Omigod! Barry Manilow!!

I'm going to see him tonight.

Not by myself, with flowers and stuff, but with a showroom full of people at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Yeah.

I admit it.

And I'm still rankled by some Hilton f***wit's uninformed proclamation, when they signed Barry on for his contract, that he was a worthy successor to the last big fixture in that showroom -- one Elvis Aron Presley. Please...dude... Not even.

But I do appreciate Mr Manilow's talent, his (alleged, to my mind, at this point) ability as a live performer, his longevity, his unashamed geekiness or cheesiness and the self-effacing humor that goes with it (actually, that's probably the quality I like best about him, at this point), and the fact that he can't dance at all but doesn't care that it's painfully obvious. And some of his songs certainly have some nostalgic vaue for me -- "Weekend In New England" does, too, but in that sense...you know, that sense.

He does nothing for me, though, really. Just kinda there. I'm happy he's successful, but it all really just doesn't do a thing for me. Which isn't so bad, because Michael Bolton and many others do lots for me, but not in a good way. And maybe that'll change...maybe I'll come back tonight a raving Fanilow. Please, Deity of My Choice, let this not be so...some of those people are downright scary, though they tend to reserve the worst of their deranged savagery for fellow female Fanilows (they all want to marry Barry, and we all know what a studmuffin Barry is with the ladies). :scared:

I'm going because I got free tickets to a TV taping (PBS, I think), so why not...

Please, wish me luck. Damn...wish I was instead sitting in that same showroom on this day in 1976, Elvis' very last concert in Vegas...



Rock it out, Barry!

Have fun - give him a kiss from me!!

BTW, is he straight or gay?

:D

Unless I really, really like his show.

I've heard that he is 100% gay -- it's apparently an uncontested claim dropped in some book -- but any of us who like stars who've been the victims of tell-alls should know better than to just buy that without at least token skepticism. Still, the story's an old one and it'd hardly be a surprise given that he sent my gaydar off the scale the first time I saw him interviewed in more recent years, and ever since. I've lately heard that he might have the occasional interlude with women, too, so who knows. Maybe he goes both ways. Perhaps some other DUer's got the inside scoop here.

Seems lieka ncie dude...I have no idea whether this going to be pretty much a straight concert (I swear I had no hidden agenda in using the word 'straight' here) or something else for the cameras.

:rofl:

:D

The guy that was on was the spoon bender... You know, the Russian who can mentaly cause metals to bend and such...

Anyway, I think it was Robin Williams on the couch when this guy asked Johnny if he knew what it was he was holding up...

Johnny looked quizically since it was a plain ordinary table spoon...

Robin Williams, not wanting to let any dead air blurts out....

IT'S BARRY MANILOW'S COKE SPOON......

:rofl:

It was probably Uri Geller -- I think he's an Israeli. Israelite? Con-man, anyway. :-)

Still vividly recall seeing Barry Manilow on TV, for the first time, in the '70s and my father -- after a moment's thought -- evenly proclaiming "that bastard's as ugly as a truck full of orangutan a**holes."

:-)

He always did have a way with words.

But I think Barry, like Mick Jagger, has finally grown into his features, at last. Looks better and better the older he gets.

He was a little sever in his younger days...

I hate to admit it, but I like the Schmoltz every now and then....

is a big BM geek! She even takes road trips, like the Dead Heads do! :D

And she's 10 years younger than me! Strange woman. :shrug:

Have fun ... at the Copa... Copacabana... the hottests spot north of Havana...

Some of them. I'm used to some pretty freaky people, on the fringes of the Elvis-fan world, but I have never seen the level or breadth of freakiness that some of the Fanilows display. If you check out the Web Site (I forget the name...maybe the International Fan Club) you'll see messages and thoughts that'd turn Vin Deisel's hair curly. Yeah, it's even worse than DU's very own GD forum. :o

Scary. And many of the wackiest are women in their early 30s, who weren't even aware what music was when "Mandy" hit it big.

But I'll have fun...I'm going to wear my steel-belted undewear, just in case I offend a rabid Fanilow by not knowing all the words to "Daybreak." :hug:

Well you came and you gave without tak-i-i-in...but, I sent you away, OHHHH Mandy! :P

:P

Hope it doesn't take too long getting some sleep tonight! :evilgrin:

:D

:wow:

that must be one clean brain you've got there!

To come and to give without taking?

I mean, it's better than just showing up and taking without giving or coming, like a burglar might.

Thank you for the serenade! :D

but, he sent her away, OOOOO-OOOOOHHHHHH Mandy!

The evidence was there all along, wouldntjaknowit...

Guess so! :)

much back to square one again.

