Sure Looks Sincere, Doesn't He?

Guess they underestimated his acting talent.



Can anyone tell me what the frig John Lennon had to do with the question? Aside from the random "John Lennon was my BFF, now do you believe I'm cool?!" factor.

Who else is hoping the über-fan dinner guest regales the DC fandom with her meeting come Sunday morning? Who doesn't give a flying fig?

And here's my open letter to David Cassidy, because, well, you saw the video too:

David, I'm so, so, sorry I lost track of you all these years. You hate me because I dropped you like a hot potato, but what did I know? I was twelve. Your show had already been off the air for over four years - I discovered you through reruns, for pete's sake! There were no Partridge Family albums left in the stores when my mother did her Christmas shopping - all she could find for me was "The World of the Partridge Family". But you could have tried harder to reach us, no? You had these great RCA albums you could have hawked. (I was still too young to watch "Police Story".) I'm so sorry I was a fair weather fan. I'm back now. I have seen the light: your voice was unparalleled (no offense but I have trouble saying "is" - you have to admit, it has declined in some respects) and I hate - not as much as you do, of course - that people don't credit your talent beyond being a heart throb. And we know that's not talent, that's genetics. So I'm doing what I can to right my wrongs: I'm blogging my little heart out to get the word out that you are talented and all that mania was deserved. It wasn't just hype. It was your talent and your charisma that shone through and touched us. I've been re-discovering your career for the past ten months now and have yet to tire of your albums (well, not all of them - a couple were crap on a disc, sorry).

But please, you have to do your part. You have to respect your fans enough to realize that we know how conflicted you are about that teen idol business. Don't pander to this overblown fake nostalgia bit and go on about how you love your fans for what they've given you (you went this route to promote "Ruby" and we all know how that turned out...wince.) The majority of us abandoned you! We gave you heartache. We made it so that casting agents didn't give you the time of day. We thought we were too cool for you. I'll even admit to some eye rolling when a friend reminded my teenage self of my young crush on you. "The Harder They Fall" indeed.

But now, I've seen the errors of my ways and I won't stand for anyone disrespecting you or The Partridge Family. Today, I am unapologetic in my stance: "the guy has his issues but he had one of the most beautiful male voices in popular music and he's recorded a sublime version of "Ain't No Sunshine"". I can rattle off your accomplishments almost as well as your hundreds of loyal fans who never abandoned you throughout the decades. I am a born again believer. I'm not alone either. Please. Trust us. No more of these uncomfortable interviews with fake fawning from "on-air personalities". We are above that.

While I'm at it, might as well ask you: can you make your records easier to obtain? I'm trying my darnedest to buy some of your albums but they are OUT OF PRINT. The online store showed stock, I clicked "buy" and waited and waited and waited and finally, I received an email advising me it was OUT OF PRINT and I was out of luck. And how about all those unreleased Partridge Family songs tucked away in vaults? Wouldn't it just be the bees' knees to release those gems for the 40th anniversary of the PF? One last thing: that movie coming up? Once it's wrapped and you're actively promoting it, can you NOT say it's the best work you've ever done? Cause that line is getting, like all of us, kind of old.

"Come on baby, let's start anew..."

Never. Sure, buddy, whatever you say....

"He's starred on Broadway and London's West End – with Laurence Olivier, no less. He co-starred, with both his brothers, on Ruby & the Rockits , the most expensive television show ever produced by ABC Family. He received an Emmy nomination for "A Chance to Live," the highest-rated episode of Police Story that ever aired. He revamped and starred in the Las Vegas extravaganza EFX.

But with all that, David Cassidy understands – and appreciates – that when people hear his name, the first thing that still comes to mind is The Partridge Family, a television show that appeared in 1970, ran for four seasons and garnered not one Emmy nomination. It was seen as fluff, but its fans were, and remain, fervently loyal.

"It'll never bother me that I'm best-known for that," Cassidy says with a laugh during a phone interview from Los Angeles.""

Bolding mine, of course. From the article here.

What a bloody hypocrite. Guess it wouldn't do to verbally admit it STILL bothers him. At least not outright, in an interview publicizing an upcoming show, where fans can expect to hear "a lot of songs from the Partridge Family catalog" no less. Wonder how soon we can expect another "that was then, this is now" outburst?

Gotta love the intro to the article. A list of his accomplishments phrased in a way to make us realize that they are vastly superior to the fluff show that was "The Partridge Family". By gosh, ""Ruby & the Rockits" was the most expensive television show ever produced by ABC Family"! Can you imagine how good it must have been?!

By the way, that spring project he'll discuss during next week's radio chat is a movie.

Pretty sure I've already featured "Lyin' to Myself" in one of my posts, so here's "Living a Lie" from his third RCA album from the mid-seventies, "Gettin' it in the Street". That other voice you hear is Gerry Buckley's. "Doesn't really matter" indeed as I doubt he'll play anything from those RCA albums.

What The Hell?!

"He alone was responsible for 7 chart topping Partridge Family singles." Seriously. That's what it says. Here. In the left window, scroll down.

