Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 505

Sound check THE HARTFORD COURANT MUSIC NEWS AND VIEWS THURSDAY APRIL 7, 1988 A behind-the-scenes look at the Jackson concerts By FRANK RIZZO Courant Rock Critic I POP ROCK going to his concerts already have the album. In the case of the sold-out Jackson show, perhaps some people who hoped for last-minute tickets will take home a cassette, LP or compact disc." (Cassettes were the most popular format for Jackson's music, he says.) WHAT'S NEW Howie Mandel will be at the Paramount in Springfield April 23. Tickets are now on sale. Chuck Mangione will perform at the Lincoln Theatre at the University of Hartford April 29 for two shows at 7 and 10 Tickets are now on sale. Anne Murray will sing at Springfield Symphony Hall on June 6.

It will be "an evening with show. Tickets are not yet on sale. Leo Kottke will perform at Toad's Place in New Haven on May 16. Glen Brutnick will open for Henry Lee Summer at the club on April 19. Treat Her Right will open for the Bo Deans on April 21.

The Silos will perform at the Iron Horse in Northampton, on April 25. Skid Roper and Mojo Nixon follows there on April 30. Dash Rip Rock will perform at the Grotto in New Haven May 5. Look for a possible "Dirty Dancing" show to play at the New Haven Coliseum in June with Eric Carmen and Bill Medley, among others. No, Patrick Swayze is not "among others." OTHER NOTES when they head back to the studio in the late summer and fall.

In the meantime, Miami-based singer Julie Albers is subbing for Bruno. The group will play the Centrum in Worcester, on April 17. Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" tour continues to capture headlines and excite fans. Springsteen has extended his tour through May with dates in Houston (April 12-13), Austin, Texas (April 15), St. Louis (April 17), Denver (April 20), Los Angeles (April 22-23, 25, 27-28), Mountainview, Calif.

(May 2-3) and Tacoma, Wash. (May 5-6). Additional dates are probable. Highlights for the coming week: Balaam and the Angel at Toad's Place in New Haven tonight Watershed and Sleep That Burns at the El 'n' Gee in New London tonight K-Man Band at the Night Shift in Naugatuck tonight Foghat at Citi Lites in Hartford tonight David Lee Roth and Poison at the Hartford Civic Center Friday Duke Robil-lard and Blue in the Face at the Night Shift Friday Holding Pattern at Wizards in Tolland Friday Oldies show featuring the Marvelettes, Fred Paris and the Satins, the Drifters, the Tymes and Joey Dee and the Starliters at the Paramount in Springfield Friday Lyres and Trip Shakespeare at the Grotto in New Haven Friday Mike Viola Snap, Strike and Starkweather at the El 'n' Gee Friday Winter Hours at the Grotto Saturday Heavy metal rockers Obsession of at the Strand in Seymour Saturday The Neighborhoods and Bleached Black at the Night Shift Saturday The Whales and Boneyard at the El 'n' Gee Saturday Maelstrom, Strange Flesh, Slaughter Shack at an all-age metal show at the El 'n' Gee in New London Sunday afternoon. Garence Gatemouth Brown and Smoky Log and the Flamethrowers perform in the evening there Arlo Guthrie at Conard High School in West Hartford Sunday That sigh you hear is coming from the staffers at the Hartford Civic Center after Michael Jackson's three shows there, followed by three more sold-out concerts by the Grateful Dead.

Both runs were handled smoothly, they said, but the shows did attract more than 80,000 fans, after all. Some post-concert notes: It's not often that a singer doesn't perform a song that happens to be the No. 1 hit in the country, but that's what Michael Jackson did for his final show of the three-night run at the Hartford Civic Center Friday night. Jackson ended the show with "Bad," and for the encore he returned to the stage to do a reprise of the song. At the Wednesday and Thursday night shows, Jackson performed a funky "The Way You Make Me Feel" and, in what many considered the high point of the show, an emotional "Man in the Mirror," which has been No.

1 for two weeks. It was learned later that Jackson's voice was not strong enough for the demanding song. Though Michael Jackson apparently did have rooms at the Parkview Hilton in Hartford, he didn't stay there for long. The singer grabbed a private Lear jet for New York (from East Hartford) after his Hartford shows. Celebrity guests were at a minimum or else very discreet: Katharine Hepburn wasn't seen at the show, though Kashif was spotted in the crowd.