OOMMMMMMMMMMMM Andy, oh you came and you gave without takin...but, I sent you away, OOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM Andy?

Try singing it loudly in church and see what kinda feedback you get. :-)

I might find out more than I really want to about a few people...:evilgrin:

i'd go! :bounce:


oh wait, i probably should :blush: for saying that... doh! x(

(just don't forget to take a picture of it as proof, like LeftyMom did)

Be not blushingeth at thine Manilowian cravings! :hug:

He does put on a good show.

Or it's gonna be a loooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggg night. :-)

And I left screaming his name with joy. Barry is just flat out an awesome entertainer. Enjoy the show. I know you will!

Nobody can resist the power of Barry. Nobody.

Who am I? I've forgotten

Anyway, if I leave screaming his name with joy I...I...well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :o

in a hidden locale, I may or may not still have a streamer I caught during the encore.

He does seem energetic in a way, and like you said, I don't *dislike* him. Copacabana is a good catchy little tune and I'll listen to his version of "Baby it's cold outside".

But I am mystified by his success. I honestly don't understand it. The lyrics aren't fantastic, his voice isn't extraordinary, he's not sexy.... I really just... :shrug:

I do think he's a good guy and I'd be interested in seeing a show, just to see what the deal is.

You know I can't smile without you
I can't smile without you
I can't laugh
And I can't sing
I'm finding it hard
To do anything

You see I feel sad when you're sad
I feel glad when you're glad
If you only knew
What I'm going through
I just can't smile without you

:(

Kidding! I'm kidding! :evilgrin:

I grooved on him as a child. But I also grooved on KISS, and what does that tell you?

Split personality? :shrug:

As Forrest would say, "I needed the money."

you sound about my age...45?

Alive II was the second album I ever owned, the first being ELO. :7

System Of A Down among my favorites, but I have to admit: Barry Manilow's song "Ships" never fails to move me.

A great song about a son and an estranged father.

Ships
Barry Manilow

We walked to the sea.
Just my father and me.
And the dogs played around on the sand.
Winter cold cut the air.
Hangin' still everywhere.
Dressed in gray, did he say.
Hold my hand.
I said, love's easier when it's far away.
We sat and watched a distant light.
We're two ships that pass in the night.
We both smile and we say it's alright.
We're still here.
It's just that we're out of sight.
Like those ships that pass in the night.
There's a boat on the line.
Where the sea meets the sky.
There's another that rides far behind.
And it seems you and I are like strangers.
A wide ways apart as we drift on through time.
He said, it's harder now, we're far away.
We only read you when you write.
We're two ships that pass in the night.
And we smile when we say it's alright.
We're still here.
It's just that we're out of sight.
Like those ships that pass in the night.
We're just ships that pass in the night.
And we smile when we say it's alright.
We're still here.
It's just that we're out of sight.
Like those ships that pass in the night.

Written by a great writer. Ian Hunter wrote that one, it is on his album that had Cleveland Rocks on it. You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic.

It's an absolute heartbreaker--the finest thing he ever wrote or recorded.

He's a guilty pleasure, but he does have a good voice and did write some good songs.

He's gay, right?

true fact.

I'll just sit here and listen to the Manilow tunes I downloaded off RealPlayer and pretend I'm there in Vegas. Ah, how I'd love to visit Vegas again. Maybe some day.

Anyway, enjoy! :thumbsup:

Back from Manilowland.

It was pretty cool. He is pretty cool for such a perpetually, fundamentally uncool dude. :-)

The thing I liked about him before -- self-effacing humor -- really shone through in his show. Because it was a TV taping for a special (airing on PBS in March), there were a couple of stop-starts, as with the big entrance that was shot once straight and once with a cameraman getting Barry's POV, with Barry clowning around behind him to get the audience as riled up as they were for the real opening number. He was having problems with his voice -- he said he got the vocals okay at the 4 PM taping but that he seemed to be catching what everyone in Vegas has, but for the most part he sang very well -- he's got more range than he used to, can hold harder notes longer, and is probably benefiting from the vocal workout (but not the heinous kind you get on tours) a Vegas gig provides.

His voice really started to bother him and get hoarse when he was supposed to do "Unchained Melody," so he talked to the producer and decided to skip it...then he asked if anyone had the CD he'd done recently that had '50s songs (that one included) on it and, after killing time for a while as someone ran to get the CD, he had them play it so the audience could at least hear the song. But he decided to try lip-synching to it, just because -- he said he was terrible at it and made some pretty funny comments about today's lip-syncher pop acts -- and, yes, it was possibly the most pathetic display of lip-synching I've ever seen. It was funny, though.

