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[Kikapu]

Well, it finally happened last night in Zurich. To say that we were a little apprehensive on what to expect from her in how she was going to perform was an understatement, considering a lot of bad press on her recent concerts.

I think she did better than we had expected, but no where as good as she could have done, and had done during her prime. She can still hit those notes, but only if she takes a little breather in between. She struggled the whole evening to produce her best. It was a little sad to see her in this way. She was constantly gasping for air as well as slight coughing between her lines. Regardless, the Zurich crowd awarded her with a lot of applause and claps to show her that she was appreciated no matter what, and she responded in kind to continue with her performance. I believe if the fans kept quiet, she may have walked off the stage early.

The song "I will always love you" from her movie "The Body Guard", took almost 10 minutes to complete, because she was singing it in stages, per design, just because there was no way she could have done it in 3 minutes. But when it counted, she did deliver those high notes which would exhaust her at the same time. She took periodic drinks on stage as well as what I thought I saw was her taking something to swallow, like a pill. We were fairly close to the stage and had a side angle to it, therefore when her back was turned to 90% of the audience while she took her drinks, for the rest of us, we had a side profile of her.

I think her singing days are numbered and she had the appearance of a tired body exhibited by those of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson just before they died in early ages. It was a little painful for me to watch her struggle in the way she did, despite giving us 100% of what she had, despite being way short of what she use to have. I'm glad we were there last night to see her perform and give her the positive feedback she deserved, just because she did give all she had, but will not want to go and see her again. I think it is time for her to hang it up and enjoy her life away from concerts, despite her voice being great most of the time, as long as she is able to take short breaks at a time to catch her breath.

Her tribute to Michael Jackson was very touching, and I hope for her sake, that he can bring herself to exit the music industry gracefully and not end up disappearing altogether just like Michael and Elvis.!

[Oracle]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

[denizaksulu]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

You polyandrous, kleptomaniac,geriatic,nymph.......................

flipin hell. I am trying to write in English and end up writing Greek again.


How are you my sweet one

[Oracle]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

You polyandrous, geriatic,nymph.......................

flipin hell. I am trying to write in English and end up writing Greek again.


How are you my sweet one

Hello my Denizaksulu mou (do you miss "Lena mou" )

Can't you see I'm busy?

[denizaksulu]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

You polyandrous, geriatic,nymph.......................

flipin hell. I am trying to write in English and end up writing Greek again.


How are you my sweet one

Hello my Denizaksulu mou (do you miss "Lena mou" )

Can't you see I'm busy?

1-Nai


2-OHI

[YFred]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

You polyandrous, kleptomaniac,geriatic,nymph.......................

flipin hell. I am trying to write in English and end up writing Greek again.


How are you my sweet one

Are you refering to our princess of darkness, the witch from beyond, leave her alone, she has done nothing to you the poor woman.

[denizaksulu]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

You polyandrous, kleptomaniac,geriatic,nymph.......................

flipin hell. I am trying to write in English and end up writing Greek again.


How are you my sweet one

Are you refering to our princess of darkness, the witch from beyond, leave her alone, she has done nothing to you the poor woman.

I have not the slightest, to whom you are referring to Fred

[Svetlana]

Someone else whom might be better of staying in retirement; 5 songs - and tickets form £50-£95!!


A decade ago Andrews announced that she would never sing in public again after a throat operation that resulted in an expensive medical malpractice lawsuit. Although she has lost her former four-octave range, the star joked at the O2 that she can still “sing the hell out of Old Man River”. She did not, sadly. In fact, she barely sang at all, leaving most of the heavy lifting to five younger vocalists, all Broadway-style performers with competent but indifferent voices.


Under the carefully worded umbrella title The Gift of Music: an Evening with Julie Andrews, this was a comeback show that featured not much coming back. Andrews bookended the first half, a selection of Rodgers and Hammerstein numbers, with polished orchestral versions of Getting to Know You and Do-Ray-Me, as well as a light-headed saunter through My Funny Valentine. But otherwise, her fragmentary contributions were limited to a few semi-spoken lines in the manner of Rex Harrison.

