Vacation Plans Have Changed

Barry and Carly changed their vacation plans. Instead of going to Boston and Cape Cod. They were going to Texas Sunday September 17th Barry was doing a benefit concert for the Texans effected by hurricane Harvey. Barry had also found Waco Texas was about one hour and forty-five minutes south of Dallas. Barry wanted to surprise Carly with a little bed and breakfast time. Last year Barry  made reservations at the Magnolia House Bed and Breakfast which owned by Chip and Joanna Gains. Now Barry had seen a virtual tour of the Magnolia House and decided that was the perfect place for a little R&R. So while they were down there Barry would do his Hurricane Harvey Benefit concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Barry really wanted to see the Magnolia Market at the Silos and the bakery. Barry had been renovating his Brooklyn Heights townhome little by little. He was giving the interior a farmhouse feel. Which was a cozy and homey feel that Barry wanted. Unlike Brian  who only liked the modern style. Barry liked a more cozy homey style of furniture Barry also liked color. Where as Brian likes mostly black stuff. The only black Barry had was a tuxedo, one suite and some dress pants and jeans. Everything else jeans and pants wise was color. Brown, blue, olive green, kaki and tan. Barry had also heard that Brian Murphy had his right ear pierced. Of course piercing your right ear meant you were gay which Brian Murphy was. Other than a watch that Dick Clark gave him Barry only wore his wedding ring. When the woman's ring was on top of the man's ring you could see two inter twined hearts. Barry had each ring engraved. Hers had Barry on it. While his had Carly on it. The watch Dick Clark gave Barry had two faces.  Dick had one of those so he could have one set for east coast time and the other for west coast time. Barry still wore that watch however he changed the time on the one. He use to do New York and Palm Springs times. But since he no longer lived in Palm Springs he changed the Palm Springs one to London time. Barry recently did a phone interview for Parade Magazine. Parade Magazine came out on Sunday's in many local newspapers. The interview was for the "Sunday With" column for Sunday September 17, 2017. Parade Magazine had sent Barry twenty copies of the magazine with him in it. Barry had also made the cover of Parade Magazine. Tonight was Barry's concert to benefit Hurricane Harvey. Barry had invited his friends label mate saxophonist Kenny G. and singer Cyndi Lauper. Near the end of the concert The Living Sound Chorus from Dallas would  come out to sing Copacabana and Let Freedom Ring with Barry.  Barry had talked to their pastor Rickie Bush about them preforming with him when he played the benefit shows for Hurricane Irma. Pastor Rickie said yes to doing that. Prior to going down to Dallas Barry got a shave and trim. He finally shaved his sideburns off. Then got his hair trimmed a half an inch. That was to get rid of the split ends. Barry asked Carly of all the hair styles he had over the years which one was her favorite. Carly told Barry she loved the hair style he had during his 1991 to 1992 Showstoppers tour. I like your hair when it's more fuller and shaggy she said. When Barry got home from Cutler's salon Carly told him she talked to Rita who had gone to Brian Murphy's recent show at Nassau Coliseum. Rita had gone with Kathy, Janice and Holly. She said that it looked like Brian had gotten a perm. Remember his hair style from 1980 to 1984? Oh yeah I remember that style said Barry Brian had it permed back then.  Rita also said Kathy, Holly and Janice did their platinum packages. In the ladies room Holly told Rita Brian was acting a lot more Liberace like. The reason that  Rita went with Kathy, Holly and Janice is because they had an extra ticket. Rita also mentioned that Brian's show was the same old same old.. Garry said when he saw Brian at the Forum in LA he thought the show was getting very stale. Barry and Carly were back from their Texas vacation. They had a wonderful time down there. Barry's Hurricane Harvey benefit raised over six hundred thousand dollars. Barry had chipped in his own three thousand dollars. One thousand went to the Red Cross. Another thousand went to the  Gulf Coast Humane Society. The last thousand went to the Houston SPCA It was a good thing that Barry and Carly had an extra kitchen on the garden floor. Right now their main kitchen on the parlor floor was being remodeled. Barry had gotten new kitchen appliances when he moved into the house back in two thousand and four. The refrigerator, stove,  dishwasher and microwave were all thirteen years old. Barry wanted to change the kitchen from electric to gas. Barry hated the electric cook top and electric wall ovens. Barry wanted professional gas stove which would give him a little more cabinet space. The main kitchen was right next to the front entrance of the house. So there was really no way that the kitchen could be made open concept. Little by little Barry was taking each room and having them remodeled. New flooring, paint, furniture, appliances and ETC.