Don't feel bad if you didn't have a backstage pass. Jackson went straight from a private van (which arrived just before show time) to the Civic Center stage. As soon as Jackson left the stage, he went straight back to the van, which sped off. A number of limousines acted as decoys, but all this subterfuge seemed unwarranted. The stage-door Michael McAndrews The Hartford Courant During his concerts here, Michael Jackson had hotel accommodations in Hartford but spent some nights in New York City.

crowd was well-behaved and not dramatically larger than for any sold-out show at the Civic Center. Where did the dozen or so kids on stage during Jackson's "Bad" song come from? Jackson's own security staffers eyed the audience during the show and selected appealing kiddies from the crowd to join Jackson during a portion of the song towards the end of the concert. It was the first time Jackson had used this bit since his Australian tour in the late fall. Did Jackson's show help record sales? Keith Kendall, manager of Al Franklin's at the Hartford Civic Center, said after weeks of being "about No. 15" in popularity at the store, "Bad" went to No.

5 in their in-house best-sellers list. "But it was hardly the best-selling record of the store," he says. Tie-ins with the Civic Center concerts do not automatically ensure a surge of sales, he says. It helped in Jackson's case because of the singer's cross-over appeal. "In a case like David Lee Roth, we won't notice a major change in sales because most of the people Singer-songwriter Allison Ferrell is the guest speaker at a meeting at the Connecticut Songwriters Association April 11 at 7 p.m.

at Howard Johnson's in Old Saybrook. For more information, call Chick Westover at 387-8081. "The Drums of War" is Chronic Disorder's new 10-song album. The LPCDcas-sette for the area band is on Posh Boy Records and should be in record stores this month. When Expose performs this spring and summer, Gioia Bruno will not be part of the show.

Not to worry. The singer is on a maternity leave and will rejoin the popular group Write to Frank Rizzo in care of Sound Check, The Courant, 285 Broad Hartford, Conn. 06115. come an innovator who transformed the once scorned harmonica into a legitimate jazz instrument. Nor would he have become a first-rate jazz guitarist, extraordinary I Toots Thielemans performs at Lloyd's Sunday at 8:30 By OWEN McNALLY Courant Jazz Critic whistler and omnipresent pop and jazz session player who has been as much at home with Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Sheena Easton as he has been with Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Jaco Pastorius.

The 66-year-old which mixes Dixieland with pop tunes from 1900 to the present, has appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival and in two movies, "King of the Gypsies" and "Hero at Large." Tickets: $3 to $5, available at the door. Trombonist Steve Davis, a member of jazz great Jackie McLean's crackerjack corps of young players at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, will be featured tonight at 9 at the 880 Club, 880 Maple Ave. Cover $3. "I feel Steve is a strong young talent, and see him as making the move after college right into a top big band," the 880's house pianist Don DePalma said recently. Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys, a zydeco combo, present their springy New Orleans sounds Tuesday at 8 p.m.

at the Roaring Brook Nature Center, Gracey Road, Canton. The band appeared in the movie "The Big Easy," has opened for Los Lobos and toured Europe and Africa. Tickets: $12. Call: 693-0263. I JAZZ CONTEMPORARY Liberty," "The Getaway" and "Sugarland Express." His whistled solos have spruced up many TV commercials, including the breezy jingle for Old Spice.

A frequent collaborator with producer Quincy Jones, he has worked with many jazz greats including Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker and George Shearing. Thielemans is at his best in a cabaret setting such as Lloyd's, where he can focus on his first love, jazz a love that not even the Nazis could discourage. He will be accompanied by pianist Fred Hersch, bassist Harvie Swartz and drummer Adam Nussbanm. Coven $13. For reservations call 549-4322.

WHAT'S NEW Trombonist and band leader Sonny Constant and his orchestra will be featured Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the "Good Talk and Great Jazz" series at the Westport Arts Center, Artur Holde Hall, 17 Morningside Drive South, Westport Max Wilk, an author, is host. Tickets: $10, available at the door. For more information call: 226-1806. The Smith Society Street Band will perform Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

at Quinnipiac A THIELEMANS multi-instrumentalist, composer and racon When Toots Thielemans, the great jazz harmonica virtuoso, was growing up in Nazi-occupied Belgium, he would tune in secretly to jazz shows beamed into the night by an English radio station. The young jazz fan tuned in very softly, since the Nazis took a dim view of anybody obsessed with jazz, an obviously decadent, quintessentially American art form. Had Thielemans tuned in to Wagner Hitler's all-time favorite rather than to teur will display his versatility Sunday at 8:30 p.m. at Lloyd's Restaurant as he performs with his quartet. Even if you've never heard of the low-key Belgian, you've probably heard his harmonica playing or whistling.

He plays the harmonica solo on the famous "Sesame Street" theme, one of TVs most famous signature songs. His harmonica has sweetened sound tracks for many movies, Write to Owen McNally in care of Sound Check, The Courant, 285 Broad St, Hartford, Conn. MllUktliili.viKiiitiUiiiiii Wallers he flight grtbave JjfJ to bf.