The Coming Week

Tuesday December 5th Brian Murphy was back in Chicago to ply Allstate Arena. Then Thursday December 7th it was Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. That was for his A Very Brian Christmas.
Now Barry was in rehearsals for his Because It's Christmas VII Benefit at the Barclay Center on Sunday December 10th. This was the seventh year for this benefit. The charities that would benefit this year would be Charlie's Rescue, Manilow Music Project and The One Voice Foundation. Barry loved the fall and winter months. That's why he was glad he came back to the east coast where they had all four seasons spring, summer, autumn and winter. Barry had relearned how to ice skate so he could skate at the Rockefeller Center and Central Park skating rinks. He also missed a good cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows on top. This would be his sixth Christmas with Carly. Now earlier this autumn Barry their roof checked to see if it would make though the winter. The contractor told him that there were a few place where their roof might leak. So he had the contractor put a new roof on. This was the guy who had done all of the remodeling work to the house. Kitchen, master bathroom, kitchen downstairs and the bathroom downstairs. Barry chose a slate grey metal roof that definitely  would go with their red brick town house. Every year Barry had the furnace and air conditioning checked to make sure they ran properly. Before he moved into the house in  October two thousand two the former owner had the house rewired. That was to get rid of any wiring that was not up to code. The house on Hicks street was a house that Barry was never going to leave. Barry was three blocks from the subway stop. Close to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade which went along side the New York harbor. Barry loved to go running around the Promenade in the warmer months. Close enough he could walk to the Barclay Center. Close to his favorite bagel/coffee shop and pizza parlor. Lots of other great shops and restaurants he could walk to. He did have to use his SUV when he went to certain places. Or if he wanted to outside the city for a drive or a road trip by car. This was way better than Palm Springs. Every time he wanted to go somewhere. He had to go into his garage get into his SUV and drive to where he wanted to go. Nothing was within walking distance not even a dog park. Here in Brooklyn Heights a lot of stuff was within walking distance for him. Barry had even bicycled from his house in Brooklyn Heights to Bruce and Rob's condominium in Tribeca. Barry go a call from Bruce before he went on his four city Hurricane Nate benefit concerts. Bruce called Barry to let him know what happened to his iMac desktop computer. That it exploded in their condominium and they had to have new wiring put in. The electrician that Bruce got told him iMac's were just worthless pieces of junk. Bruce said the electrician told him to get a HJP Omen 800-035VX computer. Said his son swore by them. They were mainly used by gaming developers and people who liked to play games on their computers. But that their were musicians in the music business who had discovered them too. Bruce told Barry  that his iMac just literally explode. Bruce's tech guy also told him iMac's were basically a piece of junk.Then the same thing that happened to Bruce also happened to Barry after he got home. His iMac exploded and part of the  house had to have new wiring put in. Barry had just about had it with Apple products. Five years ago Barry's iPhone 5 died after just one month. Barry took it back to where he bought it. He was told by the phone guy at Verizon that he had a lemon. The Verizon phone guy told Barry to go with a Samsung brand instead. Barry got himself a Samsung Galaxy S3 in November of 2012. He traded that in for a Galaxy Note 5 in August 2015. So Garry's friend Dean had gone to South Korea on a vacation. While he was there he bought himself a Samsung 2017 Veyron flip phone. Samsung had brought back the flip phones from the nineties with their Veyron flip phone. Barry got to see Garry's Samsung Veyron flip phone. Garry explained it had all the features of the other types of Samsung phones. The only difference was it was a flip phone. He told Barry Dean had to go back to South Korea and he would get Barry one. Barry had finally given up on Apple products. Barry knew Carly never had any Apple products. Apple computers were very different than a typical PC like Dell and HP. Carly had always used HP products. That was the brand the Bronx Zoo exclusively used. Last year her old HP Pavilion computer died. So she chose to get an
HP ENVY 750-V9B24 desktop computer. Then just this past October her laptop died. She replaced it with a HP Spectre X360 laptop.  Barry went to a message board where this fan Shelly told everyone he used iMac's and iPhone's only. Barry replied and said I don't use iMac's or iPhone's anymore. I switched to HP computers and Samsung cell phones. I have a HP Omen 870-255xt desktop and an HP Omen 17 inch Laptop. I just got a new 2017 Samsung Veyron flip phone. This Samsung phone
is not available here in the US. Garry Kief's friend Dean Henry is a pilot for Delta. While he was on layover in South Korea last month he bought a Samsung Veyron for himself and Garry. Dean told Garry the next time he went to South Korea he'd buy me one. So by the end of this week I should have my Samsung Veyron flip phone. I can't wait to get it.