The show’s second half was given over to Simeon’s Gift, a musical setting of a children’s book from 2003 co-written by Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Set in a once-upon-a-time neverland of knights and maidens, this groaningly banal fable about a humble minstrel and his love for a noblewoman left no cliché unturned. Once again the star only played a marginal, non-musical role as narrator.

Dragging on for more than an hour, this self-indulgent vanity project proved only that Andrews has learnt nothing from her tongue-in-cheek fairy-tale antics in the Shrek films.

Parts of it were unintentionally funny, just an inch away from Spamalot spoof. But ultimately it became an excruciating bore, which drove a steady exodus of disappointed punters from the arena.

As a parting gesture, Andrews rewarded our patience with a solo rendition of Cock-eyed Optimist from South Pacific, on which her vocal talents sounded as pristine as ever. She then joined the cast for an ensemble version of Edelweiss, their voices a creamy blend of harmonies.

What a shame that she did not risk an entire set of similar remakes and rearrangements, working around her vocal limitations like many other divas of her generation.

Instead of updating her repertoire and exploiting her image as an icon of camp, Andrews has typecast herself as a prim matriarch, forever playing the Royal Variety Show. The flaws in this one-off concert were less to do with voice problems than with stodgy, staid, dated presentation. A few more spoonfuls of sugar might have helped this thin, sour medicine go down.

[Kikapu]

That's a very sympathetic appraisal, Kikapu. Critics can be very cruel to dying Divas. You're right, of course, she should stop. She can't be that desperate for money. Maybe she really does love performing. In which case, she should take some tips from the queens of longevity like Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna.

Good luck to her!

(I've still not forgiven her for so obviously enjoying snogging my Kevin Costner.)

Some comments on the Swiss Radio yesterday were not so kind to Whitney Houston as I was, I'm afraid. They talked about how she talked a lot by her saying several time " Zurich, I love you, blah, blah blah,". That's true, she did talk a lot at times, about who wrote certain song and why and blah, blah, blah. It was all designed to get as much time off the clock as possible for her to be able to give her 100% for the rest of the time. She is a "broken" performer and no amount of time wasting attempt by her will go unnoticed.

I can understand some of those comments made on "professional level", that if she cannot perform to the expected level to what people pay money to see, then yes, those comments were justified. What I saw and based my comment on, was Whitney's human side and how she wanted to give all of what she has left in her, to give to her fans and I think she did just that on Sunday night. But she cannot keep on doing concerts for too long at this level. She will gradually become an embarrassment on the stage as her ability to perform deteriorates further. She should have stoped public performing when she was at the top of her career, but now, I believe it is very hard for her to stop, just because she is no longer at her best. I don't think she wants to be know as the singer who was "washed out" during her public performances. Perhaps she believes that if she can get back to where she was few years ago, then she can leave on a "high note". Somehow, I think she is deluding herself if she thinks she can make such a comeback to the level of her old glory days.

I also do not think it is money that drives her to make these less than perfect concerts. I think she wants to prove to everyone that she still has it, hidden somewhere, and that she'll eventually be able to bring it back. I wouldn't count on it if I were her. Again, on human level, I was very sympathetic towards Whitney and loved listing to her music that she was able to produce to the best of her ability, given the personal problems she is having within herself, but most people in general will only see her as a "product" and whether or not they have gotten good value for their money when attending her concerts.

As far as her snogging your Kevin Costner in the "Body Guard", she does not look anything like that anymore. As well as losing some of her voice, she has also lost a little bit of her looks and her shapely body. She can now be easily mistaken for someone who is 4 months pregnant.!

[Kikapu]

Hi Lana,

You are right, that paying a lot of money to see a concert of any performer that is less than perfect, is a hard pill to swallow.

I went to see Chris Rea twice here in Zurich in the last few years. He comes once every two years. This year his concert was sold out before I even knew he was going to be in town again. He is incredible. He doesn't say more than few words to the fans all evening. He plays non stop. Non of all this, "I love you , I love Zurich, blah, blah, blah". No, he is all "business". You get your money's worth, every penny of it.!

Willie Nelson is coming to Basel, Switzerland next month and will try and get tickets for his concert. The guy is 77 years old. I don't think it is a good idea for me to wait too long to see him at another time, if not this time, given his age.!