Photo by AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole had grown up Episcopalian and later switched to Baptist, so when she was asked to perform for the modern world's best-known Buddhist, she was surprised.
Cole said in a telephone interview Friday that her first reaction when invited to sing for the Dalai Lama was: "Really? I was wowed." She agreed, but when she got off the phone, she realized she knew almost nothing about the Dalai Lama.
Natalie Cole
The nine-time Grammy-winning jazz and pop superstar will perform in Memphis at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in a concert organized by the Missing Peace Project, an offshoot of the Dalai Lama Foundation and the Committee of 100 for Tibet.
To learn more about the Dalai Lama, Cole said she contacted actor Richard Gere, a longtime supporter of the Dalai Lama and his campaign for Tibetan independence from Chinese occupiers. "He called me a few days ago and said some very nice things about the Dalai Lama. He said he has a great sense of humor, that he's very down-to-Earth and wants everyone to be comfortable around him."
The Dalai Lama's message is an interfaith message "of being of service to one another and creating peace and harmony. We really all should be thinking like that," said Cole, who was told she will be given "a very brief audience" with the Dalai Lama. "I understand it will be like having an audience with the Pope."
Cole said she was also told there's a chance the Dalai Lama might attend at least part of her Wednesday concert at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. The concert and a 1:30 p.m. Cannon Center talk by the Dalai Lama both are sponsored by the Missing Peace Project.
They will follow a morning presentation to the Dalai Lama of an International Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum.
The concert will be Cole's second performance since kidney transplant surgery in May. She performed Sept. 9 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles to rave reviews. The concert drew heavily from her latest album, Still Unforgettable, and featured such pop standards as "The Man That Got Away," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and a duet, "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," with her late, legendary father, Nat "King" Cole.
Cole said she will focus on the same material in the Cannon Center concert.
At 59, Cole said her favorite music genre has become jazz, although she still loves the R&B music that kicked off her career. "I like the R&B from when I started more than what they're doing as R&B now."
She weighed in on one of the latest music controversies, Kanye West's insult to Taylor Swift at the MTV Music Video Awards. "I'd like to take him and hold him in my arms for a while, then spank him. He needs love, yet he needs discipline." She said West should keep in mind the Biblical passage, "To whom much is given, much is required."
-- Michael Lollar: 529-2793
CONCERT FOR PEACE
What: Natalie Cole concert sponsored by the Missing Peace Project. Opening performances by Tibetan folk artists Nawang Khechog and Loten Namling, folk-rock singer Matt Nathanson and country singer Joe Nichols
Where: Cannon Center for the Performing Arts
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Tickets: $35-$65. Go to Ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000, or tickets may be bought at the Cannon Center ticket office by calling 576-1269 or 576-1200.
More Information: Go to dalailamamemphis2009.com. For information on the International Freedom Award, go to civilrightsmuseum.org
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