New York City Rhythm Cover.

Brian Murphy More Show Dates?

Brian Murphy was maybe (?) adding a few more show dates for next year 2018. They would be Mexico City Mexico? Brasilia Brazil? Buenos Aires Argentina? and Santiago Chile?  Everyone knew that Brian was going to do these four shows next year in Mexico and South America. Now what was

that Brian Murphy said about  no more flying, no more hotel food and no more hotel rooms. Famous last words yeah right Brian Murphy.  Brian had just added another New York City Nassau Coliseum show to his growing list of dates. Now why (?) didn't Brian just go back on tour instead of doing a few shows here and a few shows there. Barry Manilow and others who knew him felt that he was becoming too much of a diva. Now wait a minute weren't divas mostly women? Yes they sure were mostly women not men. But that was what was happening to him he was becoming too much like a diva. Garry Kief thought Brian was acting too much like a prima Dona.  Garry saw Brian this past summer when he played The LA Forum. He got to go back and meet Brian backstage. Brian was bossing everyone around just like a diva would do. Garry had gone down to LA to visit his daughter Kirsten and her family. That was Kirsten her  husband Matthew Brownstein and her son Robby. Garry mentioned that Brian acted like a real diva with an attitude and all to Barry Actually Matthew Brownstein was actually related to Barry's first personal assistant Paul Brownstein. Matthew was Paul's brothers David's son. Brian was actually out east doing some show right now. New York City, Philadelphia and Verona Turing Stone Casino. Brian had recently gotten his right ear pierced. He had even started dressing more like Liberace. Wearing glittery suits like Liberace wore. Brian's shows were now more glitz and glamor than they used to be. Brian had four backup singers. Kye Brackett, Sharon Hendricks, Melanie Taylor and Melanie Nyema. He was doing Copacabana in the middle of his show. That was so his three female backup singers could wear the showgirls styled outfits. Brian had been ok with Barry taking a few of his band members when he took some time off. From Brian's band Barry took Russ McKinnon, Ron Pedly and Joey Melotti.  So Brian still had the rest of his band members and all of his backup singers. He still had Stan Sargent bass, David Rosenblatt percussion, Ron Walters keyboards, piano and musical director, Rich Jacobs trombone, Henry Lockhart trumpet and Warren Burk saxophone. Brian just added Steve Michaels guitar, Kevin Simons and Greg Jarrett keyboards. Turing Stone was Brian's last concert for a while. He was heading back to his house in the Mesa area of Palm Springs. Brian had bought the house off of Barry Manilow. When Barry decided to move back to New York City. Brian couldn't believe that Barry would give up such a gorgeous home. But then again he understood why he moved back east. He spent more time in New York City with his Broadway songwriter career. Now actually Barry could be a recording artist from anywhere Brian thought. Brian heard about Barry's Hurricane Harvey Benefit concert for  Sunday September 17th. It was just like Barry to quickly put together a benefit together.  Brian also heard that Barry invited saxophonist Kenny G. and singer Cyndi Lauper. The next time Brian  would be doing a show would be in October when he did his benefit show for The Gift Of Song on Sunday October 8th in LA. Also he had a shows in Boston, Newark, Allentown, New York City and his Gift Of Love shows in Palm Springs. After all of those shows Brian and Gregory were going to take a vacation. He and Gregory were going to China and Japan. While over in China and Japan  Gregory suggested they look into some venues for doing a few shows next summer in both China and Japan. Gregory was thinking Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing in China. Nagasaki, Osaka and Tokyo in Japan. Brian remembered back to the night in 1985 when he rocked the Buddakan in Tokyo. Brian thought the roof  was going to cave in. Also when he played the QE2 which was anchored in Osaka harbor. Brian and Gregory were thinking  Asia World Arena Hong Kong, Merc Arena Shanghai, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Buddakan in Tokyo and Kyocera Dome Osaka. Those would be added to Mexico City, Buenos Aries, Santiago and Brasilia which Brian had already signed the contracts for. Brian had been seen at a local shopping mall in Verona. Some lucky fan got her picture taken with Brian. Brian went into one of the Facebook pages started for him. Some fan asked if Brian was in the Diesel store to buy underwear. No Diesel did not sell underwear. They mostly sold jackets, jeans. pants, shirts, tee shirts, bags and backpacks. Besides Brian wore Calvin Klein brand underwear. That got Brian to start laughing when he thought of the tighty whitey's underwear. As for whether Brian wore boxers, briefs, boxer briefs, bikinis and thong style underwear. Brian liked the bikini style the best.  Garry took his daughter Kirsten to Brian's Forum concert. Kirsten mentioned to her dad that Brian was looking even more skinnier than before. Brian was 6'2" and he weighted 140 pounds. Barry was two feet shorter than Brian and twenty-five pounds heaver than Brian. Barry was 6'0" and weighted 165 pounds. Now Barry worked out seven days a week. He switched between running eight miles a day and bicycling for three hours. Close to Barry's Brooklyn Heights home was a new fitness club. This club had both an indoor running and indoor bicycling tracks. They also had the latest in fitness equipment and an indoor pool. Brian did a little bit of exercising but not as much as Barry did. Brian had watched the Emmy Awards on Sunday to see if his favorite shows, actors and actress won. Brian couldn't wait to go on vacation in November. He and Gregory were going at the first part of November. Since Brian had to be back before December 7th show at the Nassau Coliseum. Just three more shows next month and it would be vacation time.

