Music Briefs

Music Briefs



Trisha Dons Ears



After taking a wait-and-see attitude for some time, Buena Vista is jumping into the pay-per-view concert business with a Trisha Yearwood special on Nov. 20.

"We've watched the growth of music in pay-per-view," says Dan Cohen, vp and general manager of Buena Vista Pay TV. "For a long time, it was difficult to do, but it seems viable now. The Spice Girls in January did really well, as did the Rolling Stones and Wynonna. It happened slowly. The number of homes available has grown dramatically -- to 35 million now. And DBS distributors didn't exist five years ago."

Buena Vista is a leading distributor of movies in pay-per-view, and Cohen says the move into concert presentations is a natural extension of that business. "We're always looking to expand our horizons," he says.

The concert -- "Trisha Yearwood a Magical Night," produced by Atlantic/Pacific Music -- will be presented as part of the "Big Bang Concert Series" from Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom. The show will be available through DirecTV and EchoStar DBS providers and Viewer's Choice and TVN programming services with a suggested retail price of $19.95. A half-hour countdown show will precede the concert, which will repeat several times through Dec. 7.

Cohen says that Yearwood was chosen because of her crossover country appeal. Her MCA Nashville greatest-hits album, "Songbook: A Collection of Hits," debuted at No. 1 and has gone triple platinum. She won her third CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Award this year, along with a similar nod from the Academy of Country Music and a pair of Grammy Awards.

"One of the things about doing this concert that appealed to Trisha," Cohen says, "was that she's been touring for a while with Garth Brooks, playing big arenas every night, and she was excited to be center stage and be able to sing more songs from her albums."

Cohen says Buena Vista plans more pay-per-view concerts. "We'll definitely do more although we haven't closed on any performers yet," he says. "And we would be willing to do them from a non-Disney venue. This one just worked out that way."



Best of George

RCA Victor has released two collections of recordings of George Gershwin music. "Historic Gershwin Recordings" is a two-CD set of tracks featuring such artists as Paul Whiteman, Leonard Bernstein and Gershwin himself. "Gems from Gershwin" has remastered versions of a 1938 radio performance originally released on 78 rpm.

-- Ray Bennett