Because It's Christmas Benefit.

Don't forget next Sunday December 10th my Because It's Christmas Benefit Barclay Center 8PM. The Because It's Christmas Benefit benefits Charlie's Rescue animal shelter, The Manilow Music Project and The One Voice Foundation (Giving a voice to animals who don't have one)  It's at the Barclay Center. I'm having my dear friend Cyndi Lauper as one of my special guests. Remember Baby It's Cold Outside. Hint! Hint! The other is The Grant Street Campus Chorus. Who will duet with me on Because it's Christmas. The Grant Street Campus Chorus consists of students from The High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology, Progressive High School for Professional Careers and The High School for Legal Studies. These schools were started in nineteen ninety seven after my alma mater Eastern District High School closed it's doors n nineteen ninety six.
See you fans there.
Barry

My Dear Friend Mundell Lowe

It is with a heavy heart that I let you know my dear friend James Mundell Lowe passed away Saturday December 2, 2017. Mundell as he was better known played with a lot of great artists.
Back in 1984 I asked Mundell Lowe to play on my first album. It was a jazz album called 2:00AM Paradise Café. I had also asked drummer Shelly Manne, basest George Duvivier, saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and keyboard/pianist Billy Mays to play on the album. I then invited  jazz vocalists Mel Torme (The Velvet Fog) and Sarah Vaughan to sing duets on the album with me. Sarah and did a duet on Blue and Mel and did a duet on Big City Blues. Shelly, George, Mundell, Gerry and Billy had never played together and they were very excited to do so. "The entire albumwas rehearsed for three days, then recorded live (in one take) without overdubs at Westlake Studio "C" in Los Angeles California in 1984. All of us who took part in the recording of this album were surprised when it did so well. This is your first foray into being a recording artist. Your first record album goes quadruple platinum and lands at number one on Billboards Hot 200 Album Chart. Then stays at number one for three straight months. Goes on further to win  Grammy's for Album Of The Year (200AM Paradise Café)  Barry Manilow artist/producer, Michael Brawnstein engineer Deni King and Greg Laney co-engineers. Record Of The year (2:00AM Paradise Café)  Song Of The Year (When October Goes) Barry Manilow music Johnny Mercer lyrics. Best Jazz Vocal Album (2:00AM Paradise Café) Barry Manilow. Four Grammy Awards for my first ever record album. I sang my song When October Goes and I did Big City Blues with Mel Torme on the nineteen eighty five Grammy Awards. Wow!! What a thrill. Thanks to all of you my dear ones for making  2:00AM Paradise Café such a huge success.
Barry

I Heard A Rumor About You.