Cuz, you know, David Cassidy wrote all the songs, sang lead AND background vocals, played all the instruments, produced all the albums and marketed them worldwide. Yup. He alone. Guess he really didn't play well with others. Crap. Who writes this stuff?!?

Also, notice the verb tenses: "...now he has finally returned to where it all started by starring in the latest ABC Family Show “Ruby & The Rockits.” The show stars..." Well, it did just start airing in New Zealand (insert eye roll here.) I'll allow for a typo - they meant "the late ABC Family Show...". Late as in passed away, no longer with us, DEAD. I know, I know, it's just spin. I worked in marketing. UPDATE: SingmeDavid pointed out that this text was most probably written before the tickets went on sales in August and "Ruby" was canceled in early September.

(You're glancing at that b&w pic at the top of this page, aren't you, British Fan?)

Who cares, right?

Is our interest in "David's Sunday Disaster", aka "the David Cassidy Debacle", akin to rubber-necking an automobile accident on the highway? Perhaps. For me though, what really comes across in most comments, especially those on my blog, is that David Cassidy fans CARE about him. We are concerned about him and about his career. We want him to succeed, we want him to be remembered as a multi-faceted and talented performer, not "just" a teen idol. (The quotation marks are there because I don't think it's that simple being a teen idol and I resent how the press dismisses a performer with that label.)

As I look back on David Cassidy's career, I can't help but know he never got the career his talent deserved and I think it's a shame. There are a lot of factors that come into play into creating a successful career. It's not just talent. Some factors are beyond a performer's control but others, such as conduct, should be within a performer's control. Stars have publicists to help them when their conduct is less than stellar. I can't understand why David Cassidy's management team effed up the whole thing as it did with the rebuttal in The National Enquirer. It reads more like the work of a sworn enemy than the work of a publicist. Seriously, wtf??? Thank you, CassidyFanNoMore, for directing us to the response from the organizers of The Hollywood Show. Once more, I tip my hat to Ms Moose's class act. And kudos to Scott, at C'mon Get Happy, for managing the discourse in this whole mess with the deftness of a bomb disposal expert.

It's true, this whole debacle won't get much more coverage than the National Enquirer and David Cassidy/PF boards, fan sites, blog(s?) and the like. Who else cares about David Cassidy today?

"I'm no Diva" - David Cassidy Apologizes?

The National Enquirer - probably the only publication to have reported "David's Sunday Disaster" - printed David Cassidy's "apology" in their latest issue. You can view it on the C'mon Get Happy Site - Scott posted it on November 12 at 11h45 pm. Tried to upload the article image here but it's not as legible.

Note to David Cassidy and his management: this is not an apology; this is an excuse along the lines of "poor me, can't you see it's not my fault if I acted like a jackass?". Shame on David Cassidy's management to enable him to disrespect his fans this way. First, he blamed the fans and now he blames the event's organizers. So many other ways this could have played and turned out well. Copyright issues with pictures? Fine, don't sign those. Sign the other memorabilia that fans from far and wide brought you to sign, thirty-five years after your fame's peak. Can't shake hands or pose with fans because you've got the flu? Not a problem. We understand. You're a trooper for showing up in that condition, thank you for minimizing the contagion risks but most of all, thank you for making our dream of meeting you a reality.

By the way, Mr. Cassidy, explaining the refusal to sign Partridge Family photos with "That was then; this is now" at an autograph and memorabilia show IS diva (sic) behavior.

David-bashing? I don't think so

Some David Cassidy fans seem to think that if we criticize him or his work, we are bashing him. I thought I'd address this in a separate blog entry rather than in a comment buried in a thread.

I truly believe that you can be an objective fan. We are not twelve years old anymore and have developed some critical thinking along the way. Some of his stuff is great; some of it is bad. Sometimes he's gracious with fans; other times, he's an ass. I would think that David Cassidy, of all people, would appreciate some objectivity from fans seeing as he complained of the fanaticism in his heyday. Try and find some critical coverage on his performances or work back then. Apart from that Rolling Stone article - and even that focused more on the phenomenon that he was, rather than his actual talent - there really isn't much. He wasn't a god then (just looked like one...) and isn't a god now. Objectively critiquing his work and public behavior is not David-bashing. It's appreciating him as a real person, with talents, faults and qualities.

Not properly rehearsing "Mae" before a performance? You can call that lazy. You can also call it self-sabotage. There are not many other rational explanations for that fact seeing as he knew this was a top song request from fans for months prior to that tour. Seriously, what's up with that? To use an analogy the twelve year old in us will understand, that's like skipping class, not doing any homework all semester and studying the material for the first time the night before the final exam.

With fans like these, who wants a career?

Thank you American Girl for your comment in the previous thread alerting us of official word about "David Sunday's Disaster". Are these statements (bolding mine) really the best way for David Cassidy's manager to address the situation?

