As frequent visitors to A Safe Place To Land know, occasionally I devote this space to news of friends and idols. Today we have a bit of both.

In October I told you about the joy of seeing Petula Clark as Norma Desmond when her North American tour of "Sunset Blvd." stopped in Los Angeles. At the time I promised to remind you of some of her future stops with the show which runs through the first week of June 2000. Here are her confirmed January dates.

Jan 4-9 = Green Bay, Weidner Center

Jan 11-16 = Boston, Wang Center

Jan 18-23 = To Be Determined

Jan 25-30 = Grand Rapids, Devos Hall

Up ahead there'll be Ottawa; Nashville; Saginaw, MI; Norfolk VA; Myrtle Beach, SC; Raleigh, NC; Milwaukee, WI; Indianapolis, IN; Austin, TX; Greenville, SC; Hunstville, AL and Tallahassee, Clearwater & Ft. Myers, Florida. When more dates are announced I'll keep you posted as to where and when.

If you're a Pet Clark fan, and who isn't, this is a unique chance to see her at the peak of her vocal and acting talents.

Dear Jim, My pleasure. If Johnny were still with us, he would have turned 90 on the 18th of November. Since I was away last month, here's the birthday column I wrote on him last year

Those of you familiar with Stanyan (Thank You Very Much) know by now that I use any and every chance to expound on Johnny Mercer and Jo Stafford [Jo's Birthday was last Thursday]. Some people are addicted to booze and horses, I get downright cranky without my daily fix of Jo and Johnny.

I idolized Johnny Mercer long before I ever met him. To my mind Johnny is the greatest songwriter America ever produced and this country has given the world some giants, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields, Larry Hart, The Gershwins. We used to grow 'em here like wildflowers. We've got a few great ones still with us and some are friends of mine so I won't mention names of the living for fear of slighting even one I know and admire. And let's not even get into the immigrants like Irving Berlin who came to this country and wrote more real American songs than most of the native writers.

Mercer over Kern you say and over Cole Porter and Ira Gershwin? I admit it's a close call. Who could deny the melodic genius of Kern, the wit of Porter and Ira Gershwin, the master of words? But Mercer was unique, he could write anything. Most of the time he wrote lyrics to other peoples songs.

Mercer wrote the words to Laura, Moon River, You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby, Something's Gotta Give, On The Atchiston, Topeka & The Santa Fe, Come Rain or Come Shine, I'm Old Fashioned, Accentuate The Positive, One For My Baby & One More For The Road, That Old Black Magic, P.S. I Love You, Jeepers Creepers, The Strip Polka, Hooray For Hollywood, The GI Jive, I'm an Old Cowhand, Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home, Tangerine, I Want To Be Around, The Days of Wine & Roses, Lazy Bones, Satin Doll, Too Marvelous For Words, Skylark, When A Woman Loves A Man, The Summer Wind, Autumn Leaves, Fools Rush In, Day In – Day Out, I Remember You, Bob White, Once Upon A Summertime, And The Angels Sings, This Time The Dream's On Me, Goody Goody, When The World Was Young . . .. Well, you get the picture.

The hundreds of songs he wrote include collaborations with Henry Mancini, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Andre Previn, Ziggy Elman, Hoagy Carmichael, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington, Ralph Burns, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Van Heusen, Victor Schertzinger, Rube Bloom, Bernie Hanighen, Andre Previn, Victor Young, Gordon Jenkins, Robert Emmit Dolan and on and on.

Every day his songs become more popular than they were the day before. A cliché, perhaps, but true. In addition to his prolific output as a wordsmith, during the 1930's, 40's & 50's, Mercer had a major career as a singer. He influenced among others, Chet Baker, Bobby Troup, Fred Astaire and a whole group of so called "non-singers." His style and vocal prowess was every bit as versatile and compelling as the crooners with real pipes Crosby, Sinatra & Nat King Cole who helped immortalize him as a songwriter.

Johnny would have been 89 today. Stanyan has released 3 Mercer albums; Great American Songwriters, Some of the Best & More of the Best with another 4 mastered but as yet unreleased. Lots of noise in this world. Mucho misunderstanding, and let's not forget that ugliest of all contemporary phrases, "in your face," that helps to contribute to it all. Don't get Mad, get Johnny Mercer.