I Saw Don Rickles-Casino Rama - May 29, 2008

This has taken me some time to compose. I had a lot of images and quite a few drawings and immense time pressure on me but here it is at last, my review of Don Rickles.

First off, when I told people I was going to see D R they'd either say "I wouldn't pay a dime to see that guy! He's so mean!" or "What? I thought he was dead?! He's still performing? Cool." I was in the latter category of course as I actually had tickets to go. It's all a part of my quest to see the "classics" whoever they may be, whether I actually am a fan or not. I just want to see them perform, see what they do, try to get an idea of why they are famous.

I did laugh during the performance. I did not "go into a coma" as my guy Chris predicted. I am partial to old feisty folks and he fits that bill to a T. I thought he was on the ball, very sharp. I thought he improvised a bunch of stuff but C, who was at the show with me, did not think so. he thought it was well honed and nothing was left to chance. He also said "I think he's been telling some of those jokes for a long long time."
Perhaps.
Who cares.
I love that he's out there doing it. he sure doesn't have to. he was on stage 1hr and 20min. Pretty good for an 82 year old. He sang (he sings great!) and danced (complete with high kicks) and told some stories about Jimmy Cagney who gave him career advice at age 18, frank Sinatra, Anthony Quinn and Dean Martin. I have to get his recent autobiography. He really has stories to tell.

The audience was all age groups, 20's to 80's and more. And the theatre was full. He received a standing ovation and came back for one encore, though he hadn't really left the stage yet.

I read a review before we left for the concert that he looked like a lizard with neck wrinkles. I did see the resemblance to a prehistoric predator for sure, but the shape of his body, which was led by his head and his head by his nose made me think hawk, raptor of some sort. He stalked the stage walking slowly, back and forth, mic in hand, waiting to point out someone in the audience and get them. He did his regular act, the one I knew him for from TV in the 70's-- the insult comic stuff. He was different from the comics now though, sticking to religion (Jews and Catholics mostly) and ethnicity to term it politely. He'd do his bits and in between there was a low rumbling dialogue almost apologetic or backtracking by saying "Don't get mad folks, don't go away mad, I treat everyone the same, everyone equally, I'm just being honest just saying the truth..." That was odd to me and I had no clue if he has always done this or if it's a sign of these politically sensitive times. To his credit he still does what he does. He's true to himself. And if you can;t be that at 82 when can you?
What he made me think of was he's like the relative that everyone has, your mother, grandmother,uncle, brother, cousin, the one who just says stuff and doesn't censor or isn't able to censor what they say and you kind of sort of wish they would but they won't and so everyone goes "oh well, that's just the way they are...." They'd embarrass some people and amuse others. That's what he reminded me of.

At the communal continental breakfast the next morning I heard several tables comment on the fact that D R could sing.."did you know he could sing?" "I never knew he could sing!""Wow what a great voice he had who knew he could sing?!""Yeah, and Don Rickles sang!" "He did?" "Yeah and it was good." I hope I am as lucid and full of life as he is at that age.


A word about my drawings. I drew Wayne Newton in the same theatre but the light was much brighter for his show than the Rickles' show. I was pretty much doing blind contour drawing and could only occasionally see what the heck I was doing on the page. I was also going back and forth between the pencil and the camera when I got really frustrated. I was surprised by the drawings as I just sketched continuously going from one pose to the next when it grabbed me.
Again, as with Wayne, I had the feeling that I learned something about my subject through the act of trying to draw him, more so that just sitting and listening or snapping photographs. I'm convinced of this method and hope to go see more acts and try to draw them too.


This is the official caricature
of Mr. Rickles that cycled on a giant preview screen of what other acts were coming to casino Rama (Bob Newhart, Blondie, Creedance Clearwater Revivial, Donna Summer, Diana Ross &etc.). I kept trying to draw this and I never really caught it.



Pre-show set-up drawing and real thing. He had really busy backgrounds, like 60's OP Art.
But while he was onstage the background was solid pink, red when he first started and then deep pink.


Started out in amongst the crowd then climbed these giant oversized ridiculous stairs to the stage, hoisting himself up step by step. Made you wonder... "can he do it?" Yesssss......


Don onstage, looking into the crowd, getting ready to get you...


This was one of the last drawings I made. I feel like I really captured him here. he was sitting on a bar stool chair beside the piano telling a story. I could have sat listening to stories of his life for days. I'm going to have to get his book soon and read up. It'll be my summer reading book.


Tough to get his face in 3seconds in the dark. Amazing I had lines connecting at all.

My attempts to capture the caricature off the big screen that flashed by. I think the image was held for about 5 seconds at most. It's the shape of the head--I made it either too tall or too squat... plus it's wide. Interesting.


Standing up facing the crowd.
Trying to capture his distinctive shape. He had a bend to him that was really interesting. I know it's a fact of aging but it carried an emotion with it for me. Bent over, head leading the body, nose leading the head. He was like a predator, a hawk, or a dinosaur, looking for prey as he prowled the stage. And he moved slowly, deliberately... not just an age thing, but even if it is, he is using it to his advantage.


I actually am very fond of this small drawing. He's sort of loping across the stage here.

Not too bad. Some resemblance here.
Not sure if this is from the side or the front. I think the side.
Upright and functioning.
Just focusing in on the distinctive shape of his body as he walked. A hooked top and straight stick legs. Interesting. Tough to get it just right. I resorted to the camera trying again and again to capture what it was I was trying to draw. I finally got it at the very end of the show as turned and walked off stage.

