Suzan
2016-05-08 14:23:02 UTC
Wow, too much to say, and I've had no sleep yet, so I'll just hit a few highlights and let others tell more. Great, great evening, very emotional. Apologies in advance for anything I'm mixing up or remembering incorrectly, especially the order of events. It was recorded by professional cameras, so hopefully it will be shared on Manilow TV or elsewhere.
The curtain rose to Barry standing right at the edge of the stage. We rose to our feet cheering, and he quickly launched into a gorgeous, full-length version of Who Needs to Dream! It was wonderful, and he already had us emotionally wound up not even 5 minutes into MWM!!! He followed by saying that is THE most requested song, and he rarely does it, so he wanted to share it with us. Sigh.....
He joked that this wasn't a concert, it was a "we don't know what the hell we're doing" and he had a glass of white wine which he sipped from periodically. He clarified it was the end of touring but not performing. He explained the format--that he would take a few questions, sing a few songs, and talk about some of his favorite tours over the years. He said they'd done 27 tours since that first one, and each segment was preceded by him saying 'My third favorite tour was..." or "My fourth favorite tour was..." He had a stack of notes to help him stay on track, which he frequently waved around and referred to often. We were still standing, and Kye told Barry to tell us to sit. He seemed surprised to realize we were standing, then turned and humorously told us all yeah, sit the *&^ down!
He talked about his first tour after getting his record contract, mentioned the Bijou Cafe in PA, Paul's Mall, and other early venues. He brought out Debra Byrd (to the American Idol theme) as his first guest, listing her current credentials. They hugged and shared stories about her first audition with Barry, with Barry complimenting that she could sing high, medium and low, and Debra interjecting that she had to sightread, which he emphasized as important. He told how she was "prim and proper" in her business suit and that he encouraged her to wear lots of eye makeup, lipstick, heels, etc. Barry had a video of him performing (I think) Could It Be Magic on Dick Cavett show and she was wearing tons of glittery eyeshadow. He later joked she was channeling her "inner Ho" and suggested she actually liked all the makeup. He pointed out band members from the original City Rhythm band, including Lee Gurst and the late Steve Donaghey ("God rest his soul.)"
There was another video of a very early TV interview when Barry was just starting out, and the announcers spoke of how he was starting to have an impact and foreshadowed his career would take off. I'd never seen it--this was pre-Mandy, and Barry looked incredibly young. While the video tapes played (Barry asked that the stage lights be turned off while the videos were playing), he sometimes subtly puffed on an electronic cigarette, but usually just watched the video screen, standing in the dark with his back to us.
The second guest was Muffy, representing the Big Fun tour, who was already onstage, but came over to join Debra by the piano, accompanied by music from Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing". She talked about having worked with many other performers, always in the background, but she'd seen him (live? On tv? I can't recall) with Lady Flash, and thought she'd like to be part of that camaraderie. Two years later she was invited to join. He talked about how different it was for her being up front,and as an example, described the red pop-up capes used in Copacabana around 1978. He said during rehearsals the capes would flip up from the back, then down over their heads, until they learned to control them. He played a video from the HBO TV special of the three girls in the capes during Copa.
He followed Muffy's segment by singing I Was A Fool To Let You Go.
Then, his next favorite tour was Swingstreet. He brought out Dana Robbins, but said Billy Kidd couldn't make it. He told a story about needing a baritone sax player and seeing this beautiful woman in the recording studio. He asked if she played Bari sax and she said "sure" but she actually didn't; she had to rent one for the audition. Barry explained how there are 4 sax types, soprano, alto, tenor and bari, and how it takes more air and is more difficult to play the Bari-sax . He played a video from the Gershwin of Dana, Debra and him performing Some Good Things Never Last.
He sang a very emotional version of Best Seat In The House, purposely looking at individuals in the audience throughout. Some of the audience had planned to serenade Barry with this song at the end of MWM anyway, so some people sang along to this one. This is one of my all time favorites and it really hit me hard emotionally, especially following Who Needs To Dream earlier in the evening!
