John Tesh slates Oct. concert
5/10/2008Keyboardist-composer John Tesh, who is profiled in the Arts section of The Blade tomorrow, has announced an Oct. 22 concert at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo.
A special ticket presale will begin Monday via Ticketmaster.com, and a general ticket sale will start May 19 through the Strahanan box office at 419-381-8851, Tesh.com, and Ticketmaster outlets.
Tesh, a classically trained musician who plays pop instrumental music, was co-host of the TV celebrity news show Entertainment Tonight! for 10 years before beginning a full-time music career in 1996.
Since 2003, he also has been host of The John Tesh Radio Show, which has 8 million listeners and is carried by 290 stations including Toledo's WRVF-FM (101.5).
Tesh has recorded more than 50 albums, earning three Gold Record awards and two Grammy nominations.
His latest release is "Alive: Music & Dance," a DVD and CD featuring his keyboard playing with a big band, choir, and dance troupe.
Former Toledoan John Matthews has been named program director at KLOU-FM (103.3) in St. Louis, effective Monday.
"It's a job that entails responsibilities to listeners and clients and staff that works for me," Matthews said yesterday in a telephone interview. He'll continue to serve as an on-air personality as well, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Toledo time.
Matthews - John Halbert when he was growing up in Toledo - graduated from St. John's Jesuit High School in 1992 and from the University of Toledo in 1996. He worked at Toledo's WRQN-FM (93.5) for five years before moving on to KGMZ-FM (107.9) in Honolulu, where he was named program director in 2001.
He was hired in St. Louis as a weekend on-air personality last summer.
"I have done oldies my whole career," Matthews pointed out. "I think it's some of the best music ever made, and I love being on the air and playing it."
Morning anchor Anna Kooiman has left WNWO-TV, Channel 24, and will be replaced by weekend anchor Kylie Conway, according to news director Pat Livingston.
"We decided to part ways, and we wish her all the best and thank her. She did a great job for us here," he said yesterday.
Kooiman joined the station in January, 2007. Her last day at WNWO was Wednesday.
Conway had been with the station for about two years. Her weekend role will be filled by reporter Arielle Berlin, Livingston said.
The Columbus Symphony's board of directors says the orchestra is cancelling its summer concert series and may not reopen for the 2008-2009 season.
The symphony has run out of money after failing to reach a labor agreement with its musicians. Its final performance is scheduled for May 31.
Board President Robert Trafford says most of the orchestra's office staff will be fired and the musicians will no longer be paid once the season ends. Reaching an agreement with the musicians' union is the only way to rescue the symphony, he said.
A statement from the board attributed the decision to three years of budget shortages and a projected $3 million deficit.