Olivia finds time to play
By Linda Thorsby, Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer
When British-Australian songstress Olivia Newton-John isn’t singing songs of love to crowds of whistlin’ foot stompin’ cowboys and throngs of rodeo-goers gathered at the Mississippi Coliseum, she is busy while in Jackson playing tennis, riding horses and taping advance interviews for her heavy three-month schedule of concert dates.
In a telephone interview Wednesday with Tom Meier, her road and production manager, he said Olivia’s days in Jackson “have been her own,” days to relax and enjoy her favorite pastimes.
Olivia Newton-John, who arrived here last Friday to headline the Dixie National Rodeo, will end her seven night concert run Thursday, with her final show beginning at 8 pm in the coliseum.
According to Meier, the pretty, 26-year-old entertainer has spent little time inside her room at the Jackson Hilton “Her mornings have been taken up with tennis.” he remarked, adding that Olivia spends several hours each day at the Jackson Country Club taking lessons from local tennis pro. Jan Johnson.
And, during the afternoons, Meier added. Olivia visits with cowboys from Tommy Steiner’s rodeo and rides horses at the fairgrounds.
According to Meier, many hours are spent each day meeting with radio stations, newspapers and magazine companies who have travelled here to stage advance interviews.
Rattling off a list of towns and cities which sounded like an advertisement for Howard Johnson restaurant sites, Meier said Olivia and her staff will spend the next three months traveling across country on a concert tour.
On Friday, he said, the group will leave Jackson for a Friday night show in Shreveport, followed by a Saturday night concert in Atlanta.
On Sunday, Olivia and her group will return to Los Angeles, where Monday morning she will begin taping a sequence to the Midnight Special, the show she will host in late February.
Then Tuesday night, Olivia will attend the American Music Awards, which will be broadcast live on ABC.
According to her road manager, Olivia insists on reaching the location of her concert site a few hours before show time.
“She likes to relax for 30 minutes before she goes on.” explained Meier. “During that time she does vocal warm ups.”
Meier said that after each concert here Olivia has gone to dinner with members of her band. This Oneness, Olivia and then retired to her hotel room.
Meier, who has helped manage such entertainers as Charlie Rich, Mac Davis, Sonny and Cher, Helen Reddy and Liza Minelli, said that Olivia does not listen to her records “because she is on the road so much.”
However, he added, “if she is near a radio and a song of hers comes on, she likes to hear it to see how she sounds.”
Before the interview was quite over, there was a knock at his door and Meier covered the receiver with his hand. It was Olivia. She had come to tell him that she would not see him until later on in the day.
“Okay, have a good day Olivia,” Meier said loudly as the door closed.
And Olivia Newton-John was off to see a world she has so little time to enjoy.