Here this is the shape I was drawn to... This is the best image I have of that bent shape and how he looked walking the stage.


Stage shots:

Bowing to the crowd

standing ovation.

I Saw Wayne Newton at Casino Rama on March 20, 2008

I saw Wayne Newton this past week. I made a vow to myself when Johnny Cash died that if I had the opportunity to see a legendary performer I would go and check them out before they die. Wayne Newton falls in that category for me and so I have a deep sense of satisfaction that I saw the man perform.

I called ahead to see if cameras, perchance, were allowed. They said no. I was going to take it anyway but if they would have confiscated my camera I would have been very sad. So instead I opted to take a sketch book and a pen and see what I could do. What happened was I got into the body of Wayne. These are all very fast gesture drawings, about 30 seconds each, some longer, maybe a minute or two if I was lucky. He kept repeating certain stances and I could feel them as I was drawing. The bend at the hip, the wide-legged stance, the bobbing head. Very interesting. I feel like I understand him as a performer better for having drawn him. I am going to make this a regular thing. Hopefully my sketches will improve as I go along but it's a very intriguing way to remember an event.

Here are his backup singers. What was strange is they sat through most of the show. Don't know why. I wonder if they were sitting so the focus would always be on Wayne? He did feature many members of his band and his singers as in this solo artist, only with the Wayne Newton family for two weeks he said. She had a very powerful voice. The other singer was with him for 5 years and the other said she'd been singing backup since she was 15.
She was definitely in her 40's at least.

There were several instruments lined up on stage for him to use when he got to that part of the show. An exquisite white guitar. It was so beautiful. I don't know much about instruments but I really wanted to play that guitar. There were two others, an electric and another acoustic, and two banjos. He also picked up an electric fiddle and played it, a genuine surprise to me that he could play a fiddle and equally impressive was his piano playing with large screen closeups of his giant pinky ring. He did an impression of Liberace which the 70+ majority crowd really appreciated. As did I.

He played a variety of music, coming onstage to the strains of 2001 A Space Odyssey, poignant give Arthur C Clarke had just died, then it changed to Viva Las Vegas and quickly into CC Rider. A rock'n'roll medley. Medleys. Who thinks the medley is a good thing? My husband and I were trying to guess pre-show what he'd be wearing. I thought something gold. He said black tux. He was right. It had a really really high cut on the vest. Seemed odd to me. And he was puffy up top, like he'd tip over. A funny shape and hard to sketch.

After the medley he sang Mack The Knife. I was thrilled! First an Elvis song, then that classic. Other songs were Johnny B. Good where the only audience member who was under 20 got up and danced in the aisle. Yes, that's one person dancing. Wayne loosened his bowtie, to the delightful squeal of the ladies cause he was ready to rock. He played Spanish Eyes during this segment on that fantastic white guitar.

Speaking of the audience, several older women rushed the stage throughout the show handing Wayne really old records for him to sign. He took them graciously and signed them after the show. One woman gave him flowers and throughout the show there were whoops and hollers and whistles whenever Wayne said he'd " see them in their room after the show" or "I hope you're next to my room here at the hotel", with many ladies offering to come up to his room and see him. Oh, the sexual tension was thick my friends. Thick. Bodes well for sex after 70 let me tell you.

He finished with his classic, Danke Shoen. I had strains of "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" going through my head for a week prior to the event. He never sang it. I'm kind of glad. I don't like that song much. He did perform The Impossible Dream, seated, lyrics in hand, voice failing, shouting more than singing, with the backup vocalists drowning him out. He said he was doing it as a favour to an audience member and it was unrehearsed. Hmmm. He read the notes for one stanza then was up on his feet belting is out as best he could. I think his story was a fib.

Other things of note: this guy His job was to sit stage left, in the dark and roll and unroll Wayne's mic cord. He doesn't use a headset and he doesn't use a cordless. The mic cord is real prop for a singer like him. He twirls the mic with it. He waves the cord around. Can't get that flair with a cordless. It also adds to that "old time performer" thing.

Here's a sketch done pre-show.There's a lady with a fancy shawl, part of the orchestra he had, and a camera. They were taping the event. He told us we might be caught on tape, though we were definitely too far back for that to happen to us. As an aside, the setup at Casino Rama is very good. I don't think there's a bad seat to be had there. The seats could be roomier, but the view is great. Speaking of the venue here's a compilation sketch of the ushers. Most of the ushers seemed to be over 65, with a minority in their 30's perhaps? They all wore sparkly vests, white shirts, black pants and bow ties. They had to seat many elderly people with canes and walkers and find room for wheelchairs. Lots of those wheelchair ladies had the sparkliest clothes. I remember one woman with a black satin cap full of white rhinestones. I fear that will be me if I am lucky enough to get that old and see an ancient Green Day perform.

Here's a concert review that pretty much echoes our own experience.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080310/NEWS/803100347/0/FRONTPAGE

With one big exception. I loved Wayne's Mack the Knife. It was worth the whole trip to me. There he was, white spotlight, black tuxedo, black hair, pink face, sparkly giant diamond pinky ring and watch, fingers snappin', shoulders hunched, head a bobbin'.... PERFECT.