From the Archives: Paul Williams opened El Cajon’s performing arts middle 45 years in the past
Singer-songwriter Paul Williams christened the brand new East County Performing Arts Heart in downtown El Cajon on Sept. 8, 1977. The Tribune’s Jack Williams praised the singer and the venue, however not the ticket costs.
In 2019 the middle underwent $8.2 million in renovations and bought a brand new identify, The Magnolia.
From the Night Tribune, Friday, September 9, 1977:
Sentimental and poetic, songwriter’s marvelous
By Jack Williams
He’s type of a strolling nursery rhyme-turned-poet, this whimsical fellow who writes songs that makes the entire world sigh.
He bares his coronary heart and soul —”however not my legs as a result of they’re whiter than my underwear” — and he unabashedly calls himself a card-carrying sentimentalist in a single breath and an erotic teddy bear within the subsequent.
He mixes schmaltz with humor and wit, Paul Williams does, and he doesn’t a lot as sing a track as carry out it— softly, sensitively, wringing out of it the final ounce of feeling.
However even a compelling entertainer like Williams, absolutely one of many premiere songwriters of his era, couldn’t fill the 1,200-seat East County Performing Arts Heart in El Cajon on opening night time.
There have been fewer than 800 available for the christening of this lavishly appointed theater final night time. A commentary not a lot on the lure of Williams because the $12.50 tab.
“We bought 800 tickets,” mentioned supervisor Stewart McDaniel. “With our restricted seating we needed to cost greater than we like. Paul Williams doesn’t come low-cost — however no one might complain a couple of unhealthy seat.
And McDaniel added, the value of a ticket entitled everybody to a lovely post-concert buffet amid the freshly landscaped grounds in 75-degree climate.
A completely pleasant opening night time it was, in a setting as comfy as it’s new. All that was lacking was extra individuals.”
“This teaches us a lesson,” mentioned McDaniel. “We’re not prepared for the big-name entertainers. Possibly someday sooner or later.”
Certainly, the one entertainers who’ve commanded as a lot as $12.50 for a single efficiency in San Diego have been Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley, each on the Sports activities Area.
“That’s fairly good firm,” mentioned Williams earlier than the present. “I often play for $1.25 and also you get a meal with that.”
However final night time, nicely, it was one thing particular. And those that paid the $12.50 additionally confirmed they don’t skimp within the clothes division.
Night Tribune, September 9, 1977, web page E-3.
(Night Tribune)
Williams himself sowed up in a tuxedo open on the collar, bringing with him a wonderful orchestra that includes a 12-person string part.
For a hour and 20 minutes he carried out his songs, bantered playfully and self-effacingly, and turned the theater into an intimate showcase for a character as partaking as his music.
He’s not a crooner with extraordinary vocal presents. It’s, in actual fact, his shortcomings that assist endear him to an viewers.
However the songs burst forth with all that feeling and sincerity, from a pudgy physique that impacts a robot-like stance, and Williams, the pop poet, emerges by means of the pixie-like exterior.
He opened with “I Gained’t Final a Day With out You and “An Outdated Normal Love Music,” a few efforts near being requirements.
He apologized early within the present for being a trifle hoarse (he had been on the set of “Police Lady” with Angie Dickinson all day) and even repeated the opening bars of 1 track after admitting he was off key.
That was no means, he defined, to christen a theater, “and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do it proper the subsequent time.”