Another Google + Message

Hi Everyone,
It's me Barry again just to remind you that I'm doing my twelfth annual "Because It's Christmas" Benefit concerts. There will be four nights total, Thursday December 14th thru Sunday December 17th. On Saturday December 16th there will be a party at the Copacabana night club after the concert.
Tickets for that are $50 each. That gets you into the Copacabana to hang out with me and my crew and friends. Tickets for the concerts start at $500 each. Tickets go on sale Monday September 18th at 10AM eastern time. This years concerts will benefit the Manilow Music Project and the One Voice Foundation. Don't forget I'm dong four shows in November to benefit people effected by Hurricane Irma. Then at the end of December I'm in Montreal Canada for two nights at Centre Bell Saturday December 30th and Sunday December 31st. Also the BMIFC's Second Annual Holiday Convention Thursday December 28th thru Sunday December 31st. And yes I'll be there to take part in all the "Big Fun" during the convention. For anyone who's coming get your questions ready for me to answer at Sunday's brunch. See you tomorrow night Texas fans.
Take care friends,
Barry

First Google+ Message

Hi Everyone,
It's me Barry with my first Google+ message. To all my Florida fans please know that you are in my thoughts and payers. David has been working hard on securing some concert dates and venues . So I can do a few concerts to benefit folks in Hurricane Irma's path. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to be exact. David was able to secure some dates in early November. Tickets for those concerts will go on sale Monday September 25th at 10AM eastern time. Above this message I put a list of the venues I'm playing in November. I included this coming September 17th concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas Texas. All these concerts will benefit the local Red Cross and local animal shelters. All five shows will start at 8PM for the Texas and Florida concerts I invited my dear friend and Concord label mate Kenny G to preform with me. Kenny G. played on my Here At The Mayflower II (Many more stories inside.) album. Years ago Kenny G. started his career at Arista Records. When Clive wanted Kenny to do cover concept albums. Kenny said NO to Clive Davis. He left Arista Records and went over to Concord Records jazz label Concord Jazz. Soon another friend Dave Koz was over there was well as Sir. Paul McCartney. Concord finally allowed in contemporary recording artists like myself. Now I'm actually considered a contemporary jazz recording artist. So that's why my recent albums have come out on the Concord Jazz label As I have mentioned before I left Arista when Clive Davis was asked to retire in 2000. Best move I ever made. Since Clive Davis didn't like me at all I know it bothered Clive that my first album 2:00AM Paradise Café went straight to number one on Billboard's Hot 200 Album Chart. Stayed at number one for three months. Also that it toped the Billboard Jazz Chart at number one. It stayed there for two months. When October Goes went straight to number one on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart. It stayed at number one for two months. Then the second single Night Song did the same thing. 2:00AM Paradise Café came out certified quadruple platinum. So did my singles When October goes and Night Song were certified quadruple platinum. Now all of my Arista albums Manilow, Barry Manilow 87, Barry Manilow Live On Broadway, Because It's Christmas, Singing With The Big Bands and Manilow Sings Sinatra all did the same thing. Came out at number one on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart. They were all certified quadruple platinum when they were released.  Plus all the singles off each album debuted at number one on Billboards Hot 100 Singles Chart. Lets just say Clive Davis was very pissed at how
successful I was. When you consider I started out my music career as a songwriter, record producer and a Broadway songwriter. But not as a popular recording artist. I have two albums in the pipeline. One is my Putting It Together (The Songs Of Stephen Sondheim.) I recorded the album with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The other one is being called Only In Chicago. That song I wrote with Maurice White. I wrote the melody and Maurice wrote the lyrics. Now I'm still writing song with my partners for that album. When I go on tour to promote the Stephen Sondheim album after it comes out I'll be playing the theatres once again. See you all soon.
Love,
Barry

The Latest News.

