Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9410260002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Take his first inning performance Monday afternoon at Salem's Municipal Field.
At third base, Bolton committed two errors and failed to cover the bag properly on a third occasion. The result: three runs by the K-92 Wrecking Crew in its charity softball game with Bolton's traveling softball team, the Bolton Bombers.
Then, leading off in the bottom of the first, Bolton flied out limply to center field.
Of course, it didn't matter.
Bolton could have struck out, then tripped over himself and fallen flat on his face, and the 660 fans who paid $5 each to watch him play would have cheered just as wildly.
Just walking was enough to solicit applause and catcalls from the stands. When he stepped anywhere close to the backstop fence, there was a rush of people with cameras to capture the moment. A simple tip of his hat brought howls of delight.
Even his fielding errors - Bolton had a second double-error inning in the seventh - seemed cause for celebration, although not by Bolton.
"I don't want to talk about my skills today," he said with a grin during a brief on-field press conference between innings.
Twice, when he actually managed to reach base and score, it was mayhem.
For the record, Bolton, 41, went 3-for-7, he scored three times and his Bombers came back to cream K-92, 48-3.
The charity game earned $1,652 each for the Michael Bolton Foundation and the Covington Boys Home, which K-92 chose for the contribution. Bolton said he will play about 65 charity softball games this year.
He capped Monday's game by helping K-92's Brian "Sky" Keller propose marriage to Barbara Branaman.
"In front of all these people, you better not say no," Keller said to Branaman, who said yes and was the only woman at the ballpark who got a hug from Bolton.
If only he had serenaded them with "When a Man Loves a Woman." But he saved that for his concert Monday night at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Again, Bolton could do no wrong, even in the face of his own brand of well-documented errors -namely, oversinging, vocal grandstanding and a general lack of understanding about subtlety.
The audience of 5,768 loved every minute of it. In fact, the more overwrought Bolton sang during his 2-hour show, the more explosively the crowd responded. Like it or not, it's his style. And a lot of people like it.
To his credit, Bolton certainly can sing. (Much better than he plays softball.)
His big performance on the gut-wrenching ballad "Completely" was a good match for his trademark wail. But elsewhere, particularly on classics such as Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" or the Four Tops' "Reach Out, I'll Be There," the gut-wrenching approach was nothing short of wretched. Just a little understatement, like he showed on the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," could have done wonders.
Still, Bolton was steadfastly unapologetic, as always. "Basically, if I want to sing it and I think you want to hear it, I record it," he said to supportive cheers.
Saxophonist Dave Koz opened Monday's show with a 55-minute set blending light jazz and Top 40 funk that didn't dazzle, but didn't bore, either - a suitable warm-up for the Bolton set.
by CNB