"He did get irritable – as fans got angry and nasty because he wouldn’t do exactly what they wanted. He’s not an object, he’s a person. Others tend to forget that. The reason he left was because A) he threw up in the bathroom and felt sick as a dog; and B) he didn’t want to anger any more fans by not cooperating fully with their excessive demands. David loves his fans and is very cognizant of their support over their years and appreciates it."

Angry and nasty fans with your excessive demands, shame on you! And the PR mess gets messier.

About those pictures...

David Cassidy removing those Partridge Family pictures from the table at The Hollywood Show had nothing to do with his attitude about the past but rather everything to do with avoiding legal problems. Apparently, the show acquired the pictures without copyright. That's how someone in Mr. Cassidy's camp explained it to someone on a certain David forum.

Hmm. Doesn't wash with me. Sorry. If that were the case, why say "That was then, this is now" to explain the removal of the pics? If that were the case, why not just say so to the always-so-understanding-and-forgiving DC fans? If that were the case, why refuse to sign the PF-era paraphernalia brought in by fans?

I'm starting to wonder if the reason is as simple as vanity, as a reader here mentioned in a recent post. It must be difficult to go to a show like this and be constantly reminded of your heyday when your good looks blinded everyone to your talents. Does he see those pictures of himself and wonder "What if...?" and "Damn, I should have appreciated those years more?" Or simply, does he just hate those years so much that he hates the reminders just as much? I dunno.

I know that I've heard him disparage his THEN looks during his recent concerts and interviews with comments such as "Who's that? Oh, she's pretty!" when looking at old posters of himself with his gorgeous long locks and "my gayest cover ever", referring to the Cherish album cover. Does he hate his THEN looks thinking perhaps that if he had looked different, we wouldn't have fallen for him so and turned him into a teen idol? His looks were slightly different pre-PF yet his appearances on TV shows still managed to elicit enough fan mail to teen magazines to show he was garnering a following of young admirers.

If a time machine could take David Cassidy THEN and transport him forty years later to NOW, I'm convinced he'd be just as big a teen sensation now as he was back then (not that he wanted to be, I know!). Zac Efron and the Jonas Brothers have nothing on young DC. Is it just me or does his look back then have a timeliness to it? I feel that way about his music too so might I be duping myself because I've been in a DC/PF bubble these past few months?

He was drop dead gorgeous AND adorable as a puppy: his fate as a teen idol was sealed, Partridge Family or not.


Ok, so maybe Joe Jonas could give young DC a run for his money. :-)

How can we help? Do we even want to?

Two great posts over at the C'mom Get Happy site today (kiethlives' very insightful one at 3:58 and Scott's hilarious one at 5:07) about David's Sunday Disaster (that's what I'm calling it now, folks - almost sounds good enough to eat, no?) but one tidbit particularly caught my attention: "it's going to hit the tabloids next week".

Crap. Once it hits the tabloids, that's it, it's everywhere. People love to mock celebrities and their bad behavior. And it soon becomes a dog pile. (For the record, we are not dog piling here; we are discussing, assessing, bemoaning and speculating. We are doing a lot of things but we are not dog piling.) I can just hear radio announcers having a field day mocking David and the Partridge Family. It makes me wince. It makes me angry. It's undeserved. Well, maybe David's attitude deserves something akin to mocking, but how dare they disrespect the PF! So what do we do? Email them our dissertations on why The Partridge Family still deserves a following forty years after it debuted? Request they play David's version of "Ain't No Sunshine" instead of looping the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-baba refrain of ITILY while they laugh in the background?


Then again, maybe it'll hit the tabloids and nothing will happen. It'll be like your first birthday party where you invite your whole class and two people show up.

Something else caught my attention in Scott's post: did David really call a woman in the audience at a concert the *c* word? That is beyond bad. Was he drinking? It doesn't excuse the behavior - it just explains it. Did this incident hit the press at the time?

With a publicist like this, who needs bad press?

Have you seen the latest update on Sunday's "mishap" on the "C'mon Get Happy" bulletin board? Scott actually contacted David's publicist and was told to "get a life". Seriously?! Hmmm. In one of my first blog posts, "Get a life!" is how I imagined people would respond to my admission that David Cassidy was on my mind a lot since I rediscovered him. In these past few months, I've spent many hours researching David's career and discovering his recordings. More than once have I asked myself if he was really worth all that time and effort. Sunday's incident and his publicist's sardonic response lead me to conclude that he isn't.

Apparently, The Partridge Family "is not how David cares to be seen or remembered." David Cassidy really doesn't get it, does he?

In a review of one of David Cassidy's concerts back in 2001, Mary Ladd had this to say about him:

"David Cassidy, the adult version, strikes me as someone who could throw a temper tantrum real good and clean, like a shock (sic) put. He's like that kid on the playground who can't take a joke and is therefore the butt of all of them. Not happy with the sound level at Incahoots, David Cassidy kept complaining about it, giving stern looks to the loitering stage hands. Ominous looks backstage and then turning back to smile at the fans, as if to say, "No, my children, it’s not you." It brought the room down."

According to Ladd, Cassidy takes himself too seriously. The review can be found here.

Discuss. If you still care. And haven't gotten a life yet.