionate as those devoted to any of today's hottest new stars - Britney, Christine, 'N Sync and the rest.
     In the same interview, Cassidy talked about achieving stardom at such an early age. "It is a double-edged sword. We all want to be successful, but I never had any designs on being a 'superstar.' I just wanted to act, like my father (Broadway actor Jack Cassidy), and have him appreciate me for my talents. Both my parents were actors/singers... my frame of reference in this business has always been the work itself, not fame, not money. I survived a remarkable experience at a young age. During my last concert appearance in the '70s, I was playing to audiences of 40,000-60,000 people, and then I left. I wanted to see what else David Cassidy could do."
     During his headliner debut in Atlantic City this past September, Cassidy provided a mix of selections from his stage show At the Copa and fan favorites like "I Think I Love You," and "I Woke Up In Love This Morning," plus other highlights from his post-Partridge career. Earlier this year Cassidy told Sound Waves magazine, "I'm really anxious to get back out on the road and see a lot of the places I played a long time ago. I'm going to play the Greek Theatre this summer in L.A. I haven't been back in L.A. in ten years so it's going to be very cool."
     David Cassidy is a survivor whose work ethic allowed him to weather the ups and downs of a career that was forged in his teens. He long ago stepped out from behind the shadow of his teen success, to stand tall as a versatile entertainer.

April 27, 2001: The New York Daily News wrote:

Remember 1970's "I Think I Love You"? It was the "Livin' La Vida Loca" of its day. Tune in any radio station at the time and you'd be sure to soon hear the catchy single, which spent three weeks at No. 1.
     The male singer on the record, of course, was David Cassidy, co-star with his then stepmom, Shirley Jones, in the hugely popular pop-group sitcom "The Partridge Family." Cassidy has just turned 51, and though his hair is showing a touch of gray, he's still as slim and handsome as ever. As recently as last November, he was named one of the Sexiest Men Alive by People Magazine.
     He may never have another hit like "I Think I Love You," but he will sing it on Friday and Saturday night when he appears at Atlantic City's Showboat. He will also reprise other hits - including "Rock Me Baby," "Lying to Myself" and "How Can I Be Sure" - plus some new tunes he has written.
     He is the son of actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. His parents divorced when he was 3, and his father went on to marry Jones (he died in 1976). David's half brothers Shaun, Patrick and Ryan Cassidy have all made names for themselves in show business.
     David Cassidy occasionally sounds as if he wishes the whole Partridge phenomenon and his fame as an early '70s heartthrob would evaporate, but that is unlikely. Long before the members of 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and their like were born, Cassidy was a teen idol. It was a golden moment in bubblegum pop, and Cassidy was one of its icons.
     His posters hung in millions of bedrooms and his face was on fan mags, lunchboxes and cereal cartons. He was one of the first teen personalities to be merchandised globally. At 21, he was the world's highest paid male performer.
     He appeared before crowds of screaming girls everywhere, selling out Madison Square Garden and other arenas. When the balloon inevitably burst, he walked away from it all to hone his acting chops.
     His career has taken off in many directions since he left "The Partridge Family" in 1974, after four years on that psychedelically painted bus. He appeared onstage in London (with Laurence Olivier, no less) in a play called "Time," and on Broadway with brother Shaun in the play-with-music "Blood Brothers." He has also toured in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."
     Cassidy has become a successful writer, penning several TV scripts as well as the tell-all memoir "C'Mon Get Happy... Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus." He also co-wrote (with Don Reo) and produced "The Rat Pack Is Back," about the Las Vegas days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr. For over a year, it has been running at the Sahara Hotel in Vegas.
     More recently, Cassidy himself spent two years onstage in Vegas - where he lives with his wife, Sue Shifrin-Cassidy, and their 10-year-old son, Beau - in the $75 million musical extravaganza "EFX." When he left that, he went into a revue called "At the Copa," which he also co-wrote (again with Reo) and produced.
     The Showboat gig is the first stop on his latest concert tour.
     Cassidy will perform one show Friday at 9, and two on Saturday, at 8 and 10:30. Tickets are $49,75 and $125.

