Concert #1 – Marvin Hamlisch

Marvin Hamlisch & Friends

September 23, 1989

The Garde Arts Center

New London, CT

Recently I’ve seen a number of amazing performances.  From SXSW to hometown house shows, there is nothing I enjoy more than a great concert.

As outlined in a previous post, I thought it would be fun to revisit the shows I’ve attended in the past and at the same time explore what the artists are up to these days in terms of marketing, promotion, touring and more.

The first ticket stub I have is from a Marvin Hamlisch show in 1989.  It turns out this show kicked off the first ever subscription series at the Garde Arts Center in my hometown of New London, CT.  Marvin has had a long and impressive career to say the least.  He’s won 4 Emmys, 4 Grammys. 3 Golden Globes, 3 Oscars, 1 Pulitzer Prize and 1 Tony!

I think my parents were more impressed with his performance than I was, but the evening provided some inspiration and motivation for me to practice the piano a bit more. I even had a chance to meet Marvin after the show and had him sign a copy of the songbook for A Chorus Line.

Marvin continues to tour and seems to have his hand in a number of different projects.  Just last year his work on the Matt Damon film The Informant! was nominated for Best Original Score at the Oscars.

The subscription series at the Garde has been a huge success and it remains an important community resource to this day.  Since we now have two of the largest casinos in the world right in our backyard, I think it’s easy for those of us from southeastern Connecticut to forget that the Garde was one of the only venues hosting world-class entertainment in our region.

The rest of the 1989 line up was equally impressive.  During my research for this post I found out that Johnny Cash and June Carter played the Garde three weeks later.  I have a bone to pick with my parents on this one, although I can understand why they thought Marvin would be a better influence on an 11 year-old kid than Mr. Cash would be.