The Return of Keith Partridge (Meeting David Cassidy)

Way back in (I want to say...) 2008, I heard that David Cassidy was coming to town. Or rather, he was coming to a casino in Lemoore, California, about an hour southwest of here. Oh my stars! Keith Partridge himself. I loved "The Partridge Family" as a kid AND as an adult, having purchased / watched all of the seasons on DVD around that time. Oh my stars! I couldn't let this chance go by.

But then, I thought about it some more. Seeing Keith, er...David Cassidy perform was one thing. But what if I could meet him as well. Hmm. At the time, I was working at The Fresno Bee. I was a writer in the Custom Publications department. I knew none of our publications would want an article about David Cassidy, but we also published an online community thing called "Fresno Famous". Famous (or just "FF") was geared towards the 20-something market. They wouldn't care about David Cassidy either. BUT, no one at the casino or in David Cassidy's camp had to know this.



I contacted the casino, Tachi Palace, about my plans for an article. They seemed all for it. They gave me a PR photo and a biography. I had to buy my own tickets to the show, though. I bought two at $25 each, which is pretty cheap (and I just trashed the receipt. Darn it all.). I decided to make it a 2-fer thing. I could see the show and treat my friend Trin to an early birthday present.

I also contacted David Cassidy's people, but didn't hear back from them right away.

The article was planned for AFTER the concert, which did Tachi Palace no good as it didn't help promote the show in any way. I didn't care though. The whole article thing was just a way to meet Mr. Partridge, er...Cassidy, after all. I wrote most of it before the concert. I had already titled it "The Return of Keith Partridge".

When we got to the show, I excused myself from Trin and found whoever it was I had been talking to about the project and my arranged meeting. I was put in a line with others who were there for a meet and greet (which I knew nothing about). I started talking to this cluster of women who were all there together to see the actor/singer. They were friends via social media (back in the MySpace days) and one of them had met David Cassidy years before. She had a scrapbook showing photos of Cassidy and a younger version of herself (with other girls) together. It looked like some sort of promo or publicity shoot, maybe for a teen fanzine back in the day, like "Tiger Beat" or "16" or something like that. The other women were jealous of the one with the photo album as she made it sound as if she and Cassidy had a connection that lasted up to that day. Perhaps she was one of the many girls he claims to have slept with during his teen idol years? I wouldn't be surprised...


We had to wait a long time to meet Cassidy. As we inched closer and we were in the same room (gasp!) as he was, we could hear him complaining to the handlers that he really didn't have time for this, that he really needed to get the show going, etc. Whatever. I just wanted to meet the guy and get my photo taken with him. 

The woman with the photo album went up to meet him and said something like "Hi, David. You remember me, don't ya?" She had a smug little smile on one side of her face, as if she were silently acknowledging a secret between the two of them. You could tell by the look on his face that he did not have any clue who she was, but he played along politely. "It's very nice to see you again." or something like that, he responded. She was all smiles, but he was bewildered and ready to move on to the next person. 

I got my turn and the photo is, well...not great (of me). Whatever. I got to meet Keith Partridge, dammit!



The show was good. He played some of his own stuff (which people politely applauded to). However, when he played  music from "The Partridge Family", people really got excited. He said he had come to appreciate "The Partridge Family" tunes now that he was older. He'd hated them back at the height of his fame in the '70s. 

He also seemed to be suffering from tour fatigue. He explained that their bus had been late pulling in. At one point he asked the audience if he was in Fresno. No...but close. 

I did write the article and added in some quotes and photos of the lady fans waiting to see him. I got a (bad) shot of him playing guitar during the show, which I also used in the article. I posted it---but unfortunately there is no record of it. The Bee closed down FF without any notice and I had no other copy of the article on hand. Dang!

David Cassidy's people contacted me after the fact and wanted to know if I'd like to set up a phone interview with him. Ooooo, I would have normally jumped at the chance...but the article had already been posted and, well... I just didn't want to bother going there. (I guess I could kick myself for that now. Argh!).

Oh well. It is what it is.

On another note. Trin and I enjoyed the show. We had had dinner at the casino before hand and, to top off her birthday, I gave her some money to play the slot machines with. We found a pair of back-to-back Wheel of Fortune machines and played. I instantly won $200 instantly and stopped gambling. That had paid for dinner, the show and the slot machine money. Trin played and played and on her very last possible play before the money she had was exhausted, she won $50. Hooray!

Everyone that night was a winner.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers!

***11/20/17***
I've just learned that Mr. Cassidy is in organ failure and not expected to be around much longer. My heart goes out to his family. 

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