Ann Hampton
Callaway
Torch Singer Performs Twice at
OOM After CSO Engagements
http://www.outonmain.com/news/callaway.html
Columbus, Ohio - February
23, 1998 - Out On Main, the award-winning downtown restaurant, hosted two post-Columbus
Symphony Orchestra (CSO) reception/performances featuring stunning pop/jazz
singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway.
The first reception took place on Friday, February 20 in the piano bar at Out On Main
restaurant after Ms. Callaway's orchestra debut with the CSO at the Ohio Theater. With
over 200 fans and friends in attendance, Callaway crooned and scatted Ella Fitzgerald's
greatest works. During the 45-minute performance, Ms. Callaway also improvised with her
attentive audience, addressing in a comical way the recent Ohio State University
appearance by Secretary Madeline Albright.
Immediately after her performance, Ms. Callaway met fans, signed autographs and posed for
pictures. Hundreds of dollars were raised for the Columbus AIDS Task Force. Ms. Callaway,
the CSO's Gail Gershwilm and members of Opera Columbus adjourned to the restaurant for
dinner and drinks. Ms. Callaway sat on one of the plush couches in the Gathering room of
Out On Main and enjoyed an Out On Main house salad and Shrimp Dominique while sipping
White Star Champagne.
To everyone's delight, Ms. Callaway "held court"--sharing stories of the road
with well wishers and spontaneously breaking into improvisational songs, some honoring the
organizers of the event. For example, CSO media director Gail Gershwilm's name sang to
Mendel's Messiah. The same for Central Ohio special event and marketing guru Jay Dascenzo.
At 2 a.m. the party moved to the piano bar where the singing and laughter continued to
2:45 a.m.
After a triumphant Saturday performance with the CSO, Ms. Callaway returned to Out On
Main's to attend a reception for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest non-partisan
political advocacy organization in the country that fights for equal rights for gays and
lesbians. The reception, featuring pianist Peter Larson (who wrote Brownstone, an
off-Broadway musical starring Liz Callaway, Ann's sister) and vocalist Debra James Tucker,
held at Out On Main's Renaissance Room, honored Host Committee members who are playing
important roles in the upcoming HRC Columbus Dinner on June 20 at Valley Dale. Dinner
co-chair Jay Dascenzo was in attendance, as well as Michael Council, Jozette and Richard
Bodonyi, Mike Dagir and Harvey Shapiro, Michael Caven and Tom Grote.
After Debra James Tucker performed two gospel songs, Ms. Callaway asked that the two pair
up. Cheers from the standing-room-only crowd could be heard east, west, north and south of
Main Street, Columbus.
