Welcome To The BMIFC

Welcome to the new BMIFC. Well sort of. Garry Kief  the head of Stiletto Entertainment decided it was time for him to retire. He held a meeting with Barry Manilow,  Kirsten Kief , Mark Hulett and Vikki Thomas. This was to tell them he was retiring. Also to tell them who the new head of Stiletto was going to be. The new head of Stiletto Entertainment would be Kirsten Kief Garry's daughter. Since Garry didn't want to overload his daughter with too much responsibility Garry told Marc he was now Barry Manilow's new manager. He told Barry to find himself a new personal assistant since Marc was now management. Vikki Thomas became the head of the Manilow Music Fund for Kids Barry Mailow's own charity. As for the BMIFC which Vikki ran. Garry told Barry and Vikki to figure something out. Which they were going to do. Barry said to Vikki fans have always said they could run my fan club better then we can. So why don't we give them a shot at this. Barry went to Facebook to find some fans who were very passionate about him. Barry chose  Lu Ann Heiner Drebot  as BMIFC's director and publisher of the Barry Grams, Kathy Sheridan as editor of the Barry Grams, Michele Ray Thomson as membership coordinator  (Michele made sure fans memberships were renewed. Also that they got their membership kits.) Ronda Rice Breman, Donna Ross Bordin, Kathy Faith as contributors. Susan Barrett and Pamela Height became convention coordinators. People who stayed where they were was Gary Oye Barry Net web guy and Chris Walter head of merchandizing. Barry got rid of My Manilow Network, Manilow UK, Manilow Europe and Manilow Australia. Barry checked them all out. He found the US was too filled with fans trying to get others kicked off. The UK site was fine. The Australian and European sites were dead sites with very little activity. So he chose instead to go back to the way things use to be. But with a twist. Back to the local overseas offices. The twist would actually be online BMIFC websites  run by Joanne Gray Australia, Kenny Fong Asia,  Shelby Wheeler Canada, Susan Heinz Europe, Louise Farr South Africa, Rosa Martinez South America and Mark Worrell UK.  Barry liked things the way they use to be. Stop the presses Barry Grams were back. So was Barry's Ask Barry Q&A column. Plus a look at the people who worked with Barry. Band members, songwriting partners and others that Barry has work with. Barry decided he was going to be the executive editor of the Barry Grams. Barry wanted to take a more active roll in his fan club. Which he was going to do.

Barry Manilow International Fan Club

The Barry Manilow International Fan Club or BMIFC as it is also called. Ablove is the new 2020 membership logo. This is what the 2020 membership pin and window cling would  look like. The fan club had a new director named Kathy Thacker. Kirsten Kief who was ran The Manilow Music Fund For Kids took over her dad's company Stiletto Entertainment. Vikki Thomas who was the director of the BMIFC was now the head of The Manilow Music Fund For Kids. Barry's fan club needed a new director. Barry picked Kathy Thacker to take over as the new director of the BMIFC. Barry knew Kathy would do a super job as the clubs new director. The fan club had been in existence for forty-two years since nineteen seventy-eight. The BMIFC as everyone called was still going strong. There were now two hundred thousand members in the BMIFC. The rest of the fan club staff consisted of   Lu Ann Heiner Drebot  editor of the online Barry Grams Michele Ray Thomson  membership coordinator  Michele took care of renewing fans memberships and seeing to it they got their membership kits. , Ronda Rice Breman, Donna Ross Borden, Kathy Faith contributors to the online Barry Grams.. Plus Barry Manilow was contributing to the online Barry Grams with his Ask Barry? column. According to Kathy Thacker the publisher and Lu Ann Heiner Drebot the editor the online Barry Grams would come out four times a year in March, June September and December.  Kathy Sheridan and Pamela Height were the BMIFC convention coordinators. Kathy Sheridan, Pamela Height, Kathy Thacker and Barry Manilow were coordinating the BMIFC's Big Fun In New York City Convention in New York City. The convention would go from Tuesday November fifth through Saturday November tenth. The convention goers would get to see Barry Manilow's musicals while they were in New York City.  Wow Barry had three musicals on Broadway at one time. They were Harmony which was still at the St. James theatre, Copacabana which was back on Broadway at the August Wilson theatre and Here At The Mayflower which was in previews at the Gershwin theatre.  Here At The Mayflower was opening on Sunday November tenth two thousand and nineteen.    Harmony and Here At The Mayflower would be night shows . With Harmony on Tuesday and Here At The Mayflower on Friday. Copacabana would be a Wednesday afternoon matinee.  Kathy Thacker, Kathy Sheridan and Pamela Height were going to limit the number of convention goers to one thousand BMIFC members. All Club 99 members who went were getting a surprise. Thanks to Barry their surprise was a ticket to opening night of Here At The Mayflower plus an invitation to the cast party.

Do You Know Who's Living Next Door?

Do You Know Who's Living Next Door? Here At The Mayflower. Here At The Mayflower was a two thousand and one album that Barry Manilow recoreded. Fans kept saying it should be turned into a musical. Well finally Barry caved in and Here At The Mayflower was now becoming a musical on Broadway. Opening night for Here At The Mayflower is Sunday November 3, 2019. The songs were written by Barry Manilow music and Adrienne Anderson, Enoch Anderson, Jack Feldman, Marty Panzer and Bruce Sussman lyrics. With book by Enoch Anderson and Marty Panzer. Cast members are Diane Degarmo Diane Par receptionist 3B, Ace Young Kenneth Stone auto mechanic  5N,  Joe  the old man Joseph Bologna, Joe's wife Esther 6C Lorna Luft , Freddie the Mayflower elevator operator Tony Yazbeck, Jerry and Susan Wright Wall Street trader and kindergarten teacher 3E
Eric Lindell and Karri Smith, WPLJ  DJ Rick Shelbourn 2H, Kevin Meyers, Andy Herbert pizza delivery guy 2G, Ben Silverman Julliard professor 4G, Ted and Carol Herman  owner Herman's
Dry Cleaners and cashier 4J,  Jeff Davis Lauren Bailey, Gordon Sumner  NYU collage student 5F
Stephen Anderson and Shadow Man recording artist Barry Manilow1A Barry Manilow. Yes Barry was going to act on Broadway in his own musical. After he wrote Here At The Mayflower fans thought the Shadow Man was about him. Which it wasn't because Barry Manilow wasn't the Shadow Man. So now Barry's Night Songs album and Borgata shows were being pushed back to February 2021. Barry knew when his fans found out his album and shows were being pushed back they would be pissed To do some damage control Barry went on Rachel Ray's talk show to tell everyone about being on Broadway in the musical Here At The Mayflower. He told Rachel he'd be her co-host for co-host Monday. Barry was even going one step further by doing the "What's For Dinner" segment. Barry was going to make Rachel his drunkin' spaghetti . Barry was substituting bucatini for the spaghetti. He was using trebbanio white wine. Pecorino Romano chesse instead of the usual parmigano reggiano.  Barry decided to add mushrooms to the dish. Along side that he was doing an arugula salad with walnuts, shaved parmigano reggiano and a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.  Barry  found out Rachel's other guest was Food Network chef Gida de Laurentiis. Oh brother now what did he get himself into. Cooking for a Sicilian/Cajun and a full blooded Italian holy mackerel. But Barry promised Rachel Ray he'd do her "What's For Dinner" segment. Barry decided to wear jeans, tee shirt and a chef's jacket that had his name on it. The chef's jacket with his name on was something he got from Garry Kief as a gag gift for his birthday one year.