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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

OT - RIP, Ms Taylor

My favorite role of hers was as Kate in Zefferelli's adaptation  of Taming of the Shrew.  It was the one Shakesperian play that I read for enjoyment, not just because my English teacher was holding my grade over my head.

Anyone else see this?  Anyone else think it was no accident that Richard Burton played Petruchio?  Anyone else think the "will you, nill you, I will marry you" sequence wasn't acting?  Rather just reciting the lines during one of their usual fights?

Whatever it was, it was a great performance.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

They Write the Songs

Thanks to whoever it was on the alt newsgroup who reminded me about this radio series on the BBC.   Hard to get the time straight with the time zone difference anyway.

Anywho, no commentary on these.  Not because I don't love hearing Barry's expertise, but because I'm going to do myself a favor, sit down, shut up, crack open my brain and my ears and hopefully learn something from someone who knows more about music than I could hope to learn in several lifetimes.

I'll post the links as they pop up.  No guarantees as to how long they will be available so get them while you can.

Gershwin edition:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00zczf9/They_Write_the_Songs_George_Gershwin

Monday, March 14, 2011

Bring On Tomorrow

First single from the new record 15 Minutes

Get your download here.  Feed your iPod.  Keep your music library happy and it will keep you happy.

This song is a great teaser.  My usual overanalysis to come after the kids are in bed.

MUAH!  Thanks Barry and TPTB for starting the week off right!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Starting Again

It's a good feeling to have so much stuff to catch up with.  Here's the first go-round.

Hi everyone


Hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve.
Now and then I think back to those wild New Year's Eve shows that we used to do at Radio City in New York and at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. They were such fun.

The Florida gigs were very exciting. If you were there – thanks for coming. Being accompanied by Florida’s Charlotte Symphony Orchestra was thrilling. They were so good, I nearly stopped singing and just listened to them!

Feel free to put some of those on ManilowTV.  You were so close and yet so far.  Not able to take out of state trips for a while.  But I know there were a lot of happy people in Florida.  Congrats!

Thanks for the nice things some of you wrote about the shows and the great photos too.

The shows at Paris Las Vegas keep getting more and more exciting. We rehearsed a new batch of songs for the show and I’ll be including them now and then. For this show, it’s very difficult to just choose a song and drop it in the way I’ve done at the Hilton or on tours. This magnificent production is so dependent on production (lights, video, moving parts of the stage) that it’s really impossible to just throw in a song here and there without the possibility of people getting hurt. So whenever I want to throw in a new song, it takes hours and hours to re-do lights and all the moving parts. But this week we spent three days inserting songs and they look and sound great.

Is the show that complicated that you can't do more than one version for exactly this scenario?  If you have different songs or sequences you want to include on occasion or just want to switch it up once in a while, how about just rehearsing different versions of the show?  No, I have no idea what I'm talking about, just throwing it out from how it looks in the audience.

Michael (Lloyd), my co-producer and I are done with the “15 Minutes” album. Fifteen original songs by Enoch Anderson and me with a very current idea – Fame…Can You Take It?
Here’s the liner notes that will be included with the credits of the album:

Fame... Can You Take It?

That’s the question jumping out at us daily from magazine covers, TV news, and online gossip sites. In my world of entertainment, I’ve watched perfectly decent and talented people achieve the success that they’ve been striving for, only to crash and burn as their star rises.

But it happens in every walk of life, not only the entertainment field. It happens in politics, in sports and in daily life when the assistant manager at the grocery store gets promoted.

Fame. Success.

When and if we get it, how do we handle it? Gratefully and inspiringly – or do we choose to go the other way and treat people badly and ourselves destructively?

This original album of songs, written by myself and the brilliant Enoch Anderson, tells the story of someone who wants fame, gets it, blows it and begins again.

Will he make better choices the second time around?

Who knows if he will? That’s for another album.

I hope you enjoy this album. Maybe you’ll see yourself in it. I do.

Barry Manilow

This is a great intro.  It's even more timely now for the population at large because of the growth of the internet - Facebook, websites, blogs (like this one), YouTube - and "reality" TV, where people put all of their business on TV.  People believe the line of shit show producers sell them, as well as their own fantasies, that all of their problems will be solved if they become famous by any means necessary.  You know better than anyone who reads this blog that none of that is true.  I wonder - was it ever frustrating talking to fans or whoever in the public who seem to think they know all about your life and think it's perfect and they really didn't have any idea?

The release date remains somewhere between March and May.  Stay tuned.

Feel free to narrow that down some.  I'm listening to your little stint on Chris Evans as I type this and I'm working on my next commentary.  Yes it's good, make sure you stop by.  As usual, more analysis, more questions.  I seriously want to hear the rest of this record.

I also wanted to let you know that we lost one of our two beloved pups on New Year’s Eve. She was only five. It’s killing all of us, the family, the band, the crew, the singers. Terrible. Please donate to your local animal shelter.

I am really sorry to hear this.  I understand.  I'm more a cat person and one time we had 3 in the house. I had to make the call to put down the oldest about 3 years ago when she showed the first stage of multi-organ failure.  My husband didn't think I had the guts to do it.  My eldest daughter was only 2 at the time and didnt' understand why Mommy was trying not to cry and telling her to "say goodbye to kitty".  We had a great vet - they all signed a sympathy card for the family.  Point is, I understand and my heart goes out to you.

Until next time,

Ditto

Love,
Barry

YBA

We Now Return You to Our Regularly Scheduled Program, Already In Progress

I'm back!  The crisis known as life is past and I can finally take a break and get back to what's important.

The drought is over, hell has frozen and we have new material to discuss!

Stay tuned!

MUAH!!!