I am bringing this to everyone's attention because of the content of the quote that I am quoting. One of my fans I don't know posted this under a photo of me that another one of my fans Debra Swartz had posted on Pinterest. "One friend told the Daily Mail Online that Kief is something of a Svengali to Manilow and he has pushed people out of the multi-millionaire life and replaced then with his own relatives over the years. This quote from the Daily Mail is entirely false. Garry Kief my former manager has never pushed anyone out of my life. Then replaced them with his own relatives. I met Garry Kief back in nineteen seventy eight. That's when I found out the guy who was taking care of my finances was putting my money into bad investment. Garry was the one who noticed this first. He helped with my financial problem. So I fired Miles Laurie my manager and hired Garry to take over as my manager. Garry put together a group of people to help me financially and legally. That is how I became friends with Garry Kief. Garry was married to his first wife who I also became friends with. The director of my fan club Kate Naughton had been screwed over by my manager Miles Laurie. So that's why Kate Naughton  stepped down as director of my fan club. Both Robert and Alice Garry's parents were retired so they took over running my fan club. That's how I became friends with Robert and Alice Kief. Garry's older brother Rob Kief starting working for his brothers new management company Stiletto Entertainment. Garry and his first wife asked me to be godfather to their daughter Kirsten I said yes to being Kirsten's godfather. Robert and Alice Kief when Alice became the new director of the Barry Manilow Fan Club. In nineteen eighty my fan club went international so people all over the world could join. Alice decided to continue using the name Kate Naughton when she became director of my fan club. Robert came up with the name Mad Man Mickey Morgan when he took over the merchandise company. That was how I became friends with Garry's parents. Garry's older brother Rob also works for Garry's management company Stiletto Entertainment. That's how I became friends with Robert, Alice, Rob, his wife, sons, Garry, his wife and daughter. If people were pushed out of my life it's because I pushed them out. Case in point my once friend Suzie whom you all know is not in my life right now. In two thousand two I decided to move back to New York City. Too much back and forth on Delta Airlines between Los Angeles LAX and New York City JFK because of my Broadway songwriting career. Suzie did not like the fact that I moved back to New York City. Also since day one back in nineteen seventy-eight when I met Suzie. She always figured that I was gay even though I wasn't. At the end of January two thousand and fifteen. Suzie did two articles for The National Enquire tabloid. The articles were to promote her latest health book. The
first article two pages came out on Friday January 25th.The  second article a week later came out on Friday January 30th. On Friday February 6th I made the inside of The National Enquirer. It was a two page spread on me and my former manager Garry Kief getting married in our Palm Springs backyard in April 2015 Brian Murphy was living in my former house in the Mesa at that time. So that's when
Brian  and his partner Gregory Knofler got married. Suzie told The National Enquirer all the juicy details. Why? Because according to her she was my best woman which is the same as the best man. She was also on Andy Cohen's Bravo talk show. Where she told this person who called in to ask if the Copacabana singer got married. That she was there and that it was so freeing for me. I am not the Copacabana singer. I am one of the songwriters of the song Copacabana. Brian Murphy recorded  the song Copacabana that me, Bruce and Jack wrote. Bruce , Jack and I originally wrote Copacabana for our musical of the same name which opened on Broadway in 1978. Brian Murphy then recorded a disco version of our song Copacabana n 1978 for his Even Now album that I produced with Ron Dante. Back in 2014 I did get married. That was on Sunday July 13, 2014 to my fiancé Dr. Carly Nichole Simon DVM. I'm mentioning her full name because of singer Carly Simon. Garry and I often wondered who went to The National Enquirer with that information. When we both found out it was Suzie who gave them that piece of information. Garry immediately told me he was through being friends with Suzie. He said If I still wanted to continue being friends with Suzie that he would be ok with that. I don't like anyone who spreads lies about me. Since Suzie chose to spread the lie about me being gay when I'm not. I decided she wasn't worth my still being friends with her. One I moved back to New York City in two thousand two I broke off my friendship with her. At that same time I also quit being friends with one of Suzie's other friends Scott Nevins. As you all know Scott Nevins has the major hot's for me. Scott's been trying for year to get me into a romantic relationship with him. No thank you. I remember on my wedding day my cousin Dennis said to me Aunt Edna would have been proud to have a nice Jewish girl like Carly for a daughter-in-law. After I got married to Carly that's when she told me she had met my mom. Carly, Ally, Rita and Zoey went to see my mom's cabaret act at Don't Tell Mama's  in New York. Carly mentioned she and her friends got to meet my mom after that show. Carly told me my mom asked her and her fiends if they were married. Ally said she Rita and Zoey were married and I was not. My mom said I wish my son Barry would find a nice girl like you. Maybe I should fix you two up said my mom. Ally then told my mom that Carly was a nice orthodox Jewish girl. My mom said now I'll definitely have to fix you two up. If she only knew her wish came true. That I met Carly the nice orthodox Jewish girl and I married her. Now back to regular Barry M stuff.

