Pop Goes the Concert

Spot! Spot! Grab it! Grab it!

Lay the blanket down, crack open the cooler and toss me a cold one, will ya?

Hope the weather holds. When's the concert start? I hear she's pretty good.

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"We've got free blanket seating. People can bring picnic food. We've got the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Linda Eder, who's got a phenomenal voice," says Schyler Richards, vice president of community relations at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which brings its golden-anniversary season of celebrations to an outdoor climax Saturday with its Picnic Pops Concert on the campus Academic Mall.

"It's our way of giving back to the community, to say thank you for 50 years of supporting UNLV."

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Sandwiches, which one ya want? Let's see, we've got chicken salad, egg salad -- ya know, maybe that wasn't a smart choice outdoors in Vegas in June. How 'bout the hoagie? And don't forget the barbecue potato chips. Geez, why are chip bags always half full and the other half is air you can pop like a balloon? ...

So, this Linda Eder, she's performed here twice before, I think, at that New York Stage and Beyond series they do. Great Broadway belter, I hear. Wasn't she in the "Jekyll & Hyde" musical? Played Lucy -- you know, the "hooker with a heart of gold." Oops, the kids heard that -- kids, her character actually worked in the, uh, "service industry."

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"It's an honor to be asked to do this. I don't know why they asked me, but I'm happy to do this -- who doesn't like Vegas?" Eder asks in a phone chat from her home in pastoral North Salem in upstate New York. The Great White Way chanteuse with the three-octave pipes, who'll knock out a repertoire of show tunes and standards backed by the power-packed Philharmonic, traces her influences back to the iconic Judy Garland, circa Dorothy.

"When she sang in 'The Wizard of Oz,' it made me want to be an entertainer. I was 8 years old, and it kicked the whole thing rolling. My voice was always just kind of a toy for me growing up, and she's the one who made me go, 'Oh, you can actually sing in front of people.' And she was so emotional, and I come from a stoic, Norwegian family, and here was a woman showing her heart on her sleeve. That was fascinating to me."

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Did you bring the Raid? Just in case of ants. It's kind of creepy to watch a sandwich start moving on its own.

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"This is the kind of event the university did in the '80s, these summer concerts, and we're trying to bring them back and revitalize them," says Richards, adding that student jazz combos will get the crowd boppin' before Eder's entrance on the stage at the south end of the campus, and north of the new student union.

Taco Bell and Starbucks selections also will be around to add some yummy to your tummy (either avoid combining them or pack some Pepto in the picnic basket), plus tantalizing Italian specialties, as well as hot dog and pretzel vendors.

"I think we can handle high winds of up to 70 miles per hour, so if it's breezy, we're not going to move it," says Richards, noting that they've booked Ham Hall if rain clouds crash the party. "It's early June, so cross your fingers, hopefully it will be lovely out. It's not going to rain ... it just can't!"

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Can you pass some fruit over here? Whadda we got? Oranges? Apples? Got any papaya? C'mon toss one over, we need something healthy to counteract the barbecue chips. ... I read about Linda Eder. Did you know she was a "Star Search" champ for a record 13 weeks straight? You remember "Star Search"? Before Simon Cowell perfected nastiness and Paula Abdul perfected nuttiness?

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"Anytime you're on national television, it's huge -- it's run and rerun and I'd come back for guest appearances and you get a real national following. It opened up the market wide for me, doing concerts," says Eder, who's also concertized at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

She's also departing from her Broadway/standards style to record "The Other Side of Me," a pop-country album.

"It's the more honest me. It allows me to be a writer, because I don't write Broadway or standards. I have a talent for it, but I let it go all these years. I was brought into the world of show tunes and standards when I was performing in clubs, but the biggest feedback I get is for my own stuff. It gives me credibility in that genre, and I'm writing from my own heart."

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Lovin' these cheap seats -- cheap doesn't get any cheaper than this. But look over there, those folks look comfy-cozy, the ones in the reserved seating area, and, whoa, get a load of those VIP champagne tables, very ritzy. Must have cost them some green, but they look like they're enjoying it. ... So, how are we fixed for seeing the show from here? And gimme those pretzels, I love those Bavarian-type thingies!

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"We've spent a lot of time looking at sight lines, and we've got big screens and stacked speakers," Richards says. "People will be able to see down most of the Academic Mall. We're very confident we can accommodate 5,000 people easily."

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Yo, show's starting! Man, that Philharmonic is impressive, huh? And that Linda Eder's a looker, isn't she? ... Hey, listen to that -- she's got the voice to go with it, too. Very cool, this picnic concert. ... Pass the trail mix, will ya?

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.