He interspersed the segments about each tour with a few audience questions. That meant , unfortunately, that some of the spontaneous questions were rather weak. He specified no requests for autographs or hugs, but eventually was pleading, "does anyone have a really GOOD question?" He never used the ones we sent in at all. Instead, there was a convoluted question asking if he'd heard of some Canadian radio station involving an artificial James Taylor/Barry Manilow controversy, and he had no idea what she was talking about. He did say he'd never met James Taylor but loved his work. One person asked him to sing Happy Birthday to her mom Victoria--he did ("key of F!") along with the audience. Another person asked him to sing When October Goes, which he deferred because his voice wasn't able to handle that one just then--it deserved more rehearsal. One man started out great ("We've been friends for 30 years, we just haven't had the opportunity to meet yet") but then proceeded to say Barry had inspired him to learn piano and his dream was to accompany Barry on a song. He blatantly asked to come up and play for him. Barry handled it graciously, saying he had a format to follow and a lot planned, so maybe he could do it later in the evening, or if not, there was a piano in his dressing room and he could do it backstage. I doubt the guy got to do it.
I don't remember how it was phrased, but one lady asked what it was about him that inspired so much love and adoration from us, bringing us back year after year. He thought it was a great question, but said he didn't know. He said he'd thought about it a lot, especially putting this together, but really didn't know how to answer. Later, another woman introduced herself, and said she would be so bold as to answer for him. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but instead, the lady spoke very eloquently about how he was able to express the feelings that every one of us had, and gave the example of "There's a kid inside" and how each of us could relate to being bullied or feeling inadequate. She talked of how she was widowed at 35, raising 2 children, and how his music helped her cope, and how all our lives are impacted by his music. She did a beautiful job of succinctly conveying what all of us have felt so strongly for so long, but didn't have the words to voice it. During her response, he listened intently and quietly, taking in her words, clearly moved, and I swear it was the key moment of the night for me--probably for all of us. I wish I could fully express the raw emotion in the room. My highest kudos to this lady for intelligently and beautifully expressing our feelings without making fans seem stupid or wacky.
The next guest was Ron Pedley, who remained back with the band, for the Live on Broadway tour. Barry talked of how he was so talented with various synthesizers, and showed a concert videoclip of Ron dressed up in a top hat and huge Elton-John style glasses playing the spacey, eerie intro to the show entirely on synthesizers. I had seen this tour, of course, but completely forgotten about this introduction, so it was a real treat to hear it again.
Kye was up as the next guest, representing the Showstoppers tour and joining the 3 girls seated on stools by the piano. Barry talked about how that tour rearranged Barry's works to sound as if they were created by various composers, and how he hired KEVYN Brackett. Kye said there were already 4 Kevins on the tour (stage manager, lighting director...) and he already spelled it with a Y so he decided to go by KY. Barry said he was a singer, not a lubricant (!), and so they added the E to make Kye. Barry said he never calls him Kevyn--he's always Kye. Later Kye discovered that the name means something like "the mouth of God brings Joy." [I probably just completely mixed that up, but it was a great definition...] Kye referred to himself as the artist previously known as Kevyn.
Kye said Barry saw him dancing to Fascinating Rhythm in rehearsal and how Barry incorporated it into the show. Barry played a video clip of Kye and Barry performing Fascinating Rhythm during a live concert filmed by Marc. I'd been fortunate to see a number of concerts that tour, and Fascinating Rhythm was always one of the highlights. Watching the amazing, multi-talented Kye dance is always a genuine pleasure. As Barry and Kye watched the clip, they bounced up and down as if dancing in place.
Melanie represented the Hilton years. She thanked him publicly for helping her grow to become the person she is, and said "as one only child to another, we have a great family here." She said she's the only one who was a fan before joining. She'd traveled with (I think) a Disney production overseas, and listened to Paradise Cafe every night.