Barry's Latest Google + Message

Hi Gang!
It's me Barry your editor in chef of the BMIFC Barry Gram. This is the  holiday issue 2017 cover. The photo on the cover is a fan favorite. Most of the holiday issue is finished. I'm putting the last bit of finishing touches to this issue. I chose to introduce you all to someone I met in 2003 when I did my A&E A Barry Manilow Christmas Live By Request Special. My guest for the special were my friend an saxophone player Kenny G. and female singer Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi and I instantly became friends after that.special In January I'm headed to the UK for my Williamsburg autobiography book signing tour. I am also taking part in a concert at the O2 to benefit "Don't Bully Me." an anti-bulling campaign. Cyndi and I are going to be on stage together to sing one of her songs True Colors. At the end Cyndi, myself and all the rest of the artists are coming out to one more song. Together we will all sing my song One Voice. I will come out first to star singing my song One Voice. Then Cyndi will come out to join me. Then all the rest of the artists will come out and join us as we all sing my song One Voice. A local London church chorus will also be singing with all of us on One Voice. The "Don't Bully Me." anti-bulling benefit concert will take place the Sunday before I go on my book signing tour. Now before I leave  London I'm doing two night at the O2. I wanted UK fan to see my Williamsburg Tour that I did last summer. That's when I played all the outdoor amphitheater's. I had a blast last year on tour. So thanks to all my US fans for filling each outdoor venue to capacity. Every night the pavilion was filled and so was the lawn. The BMIFC Denver Convention was great. The barbecue on Saturday was a blast. I did get yelled at for eating a hotdog. Barry your Jewish and Jewish people don't eat pork. I told them it was a Hebrew National hotdog. Their slogan is "We speak to a higher authority." That's because Hebrew National is a kosher all beef hotdog. I had ketchup, mustard and relish on mine. Then after the concert we all went back to the place  where we had our barbecue. A bonfire had been built there and we toasted marshmallows. We put the marshmallows in between two graham crackers and some Hershey's chocolate to make s'mores. Boy were they good . Yum! We did a three part round on Brian Murphy's song Can't Smile Without You. Now a three part round is where you split a large group into three equal groups. The first group starts then in comes the second group and finally the third group comes in. We had blast doing that. I truly enjoyed being on the road this summer. I haven't played the outdoor sheds as I use to call them in a long time. Next year is the Australian and New Zealand leg of my Williamsburg Tour. The BNIFC is having their convention down under in Melbourne. The convention will be Thursday June 14th thru Sunday June 17th. I learned  my dear friend John Denver's song Sing Australia so I can sing it while I'm on tour down under. I'm also going to sing Calypso and Leaving On A Jet Plane by John Denver too. I'm bring my Yamaha  LS-TA transacoustical guitar with me. I played it the five nights I was at Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Surprises the heck out of the fans who were there. None of them knew I could  play an acoustic guitar. Everyone knows I can play assorted types of pianos and keyboards. They also know I prefer Yamaha brand keyboards and pianos. Before I went on my four city concerts to benefit Hurricane Nate. I went to Jack Feldman's house to see the new piano he got. It's Sauter Anbiente elegance purisum  piano designed by Peter Maly. Sauter pianos are made in Germany. I loved the feel of Jack's new piano. He told me where he got his Sauter piano at. I went to the Sauter dealer in New Jersey. I ordered the Sauter Ambiente piano for myself. It came a week before I went to do the four benefit concerts. I took that one with me when I did the four benefit concerts. Now all my fans know that besides playing keyboards and pianos I can play an acoustic guitar. All five nights at  Red Rocks I opened with a tribute to my late friend John Denver. John had a home up in Aspen Colorado. The top floor of his house was glass enclosed on four sides. John would go up there to write his songs. The views were breath taking. You could see hawks, eagles and other birds flying around. I visited him twice while he lived there. John is sorely missed by me and all who loved him his family, friends and fans. When I sang Rock Mountain High I could feel his presences there. both John and I got to meet Jacques Cousteau. I got to go on two expeditions with Jacque Cousteau. One was to the Alaskan coastline the other was off the coast of Australia and New Zealand. On my bucket list of albums to do is a tribute album to my friend John Denver. Carly said one of her friends Kathy Rooney Henry sent her this article on Brian Murphy. She passed the article on to me so I could see the photos that went with the article. I could not believe how tight Brian's face looked. Carly said she figured with a tight face like that he must have recently had more plastic surgery. One of the other photos in the article was a head to shoe photo. It showed how super skinny Brian is. I know that Brian does not like to eat. So that's why he's super skinny said Barry. Me I consider myself a foodie
that's because I love eat. That's why I don't consider myself super skinny like Brian Murphy.  I don't consider weighing 170 pounds being super skinny do you? Being 6'1" and weighing 145 to me is very skinny in my book. One other thing I discovered that my once friend Suzie told the website Vegas Chatter that I had signed to do a residency at the Westgate Casino Resort starting in April of 2018. Brian Murphy is going back to Las Vegas. He was at the LV Hilton from February 2005 to December 2009. Then he signed with the Paris Casino Resort which is on the strip. Brian signed a two year contract with the Paris. Starting in April of 2018 Brian Murphy will once again be a headliner in Las Vegas. The Westgate Casino Resort use to be the Las Vegas Hilton Casino Resort. Elvis Presley played there in the seventies. But then Elvis finally left there after seven years.

