Blogging "BBC: House Music with Ken Bruce"

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So I belong to a FB group called Manilow Music and Passion. This group has not yet booted my ass out, although I'm now on probation or something.
Basically what happened is: People post photos of Mr M and everyone comments. Normally I never comment but, in response to one photo, I suggested that Mr M looked like he was making an O face. Well, evidently this caused a shit ton of pearl-clutching, and resulted in me receiving a verbal warning from the moderator that my comment was "inappropriate".
Sorry. Didn't realize this FB group was Amish. Whatever.

Anyhooooo, this FB group posted a video from BBC Radio 2: House Music with Ken Bruce.

Which was like a breath of fresh air. Let's do a close read.

House Music with Ken Bruce.

In which Mr M appears live from PS. Here we have the same room as in previous appearances on various shows. Mr M's wearing the same purple satiny shirt. Must be his go-to outfit for these interviews.

Mr M looks great - well rested, tanned, relaxed. Better than he's looked in a while, I think. Not saying he's looked bad in prior appearances, just that he looks particularly good tonight.

Mr M thanks Mr Bruce for promoting When The Good Times Come Again which is on the rise as a single in the UK (and perhaps also in the states; y'all can look that up because I'm not)

Our guy provides us with historical perspective: WTGTCA was originally released 31 years ago on the album 'Barry Manilow' (which incidentally I purchased on CD last night)

Mr M reflects that he moved on to other work and didn't give this song much thought until he found a lyric video on YouTube which was created by two guys in Israel. In the midst of this pandemic the song and the video have become a sort of anthem. We see a snippet of the vid and yup, it gives us all the feels.
Mr M reveals he also gets the major feels when listening to this again.


But let's back up for a minute: so Mr M was poking about on YouTube.
This raises questions. Does he search YouTube for his own videos? Or does he search for cute puppy videos and just happened upon this vid for WTGTCA?

Follow up question: does he google himself? I can't imagine Mr M wasting time randomly surfing the internet. I tend to think Mr M lives such a rich, creative, and exciting life that he doesn't have the time or inclination to do mundane stuff. But I might be surprised.
Maybe right now he's in bed, surfing the net and watching some stupid hallmark tv movie and yelling to the handsome hubs: "SWEETIE DO WE HAVE ANY GUMMY BEARS? COULD YOU BRING ME SOME?"

Stars! They're just like us! or, you know, maybe not.

Moving on.

Mr M muses about his time during lockdown and grows nostalgic for LV - how much he misses performing, how much he misses the fans (Hi, Mr M!), and his band and the crew.
He says he loves his job. Loves performing. Which is fortunate for us, because, we happen to love him performing too.

He speaks about Mandy, which was "recorded in 1821". His first big hit and changed his life. SAME; changed our lives too, baby.
And Mandy is "now living in an assisted living program".
He breaks into that song and man oh man I miss seeing this guy. His voice sounds beautiful. That's the only word for it. Whether due to a period of vocal rest during quarantine, or as a result of my not having seen Mr M perform live in a while, doesn't matter. His voice sounds beautiful to me.

Next we are segueing into IWTS, just the first line and it's over.

Well, that was a nice little visit with our guy. Thank you, Manilow Music and Passion.

Annie

[dcsharon]

Did you miss Part II?

PS - the Director's Chair came from an event he did with Suzanne Somers in Palm Desert (Operation Safehouse Benefit).

(DC) Sharon

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Post by dcsharon
Did you miss Part II?
http://youtu.be/5tFAY4Pamw4
PS - the Director's Chair came from an event he did with Suzanne Somers in Palm Desert (Operation Safehouse Benefit).
(DC) Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I did miss Part II. Thank you for bringing this to my attention!
What a sweet little medley.

What's the backstory on the chair? I mean, how did Mr M come to acquire it during the benefit? I see that Operation Safehouse is one of the charities that receives funds from A Christmas Gift of Love.

Anyway, you guys are a wealth of Mansplaining and thank you for that!

Annie

[dcsharon]

In December 2006, Suzanne Somers hosted a benefit for Operation Safehouse in Palm Springs. Barry performed a mini-medley and sang and accompanied Suzanne on a song or two (I'm thinking 2 - I was a fool to let you go, and We can be Kind).

At the conclusion of the show, if you had purchased a certain dollar amount ticket, you were able to get a photo with Barry and Suzanne after the show. The staging area for photos had the 2 directors chairs - one with his name, and one with hers.

Side note - I was wearing a bracelet and watch from Suzanne's jewelry line (at one point, we had a team of Suzanne consultants and our proceeds (at that time) went to the Manilow Fund for Hope (or whatever it was called pre-MMP). Barry noticed my very sparkly wrist and showed it to Suzanne saying, "look at these, aren't they pretty??" Yep. Very pretty (and mine ... I'm sure she wanted to say, but she didn't).

So I believe that's where the Director's Chair came from. I can't prove it, of course, but it looks like the one from our Meet and Greet photos from that night.

(DC) Sharon

[a***@gmail.com]

Post by dcsharon
In December 2006, Suzanne Somers hosted a benefit for Operation Safehouse in Palm Springs. Barry performed a mini-medley and sang and accompanied Suzanne on a song or two (I'm thinking 2 - I was a fool to let you go, and We can be Kind).
At the conclusion of the show, if you had purchased a certain dollar amount ticket, you were able to get a photo with Barry and Suzanne after the show. The staging area for photos had the 2 directors chairs - one with his name, and one with hers.
Side note - I was wearing a bracelet and watch from Suzanne's jewelry line (at one point, we had a team of Suzanne consultants and our proceeds (at that time) went to the Manilow Fund for Hope (or whatever it was called pre-MMP). Barry noticed my very sparkly wrist and showed it to Suzanne saying, "look at these, aren't they pretty??" Yep. Very pretty (and mine ... I'm sure she wanted to say, but she didn't).
So I believe that's where the Director's Chair came from. I can't prove it, of course, but it looks like the one from our Meet and Greet photos from that night.
(DC) Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I never owned any, but I remember when Suzanne was a regular on the HSN channel selling those bracelets. I think they were called "Trillion dollar bracelets" or something like that? I seem to remember they looked like tennis bracelets but with really big stones and they came in different colors. I always liked them, but I don't wear a lot of jewelry so never bought one.


I think it's so cute that Mr M noticed your jewelry. I remember Mr M's show at Foxwoods, Ct back in 2015 I think it was, when he chose a girl from the audience to dance with him and he commented on her high-heeled shoes. So I guess Mr M notices the little fashion details.
And of course he noticed my reindeer antlers : )

thanks for the backstory on the chair!

Annie