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SOLANA BEACH — When the night ended Wednesday at Belly Up, Burt Bacharach glad-handed those straining in the front row, Elvis Costello bowed and waved and actress Anjelica Huston lingered for photographs.
The star power translated to $165,000 raised in a few short hours to benefit organizations helping the local horse industry after the Dec. 7 wildfire that swept across San Luis Rey Downs in Bonsall.
That day was about losing 46 horses and burn injuries to two trainers. This night was about helping soothe some of the pain.
Mission accomplished.
Organizers said ticket sales from the sold-out show pulled in about $125,000. An auction minutes before the show hauled another $40,000-plus.
One woman bid $6,000 to sing “Close to You” on stage with Bacharach, then talked him into doing “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” instead. Another bid $10,000 for a dinner date with jockey “Big Money Mike” Smith.”
Bacharach pecked away at his limitless catalogue, tickling the keys from “What’s New, Pussycat?” to “I Say a Little Prayer.” Costello and Bacharach also paired on songs from their Grammy-producing album, “Painted from Memory.”
Costello joked to the crowd that the duo had bumped off nominees that included Canadian icon Celine Dion, among others.
“And we’ve never been able to go to Montreal since,” he said.
Huston, who helped guide the pre-show auction, was introduced to trainer Joe Herrick – the man who was burned on 23 percent of his body while saving his horse Lovely Finish during the Lilac Fire.
Chit-chat led Huston to reveal that the Western-style belt buckle she wore was from the 1989 TV series “Lonesome Dove,” co-starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and Danny Glover.
The Academy Award winner happily posed for a photo with Herrick.
Fitting, on a night that appropriately ended with the Bacharach mega-hit, “That’s What Friends Are For.”
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