No, they’re not major label recording artists anymore — or even sisters in the narrow, white sense of the word — yet The Pointer Sisters proved last Friday night they still can-can deliver their ebullient, righteous brand of high-voltage pop. They and a groovy instrumental quintet took the downstage after intermission at Ovens Auditorium, elevating the Charlotte Symphony’s second pops concert of the season to the level of truly live music.
Lead vocals are mostly split between Anita P and and Ruth Pointer-Sayles, with Ruth’s daughter Issa blending in beautifully on backups and supplying the greatest portion of the trio’s remaining youthful energy. Sitting in the third row, I can report that many of the Sisters’ most rabid fans had ceased ovulating years ago. Issa’s sweaty hankie became the prized souvenir of an aging white dude in a wheelchair. And I’m embarrassed to reveal that nearly half of the front row seats remained vacant throughout the Pointers’ set.
Apparently, ticketbuyers were primed for a classical concert, where proximity to the heat and the beat isn’t at a premium. Decorum was in scant supply during a segment called “A Fowl First Half,” led by CSO popmeister Albert-George Schramm. Lovers of the symphonic canon had to slog through Leroy Anderson’s “Chicken Reel,” conducted with a rubber chicken, before Schramm’s mighty theme climaxed in the dread “Turkey in the Straw.” These feathery flutterings were interwoven with the overture to Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie and two sections of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Fearing that the program might contain too much protein, maestro Schramm discreetly lopped two segments from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition off his playlist.
Best fowl moments were Mary Beth Griglak’s work on bassoon in the “Berceuse” section of Firebird and Frank Portone’s horn work ushering in the ensuing finale. Otherwise, the sound set-up at Ovens for the strings is so disagreeably amped that any resemblance to a live orchestra is purely accidental. That kind of homogenized mush was good enough with the Pointers doing the high stepping and heavy lifting in front of them. Fortunately, Schramm & Co. were only briefly involved after their poultry potpourri.
Mama Ruth handled the lead on “Happiness,” begun offstage in the wings, with Sister Anita taking over the centerstage slot for “He’s So Shy” and “Automatic.” The vivacity of the vocals and the bone-deep blend of the harmonies were instantly locked in. But as often happens in live performance, the numbers we’re expecting don’t always carry the most electricity.
“Slow Hand” pretty much replicated the single that we’ve all heard at malls and restaurants for the past quarter of a century. The less familiar “Dare Me” emerged with a sassier snap as young Issa finally strutted her stuff, and repeated viewings of Beverly Hills Cop back in the ’80s never hinted at the wattage that I experienced from “Neutron Dance” in live concert. More predictable was the ignition sparked all over Ovens by “Fire,” “I’m So Excited,” and the inevitable encore, “Jump (For My Love).”
The song that launched the Pointers, “Yes We Can Can,” remained a conspicuous no-show. Nothing took its place on the nine-song playlist that you won’t find on the Best of the Pointer Sisters CD, but today’s Pointers don’t approach their fans with a remember-the-oldies attitude. They sound like they’re hungry for a comeback — and a fresh recording contract.
In the meantime, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to unwrap some fresh material for the under-50 demo.
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 4, 2008.