April 27, 2001: The Las Vegas Sun wrote: It's official. Sheena Easton opens at the Las Vegas Hilton's NightClub on June 5. 
     Easton is notoriously shy of the press and on most occasions, such as this one, will speak only through her longtime Los Angeles press agent Harriet Wasserman. 
     "Sheena's very excited to be returning to Las Vegas," Wasserman said. "She loves the Hilton and, more than that, she loves the idea of an intimate room." 
     However, more than one entertainment insider says the intimacy of the room won't be the problem. 
     "She might not have the star power to be a real ticket draw," explains one hotel source. "At least when she was with David (Cassidy, at the Rio) she could build on his fan base." 
     Another person close to the deal also has some doubts, saying, "It'll be interesting to see if she can pull it off." 
     Easton remains confident, as does the Hilton, that her standard hits ("Morning Train," "For Your Eyes Only," "Sugar Walls" -- OK, maybe not that last one) will sell seats. If that turns out to be the case, Easton has an option to extend her deal past the scheduled Sept. 2 closing date. 
(Kate Maddox's column)

April 27, 2001: At The Shore (Week of April 27 - May 3, 2001) (Atlantic City, NJ) wrote:

David Cassidy, on tour for the first time in a decade, doesn't mind singing his umpteenth rendition of his first hit "I Think I Love You."
     The former "Partridge Family" star says he's come to terms with the music - and the role - that 30 years ago made him a household name, and typecast him as a teen heartthrob.
     "I've gotten way past it," says Cassidy, who in the 1970-74 series played son Keith Partridge to real-life stepmother Shirley Jones. "It was difficult for me for a long, long time. I was so identified with that character on the show. You have to be resilient and have the determination and the belief in yourself that the opportunity will come - whether it comes in the form of a Broadway show or film.
     "Whatever it is, it's really about the work. I love to work and love the connection bringing light to people's lives. That's why I do it. It's never been about fame or money. If you do good work, that other part will come."
     Some three decades post-"Partridge," having enjoyed success in other TV roles, the Broadway stage and several long-running Las Vegas revues, Cassidy is ready to give the fans a generous dose of 1970s-style "Get Happy."
     "I'm very proud of the work, very proud of the fact that it's been so successful and enabled me to have so much in my life," says Cassidy by phone from his Las Vegas home. "When I go back and sing songs from that era, it's a celebration. For me, I embrace it. I just wanted to do other work and show I was capable of doing other work.
     "It's giving me a great perspective leaving it for a while and coming back to it. I'm not tired of singing the songs. It's real fresh. I get to come back and look at the material again after 10 years and go, 'Wow, these are great songs.' "
     Cassidy is appearing this weekend at the Showboat as part of the casino's new emphasis on headline entertainment. His decision to tour again was fueled by the success of an engagement last fall at Harrah's Atlantic City, whose parent company also owns the Showboat.
     "It was a very momentous occasion," Cassidy recalls. "Because of the response, it really convinced me (to tour). In my heart, I knew it was the right direction to go. Fortunately, the business side said it was the right direction to go. It's all fine and good. If nobody wants to book you, it's another story."
     This weekend, Cassidy will catch audiences up on his musical work since his time as a teen idol: stints on Broadway in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Blood Brothers," co-starring with his half-brother Shaun; and his more recent long-term engagements in Las Vegas in "EFX," "David Cassidy at the Copa" (co-starring Sheena Easton), and "The Rat Pack Is Back!"
     "I wouldn't have to (sing 'I Think I Love You') if I didn't want to - I do it because I love it," says Cassidy, who twice has been named Best All Around Performer by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
     "I have 19 albums worth of material, 25 million records I've sold. I'm picking the greatest songs for me and for the audience."
     Also on the set list will be some new material that Cassidy hopes to record later this year. Even with the challenge of getting radio play, he has confidence he can once again scale the charts, in his case, the Adult Contemporary listings.
     "I wouldn't want to define it for you now, but it certainly would be contemporary - the essence of me musically speaking, great lyrics, great melodies, great songs," Cassidy says. "If you're worth your salt, anyone should be able to make that successful. ... I have a very good fan base. They want me to make records, and they want me to record. Hopefully, if the stars are all aligned, it will work out."
     Cassidy, who has done only a handful of movies for the big screen, is also close to signing a deal for an offbeat film that's been in development for the past 18 months.
     "It's a great sort of edgy satire on the disillusionment of a Las Vegas performer," he says. "He thinks he's really big time, but he's really not. It's very edgy, very funny, it's got some darkness to it, too."
     The role, although not based on Cassidy's own experiences, certainly hits close to home. He spent much of the latter half of the 1990s starring in shows at Las Vegas casinos. 
     Performing "just in Las Vegas is a wonderful thing - a great platform for people to come and see me," Cassidy says. "Millions of people have seen me here. They come from all over the world. At the same time, in all due respect - I respect Siegfried and Roy and Wayne Newton - but I don't see myself as that. I've been a guy who internationally has been successful, both as an actor and an entertainer and a producer."
     As much as he enjoys the spotlight, Cassidy - the son of the late actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward - takes great satisfaction in his behind-the-scenes role as producer and co-writer of "The Rat Pack Is Back!" 
     The long-running revue at the Sahara in Las Vegas co-stars Sinatra sound-alike Steve Lippia as the Chairman of the Board. But, Cassidy emphasizes, the production is not intended as merely a showcase for impersonators of Rat Pack figures like Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., but a drama about the era. And Cassidy, who plays the late Bobby Darin occasionally, approaches his role very much as an acting opportunity.
     "I do it as an actor, I don't do an impersonation of him - it's a play," Cassidy says. "I was a big Darin fan, and he had a great influence on me. He was the last guy crossing over from pop and rock 'n' roll.
     "I have had the good fortune of listening to a lot of great music from my parents. Bobby Darin was the only artist my dad and I both agreed on. He kind of bridged our generation. It really celebrates the whole era."
     After spending much of the latter-1990s doing eight shows a week, 46 weeks a year, Cassidy is more than ready to move on to the next era of his career.
     "If you don't love the work, the substance of it, it's a short career," he says. "If you don't have the goods ... it disappears. One of the things I'm most proud of is my work is acknowledged as much as my fame or my looks. I feel really blessed. I'm a lucky guy." 