She also told a very funny story about the Hilton days. Barry had a small, private elevator, only about the size of the piano She said one day, only she, Barry and his bodyguard CJ were getting in the elevator (Barry partially explained the bodyguard by quietly saying "There were a lot of people....") At the last second, a strange guy jumped into the elevator with them. Melanie jokingly pantomimed that CJ was reaching for a gun in his breast pocket. The intruder started talking..."I'm so and so and I'm from such and such city" Melanie said Barry replied, "I'm Barry Manilow. What the f*ck are you doing in my elevator?!"
Barry spoke of how much he disliked the travel, and told a joke about an old prostitute saying "it's not the work, it's the stairs!" He re-emphasized that he loved the music, & his band, but the travel had gotten to him. He said the greatest moment would be when he put away his Tumi luggage after 45 years.
There were other audience questions too: a question about a bucket list item he still wanted to do was deflected--he said he just wanted to take a break, and he hadn't thought about it yet. Ironically, someone asked if he and Garry planned to travel the world after he quit touring. He laughed that it was the LAST thing he wanted to do right now!
Toward the end, since he was talking about touring, he took time to call out lots of different people and thank them individually--his "brother" Marc, Sacha, stage manager, Amber (commenting about how her cue book was thicker than War and Peace), internal and external sound guys (Kenny Newman, Will, lighting, and many more. He thanked his husband Garry, the Stiletto team (Vicki, Lynn, Chris, Doug, Ritchie, and "our daughter, Kirsten") who he pointed out had become a lovely young woman of whom he couldn't be prouder. He mentioned his Godson, Adam Kief, who wasn't there tonight because he flew back to LA this morning as he just graduated from college. (Congrats to Adam!!!) Barry realized he'd overlooked the band and thanked them as well.
Of course, he thanked us too for the support. He ended by singing "We'll Meet Again", and most the audience joined in. He joined hands with all the people on stage-- Debra, Muffy, Melanie, Dana, and Kye, for a group bow. Barry went down the line, hugging each one of them, then turned to wave and blow a few kisses our direction before the curtain closed.
Thank you, Barry, for sharing this wonderful evening with us.
Suzan
Postscript: I'm told the lady who spoke so expressively about our fandom was named Jeri Lewis Greenberg.
The curtain rose to Barry standing right at the edge of the stage. We rose to our feet cheering, and he quickly launched into a gorgeous, full-length version of Who Needs to Dream! It was wonderful, and he already had us emotionally wound up not even 5 minutes into MWM!!! He followed by saying that is THE most requested song, and he rarely does it, so he wanted to share it with us. Sigh.....
He joked that this wasn't a concert, it was a "we don't know what the hell we're doing" and he had a glass of white wine which he sipped from periodically. He clarified it was the end of touring but not performing. He explained the format--that he would take a few questions, sing a few songs, and talk about some of his favorite tours over the years. He said they'd done 27 tours since that first one, and each segment was preceded by him saying 'My third favorite tour was..." or "My fourth favorite tour was..." He had a stack of notes to help him stay on track, which he frequently waved around and referred to often. We were still standing, and Kye told Barry to tell us to sit. He seemed surprised to realize we were standing, then turned and humorously told us all yeah, sit the *&^ down!
He talked about his first tour after getting his record contract, mentioned the Bijou Cafe in PA, Paul's Mall, and other early venues. He brought out Debra Byrd (to the American Idol theme) as his first guest, listing her current credentials. They hugged and shared stories about her first audition with Barry, with Barry complimenting that she could sing high, medium and low, and Debra interjecting that she had to sightread, which he emphasized as important. He told how she was "prim and proper" in her business suit and that he encouraged her to wear lots of eye makeup, lipstick, heels, etc. Barry had a video of him performing (I think) Could It Be Magic on Dick Cavett show and she was wearing tons of glittery eyeshadow. He later joked she was channeling her "inner Ho" and suggested she actually liked all the makeup. He pointed out band members from the original City Rhythm band, including Lee Gurst and the late Steve Donaghey ("God rest his soul.)"