Atlantic City Tropicana Starting Friday July 5, 2018

Don't worry I'm not going to charge an arm and leg for my Tropicana tickets. Everyone of you fans should be able to come see my shows in Atlantic City at the Tropicana Casino Resort. I signed a five year contract with Tropicana Entertainment. Now tickets for next years  July, August, November and December Tropicana shows will go on sale starting  in February of next year. Monday February 5th at 10AM ET is when BMIFC tickets go sale. Monday February 19th at 10AM ET is when tickets go on sale to the general public. Can't wait to see you all there.
Love,
Barry

Hi Gang,
It's time for another dose of Ask Barry? questions.
Nanilow asks. Barry Who are some of your celebrity friends?
Barry Most of my celebrity friends are in the music business. They are Brian Culbertson, Kenny G.,  David Grohl, Peter Cincotti, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Melissa Manchester and Carol King. Thanks for asking.

Dawn D. asks. Barry What are some of your favorite venues that you've performed at?
Barry Some of my favorite venues are in no order Royal Albert Hall  and The Palladium  in London,  Albert Hall and O2 Apollo Manchester, Radio City Music Hall NYC, Wang Center Boston, Benedum Center Pittsburg, The Chicago Theatre Chicago, Paramount Theatre Denver, Pantages Theatre LA, Paramount Theatre Seattle, Keller Auditorium Portland OR and Tobin Center for the Performing Arts San Antonio. Thanks for asking.

Diane B. asks Barry What are some of your favorite cities in the world?
Barry Some of my favorite cities are London, Manchester, Glasgow, Boston,  New York City, Baltimore, Atlantic City, Chicago,  Denver, San Antonio, Portland OR, Seattle, Montreal, Vancouver, Brisbane and Melbourne. Thanks for asking.

Ally Hicks asks Barry If you weren't an arranger,  Broadway songwriter, composer, producer, singer and songwriter. What would you be?
Barry I would have been a photojournalist. Photojournalist go all over and take photographs that they share on blogs or in coffee table books and ETC. That's one of passions besides music is taking photographs of the places I've been to. One day I'll go through all my photos put them into a coffee table book for you fans to enjoy. . Thanks for asking.

Well it's time to let Aji, Maggie and Max out to do their business. Then it's lunch time so I can make my lunch. Leftover strip steak, veggies, flowered tortillas and salsa that I will turn into steak fajitas. Yum!
Later everyone,
Barry