Shirley Jones is doing a "Mall Tour" to promote AMC'S "Fashion In Film-On Tour",  which started on March 28 at the Natick Mall in Boston, MA; then continued to the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia, PA on March 31. You'll be able to see her as follows:
 

April 4	York, PA	York Galleria
April 7	Hampton Road, VA	Lynnhaven Mall
April 11	Nashville, TN	Rivergate Mall
April 14	Oklahoma City, OK	Quall Springs Mall
April 18	Phoenix, AZ	Arrowhead Mall
April 21	San Diego, CA	North County Fair
April 26	Los Angeles, CA	Galleria at Riverside
April 28	Las Vegas, NV	Meadows Mall
May 2	Omaha, NE	Oak View Mall
May 5	Detroit, MI	Great Lakes Crossing

(Thanks to Cheryl Corwin of "Friends of the Cassidys" for the information)

April 26, 2001: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote:

* Lyricist Tim Rice takes second billing to some of his composer-collaborators, such as Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber. But their spotlight is so big and his contributions so notable that Rice -- whose "Aida" opens Friday at The Fox -- has built a reputation as the man who put the words to some of the biggest musicals of recent times.
     Tim Rice, perennially the other half of the team, knows he has nothing to complain about. That's how it goes for lyricists. Who wrote the lyrics for Jerome Kern's hit musicals? (In fact, a lot of people did, among them Oscar Hammerstein. But who talks about Kern and Hammerstein?) We make polite reference  to the Gershwins, but we're really talking about composer George, not his lyricist brother, Ira.
     Lyricists are known only if they are half of a team that has managed to turn itself into a single word -- Rodgers and Hammerstein (that time it worked) -- or  if they are also the composer, like Cole Porter.
     But Rice, an amiable Englishman, is not complaining. In the first place, he's awfully well known in his own right. If he has not achieved the extraordinary celebrity of his best-known collaborators, who has? If he stands in the shadows,  they're two of the largest shadows on the contemporary musical scene: those cast by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Elton John.
     With them, the unknighted but gentlemanly Rice has composed some of the biggest hits on stages today. One, "Aida," opens this week at the Fox Theatre. The show is still playing to packed houses on Broadway, where it opened in March 2000 and won four Tony awards. One, for Best Score, went to Sir Elton and Rice.
     "Aida," based on Verdi's tragic opera, is a love triangle about an Egyptian princess, Amneris (Kelli Fournier); the captured Nubian princess, Aida, who has become her slave (Simone), and the noble Egyptian soldier, Radames (Patrick Cassidy), whom both women love.
     Verdi's "Aida" could scarcely have been said to have disappeared from the operatic stage. But Rice has no qualms about retelling really big stories in contemporary idioms. In the past, he and his various composing partners have drawn inspiration from the Bible ("Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "King David"), history ("Evita," "The Road  to El Dorado") and world literature ("Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "Heathcliff").
     At one point, he notes, when "Aida" was still in tryouts before its Broadway premiere, it was playing right down the street from a revival of "Joseph."
     "So I had two shows on one Chicago street both set in ancient Egypt," he mused. "That has to be some kind of record."
     Despite that kind of subject matter, Rice doesn't think of himself as a writer who always needs "a big story." He does, however, think that musical theater is a genre where size counts. The point isn't lost on his recent producer, the Disney organization, which has lavished its celebrated shoot-the-works style on "Aida" as well as on "Beauty and the Beast" and the first Elton John-Tim Rice collaboration, "The Lion King."
     "People say they want small musicals back again, but they really don't," Rice said. "Musicals are a lot like opera. Would you do 'La Boheme' with three guys and a piano?"
     The first musical that drew him in, when he was growing up in London, may not look big by "Lion King" standards, but it's big enough, considering that the subject matter of "My Fair Lady" is nothing less than British class structure.
     For a long time, though, Rice didn't think of "My Fair Lady" as a stage musical.