There was another video of a very early TV interview when Barry was just starting out, and the announcers spoke of how he was starting to have an impact and foreshadowed his career would take off. I'd never seen it--this was pre-Mandy, and Barry looked incredibly young. While the video tapes played (Barry asked that the stage lights be turned off while the videos were playing), he sometimes subtly puffed on an electronic cigarette, but usually just watched the video screen, standing in the dark with his back to us.
The second guest was Muffy, representing the Big Fun tour, who was already onstage, but came over to join Debra by the piano, accompanied by music from Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing". She talked about having worked with many other performers, always in the background, but she'd seen him (live? On tv? I can't recall) with Lady Flash, and thought she'd like to be part of that camaraderie. Two years later she was invited to join. He talked about how different it was for her being up front,and as an example, described the red pop-up capes used in Copacabana around 1978. He said during rehearsals the capes would flip up from the back, then down over their heads, until they learned to control them. He played a video from the HBO TV special of the three girls in the capes during Copa.
He followed Muffy's segment by singing I Was A Fool To Let You Go.
Then, his next favorite tour was Swingstreet. He brought out Dana Robbins, but said Billy Kidd couldn't make it. He told a story about needing a baritone sax player and seeing this beautiful woman in the recording studio. He asked if she played Bari sax and she said "sure" but she actually didn't; she had to rent one for the audition. Barry explained how there are 4 sax types, soprano, alto, tenor and bari, and how it takes more air and is more difficult to play the Bari-sax . He played a video from the Gershwin of Dana, Debra and him performing Some Good Things Never Last.
He sang a very emotional version of Best Seat In The House, purposely looking at individuals in the audience throughout. Some of the audience had planned to serenade Barry with this song at the end of MWM anyway, so some people sang along to this one. This is one of my all time favorites and it really hit me hard emotionally, especially following Who Needs To Dream earlier in the evening!
He interspersed the segments about each tour with a few audience questions. That meant , unfortunately, that some of the spontaneous questions were rather weak. He specified no requests for autographs or hugs, but eventually was pleading, "does anyone have a really GOOD question?" He never used the ones we sent in at all. Instead, there was a convoluted question asking if he'd heard of some Canadian radio station involving an artificial James Taylor/Barry Manilow controversy, and he had no idea what she was talking about. He did say he'd never met James Taylor but loved his work. One person asked him to sing Happy Birthday to her mom Victoria--he did ("key of F!") along with the audience. Another person asked him to sing When October Goes, which he deferred because his voice wasn't able to handle that one just then--it deserved more rehearsal. One man started out great ("We've been friends for 30 years, we just haven't had the opportunity to meet yet") but then proceeded to say Barry had inspired him to learn piano and his dream was to accompany Barry on a song. He blatantly asked to come up and play for him. Barry handled it graciously, saying he had a format to follow and a lot planned, so maybe he could do it later in the evening, or if not, there was a piano in his dressing room and he could do it backstage. I doubt the guy got to do it.
I don't remember how it was phrased, but one lady asked what it was about him that inspired so much love and adoration from us, bringing us back year after year. He thought it was a great question, but said he didn't know. He said he'd thought about it a lot, especially putting this together, but really didn't know how to answer. Later, another woman introduced herself, and said she would be so bold as to answer for him. That sounds like a recipe for disaster, but instead, the lady spoke very eloquently about how he was able to express the feelings that every one of us had, and gave the example of "There's a kid inside" and how each of us could relate to being bullied or feeling inadequate. She talked of how she was widowed at 35, raising 2 children, and how his music helped her cope, and how all our lives are impacted by his music. She did a beautiful job of succinctly conveying what all of us have felt so strongly for so long, but didn't have the words to voice it. During her response, he listened intently and quietly, taking in her words, clearly moved, and I swear it was the key moment of the night for me--probably for all of us. I wish I could fully express the raw emotion in the room. My highest kudos to this lady for intelligently and beautifully expressing our feelings without making fans seem stupid or wacky.