Barry and company were down in Albuquerque for Friday August 18th's concert. From there it was on to St. Louis for  Tuesdays August 22nd concert. Then Vaughan Ontario Friday August 25th thru Monday August 28th, Back in Brooklyn for the last concert at Coney Islands Ford Amphitheater Thursday August 31st. While in Albuquerque Barry got a phone call from his manager David . He wanted to tell Barry about the article that was in the Las Vegas Review Journal on Monday August 14th. The article mentioned that Barry was looking to headline at one of the Las Vegas hotels/casinos preferably on the strip. It also mentioned that Barry was looking into different Las Vegas hotels that needed a headliner. Then it went on to say that Barry hoped he would have a contract signed before the end of the year. So he could start his residence at a hotel/casino on the strip by February 2018. Both you and I know that's not going to happen said Barry. March of 2018 I'll be down in San Antonio TX. That's when my new musical The Mayflower (More stories from the people who live there.) opens. It's there for all of March and April. Then in June I'm "Down Under" in Australia and New Zealand for more Williamsburg Tour concert dates. In September and October The Mayflower does it's second regional run at The Forrest Theater in Philadelphia PA. End of December I'm up in Montreal for two New Years shows December 30th and 31st. While I'm in Australia the BMIFC is having a convention in Melbourne. Then there's the second holiday convention up in Montreal during my two shows in December. David then told Barry some fans commented to the Las Vegas Review Journals article. The two fans who commented said "BARRY HATES LAS VEGAS!" in all capital letters. My fans know me very well said Barry. They know I love Atlantic City. They also know  that I would sign a contract to be a headliner at one of the hotels/casinos in Atlantic City in a heart beat.  As  you know there aren't as many hotels/casinos in Atlantic City as there are in Las Vegas. I have played Caesar's Atlantic City in the past many times. During the last late show in 1985. I invited my mom Edna on stage. We did a duet of "I Get A Kick Out Of You." Then Mom did her Mae West impersonation. Where Mae says "Come up and see me sometime big boy." I then gave mom center stage so she could sang "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from the 1959 musical Gypsy that stared Ethel Merman. I think mom wanted to be in show business. However grandpa and grandma didn't want mom to do that. So she was a mom to me and a career woman to make ends meet. Some people thought mom and I did a duet on Can't Smile Without You. We never did since I'm not the one who recorded that song. That was Brian Murphy who recorded that song on his 1978 Even Now album.  He started doing that song as a duet in 1983. Brian would have the house lights turned on and he would look for his date. Once he found his date the lucky fan would come on stage for their duet. Barry contacted his manager David Taylor to tell him about  the latest piece of news.  Which dealt with the gay issue and him and Scott Nevins getting married. Also he told David about Suzie telling the National Enquirer that Barry and his partner Scott Nevins were getting married. First off I'm not gay. Second Scott Nevins is not my life partner. My life partner is my wife Carly said Barry. Barry had just one more show left on the US leg of his Williamsburg Tour. That was tomorrow night August 31st at Coney Islands Ford Amphitheater. After tomorrow nights concert Barry was off