     He just thought of it as a record.
     "My parents had records of all the great shows -- 'Oklahoma!,' 'My Fair Lady,' all of them," he recalled. "I loved listening to them, but funnily enough, that never made me think I had to see the shows. The records were enough for me and anyway, the theater was not part of our world.
     "We didn't live in London. We lived about 25 miles north, in Hatfield, and London seemed like a long way off. I only began going to the theater regularly after I met Andrew."
     In 1964, the two were introduced by a music publisher who thought they might make a good team. Rice, by then a 20-year-old London law student, had "a burning  ambition to be famous, but I didn't know as what. I was writing lyrics, though,  and Andrew was writing music, because he had a burning ambition to compose.
     "He was only 17, but he was much more sophisticated than I was. He'd lived in London all his life, knew classical music, went to the theater all the time. We were a good combination."
     Their first effort, now forgotten, was a musical based on the life of an obscure  Victorian philanthropist. Their second idea was a better one: the story of Joseph.
     Rice said that Joseph was his idea, one that appealed to him for two reasons.
     First, a story from the Bible seemed to him to guarantee it a long and far-flung  life. The first production was at a school; although it has gone on to profitable professional life it's still a hit at schools around the world.
     "The only incentive we had, since there was no money up front, was that we might earn a few bob from royalties," he recalled. "So I decided we should do a story that children could perform, and that would appe teachers as well as kids." It was a smart calculation: "Of all the early shows, 'Joseph' is my biggest earner,  by some distance."
     Even more important, the unlikely subject matter drove him to develop his own lyrical style. Instead of imitating lyricists whom he admired (and still admires), like Hammerstein and Lionel Bart, he began developing a style of his own: something "more flip, more laid-back, more conversational."
     From that point of view emerges the Elvis-esque Pharaoh of "Joseph," the chic Evita Peron advancing her own "star quality." The modern manners with which Rice  is so much at ease come through in this latest work, too, which features a spectacular fashion show as the Nile Valley girl, Amneris, sings:

From your cradle via trousseau
To your deathbed you're on view, so
Never compromise, accept no substitute
I would rather wear a barrel
Than conservative apparel
For dress has always been
My strongest suit.

By the time they composed "Aida," Rice and Sir Elton already had a mega-hit behind them, "The Lion King," which they composed first for the movie and then expanded for the stage. That was Rice's introduction to his new partner's work habits, which strike him as weird and wonderful.
     "He is the first composer I've known who insists on having lyrics first," he says. "I've spent most shows writing lyrics for music that already exists, but Elton said he couldn't do that.
     "I was surprised, but it gives me a lot more freedom. If you have a tune, obviously, the lyrics have to fit it. That can make you write lean and mean, but  it can also be a straitjacket.
     "But if the lyrics come first, there's no agenda. There are all these extra little freedoms. I write the lyrics and fax them to him; he could be anywhere. Elton and I don't need to work in the same room. As a rule, we don't even work on the same continent."
     Today, with enough hits behind him to keep the landlord at permanent bay and to smother his early dreams of fame in an embarrassment of adulatory riches, he can wait for something that appeals to him. "I'm not the kind of writer who has to have a new project all the time," he says. "I'd rather write nothing than write something just to do it."
     It's a good guess it will have to be something big.

"AIDA"

WHERE: Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard

WHEN: Friday through May 6. Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; at 2
p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays; at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sundays

How much: $17-$67 Tickets: Fox box office; MetroTix outlets; online at
www.metrotix.com; 314-534-1111