The next guest was Ron Pedley, who remained back with the band, for the Live on Broadway tour. Barry talked of how he was so talented with various synthesizers, and showed a concert videoclip of Ron dressed up in a top hat and huge Elton-John style glasses playing the spacey, eerie intro to the show entirely on synthesizers. I had seen this tour, of course, but completely forgotten about this introduction, so it was a real treat to hear it again.
Kye was up as the next guest, representing the Showstoppers tour and joining the 3 girls seated on stools by the piano. Barry talked about how that tour rearranged Barry's works to sound as if they were created by various composers, and how he hired KEVYN Brackett. Kye said there were already 4 Kevins on the tour (stage manager, lighting director...) and he already spelled it with a Y so he decided to go by KY. Barry said he was a singer, not a lubricant (!), and so they added the E to make Kye. Barry said he never calls him Kevyn--he's always Kye. Later Kye discovered that the name means something like "the mouth of God brings Joy." [I probably just completely mixed that up, but it was a great definition...] Kye referred to himself as the artist previously known as Kevyn.
Kye said Barry saw him dancing to Fascinating Rhythm in rehearsal and how Barry incorporated it into the show. Barry played a video clip of Kye and Barry performing Fascinating Rhythm during a live concert filmed by Marc. I'd been fortunate to see a number of concerts that tour, and Fascinating Rhythm was always one of the highlights. Watching the amazing, multi-talented Kye dance is always a genuine pleasure. As Barry and Kye watched the clip, they bounced up and down as if dancing in place.
Melanie represented the Hilton years. She thanked him publicly for helping her grow to become the person she is, and said "as one only child to another, we have a great family here." She said she's the only one who was a fan before joining. She'd traveled with (I think) a Disney production overseas, and listened to Paradise Cafe every night.
She also told a very funny story about the Hilton days. Barry had a small, private elevator, only about the size of the piano She said one day, only she, Barry and his bodyguard CJ were getting in the elevator (Barry partially explained the bodyguard by quietly saying "There were a lot of people....") At the last second, a strange guy jumped into the elevator with them. Melanie jokingly pantomimed that CJ was reaching for a gun in his breast pocket. The intruder started talking..."I'm so and so and I'm from such and such city" Melanie said Barry replied, "I'm Barry Manilow. What the f*ck are you doing in my elevator?!"
Barry spoke of how much he disliked the travel, and told a joke about an old prostitute saying "it's not the work, it's the stairs!" He re-emphasized that he loved the music, & his band, but the travel had gotten to him. He said the greatest moment would be when he put away his Tumi luggage after 45 years.
There were other audience questions too: a question about a bucket list item he still wanted to do was deflected--he said he just wanted to take a break, and he hadn't thought about it yet. Ironically, someone asked if he and Garry planned to travel the world after he quit touring. He laughed that it was the LAST thing he wanted to do right now!
Toward the end, since he was talking about touring, he took time to call out lots of different people and thank them individually--his "brother" Marc, Sacha, stage manager, Amber (commenting about how her cue book was thicker than War and Peace), internal and external sound guys (Kenny Newman, Will, lighting, and many more. He thanked his husband Garry, the Stiletto team (Vicki, Lynn, Chris, Doug, Ritchie, and "our daughter, Kirsten") who he pointed out had become a lovely young woman of whom he couldn't be prouder. He mentioned his Godson, Adam Kief, who wasn't there tonight because he flew back to LA this morning as he just graduated from college. (Congrats to Adam!!!) Barry realized he'd overlooked the band and thanked them as well.
Of course, he thanked us too for the support. He ended by singing "We'll Meet Again", and most the audience joined in. He joined hands with all the people on stage-- Debra, Muffy, Melanie, Dana, and Kye, for a group bow. Barry went down the line, hugging each one of them, then turned to wave and blow a few kisses our direction before the curtain closed.
Thank you, Barry, for sharing this wonderful evening with us.
Suzan
Postscript: I'm told the lady who spoke so expressively about our fandom was named Jeri Lewis Greenberg.