for a week. Then on Saturday September 9th Barry was doing the Memory Gala for Amfar. Amfar was an AIDS charity started by his friend Elizabeth Taylor for Alzheimer's. Because of the recent devastation in Texas Barry was doing a benefit for Hurricane Harvey victims. Both human and animals alike. The benefit will take place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday September 17th. The concert would benefit the Gulf Coast Humane Society Corpus Christy, the Houston SPCA and the Texas Red Cross. Barry was able to get  his dear friend and Concord label mate Kenny G. to preform with him. Kenny already knew the saxophone part to Do You Know Who's Living Next Door? from Here At The Mayflower. Barry was considering taking the fans on a little journey to New York City. Barry went out with Eric on Friday and they took photos of New York City's grittier side. They went all over New York City to capture the grittier side of his home town. The photos would go on the big screen behind the band. Also the two screens on either side of the stage. Tickets for the Hurricane Harvey Benefit would go on sale Tuesday September 5th at 10AM eastern time. For the benefit Barry was going to do a more classier and jazzier concert for everyone. Kenny could definitely agree with Barry that Clive Davis was cover album crazy. That's why Kenny left Arista records years ago. Barry left in 2000 when Clive was reminded that he agreed to retire at 65. Clive left Arista records when L.A. Reed took over as head of Arista records. Clive was soon back at the helm of Arista records. He tried to get Kenny G. back but he told Clive no way. Kenny did not want to put out any more concept cover styled albums. The greatest (fill in the blanks). Love, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80''s and My Dream Duets. Duets with famous dead people which Barry heard Brian Murphy was doing another one. My Dream Duets II another one of Clive Davis' ideas no doubt. Barry actually had two album ideas ready to go for his next album. His Putting It Together (The Songs Of Stephen Sondheim.) album. That was going to be a double album set of Barry's very favorite Broadway show tunes that Stephen Sondheim wrote. The other album was called Only In Chicago. The title track was written by Barry Manilow melody and Maurice White lyrics. Chicago was another one of Barry's favorite cities. The places Barry detested most was LA and Palm Springs. Barry was so glad he moved from Palm Springs fourteen years ago in two thousand and three. He was sure glad to be back in his home town of Brooklyn. Of course Suzie and Scott just didn't quite understand why Barry left Palm Springs. Also they were very upset that Barry moved back to the east coast. Barry thought if he hadn't moved back to Brooklyn he would have never meet his wife Carly.

Last Facebook Message August 31st.

