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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Effed & Awesome You (French Quarter)
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by erin thursby
scopes1925@msn.com
What: Crystal Gayle Christmas Show
When: December 7th @ 7:30PM
Where: Lazzara Performance Hall
Join Crystal Gayle for a classy, country Christmas here in Jacksonville at the Lazzara Performance Hall December 7th at 7:30 PM. Crystal says she’s looking forward to singing “a lot of Christmas things we only get to sing once a year, that makes them special. Also, a few of my songs…We get out there and have a good holiday time.”
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Just as traditional country music started falling out of favor in the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s, country artists that smartly infused their sound with a pop flavor rose to top and won fans formerly reluctant to listen to country. One such force in the world of country/pop crossover, was Crystal Gayle. When I asked her about the impact she had on the music world, Gayle at first demurred modestly, but finally spoke about what she had heard from fans of her work: “I [do] know that my music opened a lot of doors for country music to be beyond its boundaries, having crossover hits like ‘Brown Eyes’…I had so many letters thanking me for opening up country music, because they never would have listened to it if it hadn’t been for my crossover songs, which always made me feel great.”
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Her choices as an artist were deeply influenced by her sister Loretta Lynn, who advised her about the sorts of songs she should record. “My sister, when I first started recording, said: ‘Don’t record anything I would, because you’ll always be compared. Do middle of the road…with more of a pop sound.’ She was right, I never would have made it doing the types of songs she sang, though I love singing them.” Crystal has most definitely “made it.” In 2007 she is slated to have a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, something that Crystal is excited about: “I didn’t know until it was announced to the public; it was a nice surprise.” The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers recognized ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue’ as one of the ten most performed songs of the 20th century. She has toured all over the world, and even has fans that don’t speak English. “I don’t speak their language but they understand…music comes through, I think the feeling of a song can be put through even without knowing a language.”
Like so many stars, she’s branched out into retail, opening a shop in Nashville as a side business. “It’s a little shop that has a little bit of everything…it’s a gift shop that I started because I love giving crystals for presents and I could never find anything here at the time, so that’s why I opened it.”
But her heart has been, and always will be, in song: “My mother said I could sing before I could walk…I just love singing and I know I would have been singing somewhere, maybe not on records but I would have been singing at church or done something, no matter what…But with my sister getting in the business, she believed in me and hooked me up with people that, in turn, believed in me.” Her favorite song to sing isn’t the ever popular ‘Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue’ (which she will be singing at the concert) but ‘When I Dream’ written by Sandy Mason. “I get tired of singing ‘Brown Eyes’” she says, and then qualifies: “but that’s so well written, you can’t get tired of singing [it].”
Tickets are going fast, so get yours as quickly as possible. Call the UNF ticket office at (904) 620-2878 to reserve a ticket or go to capricorn.anf.unf.edu/ unftbo/shopdisplaycategories.asp to purchase your ticket online and view a seating chart of the available seats.
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