Of course, as a kid in the '70s I grew up knowing a lot of his hits just by osmosis and, yeah, he's written some great stuff. A ballad called "Somewhere Down The Road" was pretty pretty and it was good to hear stuff like "Copacabana" and his '70s hits, but perhaps the real standout for me was a song he did called something like "Lay Me Down And Roll Me Out To Sea." That's the lyric, anyway -- great, and very much in the vein of Elton John's early '70s folk ballads, complete with bluesy-gospel nuances. I loved that song.

Anyway, I've seen more charismatic and compelling performers (just saw Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago!) but seeing Barry Manilow is worth the while because he just has so much fun up there on that stage. He's 61, though it doesn't seem it, and he is having a blast...makes some funny faces while singing (while not singing, too, of course) but it is obvious that he is really, really enjoying himself. He sang his heart out, he made a lot of people laugh an awful lot, and he danced so atrociously that it made me feel like Gene Kelly. It was great. I wouldn't have paid $175, or whatever the tickets go for, but it was great as a free show! The dude just enjoys it so much, as is very obvious, and it's hard not to appreciate and enjoy that...and I was kinda pulling for him to hit the notes, too.

Oh, yeah, he found the key to my heart when he mentioned that he was standing on Elvis' stage and said that he wanted to sing a song -- if his voice would allow him, and he'd stop if it didn't -- that was a great song and that he never met Elvis but that if Elvis felt any of the feelings expressed in the song then he was indeed a great person. I had a feeling what song it was going to be and it was: "If I Can Dream." Not terribly reminiscent of Elvis' take on the song, but still a nice tribute and a well-sung new addition to his repertoire.

And now, the Babewatch Report: :-) Wo...the audience was diverse, extremely, in age, but there were hordes of 20-something and 30-something bodacious young women there and I'd heartily recommend to gentlemen everywhere that they come here and place themselves strategically around the exit line from the Hilton's showroom after a Manilow concert. My eyes, though, were monopolized by one of his backup singers/dancers. :D

I enjoyed it a lot. Hardly a Fanilow, and he still fails to really "move me" a la the Troggs' "Wild Thing," but the guy's a great entertainer and he really knocks himself out for his audiences. Younger acts could learn a thing or two from people like him.

Jolly good show.

Did you like it, or not?
:hi:

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :D

I have a Barry Manilow album, and a collection of his songs for piano.
(Actually, I think he's a pretty good musician.)

:-)

Do you have the Band Aids jingle? :P

only in the collection of jingles he did on Manilow, Live.

Do you know "studio musician?" That's a great song.

times during the show -- he asked us to go listen to and give tips to the bar performers and lounge acts who work so hard, for so long (as he said, "from seven 'til three in the morning"), with -- often -- so little attentiuon from their audiences...he said that's where he came from.

W-A-A-A-Y BACK with Bette. He was just so cute, skinny and sweet in those days. Have ALWAYS loved his Schtick, he truly understands the "high art" of songwriting, something largely lost in these times.

It's a family affair now. Met him again a few years ago when my brother played in his band. Radio City Music Hall. Busloads of Fanilows, Mom, Dad, Gramma, Grandpa, sisters, cousins, aunts and a shitload of kids running up and down the aisles... EVERYONE SANG ALONG. It was Schmaltz City Feel-Good HEAVEN and I. JUST. LOVED. IT!!!

And he's STILL just so sweet...

:hug:

That is really, really cool. And the note is just great -- reinforces what I've heard about him being a genuinely good guy.

Thanks.... :loveya:

Also: "Mandy"

And you're saying He's better than Wayne Newton?

And why is this??

:-)

Actually, Wayne Newton is a family friend from way, way, way back. I'm the only one who hasn't met him, yet, and now I even live a couple of miles from his place. He's apparently a really nice dude, about or almost my height (I think he's 6'4"), strong as an ox, and a martial artist -- all things I can sure appreciate and relate to -- and he likes Elvis so much he borrowed part of his act! :-)

I don't know how deeply his political positions run, and I wouldn't believe everything he says for public consumption (about his closeness to Elvis, for example, which is overplayed), and I DON'T quite know how he got to be the big Vegas icon, but he is, apparently, a very genuine, gentle, and thoroughly nice and decent man offstage. I'm looking forward to meeting him, actually.

And would crown him the new king of Vegas, over Barry.

Still a talented dude, playing all those instruments.

I don't see Barry as a true King of Vegas, though, so I guess there's no choice but for me to ramp up my singing career here and just goshdarn do it myself. :-)

You'll get lifetime free tickets to my showroom, of course.

find a pair of tighter pants. :o