Hi Gang,
It's me Barry again. This is going to be my last Facebook post. I can hear the groans from all of you Facebook followers right now.  Why is Barry leaving Facebook? Is Barry giving up posting  stuff for good? Fear not friends I'm not really going anywhere. I've just been having trouble with Facebook. I can't get into my Facebook page. I'm always signed into my account. However it seems Facebook won't let me into my account. They tell me I need to give them a mobile number to make sure I'm me. What do they mean make sure I'm me.  I've always been for last 61 years Barack Alon Manilow.  For the first 13I was Barack Alon Pincus. Well I don't want to give them my mobile number. How do I know what they're going to do with my mobile number once I give it to them. So I've decided to switch to Google+ instead.  I did some investigating on Google+ and I found it to be much better. Go to Google.com and type in Barry Manilow. That will bring you to "All". Go down to the fourth web site from the top. There's where you'll see the link to my Barry Manilow Google+ site. Click on that to enter my Google+ community. There you can investigate all my communities. I've talked to Vikki Thomas about moving the BMIFC's Barry Net to Google+. I still have my Barry Manilow dot com site and my Twitter account. I may in the future get rid of my Barry Manilow dot com site. I found out about Google+ from two of my musical friends Kenny G. and Melissa  Manchester. Both Kenny and Melissa use Google+ to connect with their fans. Even Garry and Marc were saying Facebook was giving them a heard time. Marc thought maybe Facebook wanted to cater to young people not us old people. I did talk to Dave Koz and Brian Culbertson about me having trouble with Facebook. Told both of them how they can go to my Google+ communities. Marc was recently in Inglewood at  the Stiletto offices.  He was there for a biannual Stiletto Entertainment meeting. Twice a year Kirsten Kief gets together with the people who work at Stiletto West and Stiletto East. Kirsten heads Stiletto West and Marc heads Stiletto East. To think Marc Hulett started out as my personal assistant back in 1984. He went from that to my manager after Garry Kief decided to retire. Garry gave his daughter Kirsten the company and made Marc my manager. Two years ago Kirsten decided she wanted to add a second Stiletto Entertainment office here in New York City. That's when Kirsten told Marc he was now going to become of head of Stiletto Entertainment East. So my new personal assistant David Taylor became my new manager. While my new personal assistant is Eric Schaefer. While in LA Marc also went to LA and met up with Enoch Anderson and Marty Panzer. Then all three of them accidently bumped into the head of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. Marty said that Mark Zuckerberg  bumped into all three of them and didn't even say excuse me. Enoch thought  that Mark Zuckerberg was very arrogant or uppity. Marc felt that some young people have no manners at all. Now for those of you arguing about what kind of vehicle I drive. Some of you figure Barry drives a Range Rover and he'll always drive a Range Rover. Recently I had my Range Rover in the shop for a few repairs. While it was being repaired Carly let me borrow her 2007 Jeep Wrangler. Since Carly now runs her own veterinary hospital which isn't that far from where we live she can either bike or walk to work. What I discovered was her Jeep Wrangler drives much better than my Range Rover did. It also cost less too. Under $50,000 depending on which model you get. Where as the Range Rovers cost over $95,000. So I decided to switch to a Jeep Wrangler instead. Everyone fits inside the Wrangler. Me, Carly, Maggie, Max, Boomer and Buster. In about a week I get to pickup my 2018 Jeep Wrangler Limited fur door. The exterior color is velvet red pearlcoat with black interior. I'm keeping my vanity license plate BKLYN 43. BKLYN is the abbreviation of Brooklyn and 43 is my birth year. June 17, 1943 to be exact. The mechanic at the import garage said my Range Rover was no good any more. AJ my mechanic suggested I trade it in for a new SUV. So I did for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler Limited I'm getting As for the doggies.  Maggie is my yellow Labrador Retriever and Max id my black Labrador Retriever. Boomer is a brown and white Pit Bull puppy. Buster is a yellow Labrador Retriever. Buster is a rescue and the senior citizen of the group. Boomer and Buster are Carly's doggies. I'll see some of you a week from Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas Texas for my Hurricane Harvey Benefit concert. So until then take care everyone
Barry