Lately I've been reading articles out of Randy Schmidt's YOM Carpenters Reader. Just finished the Rona Barrett article dealing with the Neil Sedaka incident and two questions came to mind.
Q#1. As I recall, "Solitaire" was heading up the charts at the time this incident occurred. I remember thinking: "Oh, this isn't going to help sales." Any thoughts on whether the single might have done better had the bad press not occurred while the single was on the charts? Might it have gone higher than - what was it? - 16 or 17 ?
Q#2. If the opening act does things - for example, introducing celebrities in the audience - which would annoy most headliners, how do you deal with that if the opening act refuses to follow convention or explicit instructions? Short of firing the opening act, the only course of action I can see is for the headliner to make a "surprise" appearance at the very start of the show. The purpose would be to say "hello" to the audience, introduce the celebrities and then tell the audience what a terrific guy you have opening up the show. This approach would have been a little unorthodox, but it would have achieved the desired effect of showing Sedaka who was boss without all the nastiness of what did in fact happen.
I can imagine Frank Sinatra firing his opening act over the things that occurred and no one would have given it much thought because he had a "tough guy, no nonsense" image. The C's were hurt by this in large part because of their image. Right or wrong under the circumstances, it was out of character and therefore unexpected.
Final comment: I don't recall how much time elapsed between the firing of Sedaka and the later cancellation of the British and Japanese tours. It wasn't long. (Does anyone know the dates?) In any case, they would not have had to work with Sedaka much longer anyway due to the progression of Karen's illness. Because of this, it's a shame that the decision to fire him was made.
Q#1. As I recall, "Solitaire" was heading up the charts at the time this incident occurred. I remember thinking: "Oh, this isn't going to help sales." Any thoughts on whether the single might have done better had the bad press not occurred while the single was on the charts? Might it have gone higher than - what was it? - 16 or 17 ?
Q#2. If the opening act does things - for example, introducing celebrities in the audience - which would annoy most headliners, how do you deal with that if the opening act refuses to follow convention or explicit instructions? Short of firing the opening act, the only course of action I can see is for the headliner to make a "surprise" appearance at the very start of the show. The purpose would be to say "hello" to the audience, introduce the celebrities and then tell the audience what a terrific guy you have opening up the show. This approach would have been a little unorthodox, but it would have achieved the desired effect of showing Sedaka who was boss without all the nastiness of what did in fact happen.
I can imagine Frank Sinatra firing his opening act over the things that occurred and no one would have given it much thought because he had a "tough guy, no nonsense" image. The C's were hurt by this in large part because of their image. Right or wrong under the circumstances, it was out of character and therefore unexpected.
Final comment: I don't recall how much time elapsed between the firing of Sedaka and the later cancellation of the British and Japanese tours. It wasn't long. (Does anyone know the dates?) In any case, they would not have had to work with Sedaka much longer anyway due to the progression of Karen's illness. Because of this, it's a shame that the decision to fire him was made.